You're on Spirit Street

Alastair and Thanatos did indeed become very close "friends."

Thanatos would have a run in with a certain nuisance Pokemon, and Alastair would volunteer to dispose of them. The Blaziken had a business to run, after all. No sense in having these troublesome Pokemon interfering. They were all criminals, nonetheless, accused of slaughter, theft, and many other dangerous charges. They were, in fact, doing the police a favor by ridding these villains off of the streets.

Alastair found himself strolling down his favorite street once again. It was a daily thing for him, to come here and meet new Pokemon and tell them exciting stories. Sometimes of himself, but mostly of theirselves. 

A small, curious Shuppet bumped into Alastair. "Excuse me, sir, can you tell me where I am?" His wide, brilliantly colored eyes showed signs of panic and confusion.

"Hello, friend." The mantis greeted. "You're on Spirit Street." He answered, keeping that same melancholy expression, though still managing a smile.

"Spirit Street? W... Where's that?" The sock puppet asked, tilting his head slightly.

Alastair sighed, though more contentfully than maliciously. "It's a street in Caelum City in which many Ghosts linger. Look around," He waved a scythe at the Ghost Pokemon that surrounded them. Some were talking, others were running small shops along the road, and few were wandering around the street aimlessly. "All of these Ghosts have found their way to this street, happy to be surrounded by more of their... 'kind.'" He didn't want to make the Shuppet feel isolated, but it was nothing more than the truth.

"Ah... but... I don't ever remember being a Ghost. I kind of woke up one day, and... well, here I am!" He said with a bit of worry. "I can't remember anything about my life, not even my name..." He looked down woefully.

"Ah, but I'm sure your name is the very least that you should be able to remember! What was the first word that came to you when you awoken?" The mantis coaxed.

"What the fuck." The puppet blatantly admitted.

Alastair let out a hardy laugh, similar in tone as the ones his comrade would let out when Alastair said something particularly childish. "Indeed, I'm sure you'd be as confused as you are now. But, just think, what is it that you would respond to, should someone call for you?" He asked.

"Umm..." The Shuppet looked to the sky in thought. "I think... maybe... Cobalt?" It hit him. His name! That was his name! He bounced around the street with glee.

Cobalt. Close. Alastair put a scythe to his chin, examining the cheerful puppet. Just last week, there had been a Castform who went by the name "Cody," who had been charged with murder via thunderstorms. It was a strange one, he caused a thunderstorm that inadvertently bore lightning that struck an old Azumarill, who died shortly after. He claimed it wasn't his fault, but some rumor spread that the Azumarill had denied him business for whatever reason. Instead of waiting for all the nonsense to spill out into the open, Thanatos decided that Alastair ought to get rid of him as soon as possible. Alastair agreed. He went out that night in the rain, catching the cloud by surprise, and greeted him with a swift locking of his scythes around the Castform's neck. There were no words, as the mantis expertly slid his sword-hands across in a scissor-like fashion, severing the head of his victim with no effort at all.

"Cobalt." Alastair beckoned. The Ghost perked, before floating over to the mantis. "You said you don't remember anything from your life, correct?" He queried.

"No, nothing. It's all a blank." Cobalt admitted.

"Well, hm..." Alastair's scythe returned to his chin in thought. "Do you possibly recall a thunderstorm? Or just a rainy night?" He asked. 

"Not really," The Shuppet shook his head side to side, but suddenly stopped and said, "Well... Actually I do have a faint memory of it. It was a rainy night, it was really bad, like raining Lillipups and Skittys." He looked to the ground, then back to Alastair. "But what does this have to do with anything?"

"Hm, well do you happen to remember this plump, blue rabbit creature?" Alastair prodded.

"Yeah... Yeah! Her name was Aqua, and she had this cute little daughter Marine... I remember us being good friends, and..." Cobalt's brows scrunched forward, trying desperately to remember.

"You two were very great friends!" Alastair said with excitement. "In fact, you guided her home on that stormy night, but unfortunately..." He pulled his scythes together with a look of dismay. "A bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens, pointed towards dear old Aqua." Cobalt's face was splashed with worry. "But! You, being the brave soul you were, had reflexes strong enough to jump in front of her, taking the bolt for yourself, but the force ended up..." He thought for a second, trying to think of the words to describe this fake event without hurting the Ghost. "Taking your life." He ended, with a depressed frown.

"Oh..." Cobalt looked at the ground. "Well, at least I died a hero, right?" They both smiled. "But, wait... where is she? What happened to her?" He asked, that worry returning to his voice.

"Well..." Alastair looked down once more. "See, this had happened several years ago, and Aqua was a very, very old lady." Cobalt nodded, beginning to understand. "She died of old age just a couple weeks ago. I heard that she had told her daughter to thank a "Cobalt" for his bravery so many years ago." He felt uneasy telling a living lie, but the circumstances may prove it valid.

"Oh! So where is she? Where is Marine?" The Shuppet bounced around again, excited to see this girl.

"Ah, see..." He lifted his head to the Ghost with a heavy sadness in his eyes. "She left shortly after Aqua's death to live with her aunt up near Iotta Garden." This was truth, and hopefully would discourage the Shuppet from chasing her down.

Alastair felt a hand on his shoulder. "Alastair." A voice beckoned behind him. He turned to see Thanatos, who he was nearly the same height as by now, standing behind him with a look of dismay. 

"Yeah, what's up?" The mantis asked. It wasn't like the Blaziken to come out on his own and find Alastair. Must be an emergency.

"There's... another order for you." Thanatos directed, trying to sound as casual as possible around the civilians. "Kind of a strange one, if you ask me."

"What, this isn't something you want me to do?" Nothing was strange for Thanatos. They were either easy or not easy, never strange.

"Well, it's Opaline's request. I'm not rejecting it, but I think you'd ought to hear it for yourself." He had been tied up around this new Chatot girl that was hanging around their office recently. She had the appearance and attitude of an innocent school girl, but Alastair felt suspicious of her the first time he laid eyes on her. What kind of innocent school girl would be hanging around secretive assassins?

"I understand. Give me another five minutes and I'll be over." The mantis nodded. Hearing the girl out at the very least couldn't be that much of a problem. Thanatos nodded in acknowledgement, turning to his leave. Alastair turned back to the Ghost he had been conversing with and continued to tell him stories of the puppet's time.

~

This page dragged out longer than I expected it to.

"All Will Stare" Part 7 of 14

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