Eddies

Chapter 49: Oblivious.

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Eddies 49

Tony woke to hear two voices having an argument above him.

"Who is it?"

"How should I know?  I've never seen him before!"

"Well, he's certainly made himself at home, hasn't he!  But what's with that bloody ear?"

"You certainly are the master of the obvious question, Entei.  How could I possibly know that either?"

"Hrmmp.  Well, it looks ridiculous, all that bandaging and padding.  He looks even more of an idiot than usual!"

"Feel quite free to tell him that when he wakes, as I'm sure he will delight in your observation.  However, the human is stirring..."

Opening his eyes, Tony tried to move from his warm bedding, but found himself constrained.  He looked up into a huge whiskered face, starting in surprise and made to rise, but the bands around his waist and chest tightened.  Looking down, he found the cause... two large furry legs were wrapped around his middle, with his back against more warm fur.

"Err, you're Raikou?" he muttered in surprise, reaching up to rub his eyes and get some sense of where the hell he was.

The second voice rumbled from behind the legendary.  "Oh, and you call me the master of the obvious? But it's awake now, is it?"

Raikou sat back on his haunches and sighed tiredly at his bigger brothers question. 

"No, I think it's actually deceased, and has become one of those living dead zombie things that Chris showed us on the television."

The gruff voice became alarmed.  "You're not serious?  I thought they were made up?"

Tony had been watching the huge pair of pokémon above him with round eyes, stunned at encountering not just one, but two more legendaries.  But despite himself, the absurdity of the question struck a chord, and he chuckled as he caught Raikou rolling his eyes.

"Is this where I groan out "Brains!!" or something then?" he asked, receiving a sudden grin in return as Raikou turned back to regard him.

"It depends, human.  Are you likely to say something like that?"

Tony chuckled louder, trying to disengage himself from the heavy limbs wrapped around him, but failing miserably.  Suicune, heedless to the conversation, continued to snore loudly from behind him, and a somewhat sympathetic Raikou reached down to lend him a paw, lifting the confining limbs and pulling him from within their grasp, freeing him from the overly enthusiastic embrace.

With the assistance of the pokémon Tony managed to sit upright, brushing loose hay from his uniform with a groan.  But he could only dissemble for so long, and as he met Raikou's gaze, the big lids crinkling in amusement at his predicament.

"I assume there is a perfectly good reason for all this?" the pokémon asked, pointing to his snoring brother, as Entei stretched his neck over Raikou's shoulder to further regard him.  Tony nodded, turning back to the sleeping Suicune and dropped by his side to rest a hand on the thick blue neck.  With the pulse beneath his fingers steady he sighed in relief, as Suicune stirred at the light touch, but didn't wake further.

"He had a bit of a confrontation with a rifle butt last night" said Tony wryly, and Raikou's eyes narrowed.

"Whose was it?" he demanded, and Tony gave him a nervous look.

"Err, well... Mine, actually.  He'd snuck up on me, and I struck out before realising who it was."

Raikou paused, cocking his huge head to regard the human thoughtfully.  "I see.  Well, we all warned him that game was going to get him into trouble sooner or later.  That explains the ear, but why is he still asleep?"

Tony sat back in the straw, resting against Suicune's warm side as he explained what had occurred.

The two legendaries listened in silence, before Entei nudged his brother and said with a sly drawl "It seems in getting hit in the head, Suicune finally got lucky!"

Raikou snorted, amused despite himself at the coarse wisecrack as Tony began a vehement denial.

"My experience is that sort of thing works best without clothing, Entei" Raikou chuckled, "But it does beg the question; Why did you stay here, human?"

Tony made to reply, but paused uncertainly.  Finally, after the silence became uncomfortable, he sighed and said quietly "Well...  I didn't want to leave him up here all alone, I guess."

Raikou's stare became disquieting, but when he finally nodded slowly, Tony continued.  "He actually fell asleep over there.  I don't remember him moving over here beside me at all."

Raikou nodded again, and raised a paw to gesture at the loft stairs.  "I think we might be best continuing this conversation outside, perhaps?  We can let him sleep the rest of the sedative off by himself.  Plus, I am hungry!" he finished, chuckling deeply.  Moving towards the stair well, he paused to regard the surprised human and said "I could do with a second  breakfast partner, if you are interested.  Entei isn't the best conversationalist, especially with his face full of food."

Entei grumbled in complaint "Unlike you, I see no point in wasting good eating-time with idle conversation, Raikou."

Grinning, Tony preceded them down the stairs, and they headed to the farm house for a most unlikely breakfast.

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Suicune woke some time later with an aching head, a throbbing ear, and a general feeling of disquiet.

Raising himself gingerly up from the makeshift straw mattress, he put a paw to his ear, probing the wound which, while tender, didn't feel any the worse for wear for its night in the barn.

Still, when he looked around, his good ear dropped when he realised he was alone, after all.

Although...

Putting his nose into the straw, he gave it a good sniff, scenting the human who had been sleeping there earlier.  A further examination of his fur showed he hadn't been gone long, and the pokémon almost smiled, until his questing caught the unexpected; Raikou and Entei had both been up here recently, and their scent overlapped that of the human.

Startled, he lifted himself onto still shaky feet and staggered his way down the stairs, trying to find out what on earth those two had done to his new friend.

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Tony had to say, this breakfast was as odd as any he'd ever undertaken.

Odd, and exciting as hell.

He'd expected them to head to the camp mess which, like all such Army eating areas, was particularly well catered but still had that "school cafeteria" feel to it.  The scrambled eggs were watery, the toast was cold, and the bacon ever greasy.

Today's meal didn't share that experience.

Instead, he'd been cajoled into the farmhouse kitchen, where the farmer's wife Gwen was told in a sly voice by Entei that "he was a friend of Suicune", which had him blushing in embarrassment.

She greeted him warmly, directing him to a dining chair at the massive kitchen table, where he was given a freshly brewed coffee and hot buttered toast.  Smothering them liberally with the jam and cream left on the table, he watched as she gave Raikou a big hug around the neck, which had him purring happily, before providing the duo with huge plates of what looked like waffles, smothered in berry jam and cream, which they fell to with gusto.

Feeling somewhat self conscious at being alone at the table, waited on by one of the property owners, she saw his discomfort and gave him a pat on the shoulder, telling him the "others" would be down shortly.

What a variety of others they were!

Had he been told a week earlier he'd be sharing breakfast with not only a pair of legendary pokémon, but a typhlosion, lucario, charmeleon and a luxray, as well as a couple of the most interesting people he'd met, he'd have thought himself crazy.

It was the humans as much as anyone who were the oddballs at the table.  Obviously the two kids were the offspring of the property owner, Paul, who had sat at the head of the table to have an animated conversation with, of all things, the talking typhlosion.  But one of the other men, clearly the trainer of the luxray, sported a neatly pressed police uniform, and the other man...  Well, he was something else together.

Tony may have been young for a soldier, but he had plenty of campaign experience in both Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as a short stint in East Timor, and knew a professional when he saw one.  The "Pokémon Ranger" uniform the man wore may have looked lame in the anime, but this guy wore it with an unconscious authority.

Clearly, he wasn't a man to mess with.

Having seated himself between Tony and the typhlosion, the Ranger introduced himself as Scott, and had a long pull from his coffee as he gave the Army officer the once over.

Eventually, he began buttering his toast and said casually "Didn't think you guys wanted much to do with the pokémon here?"

Tony shrugged, mouth half full as he answered.  "I just got here yesterday.  But Raikou asked me to come for breakfast this morning after I smacked Suicune in the head last night."

Scott, who had been taking a mouthful of coffee as he listened, coughed harshly at this reply, sending a choking gasp of liquid spraying across his plate.  Struggling to breath, he waved off the assistance of the typhlosion, who had given him a smirk as well as a napkin, and finally caught his breath, asking in a coarse whisper "You did what?"

Chuckling, Tony filled the man in on what happened, as Scott gave him an incredulous look, soon followed by a laugh as he heard Suicune's actions had finally caught up with him.

Shaking his head, he said "We all told him, time after time, that he was asking for trouble doing that. Obviously he knew better than all of us!  But seriously, our real concern was that one of you guys would accidently shoot at him, which would have been bad for everyone.  There's not much love lost between us, I'm afraid."

Tony hadn't been around the base long enough to catch that feeling from his fellow soldiers, and he raised an eyebrow at the comment.  Scott caught the unasked question and sighed.

"From day one, Jobes has been anything but sympathetic towards us.  I think a lot of the negativity in the troops here comes from that.  Then there's the unpleasant fact most humans here don't consider these guys anything but dumb animals, and talk down to them, often right in their face.  That doesn't go well with most of them, especially Raikou and his brothers, as well as my ill-mannered partner here" he said, nudging the typhlosion, who took his elbow out of Scott's breakfast plate when the Ranger gave him an exasperated look.

"Did something happen then?" said Tony curiously, piling his plate with fresh bacon and eggs.

Grinning wryly, Scott said "Oh, you could say that.  A few weeks ago in the mess, one of Jobes' lieutenants made an underhanded comment that "the army had gone soft allowing animals in the food areas" and that "He hoped they didn't shed into his porridge!"  Unfortunately for the man, Storm's hearing is substantially better than most humans, and when the officer refused to apologise, stating again that animals weren't welcome in Army facilities, Storm promptly tried to drown him in a serving bowl full of hot baked beans."

Pursing his lips at the memory, Scott became aware that the young officer was looking at him in disbelief.  "Oh, you have no idea what a load of shit that caused.  These idiots don't seem to remember that many pokémon are substantially stronger than they are, and that they also have special abilities they're not afraid to use.  After throwing a few men around the mess hall, several marines tried cornering Storm, who promptly used Quick Attack and knocked the entire lot senseless.  Thank Arceus he kept his burners in check! Of course, that's when Raikou intervened, sending a static shock through the entire mess, blowing out most of the lights..."

Poking his eggs restlessly, the Ranger concluded "That's when things began to get interesting..."

Storm, who had left one ear cocked sideways to follow the conversation, guffawed.  "I wiped the floor with them losers" he drawled, even as his partner gave him a disgusted look. 

"You're a Ranger!  You're supposed to know all about P.R, not to mention acting responsibly.  It didn't help our cause here at all!"

Storm shrugged indifferently.  "It certainly didn't help it any less.  I am not expected to have to tolerate abuse, Scott.  My patience with some of these idiots was over long ago.  If they don't want to offer respect freely, they can take their lessons in humility along with a good ass whooping!"

Scott nodded with a sigh, patting his colleague on the arm.  "Yes, and this is an old argument.  But since then, Jobes has pretty much kept us all out of the information loop.  Even Cameron, the police chief who is fully sympathetic to our cause, is becoming increasingly alarmed at the armies failure to provide even the police any basic Intel."

Sighing, the Ranger glumly munched through more toast.  "Mind you, Suicune screwing around as he was hasn't helped either.  It just pissing the brass off even more.  Still, their reactions are way over the top, and I think their intent has always been to exclude us from all future action. 

Bill, who'd been listening in from across the table, said "I think you're correct there.  Cameron hasn't failed to include all of us here in briefings, but it's been ghostly silent from the army guys.  No insult intended." he said, eyeing Tony in embarrassment, but received a grin in return.

"Hey, I'm new here.  I just volunteered to come to...  Well, check out a rumour, actually."

"A rumour?" said Skyy, pausing with toast half way to his mouth.  "What rumour?"

Laughing, Tony gave the table a wave and said "Oh, that you guys were real, for starters" waving his hand around the table to take in the pokémon.

Storm chuckled.  "So, the word is finally getting out, huh?  That'll be sure to send Jobes into a hissy."

Scott pondered the reply.  "Still, if it does get out, Sinnotech may hear of it.  They already know we're here, most likely, and all this mucking around from the upper authorities is just giving them more time to plan against us."

When Tony gave him a confused look, Scott filled him in with a brief summary of the companies actions, and why the operation here had been undertaken.

At the story's end, Tony muttered "So, the army just took over, huh?  Surprise, surprise."

"Yep!" said Storm, pushing back his seat with a sigh.  "I hope they make a decision soon, because I'm getting a little sick of being stuck out here, present company and wonderful hospitality excepted of course, Gwen" he chuckled, and the farmwife stepped over to give him an affectionate peck on the cheek.

"You're always welcome here, sweetheart!" she told him with a smile, and the embarrassed typhlosion grinned sheepishly as the others broke into laughter.

So, at that moment when the kitchen door from outside flew open and a bedraggled looking Suicune, fur ruffled and stuck with bits of straw and fluff, staggered into the kitchen, everyone froze in amazement at his appearance.

Rounding wildly on Raikou, Suicune stammered "He didn't do anything!  Honestly, there wasn't much pain, oh maybe a little bit, but it doesn't hurt anymore, and it's all stitched better now, so...."

Winding down as the group continued to regard him in stunned silence, Suicune stuttered to his brothers "You didn't hurt him, did you?"

From the far end of the table Tony began to laugh, as the blue legendary looked up in surprise, breaking into a wide grin as he stormed past the others to pause, uncertain, beside him.

"You're alright then?" he asked, and Tony nodded, reaching out a hand to inspect the bandaged ear.

"So are you, I see." he replied with a grin, and the pokémon gazed at him mutely, before nodding.

As the silence extended uncomfortably, Storm coughed loudly, paw to mouth and said "Well, that's all great and fine, but my coffee is getting cold!  Suicune, stop with the drama, and eat something, for Arceus sake!"

Surprised, the pokémon looked at the Ranger and nodded, but didn't object when Tony shuffled his chair over, making room at the table beside him.

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Over the next fortnight, Tony found he'd picked himself up a second shadow.

Not that he minded all that much, as the big blue pokémon was surprisingly good company.  His witty banter kept the boredom during long sentry duty from sending him batty, and sharp sarcasm directed at the actions of the military occasionally had him in stitches, although some of his new army colleagues had begun baiting him as to how the big animal had finally found the target he'd been looking for.

Tony ignored them for the most part, not responding to the jibes.  Unfortunately, the friendly nature of it soon became somewhat ugly, and he found himself defending his new companion on an increasing frequency.

What he couldn't fail to notice, as had been brought up at that first breakfast conversation, was the obvious derogatory and demeaning attitude those in the Army took towards the "creatures".  Scott had been right on the ball; they were considered talking animals, even by those who had regular contact with them and who should have known better, and he could understand the frustration of Storm and the others at being treated as inferiors.

His visits to the communal areas of the camp; the Mess, Rec. room and such; we're becoming increasingly uncomfortable, even without Suicune's almost constant presence.  The police people weren't the problem; in fact, they'd shown plenty of positive interest in the group, perhaps as Bill and Shadow were equally considered  "one of them", and they often gave both him and Suicune a cheerful wave as they passed.  But the army guys weren't interested, instead sending them dark looks and scowls ludicrously out of proportion to the relatively minimal problems Suicune, in particular, had caused them in past weeks.

Even more, their attitude towards him had taken an equally unpleasant turn.  Where his experience in the field should have earned him better postings than an ongoing series of tedious night solo patrols, his polite requests for daytime reassignment in the base were ignored.  After his third questioning of the situation earned him an abrupt reprimand, Tony set his lips tightly and left the Admin block with fists clenched in anger, realising that his choice of companions was working against him.

He even found himself limiting his contact with Steph, who on more than one occasion since had warned him to watch himself, worried eyes marking his passing in concern, as he was apprehensive some of his newly received negativity might rub off onto her. 

So he'd taken to spending increasing recreation time with the other pokémon and their friends, finding in the group a sociability that welcomed him without question.  Certainly an interesting group, he mused, as he sat back on the rear veranda of the homestead, listening in to Storm tell another tall tale of their adventures in the Rangers, and he felt a sudden urge to give up his army career and join them.  At least that group wouldn't treat him as a pariah, he thought angrily.

Still, the near constant presence of Suicune in his life was in no way a hindrance.  Disappointed in his army colleagues, he welcomed the attention of the pokémon, whom he realised shared a lot of his social isolation, not to mention an inherent loneliness that he couldn't help but recognise in himself.

When not joining him eating, or on patrol, they tended to cruise side by side around the complex, and the pokémon had even taken to sleeping on the floor beside the human in his tent; at least until his colleagues advised him in no uncertain terms that they wanted the animal out of there!

Angry at their attitude, he'd nearly come to blows with one of his roommates before packing up his belongings and storming furiously from the dorm, their jeers as he left only making his departure more auspicious.  From that time on, he slept in the barn, with a grateful Suicune beside him. 

To add insult to injury, the following day he was reprimanded by his superiors for "general nuisance" and told to "lose the animal".  Sick of their hypocrisy, he advised them if they wanted to be rid of him, they could bloody well ask him themselves, since he had no control over the pokémon's actions.  But he felt sufficiently riled to give them the caution that they'd better make sure they didn't offend him further, or they might find themselves dealing with three pissed-off legendaries, and not one.

It was the old Bruce Banner "Don't make them angry... You won't like them when they're angry" line that shut them up completely, although their disapproval followed him from the office.  Still, it wasn't brought up again, much to his relief.

Suicune wasn't blind to the angst against him, and on several occasions he broached this with his friend, apologising meekly to Tony for causing him trouble; something the human refused to accept.

"You've not done anything wrong.  Fuck them.  Their attitude is disgusting!  If they don't like it, they can pack up and leave what is in reality private property, and go take their inane horse shit attitude elsewhere!"

While it cheered the pokémon up to know his new friend wasn't leaving, the fact was, it was only a part of the potential problems following the pair.

It was a week after the two had met that Scott finally decided to broach the issue with Raikou.  Having shared quite a lot of social time with the soldier, and consequently Suicune, over the past week, he couldn't help notice their interactions had taken a worrying turn.

Meeting up with Raikou at the training arena behind the barn, the two Rangers stood with the legendary watching Skyy and Shadow sparring.  When Raikou finally raised a bushy brow at him in question, Scott sighed and said "You've noticed it, surely?"

Raikou gave the pair a long look, not needing to ask what the Ranger was referring to, as Storm crossed his arms with a scowl.

"Yes, I cannot but help be aware of my brothers response.  I wasn't aware it was something to be concerned about."

Storm replied bluntly "That human has absolutely no clue what's happening, Raikou!  This isn't the same as what has occurred with others, who entered their relationships with mutual agreement.  Arceus sake, Suicune's following him around like a love struck teenager, and the man simply thinks he's lonely and looking for company!"

"Is it that far from the truth, Ranger?" muttered Raikou, turning back to watch the luxray throw an electrical barrage at the lucario, who deftly blocked the attack with an aura shield.

Scott gave his partner a loaded look, and the typhlosion subsided, although his angst hadn't dissipated.

"Hey, he's a nice guy, and it's not fair to keep him ignorant as to Suicune's attention.  It's pretty clear Tony is straight as a die, and your brother is obviously infatuated with the guy!  He's all over him like a rash!  So, what happens when the coin finally drops and Tony realises what's occurring?  You think that's going to end well?"

Raikou had turned his keen attention to the human, but finally sighed, dropping his head tiredly.  "No, Scott.  I think it unlikely.  But what would you have me do?  Tell Suicune not to continue?  Do you think that'll have the slightest effect other than making him more determined to pursue him, and ignore anything further we say completely?  He has not much of a history of accepting the advice of others, my friend.  He's just as likely to, as Chris so succinctly puts it, "crack a bag" and turn against us all in defiance.  I cannot see how that would be any improvement to the situation!"

Scott cursed beneath his breath, acknowledging the big pokémon's advice.  "I'd better have a word to Tony then, as soon as I can.  Otherwise, all we need is word of this to leak out.  The army guys are already hassling him about his "huge blue shadow", and we all know what'll happen if one of those arseholes puts two and two together.  Let's nip it in the bud now!"

Raikou nodded slowly, reaching up a paw to Scott's shoulder and said sympathetically "Do your best, my friend, but I think you're going to be banging your head pointlessly against a brick wall.  Still, you have my blessings."

Storm, having gotten over his snit, pondered "What does Entei think about this?"

Raikou snorted.  "Oh, dumb arse thinks the human and our brother should just "bang nasties" and be finished with it.  He says it seems to be the "done thing around here", and he might as well get with the crowd!"

Storm gave Scott a dry look, and the human Ranger chuckled despite himself.  "Well, I'll let him tell Tony that, provided we can film the guys face.  His expression would likely be priceless."

Raikou smirked, and simply said "Indeed it would."

Unfortunately for all, the opportunity didn't present itself over the following few days, and by then it was too late; the shit having well and truly hit the fan.

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Authors note:

Oh, have I got a roller coaster ride coming up next ;)

There's going to be so much shit flying about, I'm going to need to buy a much bigger fan ;)