Across the Seas: Prelude

Question

Andy had been all about getting as far away from Dandelion Town as possible. He explained to Ocean as best as he could everything he knew about his situation. Through some miracle, Ocean had recovered Sharli's bag. And through another miracle, nothing on the inside had been damaged, or even wet.

"Those bags are built to protect everything inside," she had been explaining to him at the time. "No matter what happens to the bag, everything inside will be untouched. They're made to be that way."

"How'd you know I was gonna ask that?" Andy asked in response. Was Ocean somehow part Psychic?

"Oh, I just know how to read people. I did it alot when I was in the Lapras services, at least before I retired." She brought up one of her flippers to show to Andy. Like with the rest of her body, the color seemed faded, but her skin was still perfect for traveling through water, with no wrinkles at all. "You get as old as me, and even travel gets tiresome." Andy set Sharli's bag down, closing it, and latching it to stay shut, before looking back at Ocean.

"How come you came when Sharli blew the whistle then?"

"Me and her go way back." Ocean stared upwards, seemingly lost in some memory she was reliving. "A very, very long time ago. We became very close. It was strange for me to love a recurring customer like her. After I retired and let her know, she seemed to find contention staying at Dandelion Town." She made a small chuckle noise, and looked back at Andy. "She picked the perfect place to settle down at, for more reasons than one." Andy still couldn't help but feel pain hearing that about her, sort of looking down in shame.

"But she got killed there." He hadn't meant to kill the mood, he hadn't even meant to say that to Ocean. Once he did though, he realized what he'd said, and looked up to her, seeing Ocean's eyes fill with grief once again.

"Yeah, nowhere is safe anymore, so long as thieves have a reason to band together." She looked back in the direction she was swimming, continuing on in a solemn voice. "These days you can't even walk a step without seeing a crime go on." Andy seemed to understand that much, though it was weird the more he thought about it. He couldn't ignore the question nagging him this time.

"What has all the thieves banding together? I mean, you said they had a reason to and that's why it's not safe." Ocean seemed like the last thing she wanted to do was talk about it, but she went on regardless.

"You've probably never heard of Aruvin." Andy shook his head, even though he was fully aware Ocean wasn't looking at him. "He was a Charizard of the old days, and a sorcerer back then. He had a friend named Mimuti, and long story short, they both backstabbed one another and got in a fight. Aruvin cursed an artifact, and the rest of it is history." Andy looked to the side to see into the waters, looking into his reflection. He seemed the same as he did before, the only major difference being in his tail flame. It was in its normal fiery color, but it seemed like it may be smaller than before. No, it was definitely much smaller, it seemed like hardly a flicker.

"Don't tail flames usually represent how... Alive we are?" Andy asked, staring at the flame with his eyes. He was very concerned if he was very close to death.

"Oh, that's a common misconception to new Charmander's. The flame isn't a representation of your life, it's just a way for others to know how your body temperature is doing." Ocean looked up into the sky, and Andy could almost swear it was like she was scanning the sky. "While yes, your tail flame will go out when you die, just because it stops burning doesn't mean your dead, it just means you need to be warmed." She gave Andy one little glance, before looking ahead of her again. "I'm not sure who made that falsehood about your kind, but it's always bugged me."

"So, it's just a measurement of my body temperature then?" Andy gazed at it curiously. If it was meant to be a personal thermometer, then what purpose did it serve for it to change colors and heat types? He'd noticed, at least only recently, then whenever his tail flame had been its ghostly purple, it felt colder than usual.