Chapter 7 - Convergence
Tall, thick grass surrounded Solonn, swaying slowly in a light breeze, save for in the circular patch about nine feet wide that had been flattened in the grassy field the night before where Solonn had tried unsuccessfully to sleep.
There, he now sat under the pale pink morning sky, gazing out over the grass into the east. Though it was too far away for him to actually see, he knew that the city he'd fled stood there beneath the rising sun. He wondered if the ones who had tried to abduct him were prowling Lilycove in search of him at that very moment, or if perhaps they were extending their search outside the city limits.
Would his enemies find him here? Or would his allies return to him first? Might Morgan appear through the grass at any moment, calling to him with the news that their friends were safe once more, and that she was ready to take him back to Virc-Dho?
These were precisely the sorts of thoughts that had denied Solonn sleep through the previous night. Countless times, his eyes had begun to close, only to immediately fly open once more and dart about in fretful search of anyone who might have been approaching him, be they friend or foe.
Solonn could not recall having ever been so on edge in his life, and wondered how he would ever allow himself to sleep again. He also wondered how he was going to go about feeding himself over the next few days. While he had lived with Morgan, she had always provided him with sustenance. Before Solonn had evolved, Morgan had given him that flavored snow to eat; after his evolution, he had been provided a diet of specially-formulated Pokémon food designed to meet the nutritional needs of a large carnivore - without requiring the predator to do his, her, or its own hunting.
Now, however, without Morgan to provide for him, he seemed to have no choice but to take on his natural role as an active predator. Solonn was anything but eager to go through with this. His hunger was steadily growing, but through minute after minute, hour after hour, he had ignored its pleas, and he still remained determined to continue doing so for as long as he could.
He began to wonder just how long he could go without food. Morgan had always fed him twice a day. He knew not how frequently the Glalie back in Virc-Dho hunted, for they still generally kept those matters from the Snorunt.
Solonn suspected that their reason for not telling Snorunt of the hunters that they would grow up to become was so that the unevolved would be able to accept the predatory instincts that came with evolution without any prior misgivings about predation to get in the way. Solonn had possessed precisely those kinds of reservations ever since learning this secret of the Glalie. Still, the instincts that came with his evolved form were nonetheless also present within his mind. He tried not to pay them any heed, but they remained steadfastly in place, waiting for his inevitable surrender to their demands.
He winced slightly as yet another pang of hunger closed its steely claws around his stomach. It had been nearly an entire day since he'd eaten last; Morgan had fed him prior to leaving for school the day before, and he'd not had anything since. Though Solonn had looked towards the day when he would regain his independence ever since coming into Morgan's custody, the simple fact was that he had fallen into the habits of a Human's Pokémon. He had been rendered unused to fending for himself, and was certainly not prepared for anything along the lines of "roughing it". Though he was quite hesitant to admit to himself that he'd grown accustomed to being tended to, he could not deny that he was left in no position to defy his body's expectations for much longer.
A brief rustling in the grass and a scent belonging to some unfamiliar, warm-bodied creature alerted Solonn to a newly arrived presence not too far from where he sat. He turned towards it and saw the glow of the newcomer's body heat, which seemed to flicker as it shone between the swaying blades of grass. Something stirred within the back of his mind, trying to persuade him to see the solution that lay in this discovery.
Take it, it seemed to say coaxingly. Take it and know relief...
Solonn paid no mind to the notion, closing his eyes and beginning to turn away from the creature nearby. He silently told the faction of his mind that had suggested using the newcomer as a means by which he could alleviate his hunger that whatever the creature was, it was not prey. Still, his instinct continued to relentlessly plead its case, but still, Solonn managed to tune out its suggestions, even as it seemed to emphasize its point by sending another tendril of aching hunger down into his belly.
I'm not doing it, he argued internally, gritting his teeth in desperate determination. Good gods, I'm not starving to death yet!
His physical demands would not stand to be silenced, however, and so, they presented yet another unbidden argument through his mind: You had better get used to this - it's going to be the way you'll be feeding yourself for the rest of your life. There aren't going to be any Humans around to feed you when you get back to Virc-Dho.
Solonn sighed resignedly as he ceased his internal argument. There was the undeniable truth of the matter: his independent survival required him to embrace his predatory nature. There would be no processed Pokémon food outside the Human realm. There would only be prey - lives which he would have to end in order to sustain his own.
He knew that he would ultimately have to accept it. But he could not imagine himself ever liking it.
It was with an immense reluctance that he turned back towards the heat signature of his would-be prey, rose from the ground, and began to glide in its direction. The creature had drawn closer to him since he'd last allowed himself to look towards it, apparently oblivious to his presence; even moving at minimal speed, Solonn would be upon it swiftly.
As Solonn approached, he called upon his element, summoning ice to hold the prey in place and prevent its escape. The hapless creature began screaming at once in response to Solonn's actions, its voice shrill and surprisingly loud to be issuing from what had to be a tiny throat and tiny lungs.
Solonn tried in vain to shut out the cries, but his keen hearing allowed him no refuge from the terrible sound. Struggling to steel himself for the task that lay ahead of him, he pushed his way through the last blades of grass separating him from his prey and looked down upon it directly for the first time.
There, with ice encasing her legs and bushy tail, a female Zigzagoon screamed ceaselessly, the terror in her cries magnified triplefold upon seeing the huge, ghastly visage of her captor looming before her. Her head thrashed and her spine arched as she fought to free herself, but her struggles were of no use; in truth, she knew this just as well as did the great and terrible creature who had frozen her to the spot. Closing her eyes, she fearfully awaited her imminent demise.
Solonn could almost literally taste the fear of his prey on the air as he prepared to deliver the killing strike. He knew that he could freeze the flesh and blood of the Zigzagoon in an instant, and perhaps, then, just as his mother had told him years ago, his prey would not have time to suffer. He needed only to tap into that power, and the deed would be done...
He hissed as hesitation pulled him sharply back from finishing off the Zigzagoon. You should have just done it in when you first noticed it, chided the faction of his mind that still remained in favor of the insane act that he had so very nearly committed. You shouldn't have looked at it first...
Solonn's gaze fell upon the face of the Zigzagoon, whose features were contorted almost grotesquely in mortal terror. His throat constricted painfully, and his stomach went sour, extinguishing his appetite. With a hiss of disgust, he instantly vaporized the ice that had held the Zigzagoon in place.
After a second's delay, the bandy, brown raccoon dared to open her eyes. She stared up at Solonn with a wild gaze, seemingly paralyzed with fear and confusion.
"Go," Solonn said abruptly. "Just go."
The Zigzagoon remained rooted to the spot, fixed in place by disbelief. Her jaw worked almost imperceptibly, as if she was trying to speak.
Solonn did not wait for her to pull her words together. "Go!" he commanded sonorously, darting at the Zigzagoon to emphasize his point. With a squeak of fright, the Normal-type scrambled away as fast as she could, with not a single glance behind.
Solonn sank wearily to the ground, thoroughly disgusted with himself. Gods' mercies...you almost killed that poor creature...He shuddered as he thought of what would have happened had his reluctance not gotten the better of him in time...
"Well, that certainly was magnanimous of you," came a lively, jovial, and utterly unexpected voice.
Quite startled in his rather compromised state, Solonn spun around instantly to face the source of the utterance. He found a semi-large, avian Pokémon, with blue, red, and white plumage and a long, scissored tail, hovering in midair before him. The grass below the bird was swept around by the steady beats of his wide wings. Solonn wondered how this creature had managed to sneak up on him so thoroughly unnoticed.
The bird descended to the ground, pushing the tall grass out of his face with his wings once he'd landed. "You know, ordinarily I might hesitate to stop and chat with an Ice-type such as yourself, but given what I've just witnessed here, I'd dare assume yours to be safe company," he said. He bowed regally. "Do allow me to introduce myself. I am the Swellow Jal'tai. And you are?..."
Still slightly bewildered by the spontaneously appearing bird, Solonn responded with a bit of a delay. "Solonn Zgil-Al," he introduced himself, then, after a short pause, "the - "
"Oh, I know, I know," Jal'tai interrupted with a chuckle. "You don't need to tell me what you are, Mr. Zgil-Al. There's no mistaking a Glalie for anything else once you've seen one...So, then. I haven't seen you around these parts before. Have you only recently relocated here?"
"I guess you could say that," Solonn replied. "I mean, I haven't exactly moved here permanently..." The Swellow cocked his head inquisitively. Solonn hesitated momentarily to elaborate on what he was doing in the area, but then reckoned it was safe to tell of such as long as he was careful not to give too many details of the situation. "I've just escaped from Human kidnappers in Lilycove," he told the Swellow. "I'm just laying low in this area until I can find some way to get back where I came from, across the sea."
"Oh, my...that must have been harrowing," Jal'tai remarked, sounding both astounded and pitying. "Thank goodness you escaped, then. Say...if you need a place to stay, I know an excellent candidate." He took on a rather grand pose, puffing out his feathered chest. "I don't reside in this area, either; I just like to come here every now and again for a break from all the hustle and bustle back home. I come from a city in the west, and it's the greatest city on Earth, in my opinion. And I'd bet anything you'd agree with me, given the chance to see it with your own eyes! You could stay safe from your pursuers there, and in far more comfortable conditions than you'll find out here. Plus, I'm certain you'd find a means to cross the sea there - that is, if you'll want to leave!" the Swellow added with a chuckle. "So, what do you say, hmm? Can I tempt you with a stay in my beloved city?"
Solonn eyed him somewhat skeptically. "That's a very nice offer, but...well, I would really rather not enter another Human city if I can avoid it...that is what you're talking about, isn't it?"
Jal'tai blinked in surprise, then burst out into crowing laughter. "Oh, no! It's not a Human city, I assure you. You'd realize that quite swiftly if you saw it for yourself." The bird chuckled giddily. "Oh, you'd be amazed at the things my town has to show you!..."
Solonn considered the Swellow's offer. Moving further into the west, and thus further from Lilycove, would keep him further from the reach of those who sought him. It also occurred to him that the natives probably wouldn't mind sharing their food with him as well as their shelter...already, he could feel the relief of possibly being spared the need to hunt, even if only for a while. Plus, the Swellow certainly made this city out to be a nice place, although Solonn did find the level of Jal'tai's enthusiasm vaguely disturbing.
Of course, he could not help but think of Morgan, who had said she would return to where she'd left him if she came up with a means to take him back to Virc-Dho. He didn't want to entirely discard faith in her; furthermore, he did, in all honesty, still hope to once again see her and the Pokémon whom he'd met and befriended through her, and hopefully in a happier light next time. That, at least, would seem like a more proper farewell, and an easier one...the one she and they deserved, in his opinion, for treating him so well.
He had not forgotten what Morgan had said the evening before, however, not one word of it. She had expressly told him that if he found another means to return home before she could, then he was to take it. Solonn did question whether or not this truly was what the Human wanted; surely, she would not want to lose a chance to see her Pokémon one more time, would she? But in the end, he decided that he had to give her the benefit of the doubt where that was concerned. This was what she'd said she wanted, and he reckoned that he should take her word for it.
"All right," Solonn agreed finally.
"Ah, excellent!" Jal'tai said, sounding supremely delighted. "Come, then, follow me!" With a mighty flap of his wings, Jal'tai took to the air, sending the grass below him into a frenzied dance as he set off very swiftly towards the west.
Solonn sighed wearily; the evening before had been quite taxing and his body was still not quite ready to endure being made to hurry anyplace. "Jal'tai?...Excuse me, could you slow down a bit?" he called after the Swellow as he hastened with difficulty to follow.
"Oh, of course!" the Swellow responded, and slowed down significantly. "Terribly sorry about that...I just simply can't wait to show you my city..."
As Solonn followed Jal'tai, he found the tall grass that had surrounded him thinning, eventually disappearing from his surroundings altogether. Conversely, the trees were becoming more plentiful as he continued westward, increasing in number and density until Solonn found himself led into a true forest, and a bit of inconvenience.
"Jal'tai! Wait!" Solonn shouted. Jal'tai's rate of travel had decreased even further, since the surrounding trees left him little room to fly, forcing him to walk. Solonn would have had no problem keeping up with him were it not for the fact that the trees provided an even greater impediment to him than they did to the Swellow. Solonn was forced to pick his way between those trees that grew far enough apart to admit his considerable girth.
Jal'tai halted and turned. There was a smile playing about his eyes and beak that suggested that he was holding back an urge to laugh. "I apologize on the trees' behalf," he said, the tiniest of chuckles managing to break through.
Solonn gave Jal'tai a dull glare, the light and color in his eyes briefly muting into a somewhat unpleasant, murky shade of blue, then resumed making his rather difficult way amidst the trees. "I do hope that this 'city' of yours isn't so - " he broke into a loud, snarling swear as a branch on one of the trees between which he was squeezing swatted him just below his left eye " - infested with trees..."
"Oh, heavens, no. The forest had to be cleared in that area before the city could be built - a necessary evil, I'm afraid, but I daresay that's it's come to give more to the area than it's taken. Anyway, you'll not have to suffer the vegetation much longer. We're nearly there."
This came as a surprise to Solonn; from what he could see, the only thing they were drawing closer to was another several acres of dense forest. Managing at last to follow closely behind Jal'tai once more after coming across a fair number of trees in his path that had all considerately grown no fewer than three yards apart, Solonn began casting glances about for signs that they were, indeed, nearing Jal'tai's city, but still saw nothing but trees, trees, and more trees.
"HALT!" two voices suddenly shouted in unison. In nearly the same instant, the owners of those voices leapt out before Solonn and Jal'tai from behind two of the trees, landing gracefully on dainty hooves. The two staglike Pokémon glared at Solonn and Jal'tai for a moment, lowering their golden antlers menacingly - then, abruptly, the Stantler both raised their heads and took a step back, wearing alarmed expressions.
"Oh! We...we didn't realize it was you!" one of the Stantler babbled hurriedly.
"We're so sorry...really, we are...very sorry..." the other one apologized neurotically.
"Well, that is why it's wise to always look before you leap, now isn't it?" Jal'tai said pleasantly.
The two Stantler nodded vigorously. "Can...can you forgive us?" one of them asked tentatively.
Jal'tai gave a chuckle and a dismissive wave of his wing. "Oh, of course, of course," he said. "No harm done at all. Now, why don't you fellows let us in, and then see about having someone else finish your shifts, all right? It doesn't do to work too long; it's absolutely murder on the nerves, as we've seen displayed here quite clearly."
"Yes, yes, of course..." one of the Stantler muttered, nodding a bit too hard once again. His eyes then traveled from Jal'tai to Solonn, and the other Stantler's gaze followed. It was as though, incredibly, they had not noticed the giant Glalie hovering there up to this point.
"Yes, he's with me. You know I wouldn't let just any of them in," Jal'tai said.
Both Stantler seemed to have one last moment's hesitation; then, they both gave a quick nod and stepped aside.
"Thank you kindly," Jal'tai said warmly, bowing as he passed between the two guards. "Right this way," he said to Solonn, beckoning with his wing, "it's right through here."
"Where?" Solonn questioned as he moved forward alongside Jal'tai. "I don't see - "
The Glalie was instantly stricken silent by the sight that appeared then with the utmost spontaneity. All at once, the endless forest before him was replaced by a view of a bustling, thoroughly modern city. There was no canopy of leaves to obstruct the sky above, for the trees' presence was relegated to neat rows lining the streets and the occasional solitary specimen growing in front of certain of the houses. A few of the inhabitants of the city, varying in species, could be seen strolling the sidewalks or milling about in the lawns or on street corners. An occasional vehicle cruised up or down one of the visible streets at a casual, citygoing pace.
Still rather mesmerized by the city that had just appeared before him out of thin air, Solonn was a bit startled by the wing that clapped him heartily on the back then. His gaze shifted to the Swellow beside him, who was smiling warmly (insofar as his beak would allow), his eyes twinkling with obvious pride.
"Welcome, my friend," Jal'tai said with much grandeur, spreading his wings wide, "to Convergence, the city of a better future! Isn't it magnificent?"
"Well..." Solonn began semi-awkwardly, furrowing his brow in an expression of uncertainty. The city of Convergence had certainly made an impressive entrance; of that, he was certain. However, beyond that...the city might have come closer to being "magnificent" in his eyes if it hadn't seemed so familiar. Solonn had gazed out the window upon a view of busy Lilycove on enough occasions to know a Human-style city when he saw one. "It's certainly...er, doing well for itself, and I guess that's nice, but...Jal'tai, I thought you said this wasn't a Human city..."
The Swellow chuckled. "Yes, I most certainly did. And on closer inspection, you might realize that, indeed, just as I stated, this is not a Human city. Or do you not see the abundance of Pokémon about?"
"What about it? Pokémon live in Human cities, too," Solonn pointed out.
"True, true...but there remains a very significant difference between those cities and this one. Why, look over there," Jal'tai said, gesturing with his wing towards a Jeep that had stopped at a traffic light some distance before them. Its driver was large, hairy...and a bear. Or, more precisely, an Ursaring. The light turned green, and the Jeep went on the move again, heading their way. Solonn could hear country music issuing from the vehicle's soundsystem; the bear was nodding her head and growling faintly along with the song.
"Now, there's something you won't see in a mere Human city," Jal'tai said.
The Ursaring driver rounded a corner, pulled into a driveway, and exited her vehicle. As she did so, she turned and spotted Jal'tai and Solonn. Her eyes widened and brightened, and she waved vigorously. "Hi!" she half-roared from across the street in a cheerful greeting.
"Good day to you, madam!" Jal'tai returned, waving back at her. "I might also add that Ms. Olcarion actually owns that lovely house," he then informed Solonn. "As a matter of fact - " he indicated the three houses to the right of the Ursaring's home " - all of those homes are owned by Pokémon. Independent Pokémon, Solonn. Do you realize the significance of that?"
Without waiting for Solonn to answer, he continued. "In Human cities, Pokémon are second-class citizens - if even that." His features gave a brief flash of disgust. "But here, Pokémon are afforded the same rights and opportunities as Humans. They may own properties like those the Humans own. They may learn to operate the vehicles invented by Humans if they so wish. Our schools offer them the same education that Humans receive, and training for those who wish to enter occupations that elsewhere may only be held by Humans.
"This is a community with no parallel in the world today, in which Pokémon and Humans are truly able to live and work as equals. Do you see, now, what makes Convergence great?"
Solonn nodded vaguely, still absorbing the information Jal'tai had just imparted upon him. He had not realized that Pokémon were such non-entities in Human society. True, Pokémon were taken from their homes and forced to live in Human custody, but judging by his experience with Morgan, he had not found himself treated poorly...Solonn realized that if what Jal'tai said was true, then he had been quite fortunate indeed to have been taken in by Morgan and not one of the apparent, inconsiderate majority of Humans.
"Now, then," Jal'tai said crisply. "I'm feeling rather in the mood for lunch of a sudden...How about you?"
Solonn made to answer Jal'tai, but his stomach beat him to it.
Jal'tai grinned warmly. "Ah, right then. We'll go to Whitley's; it's to die for..."
The Swellow led Solonn deeper into Convergence, heading towards the center of town. Along the way, Solonn spotted more of the city's residents out and about. They were mostly Pokémon, some of which were in the possession of and process of using strange, probably Human-built devices, such as the horrendously noisy leaf blower being operated by an Electabuzz at the curb in front of one of the houses. (Solonn's hearing denied his escape from the ungodly noise, even once he'd gotten quite a few blocks away, much to his dismay.)
Solonn also spotted a couple of Humans as he continued through the city after Jal'tai - literally a "couple"; he saw only two of them and they were together. It seemed that the Pokémon outnumbered the Humans here. From what he could glean at a glance, though, Solonn thought that the two Humans both looked quite happy to be living here. They were neither goggling nor blatantly avoiding looking at the Pokémon citizens; it seemed that they, as perhaps a rare exception to their species, found nothing strange about the notion of Pokémon living right alongside them. Solonn found the notion that there were reasonable Humans out there other than Morgan quite refreshing.
At last, Solonn and Jal'tai arrived at Whitley's (even here, Solonn could still hear the noise of that leaf blower...). The restaurant was a large, country-styled building situated at the end of a fairly sizeable parking lot, one which presently had most of its spaces unoccupied. Above its entrance, a sign bore the image of an elderly, goateed man's smiling face, along with the words "WHITLEY'S FAMILY RESTAURANT" spelled out beside the portrait - twice. It was written once in what Solonn recognized to be Human writing, and once in a curious, unfamiliar script that, oddly enough, seemed to be made up of eyes...Each character was formed by one of these large, round "eyes", with the letters differentiated by bars that radiated from them in varying shapes and at varying angles.
Solonn had found himself able at once to read the other form of writing, so it didn't surprise him much to find the second script instantly understandable, as well. However, there was more to his comprehension of the eyed letters than mere literacy, and he recognized this immediately. Puzzled, he queried Jal'tai about it.
"That second kind of writing, there on that sign...there's something about it...I don't know how to explain it except that it just feels different to read...more natural, somehow. How?"
"Ah. I see you've never seen Unown-script before." Jal'tai smiled. "Well, Mr. Zgil-Al, there is reason why it feels natural to read. It is our written language, the script of Pokémon. Allow me to explain. The Unown are a race of Pokémon who are credited as the ones responsible for eradicating many of the communication barriers between the peoples of the world. Many Pokémon, myself included, believe that it was they who blessed the differing races of Pokémon with the ability to understand one another's languages, as well as the languages of Humans. But for some reason, their blessing failed to touch Humans, leaving them unable to understand Pokémon speech.
"The Unown tried to solve the problem through the creation of a universal written language, a process so demanding that it apparently forced them to evolve to that specific end. They developed special written characters that they infused with a mystic quality meant to render them instantly comprehensible to Pokémon and Humans alike. And it worked, too: Pokémon can use it to convey messages to Humans that they could otherwise never receive. Sadly, the script failed to catch on - perhaps the cultures that used it were conquered or decimated by Humans who trained Pokémon to fight for them rather than communicating and living in harmony with them," the Swellow added, bitterness subtly bending his tone.
"Anyhow," he finished, "in honor of the Unown's tremendous efforts towards interspecies understanding, we use Unown-script as an official language of our city. All citizens are required to memorize all of its symbols, Humans and Pokémon alike."
Solonn took another look at the sign and its message in Unown-script, intrigued and quite impressed. It was an incredible notion: an entire species literally transforming itself in the name of promoting universal communication. He wondered what it might be like to actually encounter one of them - the things that could be learned from such creatures, especially by one such as himself, who had his own relationship with the concept of universal communication...
The wheels of his mind ground to a sudden halt.
Wait...
"Tell me, Mr. Zgil-Al," Jal'tai spoke up crisply then, interrupting Solonn's reverie almost as soon as it had begun, "when you mentioned that Unown-script felt 'different to read'...did you mean as compared to Human writing? I have always hoped to meet another who is Human-literate, as I am."
Solonn's thought processes were arrested once again, more harshly this time. Stupid!...He fumbled internally for a means to repair any possible damage done. "Oh...no, I can't read that," he finally said, his words tumbling out a bit more quickly than he'd intended. "I just guessed that it said the same thing that it said below in the Unown-script."
"Hmm..." the Swellow uttered, sounding perhaps not quite as crestfallen as he felt. "Well, perhaps if you're interested, I could teach you to read Human-script sometime, hmm? In the meantime...I daresay we've tarried here outside for quite long enough," he then said briskly. "Why wait a moment longer when food's right inside, right? Come on, then!"
Solonn followed Jal'tai to a set of doors, which opened automatically for them a couple of seconds after the two had stopped before them. They entered the restaurant, which was warmly lit by a large number of hanging, stained-glass lamps, and were immediately greeted by a Hitmonchan in a tuxedo.
"Ah! You grace our presence in person yet again!" the semi-Humanoid Fighting-type exclaimed rapturously. "And this gentleman is your guest?" he inquired. Jal'tai nodded. "Very well, then! Please, let me show you to your usual table!"
The Hitmonchan beckoned the two of them towards the back of the restaurant. They passed a table where a Human female sat feeding small morsels of meat to a baby Makuhita in a high chair that barely accommodated his rotund form. Solonn spotted an area in one corner of the restaurant that was enclosed by slightly tinted, soft plastic walls with a zippered door flap, in which an assembly of Koffing and Grimer laughed around a pile of something slimy and rotten-looking beneath a large (and hopefully very powerful) exhaust fan. In another corner, two Magnemite contently orbited a peculiar, seven-foot-tall, towerlike structure that hummed faintly with electricity. It appeared to be feeding energy into the mechanical-looking Electric/Steel-types through wires connected to the magnet-like appendages at their sides.
Jal'tai's "usual table" was located in a private room in the very back of the restaurant. The room was handsomely decorated with paintings of landscapes on every wall and an elegant potted shrub in every corner. A modest, but not unattractive chandelier hung above the table in the center of the room, bearing the light of a number of small light bulbs rather than actual, burning candles.
Jal'tai seated himself at the table; or rather, perched atop his seat, his ruby-red talons gripping the back of his chair while his tail feathers draped over it towards the floor. Solonn, being quite large, quite heavy, and generally just not equipped for perching or for sitting on most things without breaking them, merely pushed the chair at the opposite end of the table aside and sat down in its place, grateful to be out of the air once more after all the traveling he'd done of late.
"Your orders, then, sirs?" queried the Hitmonchan waiter.
"Oh, it'll be the Cerulean fish platter for me. Yes, again," Jal'tai said with his trademark chuckle. "And for him...oh, just give him the Specialty of the House to start with - don't bother to cook it, of course. And you know where to send the bill, of course."
"Yes, sir!" the Hitmonchan confirmed enthusiastically, and departed their table and the room.
"Isn't it refreshing to see Pokémon holding occupations other than 'gladiator'?" Jal'tai said wistfully. He sighed. "Alas, the indignities we children of the Elements suffer at the hands of Humans...Which reminds me, Mr. Zgil-Al...what of those Humans from whom you escaped? Have you any idea what their motives might have been?"
Solonn was taken a bit by surprise by that question, even though he hadn't exactly expected that the subject of his pursuers wouldn't come up again; however, he had rather strongly hoped that it wouldn't, of course. Recovering with commendable speed, he untruthfully replied, "No idea whatsoever. Frankly, I'm glad I never got the chance to find out."
"Indeed," Jal'tai concurred. "You've certainly been spared a most degrading fate."
You don't know the half of it...Solonn held Jal'tai's gaze for a moment more, then let his eyes flit about from one painting on the wall to another in the awkward silence that hung in the air until Jal'tai spoke again.
"You mentioned fleeing from Lilycove...I've not heard of an Ice-type colony anywhere in that vicinity - believe me, as an avian I would make sure to know of such!" Jal'tai said with a laugh. "No offense, of course," he added quickly, but coolly.
"Meh," Solonn responded unconcernedly.
"Anyhow, you were brought into Lilycove by these Humans from someplace else, then, correct?" the Swellow inquired.
"Well..." Solonn supposed there was no real harm in speaking of Morgan, though he opted against mentioning her by name, "...not by those Humans, but yes, I was brought to Lilycove by a Human." He mindfully chose the word "brought" rather than "taken"; he had deduced that Jal'tai did not have the most favorable of attitudes towards Humans, especially those who kept Pokémon, and so Solonn thought that it might be prudent to select his words carefully so as to give the avian as little provocation to speak ill of Morgan as possible. "I lived with her for several months. She was really a very decent person. I won't lie about it - I do miss her..." He sighed, feeling a strange sensation that he couldn't quite discern suffusing through his nerves in the wake of this admission. "She must be horribly worried about me..."
"Do you think you'll ever return to her?" Jal'tai asked quietly.
"I don't know," Solonn answered truthfully. "I mean...I'd like to, sure. I just don't know if Lilycove will ever be safe for me again...those people are still out there, and I don't know if they'll ever be caught."
"Let us hope they will be, at any rate," Jal'tai said soberly. Solonn nodded in agreement.
Their ordered food arrived then, carried in on a wide tray that was balanced deftly upon the large hands of the Hitmonchan waiter as he pushed the door to the private room open with his hip. Several smoked fish fillets on a ceramic platter were placed before Jal'tai. Before Solonn, the waiter placed an odd, wooden pedestal on which there sat a rather large slab of uncooked red meat. The Hitmonchan then provided each of them with a saucer of water (as a credit to his skill in balancing things, he had managed to avoid spilling a single drop of the water in the process of carrying it to the customers).
"I'll be back shortly," the waiter said merrily. "When I return, you just let me know if you need anything else, okay?" With that, he departed Jal'tai and Solonn's company.
Solonn eyed the pedestal on which his meal sat, puzzled. "What is this thing?"
"Hmm?" came Jal'tai's muffled response; he already had a large chunk of fish in his beak. He swallowed it, then answered, "Oh, yes, that. It's just something to make it a little easier for those without limbs to enjoy their meal. Particularly someone like yourself; I can see where you would experience some difficulty in attempting to pluck meat off a plate as I am doing."
Solonn's eyes shifted the tiny distance upward from the pedestal to the steak itself. "So...this is meat, then?"
"Mmm-hmm," the Swellow confirmed through another bite of fish. "I imagine you're unused to it being cut and processed in such a manner, but I assure you, it is meat."
Solonn made a small, wordless noise of acknowledgement. So...this thing before him, this moist, red slab...had once been a part of a living creature...He felt a sense of trepidation fluttering about the vicinity of his heart as he continued to stare at the steak.
Once again, his internal advocate for predation chose to speak up. It's what's right for you, you know.
Solonn continued to eye the steak uneasily. There was a part of his mind that couldn't help but try and picture what the former owner of this muscle tissue had once looked like...before it was slaughtered...
Come on - it's not like you killed it, came the internal argument.
That angle fell just short of mollifying Solonn. Accepting that he could feed off of another's demise seemed a nigh insurmountable task...He cast a quick glance at Jal'tai, and found that the bird was temporarily neglecting his fish fillets to gaze back at him concernedly.
"Are you quite all right?" he inquired. "You haven't touched your Specialty, there."
"Er..." Solonn began, pausing as he swallowed nervously. "...I was just trying to figure out what's so 'special' about it..." he half-muttered, inwardly cursing himself a bit for not coming up with a better response. Still, he found it rather preferable to telling the truth. It shamed him somewhat to admit it to himself, but the fact was that he was disinclined to confess, and perhaps have to justify, his reservations about carnivorousness.
"Well, taste it and you'll find out!" Jal'tai said, giving the avian equivalent of a beaming grin.
Solonn shut his eyes briefly as he battled an urge to grimace. It seemed that until he partook of the food that Jal'tai had ordered for him, the Swellow would continue to press the issue. He was not enthusiastic about accepting the steak, but he was all too aware of the Swellow's eyes upon him.
At least it hasn't got eyes, the voice of predation told him. At least it can't look back at you...
Solonn sighed heavily. It seemed there were two in his company who would not relent until he accepted the meat, a fact made more difficult to abide by due to the fact that one of those persistent voices was actually a part of him.
Gods forgive me, he said silently, then rose from the floor, and looked down upon the slab of meat. With a flash of light in his eyes, the steak was instantly frozen. Closing his eyes involuntarily, he lowered his opened jaws towards the steak and took it into his mouth.
The taste of it was...not as he had anticipated. He had expected it to have the sharpest, most foul flavor imaginable, but found it instead to be rather bland. Vaguely, he wondered if his brain had done him a merciful favor and had temporarily weakened his sense of taste. As he began to chew the steak, he tried very hard not to think about what it was that he was grinding between his teeth. It's just ice, he tried to convince himself, that's all...He wanted to rush it down his throat as quickly as he could, but his gullet seemed possessed of contrary urges. It took nine attempts just to force some of the meat down, and three more to swallow the rest.
Solonn opened his eyes again, only then realizing that he'd kept them closed all the while he'd consumed the steak. He rapidly and repeatedly flicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, trying to scrape off the weak, yet nonetheless offensive flavor of the meat.
Jal'tai smiled at him, looking satisfied. "Was it to your liking?" he asked.
Solonn hastily gave a brisk nod, wondering if anything in his expression was contradicting the gesture even as it was made. His eyes traveled downward to where the saucer of water lay. He rather fancied the thought of some good, fresh ice right about then; perhaps crunching on it for a while might help to loosen and remove any stray bits of the frozen meat that might be caught between his teeth, still haunting him with that strange taste. And it was convenient that water had been provided for him to freeze, too; it would mean a bit less effort than spontaneously generating ice would require. He was about to freeze it, but then hesitated as he realized something.
"Er, Jal'tai? If I freeze this water, I won't be able to get it out of that dish, there. And...well, I don't exactly want to eat the dish..."
Jal'tai gave him a blank, unblinking stare for a moment. Then, he slapped his wing against his forehead and burst into laughter. "Oh, dear!" he cried, still laughing uproariously, tears beginning to gather at the corners of his eyes. "Oh, heavens, I don't know why we didn't think of that...Is there any particular reason you must freeze it first?"
Solonn gave Jal'tai a momentary, mild glare. Then, he lowered his face towards the saucer of water and, in an exaggeratedly delicate manner, dipped his tongue into the water. A second later, he lifted his face to look back up at Jal'tai, wearing a deadpan expression. The saucer of water was dangling from his tongue, to which it had frozen.
Jal'tai stared at Solonn, his beak agape, as the Glalie, still glaring dully, set the saucer back down onto the table, unfreezing the water within the saucer and thereby freeing his tongue. The Swellow was able to hold in his laughter for - at most - five seconds more before it came exploding out.
"Oh..." Jal'tai sniffed, fighting to catch his breath. "I'm sorry, but..." He was stricken by another fit of chuckles; it took him easily half a minute to calm down again. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "I do believe I've just thought of a solution. Freeze that again, would you? Without encasing a part of yourself in it this time," he added, then cracked up laughing yet again.
Solonn grumbled infrasonically to himself, wondering why he had thought it was a good idea to demonstrate his dilemma in such a way. He complied with Jal'tai's request quickly, once again solidifying the water in the saucer.
"All right, then, if you'll just excuse me..." The Swellow suddenly sprung from his perch atop the chair, opened his wings, and fluttered to the opposite side of the table. His beak took on a curious glow as he positioned himself before the saucer of ice. With a flurry of sudden motion, he took his glowing beak to the ice. Barely more than a second later, he relented, and it was revealed that he had chipped the ice into frozen grit, while not even putting a dent in the saucer that held it.
Jal'tai then picked up the saucer in his beak and carefully tipped its contents onto the pedestal where the steak had sat minutes before. "There you go," he said, and fluttered back to his seat.
Slightly stupefied by Jal'tai's frenzied feat, Solonn seemed not to notice the ice piled before him for several moments. Once he finally did notice it, he descended upon it quickly. He ground it in his teeth for quite a bit longer than was necessary; it was virtually reduced to a powder by the time he finally swallowed it. "Thanks," he said to the Swellow, then sank back down to the floor, feeling suddenly quite weary.
Jal'tai smiled. "You're most welcome," he responded, bowing his head slightly, before finishing off the rest of his fish.
The Hitmonchan waiter returned then, and immediately set about removing the used plate and pedestal as well as Solonn's saucer, leaving Jal'tai's saucer where it sat (the Swellow had not yet finished his water). "Is there anything I can get for you gentlemen?" he asked.
"Nothing more for me," Jal'tai said, shaking his head gently. "What about you, Mr. Zgil-Al? Care for another Specialty?"
There were very few things in the world that Solonn would have cared for less. "No thanks," he said - or tried to say, at least. His words were almost completely engulfed in a massive yawn.
"'No', did you say?" the Hitmonchan questioned.
"Hm? Yeah, that's right," Solonn confirmed.
"Very well then, sirs. I hope you have enjoyed your day here!" the Hitmonchan said cheerfully, then left.
Jal'tai took a moment to stretch his wings, then fluttered down from the chair. "So, Mr. Zgil-Al. Would you like for me to give you a nice tour of the city?"
"Ugh...that'd be nice, but..." He unleashed another massive yawn. "I don't know...I'm just really tired all of a sudden..." Solonn had found himself quite suddenly stricken by a powerful lethargy. "I feel like I need to get to sleep..."
Jal'tai frowned concernedly at him. "Hmm. Well, in that case, I think we'd better seek out a place where you can rest. I think your recent tribulations must have finally taken their toll on you."
Solonn nodded listlessly, suspecting that the Swellow was right. It seemed his body had taken all that it could, and was demanding a temporary exemption from any possible excitement.
"Come, Mr. Zgil-Al. The Serenity Inn is not terribly far from here at all. I should be able to get a room for you there without any trouble." The Swellow made for the door leading out of the private room and beckoned Solonn to follow.
* * *
Solonn barely registered the trip from Whitley's to the Serenity Inn, barely even aware of any conscious effort on his part to keep his body afloat as he drifted lethargically behind the Swellow. He did not seem to absorb Jal'tai's words when the avian told him that they had arrived at their destination until several seconds after those words had been spoken.
The Serenity Inn was an elegant, seven-story structure whose face glittered with a multitude of windows, all of which reflected the bright midday sun to give the building a warm, saffron-hued aura. However, through eyes clouded by drowse and yearning to close, Solonn only saw it as a towering, wavering mass of luminosity. The glaring brilliance of it did nothing to aid him in keeping his eyes open.
Vaguely, Solonn noted that he was following Jal'tai into the hotel. Distantly, through a somnolent haze that made it difficult for his mind to grasp that the input from his eyes was genuine, he saw the Swellow stray from his immediate vicinity and cross the lobby to go and speak with a Swampert receptionist.
The bird returned shortly, and gestured with his wing towards an elevator to Solonn's right. "This way," he directed. "Your room is on the top floor."
Making the most vague noise of acknowledgement, Solonn allowed himself to be guided towards the elevator. Jal'tai pressed a button to the side of the elevator's steel doors, and a few moments later, the doors opened. Solonn drifted quite slowly and somewhat unsteadily into the elevator; Jal'tai just managed to dash in after him before the doors closed and the elevator began to rise.
Once the ascent was complete, the two of them emerged onto the uppermost floor. Jal'tai moved ahead of Solonn and began making his way through the corridor, looking for what was to be Solonn's room.
"Here it is!" he called back to the Glalie after only a brief search.
Solonn glided over to join him, so hampered by drowsiness at this point that he very nearly collided with the wall before coming to a stop beside the Swellow.
"This shall be your room for the night," Jal'tai said, "right in there." He gestured towards the very same wall with which Solonn had just nearly collided. There was no door, no apparent means of gaining entry into the "room" Jal'tai was indicating. The wall was nearly featureless, save for the words "Grand Suite" in blue Human- and Unown-script and a pair of strange devices fitted to the wall next to the words. One of these fixtures was some kind of keypad, while the other resembled nothing so much as a round, blank, grey eye.
Even in his great lethargy, Solonn managed to give the Swellow quite a skeptical look.
Jal'tai smiled. "Observe." Fluttering up into the air before the keypad, he punched a code into it using a single claw on his right foot, then hurriedly flapped aside from it.
"Ready," came a feminine voice out of nowhere, and a large, glowing, green square lit up dramatically on the floor in front of the lens and keypad. "Please enter the transport field."
"Go to that square and sit down," Jal'tai instructed.
Solonn did as he was told. "Initializing scan," came the disembodied voice again. The lens on the wall awakened, glowing with a brilliant, ochre light. It projected a golden beam, which touched Solonn, broadened to his width, and swept up and down over him. "Scan complete," the voice then said, and the beam vanished.
The glowing, green tile on which Solonn was sitting flashed. A peculiar, tingling sensation prickled over the Glalie's skin, followed by a strange, sort of transcendent sensation not unlike that which accompanied entrance into a capture ball. However, he was drawn not into a disembodied netherscape, but instead into a large, luxurious suite, one that was richly furnished and bore paintings on its wheat-colored walls that put those hanging up at Whitley's to shame. Fine marble figures of various draconic Pokémon accented every room, seeming to lounge about the suite without a care in the world in the serene poses their sculptor had chosen for them. Not that Solonn could truly appreciate the splendor of his surroundings - to his weary eyes, everything around him seemed to want to bleed together into a blur of color and light.
"Hey in there!" Jal'tai shouted, his voice coming in through the wall. "Do you like it?"
Solonn turned towards the wall and uttered a wordless noise that was as affirmative-sounding as his lack of energy would allow.
"Good, good!" Jal'tai responded merrily. "Now, listen, I doubt you'll need anything overnight; your suite comes very well equipped, I assure you. But, if you do...have a look at the little table by that green armchair in the den." He gave the Glalie ample time to find it; Solonn, in his present state, needed every second of it.
"I see it," Solonn finally responded, his words slurred.
"Good," Jal'tai said, speaking more loudly to ensure that his next instructions would be heard. "Now, you'll notice the little black box with a large, round speaker on top - you can use that to call me if you need anything. It's voice-activated. You need only speak into it - say 'Page', then my name, followed by 'Room 44-B', which is where I'm going to be staying. Call, and I'll come up here as quickly as I can manage. Got it?"
"Got it," Solonn confirmed, although he was only minimally aware of what he was saying.
"All right, then. Rest well, Mr. Zgil-Al!" Jal'tai said brightly. His words were followed by a continuing silence that announced that he'd left.
Unleashing yet another massive yawn, Solonn lowered himself onto the floor. He rolled onto his back and gratefully let his eyelids meet, sighing in repose. His fading mind drifted back to information that it had absorbed earlier that day, regarding the Unown. Solonn remembered, in a detached sort of way, something having been piqued within his mind at learning of them, but he had fallen too far towards the enveloping darkness of sleep to truly reach any of those notions now. Already half-dreaming, his brain conjured images of the fantastic, surreal beings it could only guess the Unown to be, whimsically bizarre creatures that danced drunkenly in circles around his consciousness as it spiraled into a sweet oblivion.
Next time: Solonn makes a discovery of a most unexpected nature, and gets to know Jal'tai a little better. See you then!