The Aura is With Us

Chapter 37: Into a Lions' Den

                "You know when you said we'd be going into the city today, I didn't think it would be this place," Ash said.

"Pika!"

Ash had quite enjoyed his time at Ryme City so far. Amanda and Riley's childhood home was so big it took him an hour to explore all the rooms that were unlocked. Four floors, endless bedrooms, an indoor pool, and long tall empty halls ways. It was kind of both wonderous and intimidating. On one hand, if he grew up in this place he would definitely get lost on a daily basis, on the other hand this was the perfect place for hide and seek tournaments.

However, the best part about his cousins' home was far outside of the walls. In the meadow outside of the mansion, was an eevee spawning ground. Eevees, eevee eggs, and even a few eevlutions frolicked through the meadow. Due to the easy access to multitudes of eevees, most of the new trainers in Ryme City would get to pick one straight from the meadow. Ash learned about this fact when a shy girl knocked on the mansion's door that morning and Mrs. Rose showed them to the field. Naturally curious Ash elected to join them, and ended up in utter bliss as a large amount of the hatchlings dogpiled him for the rest of the morning. They were all so cute!

And while the property was great, so was the people that lived inside of the mansion's walls. Mrs. Rose seemed determined to become everyone's grandmother. She was so sweet and caring. Making sure they all had a warm soft place to sleep, and yummy meals to fill their stomachs. The elder woman just had this feeling of safety surrounding her.

Ash also found that he very much enjoyed the company of his youngest cousins too. Constance and Carter were so much fun to be around, even if Ash couldn't understand a lick of what they were saying half the time. It was crazy some of the inventions those two had come up with, Ash would have to introduce the two of them to Clemet. Maybe his friend can finally have a little revenge and try to set Bonnie up with one of them. Though, the kids seemed to have this really weird aversion to dirt. Ash tried to get them to come outside, but they were really worried about getting their clothes dirty. Must be a rich people thing.

So, when Amanda said that they would be heading into the city after lunch to go find whoever took her necklace, given the overwhelming positive impression he already had to the city, Ash was excited.

His excitement was greatly dampened when his cousin took them, not to the shining city of crystal tower, but the docks on the southern east side of the city. The place was nothing like they city it was apart of. The sound of the ocean rippled through the air bringing with it the smell of salt and mildew from the old rotten wooden docks that were falling apart. The lights around them flickered from clearly old bulbs and the concrete beneath them was covered in dirt and mystery stains. The whole place gave this "someone was murdered here" vibes. Even with the beginnings of a beautiful sunset starting to form on the horizon.

Amanda huffed, "I bet, when most people think of Ryme City they don't really picture the rundown buildings of Oldtown."

"Is Bella even here?" Riley asked, "Not that I don't trust you Mandy, but this doesn't seem like a place she'd hang out."

"She's here or at least she should be," Amanda said.

"I hope she's right," Goh whispered into Ash's ear, "I don't like this place. It makes me feel like someone is going to jump out and stab us."

It's called survival instinct, Goh.

His fellow researcher sent the ancient Pokémon and unimpressed glance.