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mynamesaplant · 1 year ago

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Love is a Cold Bowl of Soup (Part One)

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I've been working on this one for a bit. I hope you enjoy!! Thanks to Monsoon-of-Art for the beta! Don't want to read it on Tumblr? I have it on AO3!

Summary: Akari's been tasked to find some ingredients for soup and learns to ask for help from the people in her life.

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-Sootfoot root -Medicinal leeks -Vegetable broth -Moomoo milk -Wild garlic -Crunchy Salt -Pep-Up plant

Akari didn’t know exactly that the professor had in mind when he asked her and Rei to go find these things, but it seemed to be some sort of recipe. She followed in the wake of the man clad in Security Corp red, dividing her attention between the list and the path they trekked.

A grimace came to her face as she recalled the last time the professor had tried to be adventurous with foreign recipes and native ingredients. The poor captain had been sick for almost two days. Akari hadn’t fared too well herself, but she powered through like always.

Now the professor was on this new kick, and he was gleefully cryptic about it - needless to say, it worried everyone. They all knew Laventon meant well, but nobody wanted to be decommissioned by some toxic concoction.

Akari herself was already constructing her excuses. She was nervous about battling Ingo on the Path of Solitude (battling Ingo usually scared the daylights out of her- he was so tough!) and couldn’t stomach anything or Wanda had mysteriously disappeared again (Akari knew she would perform a vanishing act the second the noxious smell of whatever the professor was cooking wafted down the hall). It couldn’t be directly Pokémon related, because then the professor would be inclined to accompany the Survey Corps’ top member.

Akari’s breath began to pick up with a sharp incline that preceded that pass to the highlands basecamp. She was caked in mud from trudging through the marshes in search of some halfway decent Sootfoot. The professor said he needed about thirty or so.

“About this big.”

He had said, holding out his fist so she could get a sense of what he needed. The leeks had been easy. The fieldlands were teaming with them. Akari had also gathered the vegetables that Beni needed to make the professor’s broth. She had sent those back with some of the Security Corp as they were headed back to town, that way Beni could get started right away. With all his hemming and hawing, Akari was surprised he agreed at all, she had definitely heard him mumble something about how a new spate of food poisoning would affect business at the Wall Flower.

She couldn’t blame the old man, the influx of customers who were too terrified of any of the food served in Galaxy Hall usually meant they were streaming into his restaurant, which was good for business but bad for his back.

Akari’s eyes quickly flicked to the peak of Mount Coronet when they reached basecamp. She couldn’t help it. It was so strange to see the sky above it so empty. Not that she wasn’t glad that all she saw was blue sky, but it still made her chest tighten to think of all that happened up there.

Dialga and Palkia, Volo and Giratina - suddenly she was very conscious of the Arc phone resting heavily on her hip and its sudden weight made her shiver. Her invitation from the being who put her here was still fresh in her mind. Ever since she completed Cogita’s request to catch Enamorus, she had felt a draw toward the peak as her curiosity ate at her.

Why?

Why was she here? Why her? These questions still took up a corner of her mind, solid and unbearable to contemplate. Akari would lie very still at night and just stare above her without seeing. Not so much in Jubilife with a roof over her head. When she found herself under a blanket of stars, bathed in moonlight with a cool breeze rustling her unbound hair, she asked herself why and she could feel tears sting her eyes.

She asked an uncaring cosmos why she was here, and she was met with silence. A silent, dark phone. A dreamless, restless sleep. The silence spoke volumes, so Akari learned to stop asking… But not completely.

Her hands curled into fists as she refitted her pack and exchanged her Pokémon for ones that would be more suited to battles in the highlands. Akari’s selection included Samurott, Yanmega, Roserade, Froslass, Alakazam, and Arcanine. Samurott looked over her shoulder while Akari rummaged through the trunk containing her possessions, grabbing some extra balls and potions.

She was still trying to find some Cherrim to jump out at her from the trees and she might as well try to find as many shaking trees as possible while she was here. Last time she had come to the highland, she had spent over a month there trying to get Nosepass to jump out from ore deposits and had almost given up on multiple occasions.

Her Pokémon nudged her side carefully, doing his best not to gore her and his diligence earned him an affectionate scratch on the cheek. He grumbled his approval, offering her a playful nip which made her sour expression disappear. She thanked the Security Corp, returned her Samurott to the confines of his ball, and withdrew her flute from her belt.

The instrument had undergone a drastic change not too long ago. Although her fellow Galaxy Team members didn’t seem to notice anything strange in her flute, Akari brought it hesitantly to her lips and just as quickly lowered it.

Adaman had taught her how to use the Celestica flute, the wardens had guided her through the familiar melodies that all the Nobles seemed to respond to, but nobody taught her about this instrument. It still sounded like the original, the music still possessed its haunting and echoey tone, but this blue flute held no resemblance to the one she had been gifted.

Akari hadn’t shown a soul this new flute. She was afraid how any of them would react. She exhaled and brought the flute to her lips, playing Lord Wyrdeer’s song. Despite her hand placement feeling weird and the notes quivering with uncertainty, the lord of the field still answered her call. She could see him trotting up the pass, appearing out of the mist with a small bob of his great head, acknowledging Akari as she clambered up onto his back and patting his neck in reply. Without prompting, the noble took off in the direction of Wayward Cave.

The lady of the cliffs snickered, exchanging a few unintelligible words with Lord Wyrdeer right before he took his leave. Lady Sneasler tousled the girl’s hair and then summarily dumped Akari into her basket so she could haul the surveyor up and down the cliffs to collect salt. Akari really only needed a few chunks of salt, but she found the rocking motion soothing as Sneasler scrambled around the rock face with ease. She gave no direction after collecting all she needed and Sneasler chirped with delight when Akari gave her free reign to go where she wanted.

What was the professor going to make? It seemed to be some kind of soup, but no kind of soup she had ever heard of. Maybe it was Galarian or something? They had some very strange ideas about food and flavors sometimes… At the bottom of Clamberclaw Cliffs, she saw herself out of the basket and turned to thank the Pokémon, but the noble was already taking her leave. She did at least turn to acknowledge Akari’s announcement of thanks, dangling by one paw and snorted before hauling herself over the lip of the cliff.

On her own once again and suddenly not really in the mood to head back to any of the basecamps, Akari started wandering.

She wanted to keep her mind clear, forcing her eyes in front of her rather than on the looming peak above her. Looming was the right word, wasn’t it? It felt overbearing, like unseen eyes were burning into her and invisible hands were grabbing at her.

Come find me. Face me.

No.

Not yet.

She wasn’t ready.

Her work wasn’t done. The Pokédex was unfinished. So many people still needed her help. She folded her arms and half hunched, trudging along. She had fallen from the sky almost two years ago. She had almost resigned herself to the fact that Hisui was her home now.

Ingo had been here for seven years and still held a glimmer of hope that he might someday at least remember home. He held no delusions about returning. He had built his life, he cemented himself in his community, but he never quite gave up on the life he couldn’t quite recall.

Akari had done likewise.

She grew roots. People liked her. People relied on her. She couldn’t let them down… She sniffled, feeling her legs wobble because the weight of the world hadn’t been quite removed from her shoulders. It was a terrible burden.

“Why did you do this to me?”

She asked, voice trembling as badly as her shoulders with how hard she tried to hold in her sobs.

Akari tried so hard not to cry in front of others. Only a few people had caught her - she did her best to hide herself away when she got weepy - and they had tried to offer her comfort, tried to be supportive, but nobody really understood. Not the full extent of it. Akari couldn’t explain. She barely understood herself. An enigmatic force took her from her room in her pajamas and told her to complete a task. She was trying while more and more got piled on to her shoulders. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right!

Laventon had clucked sympathetically when she had burst into tears after learning she was tasked with dealing with Lord Kleavor. He wrapped an arm around her, offering her a clean handkerchief from his pocket that Akari took with shaking hands.

His presence at her side felt warm and comforting, like when she had a tough day and her mother wrapped up in her arms, kissing the top of her head while she murmured that it was okay. He still didn’t know this teenager well enough to provide her the comfort she really needed, but he tried. He was one of the few she actually sought out when things really started to weigh on her, but not recently.

Not with this.

Rei had nervously shifted on his feet when he found Akari crying in her bed, still in her sleepwear and hair a tangled mess. She had been up half the night tossing and turning, suffocating under the weight of her responsibility. He didn’t know what to say, but quickly obeyed when she barked out at him to get out, especially with her then team at the time (Dewott, Lopunny, Stunky, Staravia, Drifblim, and Tangela) bullying him out the door.

He waited outside and awkwardly slapped her on the shoulder, his encouraging smile more of a grimace than anything else. She had resolved at the time not to cry in front of anyone else, no matter how much it hurt. Not too long after that resolution, the sky began to bleed.

Mai had seen her cry when she had been banished and she tucked a strand of hair behind Akari’s ear while she tried to stave her own tears. She held the gasping girl tight and apologized over and over again.

The warden’s heart went out to this poor girl, but there was nothing she could do with her. Not directly. Mai was the first person to tell Akari she was sorry. Not a soul in Hisui had said it as earnestly as Mai had, and it only served to make her sob harder.

She just wanted someone to treat her like the kid she was for one damn second. Not a savior. Not an outsider. Just a teenager.

Akari had buried her face in Mai’s shoulder and just stayed with the warden until not a drop remained. There was nothing the clans could do for her. Akari took her leave. Volo found her not a few hours later.

Cogita knew the most about Akari’s situation, even without her telling the woman much. Akari got the impression that Cogita knew a lot more than she let on, just like Volo, and she was as transparent as she could be with the mysterious woman.

She had spoken to her gently, calling her ‘lost one’ but not unkindly. She offered Akari a cup of tea, just like the professor did on bad days, which only made her tears grow hotter in her anguish. The life she was trying to build for herself as she tried to make the best of her situation was so abruptly and harshly torn from her that she didn’t know what to do but cry in front of this perfect stranger.

Cogita had been sensible enough to give her some space but nudged the warm cup closer to her hands in a silent encouragement to drink.

When she had been granted permission to return to Jubilife and she was able to convince herself that she could come back in relative safety, Akari started battling at the dojo more often. She didn’t want to be caught off guard again and she reasoned that by having a strong body like Captain Zisu’s and strong Pokémon like Warden Ingo’s then she wouldn’t fear being banished again.

Not without a fight at least.

She found herself battling Ingo as often as she trained with Zisu. Akari wasn’t always victorious, but the warden was always aiming her towards victory.

After one particularly grueling battle, one that had seen the change from an orange dusk to a blue-black evening, Ingo had ended up as the victor.

Gliscor had made a beeline for his trainer, screeching happily with the outcome and Ingo chuckled, scrubbing the Pokémon’s cheeks before turning to Akari. Her face had been cast down, her Abomasnow lay a few feet away, but she made no move to return her or aid her Pokémon in any fashion. It was very unlike Akari.

Ingo had already launched into a rousing speech, but his words faltered as the number of inconsistencies started to add up in his mind. The girl’s hands were curled into shaking fists at her sides. Her shoulders were quivering. She bowed her head lower, trying in vain to scramble for a ball that her trembling fingers couldn’t manage to grip, only just managing to flip the lock on the ball to have her Pokémon return to her.

“Miss Akari?”

She cringed, jerking away like she was burned. Was she crying? Because she lost? She had never cried before, but this seemed different somehow.

Ingo did not consider himself a warm and fuzzy kind of guy, but something stirred in his mind when he saw young Akari crying and trying to hide that fact from him. She rubbed at her obscured eyes with her sleeve, trying to sniffle quietly - the sight felt oddly familiar.

He was frozen for a moment, a not so clear memory coming to him because he had done this. He had comforted someone else -someone very close to him- many times before his arrival to Hisui. He returned his Pokémon and reached Akari in two strides, he started to reach for her but hesitated.

“Come this way, Akari.”

Ingo coaxed her gently, hand extended. He didn’t want to grab her, despite the ghost of an impulse to hug her tightly seizing him, he knew not to infringe on other’s space like that. Not without permission. Akari looked up at him through tear flecked lashes, her mouth drawn into a tight grimace as she attempted not to burst into tears. She took his hand easily.

Zisu was on her break with the other dojo regulars at the Wallflower, so he ushered her inside the empty building and sat her on a bench. He resisted the urge to interrogate her, she would only rebuff him until she stormed away to seek the safety and privacy of her quarters.

She hid her face in her hands, body heaving with silent sobs with her shoulders tensed up by her ears. He asked her if it was okay to hold her and she jerked her head, making a small noise of assent. Tears dribbled from the cracks between Akari’s fingers - she didn’t even know what had brought on the sudden waterworks.

She felt a sudden weight being draped over her shoulders, it startled Akari enough to look up as the warden took a seat beside her.

His coat was sun bleached and torn, but still retained heat and deflected all sorts of precipitation well and she was grateful for it on this cool autumn evening. She drew the lapels in tighter and remained huddled there for a moment, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground. Ingo didn’t ask why.

He just let her cry and occasionally rubbed her back between shoulder blades in an encouraging sort of way, like he was silently telling her it was okay to cry.

It was okay to feel sad or overwhelmed or scared or whatever she was feeling. She was safe and he was there if she wanted to talk about it. Although, that thought hadn’t quite clicked for Akari yet as she hiccuped an apology.

“I’m sorry. I… I don’t know why I’m crying.”

“We don’t always have to know exactly why we feel a certain way. Just that we feel it and that we be allowed to express ourselves. You don’t have to apologize for it.”

The words had a soothing effect, she leaned against his side and Ingo didn’t budge. There was an old ache in his heart because he knew he shared a similar sentiment before.

The warden only left her side to light a few lanterns in the dark interior of the dojo and to brew some tea, otherwise Ingo remained steadfast at her side. The sound of brook running through Jubilife and the distant chirps of Kricketots harmonizing soothed the girl, eventually her breathing evened out and tear tracks down her cheeks had dried.

She thanked him.

She didn’t explain, but she thanked him for just being there for her.

There were no prying eyes this time, no one to bear witness to these tears. Nobody to console the girl that fell from the sky. They were kind, but it had taken so long to get there.

It had taken so long to feel safe when she was thrown into this situation. She had performed every painstaking task - she had the scars to prove each and every one. She endured and she had been thanked, but it didn’t feel like enough.

Did that make her selfish?

Did that make her petty?

Why should a seventeen-year-old have to consider such things?

A long snout nudged into her cheek. Her Samourott insisted for her attention, rumbling out his concern as he nosed her again. She felt something cool snuggling into one side and something thorny jabbing her other side, Froslass and Roserade offering their comfort.

Arcanine’s warm muzzle nudged her other cheek, whimpering and gently nipping at her hands to lick at her face.

Yanmega’s bristly, twig-like legs rested on her shoulders, his thorax running the length of her back, with every buzz of his wings making her vision blur.

Alakazam sat in front of her, the Pokémon’s hands extended Akari could see between her fingers, holding out for her to take hold of them. Samarott also started trying to nip at her hands, trying to pry her hands away, and finally Akari relented.

Her Pokémon surrounded her, and she felt a knot in her chest loosen. Air suddenly found its way into her lungs. The tightness in her throat eased. She was loved. Even so far away from her home, her true home, Akari was loved.

Her Pokémon loved her. They stuck by her through and through on this whole journey. They had their own scars to prove it. She was loved.

Irida and Adaman loved her. They risked everything to help her. They were like the older siblings she never had.

The captain loved her… In her own special way. When she got banished, the captain gave her the tools and encouragement necessary to save them all because she believed in Akari. She told the girl that she expected her back in one piece, which was probably the closest Akari would ever get to hearing motherly concern from her captain.

Professor Laventon loved her. He watched every moment of her progress with beaming pride.

Yes, it had hurt. It hurt that nobody seemed to trust her. It hurt that nobody seemed to have any sympathy for the teenager. It hurt that Arceus didn’t answer when she asked why.

It hurt to think that she would never see her mom again. Her best friend who she had made plans to go to lunch with next week. Her dad was going to visit from overseas next month. Her little Glameow she named Glitter.

Akari was allowed to mourn and cry and be upset about the injustice of it all, but she shouldn’t have to hide that pain.

When she resolved not to cry, to keep her pain to herself, she isolated herself from those around her.

How could they possibly understand?

Well, how could they understand unless she opened up and explained it to them? She had only ever done that with Cogita and the woman hadn’t overstepped her boundaries but she was wholly sympathetic to Akari’s case. How could she expect these people to understand if she didn’t give them the whole story?

Akari thanked all her Pokémon and returned them to their balls. She pushed the heels over her hands into her burning eyes and stood very still for a moment.

She had been wrong.

Trust is a two-way street, and she didn’t trust the Galaxy Team or the clans to understand her plight. She had never given them a chance.

“Still…”

Like all people who were trying to be emotionally vulnerable, Akari was hesitant to do so. She knew who to talk to first and she just so happened to have to make a delivery to him.

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