>CHAPTER 6
Dawn of Being
"What did you say?!" Alphonse cried out.
"Did you not hear me? I said we're sacking Arcade. Robbing it blind." Del coldly growled.
"We've been doin' it for years now. It's where we've gotten most of our stuff. It's been small gigs here and there, mostly going by without notice."
"But tomorrow's the big leagues. We're not just robbing them, we're sending a message. And we're going to do that by taking their food supply."
Alphonse was astonished. Here he was, just earlier confronting Lazlo and finding out the entire town was prepared for something like this, and now his worst nightmare has come true. He'd have to choose between protecting the thieves or protecting the town and Lazlo. And no matter what he chose, the others would surely enact swift justice towards him for his decision.
Del kept going. The number of words Alphonse had heard Del speak consecutively, especially to him, kept hitting an all-time high.
"Let me give you a scenario, Al. You have two groups of Pokemon: one honest and hardworking, the other greedy and corrupt. Which one do you think is in the right?"
Alphonse choked out a meager "the honest and hardworking ones."
Del smiled devilishly.
"Correct. That's us."
Alphonse continued to revel in his bewilderment.
"You're confused. Let me explain," Del grumbled.
"There's Pokemon that pick a niche. They follow a creed, and they live by a set of rules, or a code. They may not be rigid about the code, as they know that not every rule is made to be followed. But there's other Pokemon who take advantage of those rules. They use it solely for themselves."
"Now, there's two types of Pokemon that fall into that second scenario. The ones that know they're doing it and are, for whatever twisted reason, proud of it. And there's the one who may or may not know but chooses to live in ignorance over it and blame others for their shortcomings. Either way, both of them are scum."
"There's also a third type of Pokemon, but they're pretty similar to the second example. They only care about themselves too and will sell out anyone, even their friends, just to keep themselves going."
Alphonse silently gulped.
"It's those that I have the biggest problem with. The ones that act like they're on your side but are just waiting to stab you in the back as soon as they can. Be it out of maliciousness or out of self-preservation."
"But I hate talking, so I'll leave you with that. You should consider yourself lucky to have heard me dump this all on you in the first place, but like I've been saying, you've earned it today."
Alphonse, now totally immobilized with fear, was dead in the water. Could Del be telling him this on purpose? Was Del onto him? Did Del know what happened between him and Lazlo moments before he and the other thieves showed up? Could they have been listening in? Could Del--
"One last thing. I know you have a brief history with that place."
Damn.
"You're not the only one. We all have scores to settle with them, for one reason or another."
"But if you're yellow, you better speak up right now, because this is the only opportunity I'm allowing you. After this, well..."
"...well, I'll spare you the details. Good night."
Alphonse snapped back.
"Del?"
"...?"
Alphonse felt the march of millions of thoughts resound throughout his mind. He couldn't figure out what to say. But he knew he didn't have much time left to say something. So after a leap of faith, he reached in and grabbed the first thing he could, sending it right back at Del.
"Don't worry. I'm not yellow."
"Good."
Del disappeared into his quarters, gently shutting the door behind him so as not to disturb Bethel or anyone else.
It was another very out-of-character moment for Del, Alphonse observed.
Afterwards, he withdrew back into what he just told Del.
"I'm not yellow?! Of all the things I could've said, I said THAT?!"
"That's it for me. There's no coming back. I don't have the heart to stand against Lazlo and the villagers, and I don't have the courage to tell the thieves the truth. That little comment just now sealed the deal."
Alphonse madly dashed into his room, slamming the door behind him. Realizing the commotion he just caused sent him even deeper into panic.
"I took that map from Lazlo, right? That's my only option left. Run away. This is why I ran away in the first place: I can't handle conflict. I spent nearly 30 months alone, and up until that blasted storm, it was the longest peace I ever experienced. And then that storm... no, I go and throw it all away. 'Oh, it'll be 30 months before you know it'... what a joke! You wanted action, huh, Al? Well, you've certainly got it, and to nobody's surprise, you've ruined everything again! Not just for yourself, but for everyone else involved! You useless, pathetic, terrible excuse for a Pokemon!"
"You damned fool. You utter moron. You can't set anything straight, you can't do anything right, and you can't even keep a damned little scrap wood shack standing up straight for more than 30 months! You know what? Go ahead. Go run off into the wilderness again. Go to a land where another Pokemon can't be found for miles, maybe even days, and rot. At least no 'Bethels' will come and save you then! You can finally get what you really wanted—to just die alone in the cold, dark depths—a fitting end for a twisted, wicked Pokemon like yourself.
Alphonse couldn't stop himself from thinking. His inner monologue continued its torrential onslaught of insults, accusations, and harsh truths towards his fragile, rapidly cracking-under-pressure ego.
"You. YOU! You tried to be strong, just like Mom and Dad wanted! You tried to carve a path for yourself on the Dark Continent; you tried to make your own peace in a world of war! And guess what? Once again, everything you tried to do has gone up in smoke! Only this time, you're going to get your punishment! You're not going to run away from retribution this time! And you're going to finally pay for your parents-"
...
..
.
Alphonse's inner, twisted speech to himself was cut short. He was completely blank. The voices stopped.
He heard nothing, nothing other than the gentle sobs from his bawling, but then, in an instance, something.
......across....ands...
...sands....
The voice grew louder.
"Seems like another voice has come t torture me," he said aloud to himself as he cursed and spat through tears.
...safe from.....
...your....
Alphonse choked up, the rhythm of his gentle sobbing being overtaken by the mystery voice that had begun resonating through him.
Slowly regaining his composure and fading back into reality, he began to notice the voice was growing louder.
....oh how ... it would be...
...grow old... with me...
Now lucid, Alphonse realized the voice was not internal after all. It seemed to be coming from somewhere within the hall. Making as good an effort to wipe the tears from his eyes as he could, he brushed himself off and stood back up, not realizing he had fallen to the floor of his room moments before his little spat.
Creaking the door open, Alphonse wandered out into the hall. The voice was nowhere to be found, but a new sound had begun eminating throughout the halls. It sounded almost like the gentle strumming of an instrument that Alphonse made out to be with some sort of string. Sleuthing around, he began to search for the source of the sound.
First, he creaked open Gattz's door. Nobody was home. What he thought was a mess before was nothing now. Gattz's room was absolutely filthy, with various machines, gadgets, and miscellaneous metal pieces haphazardly thrown about. The light was still on, which was odd to him. Alphonse then remembered that Gattz was likely still undergoing his punishment and must've been slaving away in one of several stockrooms, taking inventory and organizing shelves. Not wanting to invade further, he closed the door.
Next up, he checked Ephie's room. The light was also on, but much dimmer, resembling the flickering of candles. The room was very luxurious and comfy-looking, which came as no surprise to Alphonse. It was the tidiest room he had seen so far, with everything in peak condition and not a single speck of dust to be found. Ephie was curled up in her bed, her gentle snoring ebbing and flowing with the flicker of the candlelight. Alphonse closed the door without a sound, hating the idea of disturbing the resting Mismagius.
Looking over at Del's room, Alphonse sniffled, but he couldn't help but let out a subtle giggle.
"Yeah, right," he thought.
That left only one room.
Alphonse slowly crept over to Bethel's room, noticing the door was already cracked open. Ephie must've not closed it all the way. Against his better judgment, he silently cracked the door open further.
Sure enough, there sat Bethel on the edge of her bed, with some sort of stringed instrument in her lap and various pieces of paper and writing materials surrounding her. She was softly humming to herself as she occasionally strummed through chords.
The door was half open now, and Alphonse was leaning in to get a better listen. Accidentally, he flung the door wide open and fell onto the floor, not having totally regained control over his body after the trance he was in earlier.
Bethel turned around, still hanging off the edge of the bed.
"Al!" she exclaimed, her cool, relaxed expression floundering into a frenzy.
She abruptly lept up from the bed, while at the same time taking care not to drop her instrument or scatter any pieces of paper.
Her face was quickly swelling, half from embarrassment and the other from rage.
"Just what do you think you're do-" she began to yell, but jerked herself into silence. Across the room, in the doorway, lay Al, lying motionless.
"... Get up," she demanded.
Al slowly rose from the floor to a crouched kneel. He looked like he was going to crack apart any second now.
"... What are you doing, Al?" Bethel grumbled.
"I... heard noise. Was it from you?" Al murmured.
Bethel sighed and looked straight up at the ceiling. After letting out a second groan, she looked back at Al, motioning for him to come by her side and patting her bed with a gentle paw.
Alphonse awkwardly shuffled over and sat down next to her, keeping a respectful distance so as not to make an already awkward situation any worse.
"...Yeah." Bethel sighed.
"Why are we whispering?" Alphonse asked.
Bethel averted her gaze again.
"I assume Del is already fast asleep. I didn't hear any crashing or banging from his room tonight, so I can only assume he passed out quickly. The last thing either of us wants to do is wake him. Trust me."
"Alright, I trust you," Alphonse answered back.
Bethel smiled.
"Good."
Alphonse extended a shy finger towards the instrument.
Bethel looked embarassingly over at the instrument and picked it back up, cradling it within her arms.
"...I play sometimes. I usually keep my stuff hidden away in the side room." Bethel admitted.
The purpose of the side room and the dark curtains concealing it had been revealed to Al at last.
"Play? Music? You?" Al fired rapidly, unable to help himself.
"Don't get smart," she hissed back.
She flashed a solemn look, still craddling the instrument.
"Yeah," she added.
Her tone of voice was different from before. It sounded much more akin to the Bethel he had spent the night in the cave with, which felt like it had been ages ago now.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else," Alphonse cautioned.
"No need; they already know by now," Bethel admitted.
Her eyes were back on Alphonse.
"Why else would I have been out that night in the country? Out in that hick town?"
Alphonse thought to himself. He recalled the first time he saw Bethel and hadn't recognized her. It was when he bumped into her after the concert.
"I'm a huge fan of R.O.T... Especially the kind of music they make. I was out the night of that storm trying to scrounge some rare berries in the wilderness to give them as a gift."
Alphonse turned a listening gaze towards Bethel. Bethel continued.
"Everyone here warned me about the storm and about the town. I had never set foot in there before in the light of day, so they had no idea who I was or that I was a thief. But I got reckless. I figured I'd take my chances, I guess. After all, I had been through worse."
"You definitely seemed like you had been through worse, especially with some of the stories you told me that night in the cave." Al assured her.
"Right, the cave." Bethel sighed longingly.
"I've faced death before, Al. That wasn't the first time; I'll tell you that."
Al stared concernedly at Bethel. Bethel shivered a bit.
"It's not a pretty sight. All the stories I told you about, about me having to fight just to stay alive, weren't some fairy tales I grew up with. They all happened to me."
"You've been through a lot, Beth..."
Bethel stared back at Alphonse, as if she were looking into his soul. She closed her eyes and motioned back, staring into space.
"Yeah, I guess I have. I guess we all have."
Al sensed a story coming on, and focused as much of his attention towards the now-depressed Litten as he could.
"Take Ephie for example. She used to be a citizen of Arcade before she came here."
"From her explanation, she used to be a quite adept merchant, except the Pokemon there didn't like how she arranged her deals very much. She definitely has... connections, to put it lightly. And she would commonly arrange things with them or perform what she refered to as "under-the-table" deals to the Pokemon she liked the most."
Bethel sighed.
"For whatever reason, that's frowned upon over there. I guess if you're not going to be on a level playing field, they won't let you participate at all."
"Goodness," Alphonse whispered. "That seems a bit cruel, to just outright exile a Pokemon because she didn't follow the rules."
"Yeah. Ephie claims to emphasize a bit with their decision, but we managed to convince he she didn't do anything wrong pretty quick." Bethel added.
She's naturally crafty, and I personally think it's pathetic that she has to hide who she truly is just to play along with a bunch of bumpkins."
Bethel nodded along, gaging the air of the room. Sensing Alphonse was still listening carefully, she decided to continue."
"And then there was Gattz. Pokemon as smart as him are hard to come by. We're mostly able to look past his crude nature and his snark, but those hicks in Arcade weren't."
"So, Gattz was kicked out for being too snarky?" Alphonse pondered.
Bethel shook her head, while stiffling a chortle.
"No, nothing like that. Per Gattz, they kicked him out for 'not appreciating the pursuit of science and technology'."
"You've seen Gattz, he cares more about his work most of the time than other Pokemon. He's not afraid to make sacrifices, and he hates play it safe at the cost of slowing his progression. If he wasn't so good at what he did, it'd be more of an issue. But he's the best we've ever seen at what he does."
Bethel stopped to take a breath.
"That's strange too, even without knowing specifics. I'm sure he couldn't of done something so bad as to have been totally removed from the town," appended Al.
"Did you happen to get a good look at Del's room?" Bethel inquired.
Al's puzzled expression answered for him.
"Del's scenario was... a bit different. He was never actually kicked out of Arcade, but he claims to have history with the mayor there, or something."
"Del used to be a one-man rescue team, when he was younger. If you looked carefully, you probably would've noticed some old rescue-team memorabilia on his shelves. Plus, you've seen the guy, he definitely has the strength to support that. But he had... issues with the way things were ran there."
"He used to tell me stories when I was younger about his brave deeds, whenever I had trouble falling asleep... he didn't really touch on specifics for the negatives, though. He claimed he didn't want to give me anything more to worry or anger about than I already had."
"Of all Pokemon, I never would've expected Del to have a caring side," Alphonse beamed.
Bethel smirked back.
"Yeah, the old guy definitely does a good job of hiding it."
"...And I guess it's back around to me. I was lucky enough to never have stepped foot in that dump, up until the day of the concert."
"I've never been a 'civilized' Pokemon, I suppose. I've always lived on the outskirts, even since I can remember. But that wasn't even the worst thing."
"What do you mean, Bethel?" Alphonse inquired.
Bethel sighed. A pregnant pause followed, and then came her explanation.
"...the worst thing was going about all of it alone. At least, until I met them."
Alphonse felt something rub off on him. He noticed Bethel's paw had moved over towards him.
"But enough about all of that for the moment. I want to hear about you."
"...About me?"
"Yeah, dummy. Do you love repeating questions people ask you or something? I don't get it." Bethel plainly stated.
There was a hint of joking in her question. Not much, but it was there.
"I spent that entire night telling you about my life. And after what we went through that night and everything since, I feel I'm owed a little something back."
Alphonse sighed. He wasn't ready to unload his baggage again so soon. But it was comforting to not have to do it without a partner this time. After all, he couldn't deny he felt an attachment to Bethel. So there wouldn't be too much harm in confiding to a familiar Pokemon, right? Maybe even a friend?
Only thing is, he didn't know where to start. So he figured what better than to go from the very beginning.
"I was born on the Dark Continent. It's a ways away from here, and most Pokemon I've met that aren't from there don't even know about it. And the ones that do usually know it as 'The Land Beyond the Clouds'."
"Yeah, I've heard about it before. A real dangerous place, isn't it?"
"You don't know the half of it," Alphonse replied.
"I may not, but I know how it feels." Bethel caught herself.
"Sorry, this is your storytime, not mine. Keep going."
Alphonse continued.
"There weren't any towns or anything there. There were mostly just loose tribes of Pokemon that were ruled by whoever was strong or crazy enough to take charge. Plenty of dungeons, though."
"But the dungeons weren't even the worst part. The Pokemon there were totally ruthless, cruel, and abusive. They were worse than anything a dungeon could produce, and there was no shortage of wicked Pokemon there."
Bethel blinked, as if to tell Alphonse to keep going.
"My tribe wasn't one of the stronger ones. We had to fight off a lot of Pokemon that tried to take advantage of us. My parents... they had the worst of it. I was an only child, but they spent their entire lives trying to build me up into someone that could defend themselves and others too."
"Must've been nice."
Alphonse tried not to immediately take offense, but found it incredibly difficult.
"Nice!?" he exclaimed.
"Shh. Not too loud. I mean the parent part."
"Oh. Wait, what do you mean?" Alphonse asked carefully.
"I didn't have any parents growing up. I was alone from the start."
Alphonse was taken aback. He had no idea that Bethel was an orphan, and he was shocked that she would confide that to him so suddenly.
"Sorry, I'm taking over again. Go ahead."
"No, I want to hear your story again. You're an orphan?"
Bethel exhaled, a hopelessness caked throughout her breath.
"Yeah. Hatched from the egg, and nobody else was there. Just fields and the open sky."
"I was scared. Afraid. I had no idea what was going on. I had to figure out everything on my own, for I don't know how long... until..."
"...until Del found me."
Alphonse was shocked, but he figured he'd let Bethel finish her thoughts.
"According to Del, I was still pretty young. I went kicking and screaming the whole time. I had no idea who he was or what he wanted with me. It took me, apparently, weeks to warm up to him. Of course, that was way back. At least 20 years ago."
"...There were a lot more people here before. This place was almost like a town. That's why you've seen those ruins everywhere. We were built on the remains of an old Guild outpost. Like I mentioned earlier, Del used to be some big-time, hotshot adventurer."
"I still find that so... out of character..." Alphonse mentioned.
"Yeah, I know, hard to believe. Things just kind of fell apart over time. According to him, they were the refugees from a local, bigger guild."
"Now, keep in mind I don't know the exact specifics, I was mainly able to learn the following indirectly, based on overhearing some of Del's conversation with some of our former friends, or with Ephie and Gattz."
"Gotcha," Alphonse said, focusing even more of his attention to the tale.
"It all started when Del had been exiled from the guild. A few other Pokemon sympathized with him, and they set up shop out here. They ran expeditions and missions too dangerous for the usual guild. And better yet, they made sure every member of the new guild would be treated fairly and be entitled to all of their rewards and glory."
"'To the victor go the spoils,' he'd always say. Believe it or not, he has a great way with words, despite not talking all too often."
"Ah, I might know a little about that," Alphonse swallowed.
"Anyway, they were more mercenaries than guild adventurers and rescue teams. And unfortunately, people get the wrong idea about that sort of thing. Things gradually fell apart, and we were blacklisted across the land, from working, from the towns, from everything. Given I had been raised here, I was indirectly included in all of that nonsense."
"Then, over time, things got rougher. No work meant no money, which meant no food. A lot of the remaining members gave up and left, some of them getting their jobs back in exchange for turning their backs on us. The old, evil Pokemon at the corrupt guild used them to get to us, and eventually we were all branded as outlaws."
Bethel sniffled a bit. But then she went right back on to her story.
"With that, we started to attract more... rougher Pokemon. Not as bad as the ones from the old guild that turned on Del, but not good either. We found ourselves in bad company. That's when Del started that whole "code of honor" business. But even worse, he was getting increasingly worried for my well-being."
"Del never wanted a life like that for me. He tried to get me to leave, even going so far as to construct a plan to turn me and him into the guild. But I wouldn't have any of that. I knew I had nowhere else to go. The people in Arcade would never take in outlaws like us, nor would the guild or any of the other nearby towns."
"All of that was about 10 years ago. Since then, it's pretty much been more of the same. Other Pokemon have come and gone from here. I've learned not to get too attached to anyone except the three here, especially Del. And especially because most of them were just such... horrible Pokemon."
Her body had been swaying side to side as she went through her story, almost like a sort of nervous tick. After realizing she had been doing it, she sat back up straight, grasping the instrument tighter than ever.
"The Pokemon we ran into in the dungeon earlier were some of them. Code breakers, Del calls them. When someone violates one of those three rules, we cut them off completely. We can't have evil Pokemon like that around here. They give the rest of us bad names. Thieves, criminals, outlaws..."
Alphonse sighed as Bethel turned to Alphonse once more.
"Do you think I'm an outlaw, Alphonse?"
Alphonse wasted no time. He had no hesitation in his answer, and it was the most clear-minded feeling he had felt in months.
"Not at all, Bethel."
Bethel smiled, giving him a nudge in approval.
"Now look at me; I've taken the spotlight again. I'm sorry about that," Bethel admitted.
"It's fine. You certainly have been through a lot. And it'd be rude of me to deny you a voice," Alphonse added.
"There's just one thing I guess I don't get, though."
"What's that?" Bethel asked sincerly.
"Erm, where does the music fit in with all this?"
Bethel blanked. She seemed unsure of the question but attempted to answer it anyway.
"To be honest, it's just been something that's always been part of my life. Another constant, I guess, just like Del."
"When Del wasn't telling me his old adventure stories, he would read to me these things he called 'lullabies'. They were like songs for younger Pokemon. Something about how they sounded, how they played out—it was all just so soothing to me. It could always calm my nerves, I guess."
Bethel gripped the instrument once more, then let go.
"Del used to joke that the sweetest tune could calm even the angriest Pokemon. The imagery of that always was so funny to me, even as a young kid."
A hush fell over the room. Alphonse could hardly help himself from being overwhelmed with emotion. Had he known Bethel, Del, and, heck, everyone here had lived such hard lives, he would not have been so quick to pass judgment or withhold such dire information from all of them. Especially Bethel, of all Pokemon. All that time she had went on about being strong, and seeing that in him as well, without even knowing the full details of his story, she was one-hundred percent right.
"But it's pretty late, and we have a big day tomorrow. We're finally getting even with those snobby bumpkins over at Arcade."
The fire that usually accompanied Bethel's inflection had been rekindled.
"You should head back to your room. I'm sure Gattz, even against his will, made sure to make it nice and accommodating for you."
Alphonse took that as his cue to leave. He got back up slowly off the bed, not realizing he had slowly inched closer to Bethel as she told her story.
"Right. Goodnight, Bethel," Alphonse said, heading out the door.
"Goodnight, Al. Sleep well," Bethel called back. Alphonse carefully closed her door.
Alphonse slumped down, letting out another sigh as he rolled back into his room. This time, he was at least able to make it into bed before he broke down.
"These thieves—no, these Pokemon—they aren't as bad as I thought. I guess that voice in me saying to trust them was right. To care about them."
"Is this... what it feels like... to belong? To have people care about you and be able to care about them back."
Alphonse found his thoughts wandering back to his past. Back home.
"My mother, my father... I disappointed them. I ran from them. I hid the truth from them. And it cost them everything. I ran away to this land for a better life, and I wasted it up until now. I can't hide from those facts any longer."
Alphonse started tear up to himself again, but managed to compose himself.
"That resentment, that anger... I only felt it because I was afraid. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what the right path was out of everything laid before me. But this time, I know."
"I can't let this happen again. I've been given a second chance; a new leaf has been turned over for me. I can't mess up this opportunity."
Alphonse tossed and turned in bed. His gentle sobbing finally came to an end.
"I will tell everyone the truth. Starting with Bethel and Del. Heck, if I can convince them, I'm sure I can organize peace between the townsfolk and the rest of the angry mob too, right?"
"And then, Lazlo..." Al began to think.
"If I was wrong about the Pokemon here, I'm sure I was wrong about Lazlo too."
"If he really was my enemy, I'd be in a cell right now, not here in bed."
"He really did just want to help me, didn't he? Jeez, I feel so stupid now... I should've never turned my back on him, and I should've never spat in the hand he had lead towards me, over and over again. But I'm sure he's still on my side, and would be thrilled to help me ease things out between these two groups."
"..."
Alphonse chuckled to himself.
"Man, I'm really in over my head," he said aloud.
"But even then..."
"I just know I'll find a way to do the right thing," he said once more.
Afterwards, he promptly succumbed to exhaustion, falling into a deep sleep.