For the next months after Christmas, all the way up until May, Law spent a little time each day with his father, sitting at the table and looking through books as his father went on about something or other in the background. He tried to focus, he really did, but his mind shut off whenever they gathered at the table. It wandered, going to the depths where he hid things away, and more than once he had gotten up from the table and stormed outside to take refuge under the trees; Pokemon would visit him then because for many of them, he had become a friend. Not a good one, heavens no, but sometimes he would bring out one of the tins of left over treats he kept for his Charmander and share them. But when he felt better, he would always return to sit at that table for a little while longer, feeling terrible with himself. His father just wanted to teach him, that was all. And most of it was interesting. The more he learned about the histories of some regions-- like the far of Kanto region and a war that had taken place three thousand years prior-- and they were even getting into some science-y topics. And every day before they finished, as Lawrence gathered up the books, he would listen to a new tale that Law had in mind, always about the various Legends of whatever they were talking about that day. He had a surprising amount of knowledge about Hoenn, specifically, and the Claydoll that took refuge in the never ending storms of the desert.
All of these lessons made the days pass faster, and in May they were going to try and build something cool (Lawrence had not let slip what it was), but when those days came, Law was left confused. When had been jostled awake long before the break of dawn, and as his mind was working to wake up, his father whispered something to him that he could not hear. The previous days, Lawrence had been a little...panicky, antsy, always up and moving and never sitting down. Law did not even think he had slept those days, and he processed in his head what his father had told him as he left the room and plodded downstairs to find the best clothes he could. His dress shirt and pants were in the laundry room and he threw them on, everything passing by in a blur. “We need to go to Viridian City right now,” he played over and over in his head. Law vaguely remembered something about “I need you to look presentable today” and he yelped when he was dragged to his father's room, positioned in front of his bathroom mirror, and had his hair styled in various spikes in much a similar style to his father's hair. He washed his face and hardly got any cereal for breakfast before he was ushered out the door. Lawrence fussed over his clothes as they walked down the path, and let out an exasperated sigh when they got to the border that Law was never supposed to cross.
Law stood a few feet from what he knew as the 'invisible fence' and sucked on his bottom lip. “You're allowed to today,” his father told him gently, “Officer Jenny needs both of us to go to Viridian City for a few hours.” The man fidgeted with the bracelet on his wrist and continued down the path, urging Law to follow him. They went through the forest and managed to get to the city with no trouble. Even the Pokemon Law had come to befriend had abandoned him long ago when they realized he was unable to play at the time.
They wound through the city, not bothering with a bus, and almost plowing through groups of people standing by on the streets to admire the products in store windows. Law was more impressed by the day than how the city looked; he had been raised here, or just around it, and the sun began to rise over the mountain tops and Indigo Plateau. It was almost like a dream to him to be able to see the city again-- it was like he was young again and his father had woken him to take him on a small trip to the city to find a bakery or relax in the park. The air was warm, but not too hot, with a chill to it from the cold night air. He was started back to reality when he slammed right into his father. He gave him a disapproving look.
“Be on your best behavior,” he said, fixing Law's shirt for the umpteenth time. “You'll sit next to me, but don't speak unless told to. Don't fidget, try to act like you're a son of mine, not some random kid I picked up off the streets.”
Law's brow furrowed. “I don't understand,” he said, gesturing to nothing in particular. “What's going on? Why are we here?”
“I never told you? Oh well. Officer Jenny gave me word a few weeks ago that we're expected in court. Something about the people in Hoenn being angry or something or other.”
“It's nearly been a year!”
“Some of the legal process can take that long,” Lawrence muttered as he adjusted the collar on his coat. “Things will be fine though, I promise. Oh no, please don't cry. Someone I know offered to help, I'm sure everything will be fine. At worst, your punishment will stay the same or be adjusted. This is just the official statement of recent events. The papers we got from Officer Jenny were but an estimate, I assure you.”
The entire day flew by in a blur in the boy's point of view. People were talking, there was a judge, and about a dozen Machamps stationed around the room with their arms crossed, preventing anyone from leaving or entering once the doors closed. There were dozens of people in the audience and off to the side of the room, all of them staring at Law as he walked in and sat down. He felt their stares on the back of his neck throughout the trial and he fidgeted with the buttons of his shirt in an attempt to distract himself. He absolutely did not want to end up crying during this, he wanted to please his father, but it was right there, and a few times he silently choked back a sob and stared off at one of the fluorescent lights. By the time they were out, he hardly remembered anything; he remembered clearly looking out at all the people from Hoenn as he stood there, trying to hide his shame from all of the terrible looks he was given. He hardly remembered the verdict. Guilty? It was not his fault, he said many, many times, even after swearing the truth. Someone else was there with Groudon, someone else was trying to wake him, but no one had any source of evidence, no one was witness, no one could find any proof of the man he claimed to have been there. A man clad in red? Nonsense. A man clad in blue? He was making things up.
His punishment was to remain the same. Many people tried to fight to get it worse, to give him a more adult punishment and send him and his father to prison, but the judge denied. Something was going on, Law could tell, but apparently he was the only one able to see that slight flicker in his poker face. There had been much uproar and disapproval, but as instructed, Law kept his lips shut tight. To his father's joy, when he did speak, he was loud and clear with a strong voice. No one understood how much courage it took him to do that, how drained it left him when they took a break, finished a trial with Lawrence, exited around evening and escorted out of the building by Officer Jenny. Law replayed these events over and over in his head; he could remember the smell, how the room looked, and even a few faces, but the words, it was impossible for him to remember the words. He could see his father standing there, looking unimpressed, but had no idea what anyone had said, and this time there had been people who had been at the islands at the event last year. It was all so, so draining on that that when he got to the outskirts of the city, he completely collapsed against a building, covering his face with his hands and pulling his knees to his chest. Officer Jenny and his father spoke quietly to each other, frantically. Law hardly heard them. “...entle with him, maybe take him to see someone.” “But no one will take him. Surely he'll be fine, being alone is relaxing.” “Maybe for you...” And off they were, talking frantically again.
Lawrence knelt next to him, drawing his coat away from him, and Law realized that Officer Jenny was gone. He held out his hand. “I'm proud of you Law,” he said. The boy rubbed his eyes. “You were well behaved today. When we get home, would you like me to make Tauros stew for you?” Law croaked out a quiet 'yes' and tried to hide himself more. He wanted to disappear into the walls. “We need to get home now.” Law noticed he cut off short, most likely about to say 'you're drawing a crowd'. He grabbed Lawrence's hand and he was hauled to his feet. A warm breeze rustled his hair, felt strange on his tear stained cheeks.
“I'm sorry,” Law said, his voice quiet and shaky. “I'm so sorry.” He just wanted to feel secure again.
“Nonsense. Everything will be fine, I promise. You have limited access to the internet now, but I can just as easily get you an MP3 player and some CDs. I could get you some books, too. I heard a new childrens' story book about the Legendaries is coming out soon; they seem to be much more popular than when I was a child.”
All Law could do was nod. He refused to let go of Lawrence's hand.
“I... I'm at a loss of what to do,” Lawrence admitted, giving Law's hand a gentle squeeze. “We're not allowed to stay out here much longer; I'm ever further restricted to the house now. Two hours on Saturday and Wednesday to collect groceries, and an hour each day to be out in the yard and surrounding forests with the same restrictions as you. Though I require the use of the internet for my job. Oh well; I'm sure we can collect some board games or puzzles to play, or I could teach you chess.”
Law stared forward, unfocused and completely out of the world. “Y-yeah,” he said. “Yeah we can play chess.” He sucked on his bottom lip, almost stumbling on a Caterpie that had wandered onto the sidewalk. In his stupor, he did not notice Officer Jenny walking beside them. “I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight.”
His father hummed in contemplation. “I have medicine at the house; low doses will knock you out, would you like that?” Law nodded. “Everything will be fine.”
Law wished he could believe it.
Officer Jenny walked with them all the way up to the house and stayed for about an hour to restate what they were and were not allowed to do. She handed Lawrence a small packet of papers that dictated each of their punishments, saluted, and then made her way back to Viridian City. Law had managed to get his wits about him on the walk home, and he was no longer crying, but his face was still red and eyes puffy and he sat in a corner under a lamp, staring at the wall. He ended up taking refuge in the kitchen with a bowl of unsalted crackers, but he had no appetite. It got a little better when he smelled the stew his father was making, and when a bowl was set in front of him, he was eager to eat it.
“Dad, what's that bracelet on your wrist?”
Lawrence paused, resting his spoon back in his bowl. He seemed relaxed enough, one leg crossed over the other, his coat now hanging on the hook by the door. This seemed very unlike him, and he sighed. “It's a monitor bracelet,” he said. “They fear I might come up with some obnoxious way of escaping. Jokes on them though, I have no resources to do anything like that.”
“Would you?”
“No, I suppose I wouldn't. I've got a few important things to take care of now. But I do long for that view again.”
“What view?”
“From my ship I could see a lot. It's a similar to being a cat, being so high up. You feel as if everything is yours.”
“That's why I wanted Charizard,” Law mused. “It's the only starter Pokemon that can fly! It's a dragon! Being up so high must be amazing. But now.” He looked away, his whole stature deflating. “I won't have another chance.”
His father frowned. “Nonsense. You speak so highly of Ho-Oh; you'll see her one day, I'm sure of it.”
“When I get out of here I want to go to Unova. They don't have flying type starters, if I remember correctly. But...maybe I can get a Charmander again later on.”
Both of them completely froze, Lawrence's lips parted, having been interrupted. A noise from the living room, a soft noise, reached their ears. It was a quiet 'eee-eee-aaiii' and mixed in was the sound of many hard, smooth objects lightly hitting each other. Lawrence asked if Law had closed his window, to which the boy answered 'I don't know.' Their violet eyes met and Law leaned over slightly in his chair, for he faced the living room and Lawrence's back was turned to it. His face lit up and he jumped from the table, rushing into the living room to scoop up a familiar, violet furred monkey. She pat Law's face and swung up to his shoulders; the wound on her shoulder from his Charmander the year previous has healed up completely and fur had grown over it. She looked fuller and happier, and on her head rested a strange cap, like those trending ones that trainers would use to accessorize their outfits. Still on her back was the pouch of evolution stones.
Law laughed as she nuzzled his cheek. “What are you doing back here?” he asked, scratching her chin. “You should be long gone back to Johto by now.” She just held a paw to her mouth and giggled, her prehensile tail whipping back and forth in excitement.
“Please tell me you're not going to turn into a big company princess and attract dozens of Pokemon from all over. One of your punishments is that you are not allowed to own any Pokemon.”
“I don't own her, do I?” Law walked into the kitchen with Aipom. “I'm sorry I hurt you. Do you forgive me?” She nodded and swung around to his other shoulder, the stones in her pouch rocking around with a strangely satisfying sound. “We should keep her!”
But the monkey and his father frowned. Aipom reached into her pouch with a frown on her face and held out the shrunken, dormant form of a Poke Ball. She had run away from home! Law opened his mouth to speak, but she jumped from his shoulder and swung into Lawrence's shoulder, giggling in that funny way of hers. Lawrence stiffened, grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, and dropped her into Law's arms.
“I don't do Pokemon,” he said. Aipom frowned. “You can be...friends with her if you want, but I don't want her in the house. Animals belong outside.”
Law frowned and sighed. “Come on, she's like you, I take it. Let's see what's in your pouch, eh?”
She jumped onto the table much to Lawrence's dismay and whipped the cloth off from around her neck, spreading it out across the table. Not only did she have evolution stones, she had various gems, like a few small chunks of sapphire and ruby. She giggled quietly and grinned to herself as she took a big around stone and tossed it to Law, who caught it with a terrified look on his face, as if he was not prepared for it. He recognized it as an Everstone and leaned over to look at all the rest; there were a few Waterstones, and a Thunderstone, and even a Firestone. Chunks of mossy rocks and never melting ice chunks were clustered together in a small net, like one a child would receive chocolate coins in.
One she was very fond of was one that shined like the full moon, as if it was specifically a /chunk/ of the moon.
“Moonstone,” Lawrence said. “Said to be a gift from Darkrai. How did you get one, they're rare outside of specific mountains.”
Aipom grinned devilishly and waved to dismiss his question. She scooped up her gems and rocks and collected the Everstone from Law. She gave them a small salute with her tail and bounced forward, jumping off Lawrence's shoulder, heading straight for the open kitchen window. Lawrence shouted at her to stop, but she ignored him, and bounced straight through the screen. Her tail grabbed an apple from the counter before she completely disappeared again into the night.
Lawrence stared at the torn screen. “Great, whatever. Law, let's finish eating and just go to bed. I'm terribly tired. Close your window tonight, too. I don't want another Pokemon getting in.”
“I'm not.” Law became monotone, distant. He sat down and started to swirl his spoon around in his stew. “I can't have Pokemon, I can't use the internet, I can't leave the surrounding area.” He dropped his spoon and covered his face. “I don't know what to do here all alone. Aipom doesn't want to stay. I don't...have any friends.”
And so the days went by. Officer Jenny stopped by more often, and one day Lawrence came in with mail from the post office with an anonymous, but rather violent, letter, that he read to Law. It stated something along the lines of, 'If you two screw up again, I won't be here to bail you out. Be glad your punishment was not worse', except it contained a lot more exuberant and fancy words, some Law did not even know existed. Neither had any clue who could have sent it-- especially Lawrence, as he knew many people in his life who would have chastised him in much the same way-- so they discarded it to a drawer in the kitchen and threw away the rest of the mail that did not pertain to anything important.
An important thing that happened in early July was that Lawrence finally convinced someone to come to the house and see Law. They spoke, often out on the front porch, and in as much privacy away from Lawrence as they could. After a week of seeing Law and reading over the report the previous doctor-- the one who gave him his cast-- wrote about his anxiety and depression and managed to write up a prescription which Lawrence picked up that Saturday. Law received the medicine and the new book about Legendaries that afternoon, and spent the whole day cooped up in his room. What his father was unaware of was that his window was open and Aipom sat with Law, looking at all the pictures in the new book. She laughed quietly as Law read out loud the various stories; these were not real legends, more of something where they plucked the Legendaries out of their homes and put them into various situations, like fairy tales, and it helped him to pass the day. His birthday was in a few months-- October 12-- and he spent a few minutes a day trying to figure out what he wanted. In the end, he wanted nothing.
One day as he was reading his book for the dozenth time, he heard a loud, angry call from downstairs, and his father was using his full name. Even the numbers. He threw the book aside and jumped off his bed, rushing downstairs as to not keep him waiting. He met his father in the back den, where there were boxes upon boxes of spilled things, mainly books.
“What did you /do/?” Lawrence asked, hauling a box back up. “There books are important!”
Law's brow furrowed and he held his hands out innocently. “I've been up in my room,” he said, glancing over the old books. Many of the spines had disappeared and a lot of the pages were bent, torn or just plain missing. But there had to be something about them important enough for his father to be angry about it. “I promise you I was in my room, I haven't left since breakfast.”
“Then pray tell, who did?” His father hauled another box back to it's proper spot and went to throw in a book before pausing, taking a deep breath, and putting it in neatly and gently. “You aren't letting that Aipom in are you?” Law's face became flush. Lawrence scowled such a cold look that it reminded him of the day he had come home for the first time since he left for Hoenn. “You keep that creature away from this house.”
“But she's a friend. She doesn't do much damage--”
“Except /ruin my books/. Lawrence--” The man took a deep breath again, resting his head against his fist. “Please, please just keep it out. You can go outside to play with her.”
At that very moment, Aipom looked into the den, grinning widely. Law almost punched a hole through the wall; of course she would show up now! Lawrence stood up, muttering 'this scoundrel did it' and grabbed the Pokemon by her tail, dragging it outside with absolutely no mercy-- but he was being gentle, Law could tell, for the only noise Aipom made was one of fear, not of pain. Law knew the sound of pain all too well. He followed behind Lawrence, begging him to let her go, but he dropped her on the porch and slammed the door shut. Law moved to the side and tried to get to the door, but the collar of his shirt was caught and he was dragged the other way.
He shouted. “Let me go. Let me go now please! She was just-- I don't know, she reads with me. She sit on my bed and I read her stories and I tell her about your collection and she gets so excited. Please let me keep her.” Tears stung in his eyes, but he forced them back. He was let go as his father strolled away to fix up his book collection.
“There is nothing good about a lowly Pokemon,” he said from the other room. Law flopped down against the back of the couch, arms resting on his knees, and a few tears falling down his cheeks. “It's not even a pretty one. Milotic or Toegetic or Gardevoir, maybe, but Aipom? There's simply too many; they look filthy.” And then he went off muttering about how three certain birds were much prettier, better for showing off, than a monkey.
But Law loved that monkey. She stuck around and was always there, smiling and playing with him. “You're making excuses,” Law said. “You know I'm not allowed to have Pokemon, but you told me a long time ago that maybe I'd be able to get some without Officer Jenny knowing. You don't want me to have any.”
“That's not true.”
“Yes it is. I just want friends, that's all. I can't stand it here. I like your lessons, but you never talk to me besides that. You just say, 'behave!' or tell me to not be so sloppy or something like that. Why can't I keep her?” Law was sobbing now, not even trying to hold it back. “Is it because you don't want me?”
The sound of books being rearranged halted. There was absolute silence for about a minute. “I do want you. You're a brilliant boy; you remind me of your mother. But you need to understand, you just can't have anything right now. Not right now, not while all of these legal problems happening. Maybe later.”
Law covered his face. “I don't want to be here.”
“Then go to your room.”
“Do you even care?”
“I'm trying to clean this mess that your /friend/ made.”
“Don't say friend like it's terrible!” Law stood up, fists clenched. He tried to take deep breaths to calm himself but it was not working. “See? I was right; you don't want me.” Before he could hear another word, he turned and stormed up the stairs. He never intended for it to happen, but he slammed his door, and the shelf that had been fixed almost a year ago now fell from the wall again and all of the wooden Pokemon figures mounted on bits of plastic fell. His Zoroark fell behind the desk, and a Crobat tumbled under the desk chair. The Furret, which held a glittering, gold painted ball, had snapped in half as it hit the desk. Law rushed over to it, picking up the two pieces with shaky hands.
He smiled sadly. “I can get glue later. Maybe.” The Crobat had lost one of the four wings, so he reached over and picked it up. Zoroark lost the end of his ponytail. All of the rest were fine. “Yeah, I can get glue for all of you.” He placed all of the pieces in a basket that came from a shelf under his desk and turned around, stopping dead. Aipom sat in the window, frowning.
Swallowing, Law walked over and shut the window. Aipom stepped back to avoid being hit and Law said 'I'm sorry, come back later' before shutting the blinds. He sat on his bed, curled up against the corner, and wondered when his medicine would finally start working.
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