Across the Seas: Prelude

Victim

Andy gave Forcer a somewhat nervous glance, not quite sure he'd heard what he said right.

"I'm sorry, I'm a what?"

"Half ghost. Ya know, a cross-breed?" Even with Forcer's description, Andy had no idea what he was talking about. Forcer ended up sighing, and going on. "Ok, so imagine if you were to mix the Eevee and Flaffy you came here with. If they had offspring, the most likely thing to happen would be for the pokemon to match the Flaffy's species. However, in some uncommon instances, you can end up seeing aspects from both the Eevee and Flaffy come together. Maybe they'll have a bushy tail, maybe their fur color will be like the Eevee's, maybe the pokemon ends up like the Eevee, with traits from the Flaffy, like a bulb at the end of their tail. Such changes we call cross-breeds."

"And they can also inherit their types I assume?" Andy asked, and to that, Forcer nodded his head.

"In your case, you inherited the ghost typing, but no physical things other than the changing tail flame really give that away, which is the part I'm curious about." Forcer gestured to Andy's whole body. "Your scales are the same vibrant shade as a Charmander's, you'd think they'd be darker." Forcer poked at his arm, as if looking for a specific scale, or mentally comparing them to a color palette. "Although I'm no expert on the whole cross-breed stuff, you'd have to ask Sharli about it when you see her." Andy went to rub his eyes, not for any other reason other than he needed to think with an excuse to move his hands. Nearly forgetting about his scar, he stopped his hand when it reached for his closed eye, and set it back on his lap.

"Cross-breeds on top of normal pokemon? I'm gonna have a hard time getting used to this." Forcer gave Andy a pitiful look, staring down at the Charmander.

"You're not from around here then are you?" Andy sighed, and nodded to the Lucario's question. "That must be rough. Cross-breeds aren't rare, but they aren't common either. You'll probably meet one in at least every town." Forcer set down the aura cloth, before moving back to Andy. "I'm going to finish your examination quickly now. I don't want to waste all your time here when Sharli will probably want you out with the festival." As Forcer said that, Andy chuckled.

"You know her that well?" Andy asked as a trick question, but Forcer answered anyways.

"We're good friends. And friends are something you're going to need around here." Andy couldn't help but feel an ominous feeling when Forcer said that. He'd already known there was a black market. Thieves weren't out of the question, but why had he said it that way? Were thieves that dangerous? He sat still for Forcer to continue looking at him up and down. By the time he finished, he'd come to his own diagnosis. "Well, other than the scar on your eye, you've got no lasting injuries. You've recovered very well, so I don't see any reason to keep you on any medicine from here on out." Forced set down his clipboard, and opened the door for Andy. "You're free to head out." After a short exchange of gratitude from Andy, he headed out, only to see that both Andy and Lantern had disappeared. He wasn't necessarily disappointed though. He hardly knew them, but something still clawed at his chest. He ignored the feeling, and went out to enjoy the final moments of the festival alone.

He started off trying some local food, which was a berry smoothie, at least what he was told it was. The taste wasn't bitter, but neither was it sweet. It was more sharp than anything else, without any actual distinction of flavor. It wasn't terrible, but Andy didn't really like it. When he'd gone to ask the person who made it what he owed, he was told it was on the house, in celebration of the festival, and Andy being a newcomer. He was happy to accept that, once remembering he didn't actually carry any money on him, so he simply avoided anymore stalls. After some time wandering around, Andy grew bored, and decided to start heading back towards Sharli's place. Before he got there, he turned to look behind him when he heard some loud bangs and cracks in the air, only to see fireworks exploding in the very dim light of the remaining sunlight of the day. He smiled at it, somehow the fireworks bringing out something in him he didn't know anything about. He didn't remember anything about why it made him feel good, but they just did. He turned away to continue down the path to Sharli's home, before he caught some movement off the corner of his eye. He stopped and looked where he'd caught it. It had looked like a figure jumped into the darkness of the alley to his side. He continued to walk on the road, before stopping when he saw Sharli out on the road as well, wearing a sort of book bag over her shoulder, strapped shut by a buckle. He started to walk towards her, and once Sharli saw Andy, she rushed towards him. Once she stopped in front of him, he realized she was panicking.