Miho Chan
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Chapter 12: The Weight of a Grudge
🕑 Added 2023-08-02 23:34:49 +0000 UTCSakura stood over the beaten man, eyes flashing red as she leaned forward. “So, what have we learned, chump?”
The bulky man in a leather jacket whimpered. “You bitch! It was just three kids!”
“Don’t talk to my sister like that!” Rin snarled, even as she palmed three Pokeballs, tossing one back to the teary-eyed kid standing nearby. “Picking on children, how awful.”
“Truly terrible,” Sakura added, saccharine sweetness oozing from her voice. “Such a sad sad man, having to get his jollies from picking on literal children.”
“Shut up!” The man yelled back, foaming at the mouth. “You’re not kids, you’re monsters!” He spat, furiously, only for Rin to toss a blast of energy into him.
“Ugh, he talked way too much. Come on Sakura, let’s go turn these balls in. Should we bring the bastard with us, or…”
“Probably.” The now eerily quiet girl answered after a few moments, lifting the horrid man up with deceptive strength that spoke of reinforcement, “After all, he’s going to need to go confess his crimes in person.”
The boy they’d helped smiled at them both. “Thank you! Come on, Periwinkle Village is pretty close!” He dashed off along the dirt path, which rose along the small ridgeline.
Rin paused, looking at Sakura in concern. “Are you…” She stopped, before shaking her head. “We can talk about it later. Come on, Sakura.”
“...yes, Nii-san,” Sakura murmured, falling in line behind her elder sister, her shadow stretching as she went. Neither girl noticed the two small yellow eyes watching their departure.
“Uh-oh. I’d better tell papa…” A soft voice murmured behind their retreating forms.
“This food is terrible.” Sakura deadpanned viciously, staunchly refusing to touch the horrific abomination that the locals dared to call sushi, pushing the plate aside in favor of the miso that they somehow had managed to not horrifically ruin.
“Yeah, old man Tora really shouldn’t use mudfish for that.” The server sighed, taking away the sorry rice balls capped with brown flesh. “Want to try something else?” He looked over at Rin, who was ignoring her own platter of ‘sushi’ in favor of talking animatedly with an older man in a full suit. “...think I should get rid of hers too?”
“Please. I’ll pay for it if it’s replaced with something that’s not obviously experimental,” Sakura demurred, no longer looking so upset, eyeing the kitchen with sharp eyes. “Not often people bother to experiment with cultural food using local ingredients,” she continued conversationally, clearly probing.
The server shrugged. “We get a lot of folks coming through from around the world to this area to tour the mountains nearby. There’s a few populations of rare Pokemon in protected areas, but if the Pokemon wander into the unregulated mountains looking for a fight or a trainer…” He shrugged. “Sneasel, Riolu… I think I heard there’s even a wild Chansey colony somewhere around here, but they’re protected by every pack and herd around.” He cleared the tray. “And the food’s on the house, don’t worry. Joey would’ve been devastated to lose Silly Mouse.”
“Hmmm. Have you tried craigfish?” Sakura mused aloud as she nibbled on another of the dishes provided, nodding at the information the server had provided, “It’d probably work significantly better than mudfish, especially if you add some non-Kanto based seasoning to it, say something like Paldean herbs.”
“I’ll pass that on to Tora,” The server responded. “Let me go get some replacements.” The server bustled off, the offensive food held far enough away to keep him from smelling it. Sakura smiled as he left, only to let the effort lapse as she looked back down at her hands.
You know he’s just an ass, one who was willing to steal from kids. Other whispered in her mind. If we’re a monster, he’s worse.
“You’re not a monster, Sakura,” Rin idly chided, giving no indication that she’d heard Other Sakura, sighing as she fully turned her attention to her sister for the first time since the incident this morning. “I was fully prepared to do worse to the jerk if he didn’t back off.” Frustrated, yet still trying to talk to her sister, the Tohsaka heiress shook her head fiercely before she continued, “I’m not good with emotions. I’m not good at being the kind of sister you need. And I’m sorry for that, but I can’t change that… I just don’t get emotions sometimes.”
“...ah, Nee-san? Might you not have done that in front of everyone?” Sakura said, flushing slightly as multiple people gave the sisters strange looks.
“... Sorry,” Rin giggled sheepishly. Sakura sighed as the conversations around the room slowly started back up, though the noise around her and her sister remained quiet.
“...so I thought we might explore the nearby areas, and see if there are any local Pokemon who are interested in joining us,” Rin said across the fire, flinching as her marshmallow caught fire. “I guess this one’s yours, Libra.”
“Thank you kindly, Rin.” the Litwick murmured as she stole the burning sugar from Rin’s stick. “Perhaps a little more patience to get the right color next time?”
“Probably a good idea, but I’ve never done this before. Give me some time.” Rin acknowledged the criticism in the intent it was given. “I’m not surprised you’ve got this down though, Sakura. You’ve always been good at cooking.”
Sakura held back a snide comment, instead simply nodding as she carefully spun her marshmallow. “Thank you, nee-san.” She murmured instead, pulling back the golden brown confection and laying it upon a graham cracker. “Here’s yours, Ana.”
“Yes! Come to mama!” The Snivy cheered as the treat was handed over. “Oh yes… could do with some bacon, but this is good…”
“You’d have thought I’d gotten used to how much you love meat by this point, Ana.” Agate mused, the fox-cat lounging around on one of the logs surrounding their campfire, lazy posture belying how the Espeon’s senses were sharply focused on keeping watch around them, “Then again, I suppose you wouldn’t need plants, given you photosynthesize yourself…”
“Plants are fine, but you don’t get much of that tasty fat from them.” Ana mumbled around her S’more. “And Professor Juniper says it takes a lot of protein to get strong. You get that from meat!”
Sakura nodded absently, handing a S’more to Ren before standing up and brushing off her legs. “I’m going to go take a walk.” She said, “I’ll keep a lookout for more firewood on the way.”
Rin nodded absently, tongue stuck out as she tried to imitate her sister’s spiral method with her marshmallow. “Take Ren with you! Everyone says never to go alone anywhere in the wild, Sakura!” she called, groaning in annoyance moments later when her marshmallow caught on fire, again.
“I’m not going far, and I’ll yell if I need help,” Sakura shot back, wincing as Rin flinched at the bite in her tone.
“Alright. Please do,” Rin said softly, absently tossing her burned mallow to Libra.
Sakura huffed as she turned and walked off, even as Libra scooped up the blackened treat from her sister’s stake. Walking outside of the campfire’s light, Sakura moved into the woods, stopping as she got out of sight of the figures sitting around the fire. “...what is wrong with me?” She asked herself, before she shook her head. “No, that’s not right.”
“You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.” Other chimed in seriously, “He called you a monster. Some random ass human off the streets who was being a jackass called you a monster and you’re letting it affect you like this,” She sneered. “If anything, that just proves you aren’t.”
“I know! I know. It’s just…” Sakura wrapped her arms around herself, letting her emotions leak out. “I can’t help it. It’s like… no matter what I do, it’ll never heal. I’ll always be two steps away from being normal.”
“Normal? Is Rin normal? Is Sempai?” Other snorted.
“They can fake it. I can’t. Not anymore,” Sakura whispered, her emotions roiling beneath the surface. Behind her, her shadow rose up, arms wrapping around her as the area surrounding her darkened.
“To be fair they’re also kinda ass at faking it,” Other stated much more sympathetically, “Issei practically thinks Rin is a witch, for goodness sake. And besides, normal doesn’t get you to the top, just look at all the Champions.”
“I suppose.” Sakura whispered. “Will we ever stop feeling broken, do you think?”
“Probably. It’ll take a while, but probably,” Other stated. “You might want to scream now by the way.”
“What?” Sakura looked up, a pair of yellow eyes staring into hers, set in an ethereal white face. “Oh–”
“Sleep, lost one,” the figure murmured, and Sakura’s eyes locked as the ones before her pulsed with ghostly light. “You will be safe when you wake.”
“...dirty pool–” Other’s voice cut off as Sakura tumbled into unconsciousness.
Rin looked up from her seat as Ren shot to his feet, whirling on them and peering into the woods, Agate abandoning her S’more to join her brother. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Rin blinked, before dropping her own confection and darting to them. “Sakura?!” She yelled.
“Something strong came out of nowhere, and then Sakura and them vanished!” Ren barked, eyes sweeping the treeline.
“Something took her.” Agate informed her partner, “Ana, can you track them?”
“What, me? I…” Ana dashed into the woods, peering around. “Look, I can smell… hmm. Fox? I smell fox.” The Snivy frowned, then sneezed. “Like that damned Vulpix my old bitch doted on.”
“Can’t be Vulpix, they don’t have a habitat around here,” Rin shook her head, already furiously typing away at her Pokedex. “Eevee or Zorua. The only vulpines that have a habitat around here.”
“It’s not an Eevee. But… this doesn’t smell like dark-types,” Agate muttered. “And why would they take Sakura?”
“Don’t care!” Ren snarled, stalking past, following the scent trail, only to sneeze as the scent vanished a few meters from the start. “What?”
“Well that complicates things,” Rin growled, running through the various magecrafts that might help, and finding none that came to her immediate attention. “Sakura…” She swore, pulling out her gemstones. “Why didn’t I ever practice dowsing?” She muttered furiously.
“Arceus dammit, what are we going to do?” Ren asked, tail flicking anxiously.
“Hmm. Why do I sense ghostly energies?” Libra drifted forward, sniffing. “Not Golurk, not Ghastly… hmm. Banette? No, that’s not it…”
“Hisuian Zorua,” Rin hissed, fury coursing through her briefly, “This is not good. Those ghosts tend to be actually malicious when they kidnap people, unlike their Unovan cousins.”
“If they threaten their kin, yes. Or territory.” Libra acknowledged. “This space isn’t marked, and we’ve not seen any Zorua about. Something’s not right…”
Rin barely listened. “...we need more information. How much do you all want to bet there’s a fox den around here? Come on, we need to pack up.”
“We need to find Sakura!” Ren barked. “Do we have time to waste?”
“This one took Sakura. If it was death they intended, she would already be gone.” Libra responded. “They will not kill her out of hand, and she has endured worse before, if the shadows around her are any sign. We have some time yet.”
“Agreed,” Rin nodded firmly, keying in her patron’s contact number. “Professor, we have a problem.”
Sakura woke, cracking her eyelids open only enough to get a vague idea of her surroundings but not alert anyone to the fact she had woken up. Her gaze passed over the rough-cut rock of the ceiling, immediately reassuring her that she wasn’t back in the Basement again. Beneath her, a bed of soft, springy material cradled her back, and the flickering lights she recognized as ghostly witchfire beat back the gloom.
‘Odd for a kidnapping,’ she mused to herself, deciding that she’d gathered as much information as she could while pretending to be asleep. Properly opening her eyes, the former Tohsaka swung her legs around, finding herself on a bed of springy branches covered in fluffy furs. As she placed her feet on the ground, she blinked as a tiny red-and-white form peered around the corner. The tiny fox stared at her, tilting its head.
“Oh hey! You’re awake!” The Zorua bounced forward, coming to a halt at Sakura’s feet. “Hey, hey, are you–”
“Did you have to kidnap me with hypnosis of all things?” Sakura declared flatly, not in the mood to be friendly after the way she’d been treated. Not to mention the various traumas that they had absolutely poked repeatedly. She was getting better at recognizing that now, thanks to Gothitelle.
“...I should get mom. Hey mom! The human girl is awake!” The Zorua spun about, dashing off down the corridor. “She seems a little mad, and I don’t speak human good yet!”
Sakura sighed harshly.
“Well, that was unpleasant.” Other took the opportunity to chime in, apparently having woken up herself, “Was that a Hisuian Zorua just now?”
“Yes. Yes it was.” Sakura answered aloud, already mentally planning how she’d get out of this situation. If anything was going in her favor, her room was an obvious chokepoint, and they wouldn’t expect magecraft from a Pokemon Trainer of all people.
“Ah, you are awake.” Sakura’s eyes darted up as a large, white-furred figure rounded the corner, yellow eyes gleaming. The human voice coming from a Pokemon was a little unnerving, but Sakura could read the genuine relief coming from the figure. Beside the Zoroark, the Zorua from before hopped along beside his mother. “How are you feeling?”
“Recently kidnapped,” Sakura growled, before reeling in her rage, a furious glare the only thing remaining of it for the moment. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Preventing the birth of another of our kind,” The Zoroark said softly, even as the Zorua at her side cowered slightly. “What do you know about how we are born, young lady?”
“Grudges and Malice,” Sakura said simply, her rage deflating slightly at the noble intent. She couldn’t help it; it reminded her far too much of Shirou, “And to answer your concerns, Other and I have an agreement, and we exist in relative harmony. I am more than my grudges and malice, just as your kind now are.”
“You still stink of abandonment and loneliness, human child. Forgive me for being concerned.” Zoruark crossed her arms. “And as much as I would wish it, we are not more than our grudge. That grudge fuels us… to an extent.” She shook her head. “If you are as settled as you claim to be, then we will release you soon. As much as my child would want another sibling, I do not want any to suffer the way our forefathers did.”
“So you’re not going to be my big sis?” Zorua yipped, looking up at Sakura with begging eyes.
“Unfortunately, I’m a package deal,” Sakura giggled, finally relaxing a tad, though her eyes were still far too alert to fool anyone. “My nee-san will be very worried about me, and I’d rather not worry her too much.”
“Is she the one who abandoned you in the first place?” As Sakura moved to protest, the Pokemon raised one clawed hand. “I can tell that said betrayal is in the past, but the act still festers. Our tribe can tell you are much better than the worst case, but the poison is still there. We can help, if you wish to release the pain– or we can bring you from the situation entirely.”
“It wasn’t her who betrayed me,” Sakura began, only to shake her head. “I’d like to say that, at least, and I’d be factually but not emotionally correct.”
“Yep. She’s still a badass though,” Other chimed in, this time audibly, briefly shifting into control before she receded.
Zoruark sighed. “Come, meet the others. Your sister will not be able to find us, so we have time to decide how to approach this situation.” She turned, and began walking back along the corridor. “We have berry oatmeal and pork belly for a morning repast, and we can speak more over a meal.”
“I will disagree that Rin won’t be able to find you,” Sakura stated serenely, though with an edge of anger. “Not with the resources she has at her disposal.” She continued with a whisper, an almost smile flickering across her face. She and Other were in agreement that Rin would come for her. She’d proven as much so far, after all…
Rin Tohsaka was livid. “What do you mean you can’t send out a search party?”
The man, dressed in Ranger reds, grimaced. “Listen, Miss Tohsaka–” He cut her off as Rin moved to yell. “This area is nearly five thousand square miles of Pokemon territories, dens, and wild areas, much of it protected. Sending a team in blind is not something I can sign off on.”
“... You’re not sending in a team blind.” Rin repeated like she was talking to a particularly stupid individual. “You are sending a team of Rangers to one of the three communities of Hisuian Zorua within the area.”
“And if we intrude on the wrong one, my Rangers are going to be stalked for months by angry ghost-foxes, and that will rile up the native populations too,” the man barked back. “I understand you think a Zoruark kidnapped your sister, but without proof of which one of them took her, if any, we’re just as likely to cause enough trouble that no-one will be getting into the area.” He scowled. “Just calm down, and we’ll have scouts see if any of the areas are riled up soon.”
“What’s going on here, Ranger?” A sharp, commanding voice interjected from within the Ranger Station, whose doors had just opened to reveal a pair of teenagers dressed in what Rin vaguely recognized as a Sky Ranger Uniform, the pair goggles on each of their heads cementing that belief. “All requests are supposed to be processed through the Operator, not one of the Area Rangers. Explain.”
“Kids, this is Rin Tohsaka. Her sister vanished from her campsite some eight hours ago, and she believes Sakura Tohsaka, her sister, was kidnapped by Hisuian Zoruark.” The man explained, before pausing. “Ah, sorry commanders. Anyway, she’s asking us to hunt down her sister in the tribal areas, but if we do that, we’re stepping on a lot of toes.”
“... Area Ranger, did you just tell me that you were unwilling to do your damn job because you may somehow manage to fuck up and upset the local population of Pokemon?” The male of the pair said dangerously, eyes sharpening as he glared at the man. “You,” He continued, turning to ignore the clearly useless Ranger and facing Rin. “Details.”
“Sakura and I were camping in the local wild area, at approved campsite C338.” Rin began. “Sakura was working through some… issues, and took a short walk out of sight to collect firewood and get some privacy. Less than two minutes after she walked off, our Pokemon sensed something strong nearby, coupled with Sakura’s disappearance. Our Pokemon smelled Fox and felt ghost-type energy, but were unable to pick up any trail.” Rin finished.
“Which lines up with your belief that a Hisuian Zoruark committed the kidnapping.” The female of the pair stated, nodding, “Ben, our current mission?”
“We can divert for this, Summer,” Her partner declared, sending a glare towards the Area Ranger again. “Alright, Ms. Tohsaka, we’ll be accepting your request. Will you be tagging along?”
“Of course! It’s my sister, I’m not leaving her alone.” Rin huffed. “So, what’s the plan?”
