Pokémon: Out of the Woods | A Galar, Unova & Sinnoh Fanfiction

Chapter 52: The Illusion

A cloudless, electric-blue sky shone over Quartz Town. It was sweltering outside. Abbey, especially was glad for the air conditioning. Marking papers was boring enough as it was, but sweaty marking was even worse. Jamie had finally finished his stack. He now worked on his own geochemistry paper for the Mars missions that Ingo's resigned daughter joined.

The door was shut. They still heard the distant thumping of Raidne, Nick and four other kids dancing to Euphoria. Raidne loved having kids around. They loved her. They even enjoyed helping out at the clothing store that she co-owned with Jamie's younger sister, Laila. Raidne was a little worried that people would recognise Nick as Volo's son and judge him, so she clipped his long fringe back just in case, but none of her customers cared. They just thought he was cute.

The doorbell rang. It was Laila and her two kids. Jamie closed his laptop.

'Come on. Let's not be Zubat for once.'

The noise was deafening as soon as the door opened. Nick, Citrine and Ross, Lumir's son, were usually quiet, but egged on by their friends from Team Magma, they bellowed every lyric they knew. Nick and Togepi spun around with Citrine and her Squirtle. Laila's daughter Dihya soon joined the chaos by 'stage diving' off the couch.

'Weeeeeeeeeeee!'

Raidne was already watching the new arrivals. Laila pulled Jamie aside.

'No news of Rigel, I assume...?'

'None.'

'If it's just turned into a search for that nutter – Wolo or whatever his name is – Mum and Dad might as well come home...'

'Yeah, but Volo's in Team Plasma, so it's probably relevant... and speaking of that... there's something not quite right, you know.'

'What?'

The door opened again. Galatea and Horace returned from the supermarket. They both looked troubled. Jamie asked what was wrong. Galatea shrugged.

'Just... life...'

Horace apparently couldn't put his finger on it, so he said nothing. Nick stopped dancing. Citrine crashed into him. They both fell on Togepi.

'Owww...'

All three of them cried. Galatea hurried over to comfort her son, but he squirmed out of her arms and dived under the couch. Togepi and Citrine followed him. Her little boot emerged to kick Galatea when she knelt to pull him out. It was unusual. Galatea was usually the only person who could comfort Nick, but he had been running away from her for three days now. She eventually managed to coax him out with a cupcake. He followed her upstairs, but returned when she fell asleep. The dancing resumed as if nothing happened.

Laila still had no idea what Jamie was talking about. Nor did Leon or Abbey. They were too old and tired to work it out. Raidne thought it was odd, because she was the one who Nick clung to, but she didn't know why.

No-one heard footsteps on the stairs. They didn't hear the kitchen door creaking. Even Horace didn't notice that someone wandered into the kitchen, but Jamie did. No-one noticed him slipping away, either, or so he thought. Laila did. She didn't bother hiding that she was following him, so everyone else followed, too.

The fridge was open. Galatea hastily slammed it shut. There was a stuffed mushroom, which Leon already prepared for dinner, in the hand she hid behind her back. Horace grimaced. Since when did she have a thing for cold, uncooked mushrooms? That was worse than Impidimp Ready Dinner. Was she pregnant? Was that why she withdrew? Because she was embarrassed that she was pregnant with another one of Volo's children?

Jamie placed a firm hand on her back. Everyone was baffled. She tried to run. He held on to her shirt, or at least they thought it was her shirt. It was suddenly black. There was no shirt. Jamie was holding the tail of a panicked, frantically flailing Zorua.