Part 12

12
[7:53 PM. Vermillion City Refugee Shelters, Vermillion City. The same day.]
A small boy rushed past the Kanto Representatives as they approached the shelter.
	Moira moved to follow the boy, but Werner put a large hand on her shoulder. He removed the cigar from his mouth, stomped what was left of it into the ground, and pulled her back. “Let him go.”
	Moira turned to her mentor. She bore a look of abject shock. “What?”
	“He’s probably had a rough day; the worst day of his life, I’d wager. Best to let them deal with it on their own.”
	“But he’s just a kid!”
	“And so are you.”
	Moira froze. In that moment, Werner seemed more like her father and less like the representative for Kanto than he ever did her entire life.
	“Just let him go, Mo. He’ll come back. Let him run out his frustration. Let him vent.”
	Moira nodded. Ian held the door open for Werner and Moira. The sight inside the shelter was disturbing, even for today’s events. In the center of the warehouse, several nurses stood frozen in shock. All of them were dripping with some sort of viscous liquid. The entire warehouse was silent. The body of a Beedril lay on the floor.
	“What in the hell happened here?”
	A sheepish looking doctor stepped forward. “It…it didn’t make it.”
	Ian stepped forward, past the doctors and nurses towards the body of the Beedrill. He took to fingers to the ooze that coated the carcass. With years of Ranger training, he sniffed it lightly. He wiped it off on his pants.
	“That’s liquid eviolite. This Beedrill died while evolving.”
	The doctor shook Werner’s hand. “I’m Dr. Gil, Vermillion City Pokemon Center. You are?”
	“Werner, Kanto Representative to the Tohjo Summit.”
	“Tohjo…summit?”
	Werner waved him aside. “Long story. Who’s in charge here?”
	“Well, sir, that would be me, of course, well, until Master Kai returns.”
	Werner pulled Gil aside to talk logistics. A small girl walked forward with a shy Clefairy trailing behind her. She tugged on Moira’s shirt. “Excuse me, miss? Did you see a boy kinda my height leave as you came in?”
	Moira got down on to the girl’s level. “Yeah, I did. Why? Is he your brother?”
	“No, not my brother. I just met him today. His Kakuna was very sick.” She peeked over at the Beedrill’s corpse. “I guess it’s not sick anymore.”
	Moira put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I’ll go find him. It’s getting cold out there. No need for him to be out there in the dark by himself.”
	Moira grabbed Ian. “I’m gonna go look for that kid.”
	Ian regarded her. “Didn’t Werner say.—”
	“That Beedrill was his, Ian. His. I’m gonna go find him.”
	“Don’t be gone too long. We need to find the…” He looked over his shoulder. “The bombs.”
	Moira nodded. She understood perfectly. Finding the kid would mean nothing if they couldn’t stop the bombs.
	“You need to get these people out of here.”
	“I know. I’m thinking.”
	She nodded and headed out the door into the cool night.  She tried to follow the path the boy had taken. After a few minutes of wandering around in the dark, she came to a tall tree near the bay. The boy was curled underneath the branches. Moira could hear the muffled sounds of a child crying. She slowly approached, as one would a Stantler, careful not to scare it away.
	“Go away,” the boy said.
	She took another step towards him. “I’m not gonna hurt you, can we talk?”
	“I don’t wanna talk.”
	“I understand. Maybe I can talk, and you can listen?”
	The boy did not move. Moira walked forward and took a seat next to him; he had stopped crying, probably trying to act strong. Moira shivered in the breeze. “My name’s Mo, what’s yours?”
	The boy looked up.”Mo? That’s a boy’s name.”
	Moira chuckled. “You’re right. My real name’s Moira, but everyone calls me Mo.”
	“Moira? I like that better. It’s pretty.”
	She smiled. “Thank you.”
	“My name’s Lexie.”
	“That’s a pretty name, too!”
	Lexie stared at her, obviously upset that she had implied he was pretty. “What do you want, anyway?”
	“I just want to talk. I met a little girl inside around your age and she was worried about you.”
	“Oh, that’s Hayley.”
	“Is Hayley your friend?”
	“No, I just met her. Tell her I’m fine, and that she needs to stop worrying.”
	“How about you tell her yourself?”
	Lexie shook his head. “I’m not going in there.”
	Moira understood. “That was your Beedrill in there, wasn’t it?”
	At this, Lexie stood with his face down and began to cry again. He beat the side of the tree with his hand with such vigor, such rage, that it scared Moira. Screeching pokemon flew out in surprise from the tree.
	“I lost a pokemon close to me, too.”
	He ceased his pounding. “You did?”
	“My Nidoking. I’d had him since before I was your age, when he was just a little Nidoran. He was my friend. A bad man took him away from me.”
	“A bad man took my Weedle from me, too,” he said as he slinked down against the tree. “I hate bad people.”
	Moira reached out for him. She took him in for a hug. “I do too, Lexie. I do too.”
As the wind picked up, Moira heard a small screeching nearby. She released Lexie from the hug and moved to investigate. In his fit, Lexie had dislodged a small Noibat that puffed itself up and swaggered at her. “Lexie, come look at this.”
	The boy sniffled and wiped his nose. He looked at the fallen pokemon and shuddered involuntarily. “I hate bats.”
	Moira pulled his arm. She produced a gleaming red pokeball from her satchel and put it into Lexie’s hand. “Go on, try and catch it; it’s pretty young, so you should be able to fairly easily. No one should ever be alone—especially now.”
	Lexie held the ball in his hand. He stared at the Noibat that screeched in defense. All he could picture was the monstrous bat that had slain his companion. He fought back tears. “This one’s for you, Mom!” he yelled as he threw the ball. In a flash of red, the bat was inside the capsule which began to rock back and forth. Both trainers held their breath, and then the rocking stopped. A faint click signified that he had done it. Lexie hesitated to pick up the ball, but as he did, he felt a surge of courage and raised it above his head. “I did it!”
	Moira could only smile as the boy danced beneath the tree, gripping his newest companion with all his might, as if the slightest gust of wind would carry it away.

From a distance, perched atop a building, Vyro watched the two under the trees. Something tugged at him, a brief moment of hesitation. He took the detonator from his pocket, looked at it, and then tossed it onto the ground, stomping it underfoot.
	“Waste of my time anyway.” He leapt atop his Noivern and disappeared into the night.