Chapter One: A Barber's Gossip
“Gahhhh, this doesn’t make any sense!”
Lachlan looked up from his book at Casey, whose eyes were fixed on his own textbook as he held his head in his hands dramatically. His brow was knitted in frustration, the gaze from beneath it staring with waning patience at the pages, not truly seeing them.
“What doesn’t make sense?” Lachlan asked flatly, casting his eyes back down to his book.
“This stupid pokémon physiology junk!” Casey exclaimed, gesturing dramatically at his textbook. “It’s so… Hey, you’re the physiology hotshot around here, right? Can you help?”
Lachlan frowned. It was true, he’d passed the pokémon physiology exam with an unprecedented perfect score. He’d achieved some renown on campus for it, too, despite being otherwise academically unremarkable. Since then, he'd come to expect a weekly wave of acquaintances fawning over him for homework advice. It was almost like clockwork.
“Agh, now you too?” he said with mock irritation (though some of it may have been genuine). “I thought I was safe from you, at least.” Casey’s expression shifted into an intense stare of determined pleading, and a smile tugged at the edges of Lachlan’s mouth. He slipped his bookmark into his book and set it down. “Fine. What’s giving you trouble?”
Relief washed over Casey’s face, but it still wasn’t totally free of exasperation. “I don’t know, all this… Experience business? I just don’t really get it.”
“Oh. Well,” Lachlan began, eyebrow raised, “when a pokémon uses its moves to defeat another pokémon in battle, it absorbs some of its strength. What’s confusing about that?”
Casey rolled his eyes. “Okay, thanks, Professor Pokémon. Every idiot and their dog knows that. But, I mean, there’re all these formulas and stuff, and then there’s… Grafting? The hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh yeah, the math.” Lachlan grimaced. “Well, the professor should do that stuff on the board. A lot of it. Believe me, you’ll get it drilled into you eventually. I don’t really remember that stuff, if I’m being honest with you…”
“Okay, and the other thing?”
Lachlan took a deep breath. Wasn’t he going out of his way to help? He wasn’t sure he appreciated this interrogatory tone. “What, grafting? Well, it’s like… If you’re missing some skin, and the doctors take some off of me and give it to you, then you get some you didn’t have before, and I can just grow mine back… It’s kind of like that? But with Experience.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know, isn’t this kind of info-dumpy? It’s only the first chapter.”
Casey gave him a bewildered look. “Eh…?”
“Never mind.”
Casey shook his head. “Anyway, I still don’t really get it…”
Lachlan shrugged. “Sorry. I’m not your professor. I'm sure it's all there in your textbook.”
Casey grumbled something derogatory under his breath, but that was the end of it. Lachlan leaned back in his chair with a smirk and began reading again. Unfortunately, his brief respite was just that.
Brief.
“Hey, Lachlan?”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you know so much about this stuff anyway? Aren’t you, like, a reading major or whatever?”
Lachlan chuckled. “Literature,” he corrected gently. “I’m a literature major. I know this stuff because I grew up on a farm, remember? Trainers would come by and fight the tauros sometimes… It was pretty hard not to pick up at least bits and pieces.”
Casey nodded vacantly. Lachlan suppressed a grin. He knew his friend had stopped listening after he’d said the word “farm.” It was hard to be annoyed at him about things like that anymore. After a while, one learned to take Casey for what he was, and “what he was” happened to be “on another planet.”
He jolted out of his reverie visibly, and immediately glanced down at his watch. “Oh, yikes,” he said, running a hand through his golden hair. “What the hell, it’s almost two already? The baseball game starts in fifteen minutes, if you wanted to come.”
Lachlan looked down at his book longingly. Was he ever going to get a chance to just sit down and read this thing?
"Come on, dude," Casey pressed. "I know you don't have any more classes, and I know you sure as hell don't have any other plans."
“Fine,” he said with a sigh. The pair of friends packed up their things and got moving.
The baseball field was a good ways out, about a fifteen minute walk away. Lachlan stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground as they walked, taking pleasure in the feeling of the sun on his neck and the wind at his back. Casey, meanwhile, seemed to be stopping every half a minute to catch up with some chatty acquaintance. How on Earth did that kid manage to keep so many friends? Well, it was good for Lachlan, at any rate. Seeing as Lachlan was utterly lacking in social skills of his own, Casey was his link to everyone else. That, and he dragged him out sometimes. Lachlan would have never gone to this baseball game of his own accord. But it was good for him.
He looked up at his blonde-haired friend, who was presently shooting the breeze with some passerby girl, and allowed himself a small smile.
Where would I be without this guy?
Reading peacefully at home, maybe.
At length they reached the baseball field. It wasn’t particularly large— Castelia University was fairly disseminated throughout the city, and the poor city planning didn’t really allow for massive sports infrastructure. The baseball field was part of a larger city green, partitioned off by a rather flimsy-looking chain-link fence. Some well-worn metal bleachers stood on the grass. Casey and Lachlan made their way over to one and took a seat. There were only perhaps three dozen others there, plus the teams.
“I never watched baseball as a kid, really,” Casey said wistfully as he watched the players warm up. “My parents weren’t really into it. Soccer was a bigger deal where my dad grew up, and my mom doesn’t really care about sports at all, so— Hey!” Lachlan felt something solid collide with his shoulder.
“Ow! Hey, what the hell was that for?”
Casey withdrew his fist and glared at Lachlan. “We’re at a baseball game! Put your damn book away, nerd. Also, I’m talking! You’re so rude.”
Lachlan smiled sheepishly as he saved his page. “Sorry,” he said contritely, rubbing his chin.
Aren’t they still warming up? “I just haven’t had a chance to dig into this book yet, really, so…”
Casey rolled his eyes and shook his head. “What’re you reading, anyway?”
Lachlan’s eyes lit up. “Oh! It’s called ‘A Crossbreed,’ it’s a short story by this Eastern Kalosian author about, ah… Well, it’s kind of strange, it’s about a pokémon that’s half tepig and half mareep, and—”
“What the hell?” Casey cut him off. “You some kinda furry or something?”
“What?” Lachlan’s eyes bulged. “Oh, no, it’s not— I mean, it’s kind of a classic.”
Casey slapped Lachlan’s back heartily and let out a deep laugh. “I’m just messing with you, buddy. It sounds pretty interesting if you’re into that kind of thing, I guess.” Lachlan let out a silent breath of relief.
Crack!
“Oh, I guess the game’s starting,” Casey remarked. Lachlan looked up just in time to see the ball reach the crest of its beautifully parabolic arc. It sailed down smoothly into an outfielder’s glove, punctuated by a sharp “
Out!” from the umpire.
“Jeez,” Casey said. “Off to a pretty bad start, huh…”
Lachlan shrugged. “I don’t really care about baseball, to be honest. Seems difficult enough, I guess. But a lot of the players are pretty out of shape anyway…”
“Hm. So what, are you a Pokélathon kinda guy?”
“Yeah,” Lachlan replied, cringing internally.
He already thinks I’m a furry or whatever…
“Me too, honestly,” Casey said with a nod, his eyes still fixed on the field. Lachlan felt the tension leave his body, and he deflated visibly. “There’s something kind of amazing about it, isn’t there? Pokémon seem pretty dumb most of the time, but they can play sports just fine… Definitely makes you think.”
Lachlan chuckled. “Aren’t you taking pokémon physiology? You should know by now that they’re not very dumb at all, for the most part.”
Casey shot him a flat look. “Aren’t you my friend?
You should know by now that I don’t pay attention for sh
it— Oh my god!” He sprung up from his seat dramatically, his face twisting into a mask of concern and fright. “Dude, are you okay?”
Lachlan knitted his brow in concern. “What?” Then he noticed the baseball in his lap. “Oh. How’d that get there?”
“Dude…” Casey was agape. “...Are you okay? Do you have a concussion?” He pulled out his phone. “I can get an ambulance. I’m going to get an ambulance.”
“No, it’s fine, seriously,” Lachlan insisted, waving his hand dismissively. He picked up the baseball and examined it.
What the hell… “What, did it hit my head?”
“Uh, yeah? Didn’t that, like, hurt?”
Lachlan frowned, setting the ball back in his lap.
No, it didn’t hurt at all. Is that what I’m supposed to say?
The players didn’t seem to have noticed that their ball had struck one of their viewers in the head, probably because he didn’t react. They were already back to the game, playing with a new ball. He touched the side of his head subconsciously. “Uh, I guess it hurts a little…”
Casey shook his head, face painted bewilderment. “Jeez, dude. I’m kind of uneasy now. It’s a f
ucking war zone out here. This game kind of sucks anyway. I think I’m going to go home.”
“Oh.” Lachlan stood with him. “All right. I guess I’ll go get a haircut then.”
“What? You don’t want to lay down or something? You just got whacked in the head by a baseball, man.”
Lachlan shrugged. “It doesn’t really… I mean, it only hurts a little, so I think it’ll be fine. And my hair’s getting kind of long.”
“Eh? It looks the same as it always does.”
“... See you later, Casey.”
“Later, dude."
A tall customer entered a barber shop by the sea, and the small bell on the door rang sweetly to herald his entrance.
“Hey, Rissa.”
“Hi, Lachlan. Just, the usual, yeah? All right. You can have a seat right here.”
“Cool, thanks.” Lachlan did just that. Rissa tied a barber’s gown around his neck and ran a hand through his thick black hair, tousling it slightly. “Just the usual will be fine. Roots, too.”
“Of course.”
Rissa got to cutting his hair gently with her silver scissors, humming a sweet tune to herself for a while. Then she spoke:
“You’re in here a lot, you know.”
“Hm? Oh, yeah.” Lachlan shrugged slightly. “I don’t like my hair getting too long, I guess.”
“Well, you certainly take excellent care of it. It shows. You never see healthy hair like this on a guy. I really wish more men would take care of their hair as well as you do. They’d all be better off for it.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Mmmmhm.”
Rissa continued cutting silently for a while. Lachlan drummed his fingers on the armrest.
“You hear about the whole deal in the Liberty Ward?” Rissa asked eventually.
Lachlan nearly shook his head, but thought better of it. Wouldn't want to ruin his haircut. “Ah, no. What happened?”
“Mm. It wasn’t too pretty from what I’ve heard of it. Which isn’t much, mind you.” She clicked her tongue. “I guess the BDA’s been moving in here recently. It hasn’t been very pleasant.”
“BDA?”
“Yeah, the Bureau of Deminimon Affairs. Suit-and-tie government types. I guess they’re tasked with, uh,
disposing of demimon. Take that as you will.”
“Demimon…” Lachlan’s eyes glazed over for a minute. “In Castelia? In… In Unova?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Snip, snip. “The BDA was a pretty minor agency before, but they’ve been beefing up recently. So the demimon must’ve worked their way over from Kanto already. I guess it’s a big enough problem nowadays that BDA needs a little extra muscle.”
“Hm.” A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth. “So what happened in Liberty?”
“Oh, there was a home raid, they said. They shot the woman there dead, from what I heard. There was a kid too. I guess they took him with them.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
They sat there in silence for a moment, Rissa snipping at his hair and touching up his roots masterfully. Lachlan’s throat felt heavy.
“What do you make of it?” he said at length.
“What, the BDA thing?” Rissa tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully. “Well, it’s good to know the government is protecting us from threats like that, I suppose. It’s pretty crazy to think people like
that have been crawling around right under our noses all along, though, isn’t it?”
“Hm. Yeah, pretty crazy.”
“Always the talkative one, you are.” Rissa picked up the mirror and showed Lachlan his haircut. It looked basically the same as it did before, which in Lachlan’s book was a good thing. The roots were a deep black, like the rest of his hair.
“Looks good,” he muttered, and he pushed a warm smile onto his face. Rissa returned one of her own.
“Thanks for stopping by,” she said as Lachlan thumbed out her payment and a healthy tip. She took it gratefully and stuffed it somewhat unceremoniously into the pocket of her apron. “We love customers like you.”
“No problem,” Lachlan said as he made his way to the door. “Have a nice day.”
“You too.” He was halfway out the door when she added: “And stay safe out there, okay?” Lachlan froze in his tracks and turned around. Rissa was smiling warmly, but an astute observer might have noted the bead of worry in her eyes, or the wrinkle of concern in her brow. “It’s getting pretty rough out there. You’re a shy guy, but take care of yourself, okay?”
Lachlan didn’t know what to say. Eventually, he forced it out anyway: “I will. You too. Thank you.” And with that he was on his way home.
It’s rough out there, huh…
Well, he’d be all right anyhow. When he thought of reading his book upon returning home, he quickened his step, and the barber shop fell into the distance behind him.
It's hard to pay attention when you're walking with purpose. But if Lachlan had spared a moment to watch the world around him as he walked along, he might have noticed many things that he did not. Perhaps he might have even noticed the lone poster stapled to the bulletin board in the common room of his dorms:
ATTENTION HARMONIA HALL RESIDENTS
The BDA will be visiting the campus for mandatory inspections this Thursday.
Be in your dorm ready for inspection from 5:00 until you are seen by a BDA official.
DON'T FORGET! Absentees will be penalized.