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Henry slowed down when France didn't turn, his brows creasing up with concern. If France had just arrived, maybe he was confused. Or upset. Or maybe this was an entirely different France all together. Soon the gap between them had shrunk to only an arm's lenght.
When Walter turned ever so slightly, his profile stood in sharp relief against the pinkish orange light of the morning. It was a shape that had carved itself into Henry's lizard brain during those long hellish hours in the Otherworld.
The world slowed down. Shops stopped opening. It seemed as though the Pidove taking off overhead froze in the air. Henry felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice into the pit of his stomach.
Seeing the look on Henry's face made everything slot into place. He had been approaching him. Walter turned properly to face Henry. At his ankle, Assumption was staring at Henry in...awe. The little Cubone didn't think he would meet the Receiver of Wisdom in person, not for a long time according to Walter.
But in that moment, Assumption didn't even cross Walter's mind. Looking at Henry they were somewhere else, somewhere without Pokemon or even people. It was just them two, a foot or so away from each other, at an impasse. This wasn't how it was meant to be. It wasn't how Walter had intended to reveal himself to Henry, once he knew how to get back or what he was doing here. But his placid, calm facade didn't break.
Just then, Henry's Sylveon who had gotten distracted by a little old lady handing out treats back on the other street, rounded the corner. Prince chirped curiously when he saw his trainer at the end of the sidewalk, face to face, with another trainer. Henry rarely got that close to people that didn't live in the house.
Prince was so proud of his trainer!
The pink Pokemon came bounding towards them, completely unaware of the shitshow that was about to unfold before his huge blue eyes.
No, Henry insisted again. This wasn't happening. Walter wasn't real. He was another ghost, like that horrible dripping specter that had followed him for days! But there was a little skull-wearing creature at his heels. The grime from the Otherwold was missing from Walter's shoes. He was here. It was him and he was here. He was really really here.
And then Walter spoke.
His name, that's all it took. Walter's voice--the voice that had haunted his nightmares for six long years-- finally snapped that white-hot filament within the singular light bulb hanging in the attic of Henry's mind. It burst and everything went dark.
Shop doors swung close. Sprinklers started to shutter. The Pidove overhead started flapping and in the growing cacophony of the world finally starting to join, the mild mumbler's voice joined it-- the deafening scream of a god-killer.
Henry lunged at Walter, his hands clawing for his throat.
Prince threw on the brakes, eyes wide, little mouth hanging open in horror and shock. Trainer no!
Walter didn't know what to expect. Henry had stood up to the worst of his worlds but was always so calm and almost stoic. The feral scream that came from him was never something he would have predicted and the lunge caught him off guard.
He gasped - as a ghost he had felt nothing, everything dulled by a lack of body, of senses to provide feedback on if the wind was in his hair, if there was fresh blood on his skin, if bullets were burying into his form. Now he felt it all, Henry's hands turned into claws and grasping at his neck, his unbroken neck, and Walter attempted to catch them, to pull them away from him, trying to step away from Henry.
At his feet Assumption's gaze had become fearful, clutching onto Walter's trouser leg and given a confused cry. What was happening? Walter talked about the Receiver so...so nicely, like he liked him. Why was the Receiver attacking him?
It shortly became...unclear...just where he was getting all the air with which to scream because he never seemed to take a breath as he drove his thumbnails into Walter's throat and shoved him as hard as he could. He wanted to knock him down, to rip out his throat, to finally do what Joseph's droning voice had commanded of him.
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.
Meanwhile, Prince was having none of this.
The Sylveon cried out and closed the gap between him and the scuffle. He reached out his long ribbons and wrapped them around Henry's elbows. Like a fishermon reeling in a difficult catch, he started to tug.
Walter began to struggle, like an animal caught on a rope. He tripped over Assumption in his bid to somehow shake Henry off him, only resulting in the thrashing and choking taking place on the ground. He couldn't breathe. He titled his head back to try and permit more oxygen to get into his lungs, digging his nails into Henry's wrists to try and pry them off. He tried to kick up, toss his body weight, anything that would dislodge Henry from his neck.
Assumption, thankfully, scrambled out from under the two men after Walter tripped. He couldn't interfere, Walter had told him not to unless the Receiver was in danger, and he couldn't protect Walter from another person hurting him because he couldn't attack non-Pokemon! Tears welled up and the Cubone wailed in distress, the sound echoing through it's skull helmet into a long, mournful scream that rang through the fog.
When they hit the ground, Henry's cries changed from rage to pain. Walter's unkempt nails hurt and on top of that, his knuckles scraped the hard sidewalk when they landed. Finally he stopped hollering long enough to gargle threats into Walter's face as he struggled against Prince's tugging.
"You won't ruin this world too! I won't let you! Go back to hell where you belong!"
Little Assumption's cries did not go unnoticed. While Prince was trying very hard to both process this terrifying turn his trainer had taken, he also noticed the little Cubone. Prince loved babies and generally wanted everyone to get along and be happy--and oh goodness this poor dear! He must be so scared!
"Syl! Sylveee!" It's okay, it's okay little one! He's going to stop this!
"I- Can't!" Walter gasped in air, coughing out the words. He pulled away from Henry, but not in a panicked scramble as he had when Henry had his hands on his throat. He sat up touching where Henry had clamped onto him. There were going to be bruises. Even as Henry struggled against the Pokemon with ribbons - why was it helping him...? - Walter looked him in the eye, taking deep, heavy breaths before answering his furious rambling.
"I can't." He repeated. Assumption was still loudly crying. The moment Henry was drawn back enough he threw himself between them, burying into Walter's torso and tearfully looking back at Henry. Walter couldn't pay attention to much else but the man in front of them. This isn't how he thought it would happen at all.
"I'm not dead. I haven't the Power of Heaven in this world. You know this." Henry knew what he had to do to create his Otherworlds.
Henry seethed and spat and struggled against Prince's ribbons as Walter very plainly, stated the facts. Suddenly he twisted around and planted a hand against Prince's forehead.
"Prince, let GO!" He shoved the Pokemon away. Prince was so shocked that his ribbons fell slack. He rocked backwards onto his haunches and his huge blue eyes welled up with tears. Why was this happening!?
Cubone or no Cubone, Henry's attack would not stop. He staggered backwards, knuckles dripping red onto the concrete, and snatched up a chunk of broken brick from the Machamp construction site. He reeled back his arm and lunged again with every intention of bringing the chunk of stone down on Walter's shoulder--
--that was until a force stopped him.
And that force was called The Law.
"Stop right there!" Two women in blue uniforms flanked by a Growlithe and a Houndour respectively, suddenly took hold of Henry's arms. He dropped the brick in surprise and instantly started fighting. "Sir, if you don't contain yourself this instant, we're going to have to take you into custody."
"He's a monster! HE's a monster, let me go! Let me go!" Henry's voice grew into a roar as he fought against Officer Jenny and Officer Jenny.
A third officer suddenly appeared by Walter's side, followed by the construction worker and his two beefy Pokemon. This policewoman had a Poochyeena at her heels. SHe held out a hand for Walter to take.
"Sir, do you require medical attention?"
Prince turned on his heels, around and around, his ribbons whirling faster than his mind. What was happening!? The world was suddenly upside down!
When Henry lifted the stone and charged, Walter instinctively curled up, covering his head with his arms. In his lap Assumption cried out again, convinced Henry was about to bludgeon Walter - when it didn't come.
Walter kept his position - he remembered, he remembered that sometimes they would delay the strike to trick you into lowering your guard, wait until you peeked out from your corner to get you right around the face.It wasn't until he heard Officer Jenny speak to him that he slowly uncurled.
The sight of the Poochyena made him tense, drawing away from her. "I'm fine." He murmured quietly. He drew Assumption close with one arm, moving to stand up. Assumption was still sniffling, holding onto him tightly. He turned his head, watching how Henry struggled and twisted...so unlike the Henry he had once known.
The Jenny with the grey dog creased her brow in worry, retracting her hand. "Alright, but remember we have First Aid stations available if you need anything." She tugged out a pad of paper and spared only a short glance for the frothing photographer who was now being shoved against the side of a building in attempts to get his bucking and yelling to stop.
"I'm going to need to take a statement. Can you tell me what happened?"
Prince watched his trainer fight against the police for a long moment before quietly padding over to Walter and his Cubone. He extended a ribbon to the little Pokemon in attempts to calm its sobs.
Walter had never been on this side of a police investigation before. He swallowed, figuring out what to say. As Prince reached up to touch Assumption Walter tightened his hold, before recognising it. It had tried to pull Henry away from him. He...didn't understand why. At the touch of the ribbon, Assumption looked over to Prince. Tears were still running down his face, over the skull and leaving tear tracks but he shyly reached out to touch the ribbon.
Walter relaxed his hold, letting the Sylveon easily reach Assumption, to continue comforting him. A thumb idly rubbed over Assumption's back. "He thought I was someone else. When he recognised me for who I am, he wasn't happy to see me. We had known each other before, away from here." He told Officer Jenny.
When Assumption reached out for Prince's ribbon, Prince reached out with his other one to wipe away a tear from the little Pokemon's skull mask. "Viiiooon."
"I see," said Officer Jenny. She was well used to the strangers to their world having history but...there was little she could do or prove when it came to things that happened in another dimension. Here? Henry had attacked Walter and Walter had recoiled without putting up a fight. The construction workers saw the whole thing.
"That's a shame..." The Jenny watched as Henry was bodily dragged from the scene, frothing and screaming something about The Sacraments and Giant Umbilical Cords and Satan. "He served me coffee just the other day. We'll look into it."
"HE THINKS MY APARTMENT IS HIS MOM!" was the last thing Henry managed to scream before he was dragged around the corner.
Prince felt...very alone as he stood with this strange man and his little Cubone. His tummy hurt and his head hurt. He knew the way home from where they were. It was time to do some investigation of his own.
"Sylve vee veeeoon?" Prince asked. What happened, dearheart? I've never seen my trainer get into a fight like that. I'm so sorry.
Walter quietly watched Henry be taken away, before looking back to the two Pokemon. He wasn't sure what to do with this...whatever it was. Henry had addressed it, hadn't he? Did that make it his Pokemon? But then, why would one of his Pokemon stop him from attacking Walter?
Assumption sniffled, leading into the ribbon's touch for comfort. "My trainer knows him. He said he's the 'Receiver of Wisdom', and is very special and we have to look after him and keep him safe here. But when your trainer saw mine, he screamed and attacked him and kept screaming and it was really scary-" More tears welled up in Assumption's eyes.
Walter couldn't understand what was being said, of course. But he saw Assumption tear up again. "Shhh...don't cry. You don't want them to see you cry." It only meant the world would see weakness, and twist he knife harder.
Prince's ears bounced thoughtfully. He turned in place to look at the spot where the fight had taken place. The dark red drops from Henry's knuckles still stained the ground and Prince wrinkled up his snout. This was so unlike Henry. Henry spent most days lazing on the sofa, thoughtfully pouring over his photos, or quietly and cheerfully welcoming people to the Pokemon Center...
Something was wrong with him!
"Sylveon," said Prince firmly as he turned back to the duo. His thoughtful expression melted again when Assumption started to cry. He patted the little Cubone on both bony cheeks with his ear ribbons. If that is true, my trainer should be your trainer's friend the way he's my friend! I look after him too...
Prince shook his head sadly. He wanted to go to Henry...but then he remembered the way his trainer had lifted the brick--the fire in his eyes! Maybe...maybe he would go home in stead after all.
As Prince calmed Assumption, who was giving a little nod to whatever the Pokemon had chirped to him, Walter looked over him again. He was still uneasy with it. But he spoke softly to the Sylveon.
"Thank you." For trying to help, and for comforting Assumption. He turned and looked over the foggy streets. He didn't know what to do with Prince. It wasn't his to look after, but couldn't someone hurt it if it was left alone like this? It couldn't exactly follow after Henry given the circumstances.
Assumption finally calmed again, hiccuping. As Walter hesitated, Assumption patted one of the ribbons by his head. "Do you need a place to stay? My trainer has a place, there's other people there but we have our own room, and he lets me sleep on the bed so he'll let you on there too."
The Sylveon shook his head in response, ribbons wafting.
I'm going to go home and...think.
Prince stood and faced Walter one more time, giving the unfamiliar man a long and curious look. His life had just gotten a whole lot more complicated. He dipped his head, wishing the man well, before turning and bounding away in a different direction.
He hoped some of the other house Pokemon were awake. He needed like a bazillion hugs.
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When Walter turned ever so slightly, his profile stood in sharp relief against the pinkish orange light of the morning. It was a shape that had carved itself into Henry's lizard brain during those long hellish hours in the Otherworld.
The world slowed down. Shops stopped opening. It seemed as though the Pidove taking off overhead froze in the air. Henry felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice into the pit of his stomach.
No...
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But in that moment, Assumption didn't even cross Walter's mind. Looking at Henry they were somewhere else, somewhere without Pokemon or even people. It was just them two, a foot or so away from each other, at an impasse. This wasn't how it was meant to be. It wasn't how Walter had intended to reveal himself to Henry, once he knew how to get back or what he was doing here. But his placid, calm facade didn't break.
"Henry..."
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Prince was so proud of his trainer!
The pink Pokemon came bounding towards them, completely unaware of the shitshow that was about to unfold before his huge blue eyes.
No, Henry insisted again. This wasn't happening. Walter wasn't real. He was another ghost, like that horrible dripping specter that had followed him for days! But there was a little skull-wearing creature at his heels. The grime from the Otherwold was missing from Walter's shoes. He was here. It was him and he was here. He was really really here.
And then Walter spoke.
His name, that's all it took. Walter's voice--the voice that had haunted his nightmares for six long years-- finally snapped that white-hot filament within the singular light bulb hanging in the attic of Henry's mind. It burst and everything went dark.
Shop doors swung close. Sprinklers started to shutter. The Pidove overhead started flapping and in the growing cacophony of the world finally starting to join, the mild mumbler's voice joined it-- the deafening scream of a god-killer.
Henry lunged at Walter, his hands clawing for his throat.
Prince threw on the brakes, eyes wide, little mouth hanging open in horror and shock. Trainer no!
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He gasped - as a ghost he had felt nothing, everything dulled by a lack of body, of senses to provide feedback on if the wind was in his hair, if there was fresh blood on his skin, if bullets were burying into his form. Now he felt it all, Henry's hands turned into claws and grasping at his neck, his unbroken neck, and Walter attempted to catch them, to pull them away from him, trying to step away from Henry.
At his feet Assumption's gaze had become fearful, clutching onto Walter's trouser leg and given a confused cry. What was happening? Walter talked about the Receiver so...so nicely, like he liked him. Why was the Receiver attacking him?
"Henry, I'm not going to hurt you here-!"
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It shortly became...unclear...just where he was getting all the air with which to scream because he never seemed to take a breath as he drove his thumbnails into Walter's throat and shoved him as hard as he could. He wanted to knock him down, to rip out his throat, to finally do what Joseph's droning voice had commanded of him.
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.
Meanwhile, Prince was having none of this.
The Sylveon cried out and closed the gap between him and the scuffle. He reached out his long ribbons and wrapped them around Henry's elbows. Like a fishermon reeling in a difficult catch, he started to tug.
"Viioooon!" Someone help him!
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Assumption, thankfully, scrambled out from under the two men after Walter tripped. He couldn't interfere, Walter had told him not to unless the Receiver was in danger, and he couldn't protect Walter from another person hurting him because he couldn't attack non-Pokemon! Tears welled up and the Cubone wailed in distress, the sound echoing through it's skull helmet into a long, mournful scream that rang through the fog.
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"You won't ruin this world too! I won't let you! Go back to hell where you belong!"
Little Assumption's cries did not go unnoticed. While Prince was trying very hard to both process this terrifying turn his trainer had taken, he also noticed the little Cubone. Prince loved babies and generally wanted everyone to get along and be happy--and oh goodness this poor dear! He must be so scared!
"Syl! Sylveee!" It's okay, it's okay little one! He's going to stop this!
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"I can't." He repeated. Assumption was still loudly crying. The moment Henry was drawn back enough he threw himself between them, burying into Walter's torso and tearfully looking back at Henry. Walter couldn't pay attention to much else but the man in front of them. This isn't how he thought it would happen at all.
"I'm not dead. I haven't the Power of Heaven in this world. You know this." Henry knew what he had to do to create his Otherworlds.
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"Prince, let GO!" He shoved the Pokemon away. Prince was so shocked that his ribbons fell slack. He rocked backwards onto his haunches and his huge blue eyes welled up with tears. Why was this happening!?
Cubone or no Cubone, Henry's attack would not stop. He staggered backwards, knuckles dripping red onto the concrete, and snatched up a chunk of broken brick from the Machamp construction site. He reeled back his arm and lunged again with every intention of bringing the chunk of stone down on Walter's shoulder--
--that was until a force stopped him.
And that force was called The Law.
"Stop right there!" Two women in blue uniforms flanked by a Growlithe and a Houndour respectively, suddenly took hold of Henry's arms. He dropped the brick in surprise and instantly started fighting. "Sir, if you don't contain yourself this instant, we're going to have to take you into custody."
"He's a monster! HE's a monster, let me go! Let me go!" Henry's voice grew into a roar as he fought against Officer Jenny and Officer Jenny.
A third officer suddenly appeared by Walter's side, followed by the construction worker and his two beefy Pokemon. This policewoman had a Poochyeena at her heels. SHe held out a hand for Walter to take.
"Sir, do you require medical attention?"
Prince turned on his heels, around and around, his ribbons whirling faster than his mind. What was happening!? The world was suddenly upside down!
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Walter kept his position - he remembered, he remembered that sometimes they would delay the strike to trick you into lowering your guard, wait until you peeked out from your corner to get you right around the face.It wasn't until he heard Officer Jenny speak to him that he slowly uncurled.
The sight of the Poochyena made him tense, drawing away from her. "I'm fine." He murmured quietly. He drew Assumption close with one arm, moving to stand up. Assumption was still sniffling, holding onto him tightly. He turned his head, watching how Henry struggled and twisted...so unlike the Henry he had once known.
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"I'm going to need to take a statement. Can you tell me what happened?"
Prince watched his trainer fight against the police for a long moment before quietly padding over to Walter and his Cubone. He extended a ribbon to the little Pokemon in attempts to calm its sobs.
"Viiii," cooed Prince.
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Walter relaxed his hold, letting the Sylveon easily reach Assumption, to continue comforting him. A thumb idly rubbed over Assumption's back. "He thought I was someone else. When he recognised me for who I am, he wasn't happy to see me. We had known each other before, away from here." He told Officer Jenny.
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"I see," said Officer Jenny. She was well used to the strangers to their world having history but...there was little she could do or prove when it came to things that happened in another dimension. Here? Henry had attacked Walter and Walter had recoiled without putting up a fight. The construction workers saw the whole thing.
"That's a shame..." The Jenny watched as Henry was bodily dragged from the scene, frothing and screaming something about The Sacraments and Giant Umbilical Cords and Satan. "He served me coffee just the other day. We'll look into it."
"HE THINKS MY APARTMENT IS HIS MOM!" was the last thing Henry managed to scream before he was dragged around the corner.
Prince felt...very alone as he stood with this strange man and his little Cubone. His tummy hurt and his head hurt. He knew the way home from where they were. It was time to do some investigation of his own.
"Sylve vee veeeoon?" Prince asked. What happened, dearheart? I've never seen my trainer get into a fight like that. I'm so sorry.
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Assumption sniffled, leading into the ribbon's touch for comfort. "My trainer knows him. He said he's the 'Receiver of Wisdom', and is very special and we have to look after him and keep him safe here. But when your trainer saw mine, he screamed and attacked him and kept screaming and it was really scary-" More tears welled up in Assumption's eyes.
Walter couldn't understand what was being said, of course. But he saw Assumption tear up again. "Shhh...don't cry. You don't want them to see you cry." It only meant the world would see weakness, and twist he knife harder.
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Something was wrong with him!
"Sylveon," said Prince firmly as he turned back to the duo. His thoughtful expression melted again when Assumption started to cry. He patted the little Cubone on both bony cheeks with his ear ribbons. If that is true, my trainer should be your trainer's friend the way he's my friend! I look after him too...
Prince shook his head sadly. He wanted to go to Henry...but then he remembered the way his trainer had lifted the brick--the fire in his eyes! Maybe...maybe he would go home in stead after all.
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"Thank you." For trying to help, and for comforting Assumption. He turned and looked over the foggy streets. He didn't know what to do with Prince. It wasn't his to look after, but couldn't someone hurt it if it was left alone like this? It couldn't exactly follow after Henry given the circumstances.
Assumption finally calmed again, hiccuping. As Walter hesitated, Assumption patted one of the ribbons by his head. "Do you need a place to stay? My trainer has a place, there's other people there but we have our own room, and he lets me sleep on the bed so he'll let you on there too."
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I'm going to go home and...think.
Prince stood and faced Walter one more time, giving the unfamiliar man a long and curious look. His life had just gotten a whole lot more complicated. He dipped his head, wishing the man well, before turning and bounding away in a different direction.
He hoped some of the other house Pokemon were awake. He needed like a bazillion hugs.