Our visit to Winter Wonderland was kind of a disaster. I already felt bad, eves dropping on Lilly’s date, but then there was some kind of commotion on the upper floors Nym got caught up in and we had to leave in a hurry! It was hard not to feel like it was our fault, awful stuff seems to follow us wherever we go, and I hate ruining stuff for people like this…
We did at least learn about Ricardo and his… history with my family. Theo only told me about this stuff later, but… turns out my dad isn’t always the brave, upstanding guy I see him as. He and the Mayor were real bad to Ricardo. Sure, they did it to save Mom, and I’m sure she wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. It was an accident, she wasn’t in her right mind, but that didn’t mean Ricardo deserved to get thrown under the bus.
Unfortunately, our trip didn’t go as well as we’d planned. We got only a short ways into the woods before a Kecleon of all things jumped in our path. The thing got in a good, direct hit to my person, slicing right through my apron and scarring me a bit. Probably one of the scariest moments of my life! You don’t really think about how strong a Pokémon actually is until an attack gets aimed right at you. I was supper lucky to get out with just a few scratches, even if they did still hurt and bleed a lot.
Theo managed to pull us out of it by using his ability to travel through that strange dream world we get pulled into to teleport back to the house. Relieved as I was to be safe, it was real disappointing, forced to flee back to where we started.
Cinnamon seemed to accept this. She was at least willing to share what she knew with us, about Dad, about our grandfather… about Mom. She’d been sick- which I knew- but… she wasn’t dead. She hadn’t died, just… vanished, one day. Her health had been declining since she got pregnant with me, her behavior becoming more erratic and dangerous. That was why she’d attacked Ricardo; it was thanks to her illness.
Dad had tried to cover this up, to keep it all from me so I wouldn’t blame myself. Maybe he was right; if I’d found out a few years ago, maybe I would have thought it was all my fault. That if Mom hadn’t gotten pregnant with me, she wouldn’t have gotten sick.
But I’m not the same kid who left a few months ago for summer camp. I know that now. It’s not a… huge difference, sure, a lot of stuff still scares me, but I can do more than I used to! I have Pokémon, I have my friends, and some kind of strange magic powers I’m gonna learn how to use. I can help people now, I can fix things. And if Mom is still alive somewhere, maybe I can fix her, too.
Theo and I were just in time to help with the final push, where we found the real culprits behind things. Turns out, it wasn’t Ricardo at all! Or at least, the attack on the Knackery hadn’t been his idea.
Some strange man, the same one Lilly and I saw in the forest that day with the giant, helmet wearing Pokémon, was colluding with Mr. Valentine- who as it turns out was being mind controlled by his Sylveon? Yeah, that one still weirds me out.
Most of the group handled the fodder while Nym, Theo, and I took off after the stranger, who tried to make an escape. The battle was long and difficult, and at some point Nym revealed that the stranger was some kind of strange lizard-looking man under the mask who’d been using the shape-changing synth meat to disguise himself! Supper gross…
Sadly, the guy got away. But we did stop whatever deal they were planning and captured the evil Sylveon, and we (sorta?) made up with Ricardo! See, he does want revenge on my family, but he want to do that through beating me at contests. Kind of a strange way to do it, but it doesn’t involve hurting anyone, so I can roll with it! Maybe I’ll keep entering contests just to give him the chance to beat me. I’m not very good at them, and maybe it can mend things between Ricardo and the other Broils too.
That’s where the weird eye thing I have comes from, apparently, and it only gets stronger with age. He didn’t know anything about the fire visions, so I guess I’m on my own in that regard.
It feels like a bad idea to write about this, but I do need to get my thoughts out, and none of my friends are going to read this, anyway, so I might as well.
I talked to that man again- the one I keep seeing in the visions. His name is “Hiawatha” and he’s some kind of… spirit of someone from the past- at least as far as I can tell. I had a hard time understanding most of what he was talking about, but we have some kind of connection. It’s like I’m his apprentice or something, ha ha! He’s got some kind of mission to cure the spill, which I can certainly get behind, and I think he knows how to use these new powers I seem to be coming into.
Right now, our group has decided to take a break from the main roads through Croli to visit Phenac City in the Ore region. We’re staying at the outpost, waiting for the train right now. I’m actually pretty grateful, I could use the break right now. As hectic as it has been, I’m actually pretty excited, too. I think, whatever the future wants to throw at me, I’m ready to rise to the occasion!
Wish me luck!