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Alex and Lloyd continue their quest to help the Boomers and bring in an old friend to help", "writing": "[center][u]Chapter 66: The House Always Wins, Volare![/u][/center]\n\nIt didn’t take long for Alex to turn the generators back on. The giant Durant had just gotten some contacts dirty and pushed some things out of alignment so all the Ninetales-man had to do was put everything back in place and flip the main switches.\n\nAlex and Lloyd emerged to find two of the Boomers, a Fletchinder-man and a Farfetch’d-woman, holding weapons at the ready and eyeing Lloyd cautiously.\n\n“Generator’s back on, Lloyd cleared out the giant Durant,” Alex pointed back over his shoulder.\n\nThe Fletchender-man gave Lloyd a look of concern, “Are you sure you got them all?”\n\nLloyd glared back with a glow in his eyes, “They’re all dead! I even flooded their ant mound to wipe out the whole nest.”\n\nThe Farfetch’d-woman gaped, “How’d you carry enough water to do that?”\n\n“I produced it,” Lloyd glared at her with his aura sight and she wilted, then his eyes returned to normal and he gave her a pitying look.\n\n“Well… Loyal said the solar panels need repairs too,” the Fletchinder-man sounded a bit dismayed, “Some of them are damaged.”\n\nAlex folded his arms and looked up at the top of the solar array building, “I’m not a repairman but I know someone who can help with that.” As they walked away from the two frazzled guards, Alex turned to Lloyd, “We should help them out a bit more, then maybe we can ask them to let Melany in.”\n\n“Huh?” Lloyd shook his head to clear some errant thoughts, “Oh right, that Stunky-woman mechanic.”\n\n“What’s wrong?” Alex gave Lloyd a worried look.\n\nLloyd paused when they were halfway between the main hangars and the solar array, “Remember when I said this place didn’t feel right? I gave those two a closer look and… their aura’s being suppressed.” He turned southwest, in the direction of Mother Pearl’s home, “I can see more aura that way, but it’s not vibrant and its fading. Possibly the children of the Boomers?”\n\n“Is it this base? Is something here damaging the aura or… something?” Alex’s look became worried and his nine tails swished agitatedly.\n\nLloyd shook his head, “No, I think they’re doing it to themselves but I’ll need to speak to the children before I figure it out.”\n\n“Mother Pearl said we could listen to their history from someone named Pete,” Alex started walking again.\n\nLloyd nodded and followed, “Right, maybe that’ll explain things.”\n\nPete was a Pidgey-boy, not even adolescent, and both adults could see his aura was brighter than that of any of the adult Boomers but Lloyd saw it was still suppressed in a way that even urbanite children weren’t. Pete explained that he was the keeper of their history because their last historian had died too young, due to an accident involving whiskey and land mines. But Pete was only too happy to share their history with outsiders for the first time and directed them to a mural that took up the entire wall of the shack that served as the Boomers’ museum and depicted their story with stick figures to represent people.\n\nThe Boomers’ story started in Vault 34, which had an overstocked armory, but the dwellers hated not being allowed to play with the explosives and revolted and left the vault, travelled across the wastes burning and blowing up any ‘savages’ they encountered—Lloyd bit his lip until it bled to stop himself from reacting to that—until they managed to find the airbase they named Nellis, which they guarded from ‘savages’ with their big guns. Lloyd’s discomfort was too much so Pete apologized as best he could but then just moved on with the story, about how they had found flight simulators—Pete had over 500 kills—and the location of a real working aircraft somewhere in Kalos.\n\n“Then the changes started. The people before started growing feathers and beaks and then children began to come from eggs. This is because we’ve been exposed too much but soon we’ll be like we were before, if we stop trying to make winds and going too high on our own.” Pete pointed to a part of the mural which depicted very bird-like stick figures shedding their wings, “And that is our story so far,” Pete pointed them to the last part of the mural which depicted an old propeller-driven airplane dropping a torrent of bombs that vaporized a huge crowd of stick-figures with Pokemon-like features, “For this last image, is our future: to restore the bomber to fly the open skies in armored safety raining high explosive ordinance on ignorant savages!” Disturbingly, Pete’s eyes lit up at that last line, “this is our destiny.” The Pidgey-boy relaxed, “I’m pleased that you listened to the entire story. Perhaps there are details that you’d like to know more about.”\n\n“I think told us everything we needed to know,” Alex tapped Lloyd’s shoulder and gestured to the door with his head. The Dewott-man was shaking with barely-contained rage and so turned to march out of the building as Alex turned back to Pete. “Thank you, Pete. Is there class somewhere here?”\n\n“Of course, there’s a school shack around here, one of the other mini-boomers can show you,” Pete nodded, “I’m sure the teacher can tell you even more and maybe help you suppress your strange changes too.”\n\n“Right,” Alex turned and left.\n\nIt took a minute to find Lloyd. The Dewott-man had run around behind the Boomers’ Museum to a large rock and stood there, his hands bleeding slightly after punching the rock and leaving a visible crater. He was already healing the injury as he seethed. “They’re suppressing their own aura!” Lloyd’s voice so bitter it could make someone gag just listening to it, “They want to be human again as if we’re some sort of deformity!” He bared his teeth as he turned to a very serious-faced Alex, “Even the people in New Lumiose live with and accept the gifts the wasteland has given them!”\n\nAlex nodded, grim-faced, “Even in a city of vice the people there are more in touch with themselves.” Recalling Dee’s story about Hisui he added, “what about the Sorrows?”\n\nLloyd shook his head, “The Sorrows haven’t changed as much as most of us but they still use their aura and accept it without acting like it some sort of… curse! Do you think they’ll really turn human here?”\n\nAlex folded his arms, “If they do it won’t be for a long time. I saw some of the kids from Vault 19 start to mutate before we left even without accelerant and if they came here when Pearl was still a child then there’s enough mutagenic effects to keep them as Poke-people for quite a while. But if they keep it up they’ll just repeat the mistakes of the ancient ancestors.”\n\n“There were once humans that married Pokemon\n“There were once humans and Pokemon that ate together at the same table\n“It was a time when there existed no differences between the two.”\n\nAlex blinked and saw Lloyd staring at his hand as he recited those lines. “I’ve heard that before, I think it was from a tribe back in NKR.”\n\n“It’s an old myth from Sinnoh that’s passed between all the tribes of the wasteland,” Lloyd turned to Alex and held his hand forwards, palm facing Alex, “We’re not humans or Pokemon but we’re the same.”\n\nAlex reached forwards with the opposite hand and pressed it against Lloyd’s, “Yeah, there’s no difference between what we are. Is that what that means? Are we what Pokemon and humans used to be?”\n\nLloyd nodded, “Maybe, or maybe we’re a new version of that. I heard that humans were children of wisdom and Pokemon were children of aura.” He pulled his hand back as his expression hardened and he clenched his fist, “We can’t let them repeat the same mistakes our ancestors did, splitting the species again.”\n\nAlex pulled his hand back, “Maybe the way is to show them how useful aura is, or help the kids use theirs.” His eyes lit up, “I think I know where to start, let’s go to the infirmary.”\n\nThe doctor was a Braviary-man and was just as skeptical when he saw Lloyd and Alex, “Do you have any medical training? I have these three stable but if you screw up they could die.”\n\nLloyd shook his head, “No, but I can still heal them.” Lloyd walked past the doctor to the first patient as a blue glow of aura encompassed his hands.\n\n“Wait, he’s radioactive! Stop!” the doctor tried to grab Lloyd but Alex grabbed him by the shoulders and held him back.\n\n“Just watch, you’ll learn something about outsiders,” the Ninetales-man’s voice was harsh. The Braviary-man doctor was startled but then watched as Lloyd swept his hands back and forth across the first patient’s injuries as they were cleaned and closed then moved on to the other two.\n\n“How is he doing that?” the doctor asked.\n\n“Aura healing,” Lloyd stood up from the third now healed patient, “it’s not radiation, it’s something we should all be able to do.”\n\nAlex released the doctor, “It’s not a solution to everything, but aura can do a lot of extraordinary things. That and any doctor from the Followers of the Apocalypse could have treated them. If you stay closed off like this so much that some giant Durant can screw up your power system, the wasteland will tear you apart even with your guns.”\n\nThe Braviary-man sat down, “I’ll… check on them in a minute,” his head spun from what he had just witnessed as Alex and Lloyd left.\n\n“I think you blew his mind,” Alex smirked.\n\nLloyd wiped his forehead, “It was a lot harder than it should have been. The way their aura is suppressed makes it hard to force it on them. This tribe’s denial is getting dangerous.”\n\nAlex blinked, “Tribe?”\n\nLloyd nodded, “Common goals, shared history, a thematic union, a mixed family of families, they’re a tribe in everything but name.” He turned to Alex, “Now what should we do?”\n\nAlex turned his aura sight on and looked around, avoiding looking at Lloyd as the Dewott-man’s aura was still too overwhelming for his senses. He spotted a cluster of stronger aura in a building nearby though it flickered dimmer on occasion, “You said the children have stronger aura, look there.” He pointed to the building and Lloyd looked with his aura sight too, “That’s probably them in school. If we want to talk to them it’ll have to be later,” Alex shut off his aura sight and turned to the two big hangars, “For now, let’s take a look in the hangars. Learn more about these boomers and that plane they want.”\n\nThe first hangar turned out to be a mess hall and storage room that also housed the VR pods used for pilot training. The opposite hanger was a workshop run by the other oldest member of the Boomers: a Noctowl-man with a beard named Loyal, who was looking over what looked like have the fuselage of a large propeller aircraft when they entered.\n\nLoyal turned to the two and gave them a skeptical look, “I hope Pearl knows what she’s doing, letting you wander around Nellis as you please.”\n\nLloyd didn’t answer, instead looking around the hangar so Alex spoke instead, “We are. We took care of your ant problem and I wanted to know if you had any spare parts for the solar panels they said needed repairs.” As Alex spoke, Lloyd wandered off as he had spotted a strange trail of aura that led to a set of metal crates.\n\nLoyal shook his head, “If we did we could fix them. There might be some at that solar array down south, if you were able to retrieve them.”\n\nAlex folded his arms, “I’m no repairman but I know someone who could help: her name’s Melany, a scrap owner and mechanic from around that area. If you let her come here she could salvage those parts and fix the arrays for you.”\n\nLoyal looked conflicted, “I don’t know. Bringing in more outsiders might cause problems.”\n\n“Well I can’t help you but she could be here in a week if Lloyd goes to get her. Your choice.” Alex was impassive.\n\n“We should let her,” a Pidove-man nearby stepped forwards, “The sooner we get power back up, the better.”\n\nLoyal sighed, “Alright, Jack, we’ll let her through.” The Noctowl-man looked around, “Where did your servant go.”\n\nAlex growled but before he could answer, Lloyd spoke up as he returned, “I found this between a couple crates.” He held up a stuffed Teddiursa, “I think someone forgot it here.”\n\nLoyal looked at it, “That looks like Lindsay’s doll. We’ve been searching for it for days.” He turned to Alex, “how did she find it so easily.”\n\nAlex and Lloyd’s auras suddenly flared which made the old Noctowl-man almost fall over. Lloyd’s face was full of contempt as he answered, “You could never understand. I’ll return it to her.”\n\nAlex waited until Lloyd left before he answered, “He used aura, something everyone has and can use.” He turned away from the two as Jack helped Loyal to sit on a nearby chair, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to see what you have in your mess hall. I’m going to try cooking something for supper if I can.”\n\nJack just nodded, “Sure, just tell the cooks Loyal sent you.”\n\nLloyd calmed down once he was outside but made a beeline for the school, arriving right as the children were let out for the day. Lloyd looked at the stuffed toy in his arms then looked at the children, managing to pick out the aura that clung to the Teddiursa plush and follow it.\n\nLindsay was a Hoothoot-girl a little younger than Pete and she, and other nearby children, gawked at Lloyd as he approached and crouched in front of her. “Here,” Lloyd smiled gently as he offered the toy back, “I think this is yours.”\n\n“Mr. Cuddles!” Lindsay grabbed the stuffed toy and hugged it, “thank you miss!”\n\nLloyd winced slightly but still smiled, “I’m a mister, despite how I look.”\n\n“Ok mister. How did you find him,” Lindsay held her toy towards the Dewott-man.\n\nLloyd’s eyes glowed a soft blue, “I used aura.”\n\n“What’s that?” A Rookidee-boy asked.\n\nLloyd stood up and saw that most of the school-age children had gathered around him, to see this ‘outsider’ and hear what he had to say. He drew one of his scalchops, “Aura is a part of all of us, our life and energy.” He ignited a Razor Shell blade, “we can use it to fight, heal and live,” he created a blue field of healing aura in his empty hand.\n\n“Like when we try to make wind?” a Pidgey-girl deflated slightly, “the grown-ups say we shouldn’t do that, it’s what savages do…”\n\nLloyd eyes flashed but he held his anger in check, “They’re wrong. It’s something no one should suppress.”\n\n“That’s enough! Children, go off and play, remember to share time in the simulator” the teacher, a Talonflame-woman, had emerged and was glaring with her wing-arms folded. Once the children had run off she turned to Lloyd with a ferocity in her eyes, “Don’t start putting crazy ideas in their heads. We’re supposed to encourage them to avoid these strange mutations.”\n\n“You’re hurting them,” Lloyd glared back at the teacher as he put his scalchop away, “they should be allowed to explore what they are.”\n\nThe Talonflame-woman teacher didn’t back down, “And what would a savage like you know about raising children properly.”\n\nLloyd growled as his aura flared up around him which made the teacher take a step back, “I’m a teacher in my tribe, I help the young explore and use their aura but I never force them to hurt themselves to be what I think they should be.” He touched his belly, “I’m going to see if there’s any supper.” He turned towards the mess hall and strode off.\n\nBetween the hangar and mess hall, Lloyd ran into Lindsay again. The Hoothoot-girl still clutched her stuffed toy as she looked up at Lloyd, “Mister, what can I do with aura?”\n\nLloyd smiled and crouched down in front of her, “If you practice and work at it, you could fly.”\n\nLindsay blinked, “You mean like with the plane?”\n\nLloyd shook his head, “Not with the plane, with your wings.”\n\nThe Hoothoot-girl’s eyes lit up, “Really? Can you teach me?”\n\nLloyd stood up, “Maybe not all the steps, but I could show you how to get started so you can learn yourself. Right now, I’m hungry.”\n\nLloyd wasn’t surprised to find Alex had taken over a small part of the mess kitchen; he seemed to have convinced the Boomers to let him prepare a meal for the night, which he had started early because apparently some of the youngers thought it would be funny if the ‘outsider’ had to work alone, so Lloyd decided to help.\n\nThe two outsiders just ate in the kitchen, not feeling welcome in the main mess. As expected, Lloyd ate three times as much as Alex and headed outside before anyone else was finished. Alex was about to join when he was stopped by the Rookidee-boy that Lloyd had met earlier.\n\n“Did you make supper?” he asked, looking up at the Ninetales-man.\n\nAlex nodded, “I did. What’s your name?”\n\n“Marco,” The Rookidee-boy smiled, “It was good, better than what the cook makes. Can you stay?”\n\nAlex smiled then blinked as his felt something spark through the building, “Thanks, but I have my own life to get back to. I’ll be happy to if I end up staying longer though. Go back to your friends for now.”\n\nLloyd was waiting outside with his eyes closed as Alex emerged, “I feel it, something’s sparking inside the children and some of the adults.”\n\n“I felt a spark too,” Alex touched the side of his head, “Is it aura sense?”\n\nLloyd nodded, “I think your cooking is unwinding their aura.”\n\n“How can good cooking help with that?” Alex folded his arms and gave Lloyd a confused look.\n\nLloyd smirked, “Because you put your aura into your cooking, especially when you use a fire started by your own flames and that reflects on the quality. It’s only having an effect now because the Boomers are suppressing their aura so they’re literally getting a taste of good aura which is unwinding what they’ve been suppressing all these years.”\n\nAlex nodded, “I see.” He sighed and closed his eyes, “These Boomers are just locked up in their own delusional world.” His eyes shot wide open as it hit him like a ton of bricks. “They’re still in a vault.”\n\n“What?” it was Lloyd’s turn to look confused for a moment, then it dawned on him, “now it’s a wall of guns that keeps the world out.”\n\n“I think it’s time the world came crashing in before they bury themselves again.” Alex nodded, “I’ll stick around and see what kind of food they have to work with here. If my cooking is helping their aura open up then I need to throw my all into it.” He looked around, “there should be a farm around here if they don’t trade for food. Meanwhile you go tell Melany to come here and fix their array. You have any money?”\n\nLloyd reached into his pocket then nodded, “Yeah, I got some from those bounties we turned in.”\n\nAlex folded his arms, “If it’s not enough then tell her I’ll pay the rest. While you’re gone, I’ll make some meal plans, try to use my fire to cook if possible. Her place is just north of Dendemille south of here, with the giant windmill.”\n\n“And when I get back I can try to teach the kids how to use their aura,” Lloyd was about to leave, then paused and looked down at his breasts as a thought occurred to him, “Do you know any good recipes that use milk?”\n\nAlex had to think for a moment, “Potato soup, why?” he turned to Lloyd and saw the Dewott-man grinning as he touched his breasts with a blue glow around his hands which made them firm up slightly under his touch, “Wait… are you…” he just stared with a somewhat worried expression.\n\n“I was going to start soon so I might as well get started feeding kids. Some aura boosted milk with your cooking might work even better.” He turned to jog towards the entrance to the air base and called back, “I’ll be ready to go by the time I get back!”\n\n“Ooooookaaaaaaay,” Alex waved, his expression unchanged. It was awkward to be sure but he couldn’t pretend it was a bad idea. He shook his head and set off to explore the rest of Nellis even as he heard Lloyd burst into an Aqua Jet as he left the base.\n\nOoOoO\n\nIt was three days before Lloyd returned, after he told the guards to look out for a Stunky-woman with a Tauros and robo-Growlithe he beelined for the mess hall without Aqua Jet. As it was late afternoon he found Alex hard at work with food prep.\n\n“Want some help?” Lloyd asked as he entered the kitchen, empty save for the Ninetales-man.\n\nAlex set down the knife he was using to cut potatoes and turned to greet his friend, “Yeah and- whoa!” He blinked and couldn’t help but stare for a moment. The Dewott-man’s breasts had swollen a fair bit, looking rather engorged, “What did? I mean… what?”\n\nLloyd patted his breasts, “Mother’s Gift, a technique my tribe developed for breast health that had some extra effects if we use it too often.” He looked a little flushed, “I might have overdid it. Got a bucket?”\n\nAlex nodded and pointed to one near the sink, “Got one from the Miltank milk they gave me for the last couple days, already cleaned.”\n\n“Good, just give me a few minutes,” Lloyd grabbed the bucket and started to milk himself while Alex turned to work on the food preparation. After a while Lloyd finished and carefully used Icy Wind to chill the milk. “There, done. Can I help with anything else?”\n\n“Chop the chives and onions,” Alex was engrossed in his work, “Just watch the watering eyes from the onion juice and fumes.” He set the potato chunks in one of a number of huge bowls he was preparing.\n\n“So, what’s the plan?” Lloyd asked as he started chopping.\n\n“They like my cooking so far but don’t want to help me with it, some BS about me not ‘needing their help’ since I do so well on my own,” he grumbled, “the kids’ aura’s looking more… I think ‘vibrant’ is the right word even if they’re still being told its wrong.” The Ninetales-man smirked, “but they’ve been asking about you, the ‘magic water man’. I think the adults were hoping you wouldn’t return.”\n\nLloyd wiped his eyes, starting to water from the onion chopping, and smiled, “Sounds like they want to learn. I’ll get started after dinner.”\n\n“Did you find Melany?” Alex asked as he finished chopping another potato.\n\nLloyd nodded, “She said she could get here in a week so… five more days I think? Also I had enough to pay her for this job.”\n\nAlex, “Good, then we have that long to help the kids. Can’t take too much time here.”\n\nSupper was even a bigger hit than prior nights, thanks to Lloyd’s help and addition of his milk to the soup. Alex and Lloyd agreed to keep the specifics to themselves.\n\nAfter supper, while Alex was cleaning the dishes, Lloyd invited the children outside behind the mess hall hangar for ‘secret aura lessons’. As the children usually ran off to play after supper no one really noticed.\n\nLloyd watched as the bird-like Poke-children gathered and all stared at him. Lloyd smiled as he saw their aura was indeed more vibrant especially after their last meal.\n\nA Fletchling-girl raised a hand, “Missster magic water man?”\n\nLloyd smiled as the boy had clearly heard about what he was before, “Just call me Lloyd. What was your question?”\n\n“Umm… how do we fly without a plane?” the Fletchling-girl asked.\n\n“Can you fly?” Pete the Pidgey-boy asked.\n\nLloyd shook his head, “No, I can’t but I can teach you how to get started and then you just have to follow your instincts.”\n\n“What’s an instinct?” Lindsay the Hoothoot-girl tilted her head to the side.\n\nLloyd touched the middle of his chest, “It’s a feeling deep inside you that tells you how to act before you know.”\n\n“You mean like when I want to make big winds with my arms?” Pete spread his wing-arms, still mostly covered by his jumpsuit and Rotom-boy.\n\nLloyd smiled, “Exactly, that’s from your aura and that’s also how I do this,” he leaned back and sprayed a Water Gun straight up which showered them with mist.”\n\nMarco the Rookidee-boy watched in awe, “How much water do you have to drink to do that?”\n\n“No more than normal, it’s from aura.” He saw their faces light up, except the Fletchling girl.\n\n“But the grown-ups say we shouldn’t do that, it’s unnn unnnatral,” the Fletchling-girl’s eyes went crossed.\n\nLloyd frowned and shook his head, “No, it’s very natural, they’re just in denial.”\n\n“What’s den-isle?” Lindsay asked.\n\n“When someone doesn’t want to admit they’re wrong about something,” Lloyd’s face fell for a moment then shook his head, “Now I’ll show you how to use your aura and get you started. Now close your eyes and try to feel what’s inside yourself.” Lloyd did the same.\n\nThe first day was mostly just the children stumbling around and trying to figure out what ‘feeling inside’ meant. Only Lindsay seemed to get it and Lloyd sent them off after an hour telling them they should come back between school and supper so they could get fed after working so hard.\n\nAlex and Lloyd decided to camp away from the main structures on the base where there was loose soil, not wanting to be near the Boomers indoors.\n\n“How’d the first lesson go?” Alex asked as he rolled out his sleeping bag.\n\nLloyd just lay back on the relatively soft ground, hand on his baby bump, “well enough for a first day. I wanted to tell the kids not to use the chairs that let them pretend to fly.”\n\n“Flight simulators.”\n\n“Yeah those,” Lloyd turned to face Alex, “But if I did, they might hate me telling them what not to do.” He sighed, “I hope they stop and realize the power to fly is inside them eventually.”\n\nAlex stared up at the stars, “I think they will, they seemed happier after your lesson.”\n\n“I’m just worried the adults will tell me to stop if they find out,” Lloyd frowned and also turned to look up at the sky.\n\nAlex smirked, “I don’t think so. Once I told them there were solar panel repairs on the way they said they had to spend all their free time getting ready to raise ‘the lady’. Said they’d tell me more when the repairs were finished, maybe even ask Melany to help if she’s so good at repairing stuff. Jack even said he really wanted your help specifically, but clammed up when I asked why.”\n\nLloyd let out a sigh of relief before he fell asleep, “Good.”\n\nThe rest of the week passed similarly: with Alex and Lloyd doing all the cooking—a full time job with just the two of them—the adults were too pre-occupied with their big project to do much and every day before supper Lloyd would give more aura training to the children. After hearing that flying was easier without stuff covering their arms some just showed up in tank tops, including Lindsay. Thankfully the Rotom-boys didn’t interfere with the training. A couple of times artillery shots were heard striking some unfortunate intruder in front of the base but thankfully not Melany.\n\nFive days later, in the middle of the morning, Lloyd and Alex were called to the front gate and asked to identify Melany as she approached.\n\nAlex looked through the binoculars and spotted the Stunky-woman guiding a pack Tauros though the cratered-field with GR-0-WL at their side. “That’s her alright.”\n\nRaquel nodded, “Alright,” she turned to the others, “Call off the firing sequence, let her through!”\n\nLloyd and Alex exchanged worried looks as Melany finally guided the Tauros to the gate as it was opened. “No wonder you never trade, took three times as long to find a way around that mess.” The Stunky-woman grumbled, “where’s the solar array?”\n\nAlex turned and motioned for Melany to follow him, “This way.”\n\nOnce at the array, they hauled the parts up to the roof and left Melany and GR-0-WL to do repairs while Lloyd and Alex went to prepare lunch.\n\nAfter lunch, with the arrays repaired, Alex and Lloyd went to meet with Mother Pearl who thanked them for their help and told them to go meet Loyal in the hangar. After meeting back up with Melany and GR-0-WL, the four outsiders headed to the Hangar to talk to Jack and Loyal about their special project.\n\nMelany had a sour look on her face and her arms folded as they stood in front of the two but kept her mouth shut as they listened.\n\nJack stood nearby as Loyal, the elderly Noctowl-man, sat on a bench as he explained. “Pearl sent word saying it’s all right to tell you about the Lady in the water. A long time ago—long before the war that killed just about everything that ever lived—a bomber crashed not far from here.” He smiled and continued as if he were talking to children, “A bomber was a flying contraption that could drop explosives on anything it flew over. But anyway, moving on… This bomber crashed down in the big lake south of here, pretty damn near intact. When we got to Nellis, see, I found this article in a magazine all about it. There was another bomber around here, part of a museum.” He pointed back at the pieces of the fuselage that lay around the hangar, “Couldn’t fly but had a lot of spare parts, see? Get where I’m going?”\n\n“I think so,” Alex folded his arms then looked back and forth to his companions. Lloyd looked a bit confused, Melany frowned but said nothing and GR-0-WL just stared.\n\nLoyal got a dreamy look in his tired eyes, “Since I was a young man, I’ve dreamed of raising that Lady from the lake and bringing her back to life. What do you say?”\n\nMelany was the first to answer from under an angry glare, “Are you completely fucking stupid?!”\n\nJack and Loyal were taken aback but before they could interject, Melany spread her arms and continued, “How can you think it’s anywhere remotely possible for an ancient aircraft that’s been lying in a lake for centuries to even be dragged out intact, much less fly!? It’s probably a hunk of rust and corrosion by now and that’s not including any mutant Krablurks in there that might have torn it up since then!”\n\nAlex decided to speak up, glaring at the two, “I’ve seen your great dream: to fly over people farther than your guns and blow us up because you think we’re…” the Ninetales-man closed his eyes and grit his teeth, “I won’t even say that word you use for us, you just think we’re all target practice for your sick whims!”\n\nGR-0-WL nodded, “I’ve only seen a small piece of this place, but it’s like a vault without walls.”\n\nJack glared at the robo-Growlithe, “I don’t expect a machine to understand us and what we’re trying to do, or our pasts.”\n\nGR-0-WL barked and growled which made the Pidove-man take a step back, “In my short life I’ve seen more of the world than you ever have and I am not just a machine.”\n\nMelany stroked GR-0-WL’s back and smiled at it before she turned her harsh gaze back to the two, “I know a fuck load more than you, I was born in a Vault that opened when I was a kid. I’ve seen shit out there that would make you all piss yourselves and I’m like a third your age!” She directed the last words at Loyal, “You never stepped out of your vault, just found new things to use as walls.”\n\n“And the worst thing is, you’ve stifled your own growth, especially that of your children, by denying what you’ve become.” He spread his arms, “This new world isn’t just one of…’savages’… and danger, but you can’t see that because your tribe clings to a past that will never return.”\n\n“We’re not a tribe, we’re a community,” Jack shot back as Loyal was still reeling a bit from the tirade.\n\n“Oh you aren’t?” Lloyd held up a hand and counted off with his fingers, “Historical homeland, signature weapons, linked family of families, a common belief—flawed as it is—and dressing in a way that shows you’re united? I’ve seen tribes of all levels of technology and all that separates you from them is that you deny the truth staring you in the face, and the worst part is you’re hurting yourselves and especially your children.” Lloyd relaxed then smiled, “But then maybe they can learn where you suppressed.” He turned, “Actually come with me, I want to show you something.”\n\nCurious and stunned, Jack helped Loyal to stand and they followed Lloyd outside. It took a few minutes for Lloyd to find the children, pulling them out of school, to show what they had been working on all week.\n\n“Now remember the practice, show your elders what you learned,” Lloyd looked at Lindsay and Pete.\n\nLindsay took a deep breath and took a run as she flapped her wing-arms. At first it didn’t look like anything was going to happen but then she jumped and flew. Flapping her arms the Hoothoot-girl stayed airborne for 20 seconds before she landed, a bit winded but smiling. “Look, Lloyd, I flew!”\n\nLloyd smiled back and patted her on the head, “Yes, you did, very good.”\n\n“Watch me!” Pete took a run and jumped up, the Pidgey-boy flapping just as hard and staying in the air for a full 30 seconds, dipping and even raising bit before he landed, panting a bit harder than Lindsay.\n\n“Don’t strain yourself, one day at a time.” Lloyd turned to Loyal and Jack and even the other adults, including the Fletchinder-woman teacher, who were all gaping at what they had witnessed.\n\n“But humans don’t fly, not like this!” the teacher pointed at the two.\n\nLloyd glared at her, his aura pulsing which made her back off before she could respond, “We aren’t human, we’re Poke-people and this is what aura can do. Stop telling your children to suppress what they are and open up. Even if we could revive that plane in the middle of the lake all you’d be doing is pushing that out. You can fly without those planes or the simulators as long as you keep trying. Let your children spread their wings, literally, and learn what you can be in this new world.” The adults were speechless as Lloyd turned to the children, some having flown for a few seconds while he was speaking, “Children, I have to go now.”\n\n“But why? I want to fly more,” Lindsay gave the Dewott-man a pleading look.\n\nLloyd smiled, “I have my own life and my own tribe to get back to. I’ve taught you all I can, now it’s just your instinct and aura that will guide you and don’t let the adults say you can’t fly because you all just proved you can.” He looked up and around, sensing the shame and bewilderment from the adults then turned and headed for the front gate of the base.\n\nAlex was gathering up some food for his walk back to New Lumiose with Lloyd when Mother Pearl entered the kitchen. “Outsider, Alex. I saw those children fly and heard what your serv- friend said.”\n\n“Good, hopefully you learned something,” Alex didn’t even turn to look at her.\n\nMother Pearl winced at the harshness of his voice, “I heard what you said about this Kogun army of slaves from Raquel, what are they going to do?”\n\nAlex finished loading his backpack and turned to the Pidgeot-woman, “They’re going to invade Kalos and if they win they’re going to enslave everyone. They have thousands, maybe tens of thousands of slave soldiers, and they don’t think twice about sacrificing themselves to win. When they find this place they will swarm over you, rushing until you’re out of ammo or slow down enough to get through, then they will butcher your fighters, enslave everyone and take your children to be soldiers as they erase your identity from history.”\n\nMother Pearl’s horrified expression remained even as she asked, “What can be done to stop them?”\n\nAlex pulled his backpack on, “We’re going to war with them soon for a man named Mr. Robert House. If you want a wasteland that’s free from them and that can welcome you in, then use your gun to attack the Kogun when the battle breaks out. Then you’ll have a chance to grow beyond this above ground vault you’ve sealed yourself in. Now excuse me, I need to go get ready for the battle.” He carefully stepped around the eldest and headed for the exit.\n\n“We will cooperate, so the children can fly,” Mother Pearl’s voice echoed as Lloyd, Alex, Melany and GR-0-WL, along with the pack Tauros, crossed the shelled field together then split up, Melany saying she planned to retreat with the NKR if the Kogun won the battle as Lloyd and Alex returned to New Lumiose.", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Chapter 66: The House Always Wins, Volare!


It didn’t take long for Alex to turn the generators back on. The giant Durant had just gotten some contacts dirty and pushed some things out of alignment so all the Ninetales-man had to do was put everything back in place and flip the main switches.

Alex and Lloyd emerged to find two of the Boomers, a Fletchinder-man and a Farfetch’d-woman, holding weapons at the ready and eyeing Lloyd cautiously.

“Generator’s back on, Lloyd cleared out the giant Durant,” Alex pointed back over his shoulder.

The Fletchender-man gave Lloyd a look of concern, “Are you sure you got them all?”

Lloyd glared back with a glow in his eyes, “They’re all dead! I even flooded their ant mound to wipe out the whole nest.”

The Farfetch’d-woman gaped, “How’d you carry enough water to do that?”

“I produced it,” Lloyd glared at her with his aura sight and she wilted, then his eyes returned to normal and he gave her a pitying look.

“Well… Loyal said the solar panels need repairs too,” the Fletchinder-man sounded a bit dismayed, “Some of them are damaged.”

Alex folded his arms and looked up at the top of the solar array building, “I’m not a repairman but I know someone who can help with that.” As they walked away from the two frazzled guards, Alex turned to Lloyd, “We should help them out a bit more, then maybe we can ask them to let Melany in.”

“Huh?” Lloyd shook his head to clear some errant thoughts, “Oh right, that Stunky-woman mechanic.”

“What’s wrong?” Alex gave Lloyd a worried look.

Lloyd paused when they were halfway between the main hangars and the solar array, “Remember when I said this place didn’t feel right? I gave those two a closer look and… their aura’s being suppressed.” He turned southwest, in the direction of Mother Pearl’s home, “I can see more aura that way, but it’s not vibrant and its fading. Possibly the children of the Boomers?”

“Is it this base? Is something here damaging the aura or… something?” Alex’s look became worried and his nine tails swished agitatedly.

Lloyd shook his head, “No, I think they’re doing it to themselves but I’ll need to speak to the children before I figure it out.”

“Mother Pearl said we could listen to their history from someone named Pete,” Alex started walking again.

Lloyd nodded and followed, “Right, maybe that’ll explain things.”

Pete was a Pidgey-boy, not even adolescent, and both adults could see his aura was brighter than that of any of the adult Boomers but Lloyd saw it was still suppressed in a way that even urbanite children weren’t. Pete explained that he was the keeper of their history because their last historian had died too young, due to an accident involving whiskey and land mines. But Pete was only too happy to share their history with outsiders for the first time and directed them to a mural that took up the entire wall of the shack that served as the Boomers’ museum and depicted their story with stick figures to represent people.

The Boomers’ story started in Vault 34, which had an overstocked armory, but the dwellers hated not being allowed to play with the explosives and revolted and left the vault, travelled across the wastes burning and blowing up any ‘savages’ they encountered—Lloyd bit his lip until it bled to stop himself from reacting to that—until they managed to find the airbase they named Nellis, which they guarded from ‘savages’ with their big guns. Lloyd’s discomfort was too much so Pete apologized as best he could but then just moved on with the story, about how they had found flight simulators—Pete had over 500 kills—and the location of a real working aircraft somewhere in Kalos.

“Then the changes started. The people before started growing feathers and beaks and then children began to come from eggs. This is because we’ve been exposed too much but soon we’ll be like we were before, if we stop trying to make winds and going too high on our own.” Pete pointed to a part of the mural which depicted very bird-like stick figures shedding their wings, “And that is our story so far,” Pete pointed them to the last part of the mural which depicted an old propeller-driven airplane dropping a torrent of bombs that vaporized a huge crowd of stick-figures with Pokemon-like features, “For this last image, is our future: to restore the bomber to fly the open skies in armored safety raining high explosive ordinance on ignorant savages!” Disturbingly, Pete’s eyes lit up at that last line, “this is our destiny.” The Pidgey-boy relaxed, “I’m pleased that you listened to the entire story. Perhaps there are details that you’d like to know more about.”

“I think told us everything we needed to know,” Alex tapped Lloyd’s shoulder and gestured to the door with his head. The Dewott-man was shaking with barely-contained rage and so turned to march out of the building as Alex turned back to Pete. “Thank you, Pete. Is there class somewhere here?”

“Of course, there’s a school shack around here, one of the other mini-boomers can show you,” Pete nodded, “I’m sure the teacher can tell you even more and maybe help you suppress your strange changes too.”

“Right,” Alex turned and left.

It took a minute to find Lloyd. The Dewott-man had run around behind the Boomers’ Museum to a large rock and stood there, his hands bleeding slightly after punching the rock and leaving a visible crater. He was already healing the injury as he seethed. “They’re suppressing their own aura!” Lloyd’s voice so bitter it could make someone gag just listening to it, “They want to be human again as if we’re some sort of deformity!” He bared his teeth as he turned to a very serious-faced Alex, “Even the people in New Lumiose live with and accept the gifts the wasteland has given them!”

Alex nodded, grim-faced, “Even in a city of vice the people there are more in touch with themselves.” Recalling Dee’s story about Hisui he added, “what about the Sorrows?”

Lloyd shook his head, “The Sorrows haven’t changed as much as most of us but they still use their aura and accept it without acting like it some sort of… curse! Do you think they’ll really turn human here?”

Alex folded his arms, “If they do it won’t be for a long time. I saw some of the kids from Vault 19 start to mutate before we left even without accelerant and if they came here when Pearl was still a child then there’s enough mutagenic effects to keep them as Poke-people for quite a while. But if they keep it up they’ll just repeat the mistakes of the ancient ancestors.”

“There were once humans that married Pokemon
“There were once humans and Pokemon that ate together at the same table
“It was a time when there existed no differences between the two.”

Alex blinked and saw Lloyd staring at his hand as he recited those lines. “I’ve heard that before, I think it was from a tribe back in NKR.”

“It’s an old myth from Sinnoh that’s passed between all the tribes of the wasteland,” Lloyd turned to Alex and held his hand forwards, palm facing Alex, “We’re not humans or Pokemon but we’re the same.”

Alex reached forwards with the opposite hand and pressed it against Lloyd’s, “Yeah, there’s no difference between what we are. Is that what that means? Are we what Pokemon and humans used to be?”

Lloyd nodded, “Maybe, or maybe we’re a new version of that. I heard that humans were children of wisdom and Pokemon were children of aura.” He pulled his hand back as his expression hardened and he clenched his fist, “We can’t let them repeat the same mistakes our ancestors did, splitting the species again.”

Alex pulled his hand back, “Maybe the way is to show them how useful aura is, or help the kids use theirs.” His eyes lit up, “I think I know where to start, let’s go to the infirmary.”

The doctor was a Braviary-man and was just as skeptical when he saw Lloyd and Alex, “Do you have any medical training? I have these three stable but if you screw up they could die.”

Lloyd shook his head, “No, but I can still heal them.” Lloyd walked past the doctor to the first patient as a blue glow of aura encompassed his hands.

“Wait, he’s radioactive! Stop!” the doctor tried to grab Lloyd but Alex grabbed him by the shoulders and held him back.

“Just watch, you’ll learn something about outsiders,” the Ninetales-man’s voice was harsh. The Braviary-man doctor was startled but then watched as Lloyd swept his hands back and forth across the first patient’s injuries as they were cleaned and closed then moved on to the other two.

“How is he doing that?” the doctor asked.

“Aura healing,” Lloyd stood up from the third now healed patient, “it’s not radiation, it’s something we should all be able to do.”

Alex released the doctor, “It’s not a solution to everything, but aura can do a lot of extraordinary things. That and any doctor from the Followers of the Apocalypse could have treated them. If you stay closed off like this so much that some giant Durant can screw up your power system, the wasteland will tear you apart even with your guns.”

The Braviary-man sat down, “I’ll… check on them in a minute,” his head spun from what he had just witnessed as Alex and Lloyd left.

“I think you blew his mind,” Alex smirked.

Lloyd wiped his forehead, “It was a lot harder than it should have been. The way their aura is suppressed makes it hard to force it on them. This tribe’s denial is getting dangerous.”

Alex blinked, “Tribe?”

Lloyd nodded, “Common goals, shared history, a thematic union, a mixed family of families, they’re a tribe in everything but name.” He turned to Alex, “Now what should we do?”

Alex turned his aura sight on and looked around, avoiding looking at Lloyd as the Dewott-man’s aura was still too overwhelming for his senses. He spotted a cluster of stronger aura in a building nearby though it flickered dimmer on occasion, “You said the children have stronger aura, look there.” He pointed to the building and Lloyd looked with his aura sight too, “That’s probably them in school. If we want to talk to them it’ll have to be later,” Alex shut off his aura sight and turned to the two big hangars, “For now, let’s take a look in the hangars. Learn more about these boomers and that plane they want.”

The first hangar turned out to be a mess hall and storage room that also housed the VR pods used for pilot training. The opposite hanger was a workshop run by the other oldest member of the Boomers: a Noctowl-man with a beard named Loyal, who was looking over what looked like have the fuselage of a large propeller aircraft when they entered.

Loyal turned to the two and gave them a skeptical look, “I hope Pearl knows what she’s doing, letting you wander around Nellis as you please.”

Lloyd didn’t answer, instead looking around the hangar so Alex spoke instead, “We are. We took care of your ant problem and I wanted to know if you had any spare parts for the solar panels they said needed repairs.” As Alex spoke, Lloyd wandered off as he had spotted a strange trail of aura that led to a set of metal crates.

Loyal shook his head, “If we did we could fix them. There might be some at that solar array down south, if you were able to retrieve them.”

Alex folded his arms, “I’m no repairman but I know someone who could help: her name’s Melany, a scrap owner and mechanic from around that area. If you let her come here she could salvage those parts and fix the arrays for you.”

Loyal looked conflicted, “I don’t know. Bringing in more outsiders might cause problems.”

“Well I can’t help you but she could be here in a week if Lloyd goes to get her. Your choice.” Alex was impassive.

“We should let her,” a Pidove-man nearby stepped forwards, “The sooner we get power back up, the better.”

Loyal sighed, “Alright, Jack, we’ll let her through.” The Noctowl-man looked around, “Where did your servant go.”

Alex growled but before he could answer, Lloyd spoke up as he returned, “I found this between a couple crates.” He held up a stuffed Teddiursa, “I think someone forgot it here.”

Loyal looked at it, “That looks like Lindsay’s doll. We’ve been searching for it for days.” He turned to Alex, “how did she find it so easily.”

Alex and Lloyd’s auras suddenly flared which made the old Noctowl-man almost fall over. Lloyd’s face was full of contempt as he answered, “You could never understand. I’ll return it to her.”

Alex waited until Lloyd left before he answered, “He used aura, something everyone has and can use.” He turned away from the two as Jack helped Loyal to sit on a nearby chair, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to see what you have in your mess hall. I’m going to try cooking something for supper if I can.”

Jack just nodded, “Sure, just tell the cooks Loyal sent you.”

Lloyd calmed down once he was outside but made a beeline for the school, arriving right as the children were let out for the day. Lloyd looked at the stuffed toy in his arms then looked at the children, managing to pick out the aura that clung to the Teddiursa plush and follow it.

Lindsay was a Hoothoot-girl a little younger than Pete and she, and other nearby children, gawked at Lloyd as he approached and crouched in front of her. “Here,” Lloyd smiled gently as he offered the toy back, “I think this is yours.”

“Mr. Cuddles!” Lindsay grabbed the stuffed toy and hugged it, “thank you miss!”

Lloyd winced slightly but still smiled, “I’m a mister, despite how I look.”

“Ok mister. How did you find him,” Lindsay held her toy towards the Dewott-man.

Lloyd’s eyes glowed a soft blue, “I used aura.”

“What’s that?” A Rookidee-boy asked.

Lloyd stood up and saw that most of the school-age children had gathered around him, to see this ‘outsider’ and hear what he had to say. He drew one of his scalchops, “Aura is a part of all of us, our life and energy.” He ignited a Razor Shell blade, “we can use it to fight, heal and live,” he created a blue field of healing aura in his empty hand.

“Like when we try to make wind?” a Pidgey-girl deflated slightly, “the grown-ups say we shouldn’t do that, it’s what savages do…”

Lloyd eyes flashed but he held his anger in check, “They’re wrong. It’s something no one should suppress.”

“That’s enough! Children, go off and play, remember to share time in the simulator” the teacher, a Talonflame-woman, had emerged and was glaring with her wing-arms folded. Once the children had run off she turned to Lloyd with a ferocity in her eyes, “Don’t start putting crazy ideas in their heads. We’re supposed to encourage them to avoid these strange mutations.”

“You’re hurting them,” Lloyd glared back at the teacher as he put his scalchop away, “they should be allowed to explore what they are.”

The Talonflame-woman teacher didn’t back down, “And what would a savage like you know about raising children properly.”

Lloyd growled as his aura flared up around him which made the teacher take a step back, “I’m a teacher in my tribe, I help the young explore and use their aura but I never force them to hurt themselves to be what I think they should be.” He touched his belly, “I’m going to see if there’s any supper.” He turned towards the mess hall and strode off.

Between the hangar and mess hall, Lloyd ran into Lindsay again. The Hoothoot-girl still clutched her stuffed toy as she looked up at Lloyd, “Mister, what can I do with aura?”

Lloyd smiled and crouched down in front of her, “If you practice and work at it, you could fly.”

Lindsay blinked, “You mean like with the plane?”

Lloyd shook his head, “Not with the plane, with your wings.”

The Hoothoot-girl’s eyes lit up, “Really? Can you teach me?”

Lloyd stood up, “Maybe not all the steps, but I could show you how to get started so you can learn yourself. Right now, I’m hungry.”

Lloyd wasn’t surprised to find Alex had taken over a small part of the mess kitchen; he seemed to have convinced the Boomers to let him prepare a meal for the night, which he had started early because apparently some of the youngers thought it would be funny if the ‘outsider’ had to work alone, so Lloyd decided to help.

The two outsiders just ate in the kitchen, not feeling welcome in the main mess. As expected, Lloyd ate three times as much as Alex and headed outside before anyone else was finished. Alex was about to join when he was stopped by the Rookidee-boy that Lloyd had met earlier.

“Did you make supper?” he asked, looking up at the Ninetales-man.

Alex nodded, “I did. What’s your name?”

“Marco,” The Rookidee-boy smiled, “It was good, better than what the cook makes. Can you stay?”

Alex smiled then blinked as his felt something spark through the building, “Thanks, but I have my own life to get back to. I’ll be happy to if I end up staying longer though. Go back to your friends for now.”

Lloyd was waiting outside with his eyes closed as Alex emerged, “I feel it, something’s sparking inside the children and some of the adults.”

“I felt a spark too,” Alex touched the side of his head, “Is it aura sense?”

Lloyd nodded, “I think your cooking is unwinding their aura.”

“How can good cooking help with that?” Alex folded his arms and gave Lloyd a confused look.

Lloyd smirked, “Because you put your aura into your cooking, especially when you use a fire started by your own flames and that reflects on the quality. It’s only having an effect now because the Boomers are suppressing their aura so they’re literally getting a taste of good aura which is unwinding what they’ve been suppressing all these years.”

Alex nodded, “I see.” He sighed and closed his eyes, “These Boomers are just locked up in their own delusional world.” His eyes shot wide open as it hit him like a ton of bricks. “They’re still in a vault.”

“What?” it was Lloyd’s turn to look confused for a moment, then it dawned on him, “now it’s a wall of guns that keeps the world out.”

“I think it’s time the world came crashing in before they bury themselves again.” Alex nodded, “I’ll stick around and see what kind of food they have to work with here. If my cooking is helping their aura open up then I need to throw my all into it.” He looked around, “there should be a farm around here if they don’t trade for food. Meanwhile you go tell Melany to come here and fix their array. You have any money?”

Lloyd reached into his pocket then nodded, “Yeah, I got some from those bounties we turned in.”

Alex folded his arms, “If it’s not enough then tell her I’ll pay the rest. While you’re gone, I’ll make some meal plans, try to use my fire to cook if possible. Her place is just north of Dendemille south of here, with the giant windmill.”

“And when I get back I can try to teach the kids how to use their aura,” Lloyd was about to leave, then paused and looked down at his breasts as a thought occurred to him, “Do you know any good recipes that use milk?”

Alex had to think for a moment, “Potato soup, why?” he turned to Lloyd and saw the Dewott-man grinning as he touched his breasts with a blue glow around his hands which made them firm up slightly under his touch, “Wait… are you…” he just stared with a somewhat worried expression.

“I was going to start soon so I might as well get started feeding kids. Some aura boosted milk with your cooking might work even better.” He turned to jog towards the entrance to the air base and called back, “I’ll be ready to go by the time I get back!”

“Ooooookaaaaaaay,” Alex waved, his expression unchanged. It was awkward to be sure but he couldn’t pretend it was a bad idea. He shook his head and set off to explore the rest of Nellis even as he heard Lloyd burst into an Aqua Jet as he left the base.

OoOoO

It was three days before Lloyd returned, after he told the guards to look out for a Stunky-woman with a Tauros and robo-Growlithe he beelined for the mess hall without Aqua Jet. As it was late afternoon he found Alex hard at work with food prep.

“Want some help?” Lloyd asked as he entered the kitchen, empty save for the Ninetales-man.

Alex set down the knife he was using to cut potatoes and turned to greet his friend, “Yeah and- whoa!” He blinked and couldn’t help but stare for a moment. The Dewott-man’s breasts had swollen a fair bit, looking rather engorged, “What did? I mean… what?”

Lloyd patted his breasts, “Mother’s Gift, a technique my tribe developed for breast health that had some extra effects if we use it too often.” He looked a little flushed, “I might have overdid it. Got a bucket?”

Alex nodded and pointed to one near the sink, “Got one from the Miltank milk they gave me for the last couple days, already cleaned.”

“Good, just give me a few minutes,” Lloyd grabbed the bucket and started to milk himself while Alex turned to work on the food preparation. After a while Lloyd finished and carefully used Icy Wind to chill the milk. “There, done. Can I help with anything else?”

“Chop the chives and onions,” Alex was engrossed in his work, “Just watch the watering eyes from the onion juice and fumes.” He set the potato chunks in one of a number of huge bowls he was preparing.

“So, what’s the plan?” Lloyd asked as he started chopping.

“They like my cooking so far but don’t want to help me with it, some BS about me not ‘needing their help’ since I do so well on my own,” he grumbled, “the kids’ aura’s looking more… I think ‘vibrant’ is the right word even if they’re still being told its wrong.” The Ninetales-man smirked, “but they’ve been asking about you, the ‘magic water man’. I think the adults were hoping you wouldn’t return.”

Lloyd wiped his eyes, starting to water from the onion chopping, and smiled, “Sounds like they want to learn. I’ll get started after dinner.”

“Did you find Melany?” Alex asked as he finished chopping another potato.

Lloyd nodded, “She said she could get here in a week so… five more days I think? Also I had enough to pay her for this job.”

Alex, “Good, then we have that long to help the kids. Can’t take too much time here.”

Supper was even a bigger hit than prior nights, thanks to Lloyd’s help and addition of his milk to the soup. Alex and Lloyd agreed to keep the specifics to themselves.

After supper, while Alex was cleaning the dishes, Lloyd invited the children outside behind the mess hall hangar for ‘secret aura lessons’. As the children usually ran off to play after supper no one really noticed.

Lloyd watched as the bird-like Poke-children gathered and all stared at him. Lloyd smiled as he saw their aura was indeed more vibrant especially after their last meal.

A Fletchling-girl raised a hand, “Missster magic water man?”

Lloyd smiled as the boy had clearly heard about what he was before, “Just call me Lloyd. What was your question?”

“Umm… how do we fly without a plane?” the Fletchling-girl asked.

“Can you fly?” Pete the Pidgey-boy asked.

Lloyd shook his head, “No, I can’t but I can teach you how to get started and then you just have to follow your instincts.”

“What’s an instinct?” Lindsay the Hoothoot-girl tilted her head to the side.

Lloyd touched the middle of his chest, “It’s a feeling deep inside you that tells you how to act before you know.”

“You mean like when I want to make big winds with my arms?” Pete spread his wing-arms, still mostly covered by his jumpsuit and Rotom-boy.

Lloyd smiled, “Exactly, that’s from your aura and that’s also how I do this,” he leaned back and sprayed a Water Gun straight up which showered them with mist.”

Marco the Rookidee-boy watched in awe, “How much water do you have to drink to do that?”

“No more than normal, it’s from aura.” He saw their faces light up, except the Fletchling girl.

“But the grown-ups say we shouldn’t do that, it’s unnn unnnatral,” the Fletchling-girl’s eyes went crossed.

Lloyd frowned and shook his head, “No, it’s very natural, they’re just in denial.”

“What’s den-isle?” Lindsay asked.

“When someone doesn’t want to admit they’re wrong about something,” Lloyd’s face fell for a moment then shook his head, “Now I’ll show you how to use your aura and get you started. Now close your eyes and try to feel what’s inside yourself.” Lloyd did the same.

The first day was mostly just the children stumbling around and trying to figure out what ‘feeling inside’ meant. Only Lindsay seemed to get it and Lloyd sent them off after an hour telling them they should come back between school and supper so they could get fed after working so hard.

Alex and Lloyd decided to camp away from the main structures on the base where there was loose soil, not wanting to be near the Boomers indoors.

“How’d the first lesson go?” Alex asked as he rolled out his sleeping bag.

Lloyd just lay back on the relatively soft ground, hand on his baby bump, “well enough for a first day. I wanted to tell the kids not to use the chairs that let them pretend to fly.”

“Flight simulators.”

“Yeah those,” Lloyd turned to face Alex, “But if I did, they might hate me telling them what not to do.” He sighed, “I hope they stop and realize the power to fly is inside them eventually.”

Alex stared up at the stars, “I think they will, they seemed happier after your lesson.”

“I’m just worried the adults will tell me to stop if they find out,” Lloyd frowned and also turned to look up at the sky.

Alex smirked, “I don’t think so. Once I told them there were solar panel repairs on the way they said they had to spend all their free time getting ready to raise ‘the lady’. Said they’d tell me more when the repairs were finished, maybe even ask Melany to help if she’s so good at repairing stuff. Jack even said he really wanted your help specifically, but clammed up when I asked why.”

Lloyd let out a sigh of relief before he fell asleep, “Good.”

The rest of the week passed similarly: with Alex and Lloyd doing all the cooking—a full time job with just the two of them—the adults were too pre-occupied with their big project to do much and every day before supper Lloyd would give more aura training to the children. After hearing that flying was easier without stuff covering their arms some just showed up in tank tops, including Lindsay. Thankfully the Rotom-boys didn’t interfere with the training. A couple of times artillery shots were heard striking some unfortunate intruder in front of the base but thankfully not Melany.

Five days later, in the middle of the morning, Lloyd and Alex were called to the front gate and asked to identify Melany as she approached.

Alex looked through the binoculars and spotted the Stunky-woman guiding a pack Tauros though the cratered-field with GR-0-WL at their side. “That’s her alright.”

Raquel nodded, “Alright,” she turned to the others, “Call off the firing sequence, let her through!”

Lloyd and Alex exchanged worried looks as Melany finally guided the Tauros to the gate as it was opened. “No wonder you never trade, took three times as long to find a way around that mess.” The Stunky-woman grumbled, “where’s the solar array?”

Alex turned and motioned for Melany to follow him, “This way.”

Once at the array, they hauled the parts up to the roof and left Melany and GR-0-WL to do repairs while Lloyd and Alex went to prepare lunch.

After lunch, with the arrays repaired, Alex and Lloyd went to meet with Mother Pearl who thanked them for their help and told them to go meet Loyal in the hangar. After meeting back up with Melany and GR-0-WL, the four outsiders headed to the Hangar to talk to Jack and Loyal about their special project.

Melany had a sour look on her face and her arms folded as they stood in front of the two but kept her mouth shut as they listened.

Jack stood nearby as Loyal, the elderly Noctowl-man, sat on a bench as he explained. “Pearl sent word saying it’s all right to tell you about the Lady in the water. A long time ago—long before the war that killed just about everything that ever lived—a bomber crashed not far from here.” He smiled and continued as if he were talking to children, “A bomber was a flying contraption that could drop explosives on anything it flew over. But anyway, moving on… This bomber crashed down in the big lake south of here, pretty damn near intact. When we got to Nellis, see, I found this article in a magazine all about it. There was another bomber around here, part of a museum.” He pointed back at the pieces of the fuselage that lay around the hangar, “Couldn’t fly but had a lot of spare parts, see? Get where I’m going?”

“I think so,” Alex folded his arms then looked back and forth to his companions. Lloyd looked a bit confused, Melany frowned but said nothing and GR-0-WL just stared.

Loyal got a dreamy look in his tired eyes, “Since I was a young man, I’ve dreamed of raising that Lady from the lake and bringing her back to life. What do you say?”

Melany was the first to answer from under an angry glare, “Are you completely fucking stupid?!”

Jack and Loyal were taken aback but before they could interject, Melany spread her arms and continued, “How can you think it’s anywhere remotely possible for an ancient aircraft that’s been lying in a lake for centuries to even be dragged out intact, much less fly!? It’s probably a hunk of rust and corrosion by now and that’s not including any mutant Krablurks in there that might have torn it up since then!”

Alex decided to speak up, glaring at the two, “I’ve seen your great dream: to fly over people farther than your guns and blow us up because you think we’re…” the Ninetales-man closed his eyes and grit his teeth, “I won’t even say that word you use for us, you just think we’re all target practice for your sick whims!”

GR-0-WL nodded, “I’ve only seen a small piece of this place, but it’s like a vault without walls.”

Jack glared at the robo-Growlithe, “I don’t expect a machine to understand us and what we’re trying to do, or our pasts.”

GR-0-WL barked and growled which made the Pidove-man take a step back, “In my short life I’ve seen more of the world than you ever have and I am not just a machine.”

Melany stroked GR-0-WL’s back and smiled at it before she turned her harsh gaze back to the two, “I know a fuck load more than you, I was born in a Vault that opened when I was a kid. I’ve seen shit out there that would make you all piss yourselves and I’m like a third your age!” She directed the last words at Loyal, “You never stepped out of your vault, just found new things to use as walls.”

“And the worst thing is, you’ve stifled your own growth, especially that of your children, by denying what you’ve become.” He spread his arms, “This new world isn’t just one of…’savages’… and danger, but you can’t see that because your tribe clings to a past that will never return.”

“We’re not a tribe, we’re a community,” Jack shot back as Loyal was still reeling a bit from the tirade.

“Oh you aren’t?” Lloyd held up a hand and counted off with his fingers, “Historical homeland, signature weapons, linked family of families, a common belief—flawed as it is—and dressing in a way that shows you’re united? I’ve seen tribes of all levels of technology and all that separates you from them is that you deny the truth staring you in the face, and the worst part is you’re hurting yourselves and especially your children.” Lloyd relaxed then smiled, “But then maybe they can learn where you suppressed.” He turned, “Actually come with me, I want to show you something.”

Curious and stunned, Jack helped Loyal to stand and they followed Lloyd outside. It took a few minutes for Lloyd to find the children, pulling them out of school, to show what they had been working on all week.

“Now remember the practice, show your elders what you learned,” Lloyd looked at Lindsay and Pete.

Lindsay took a deep breath and took a run as she flapped her wing-arms. At first it didn’t look like anything was going to happen but then she jumped and flew. Flapping her arms the Hoothoot-girl stayed airborne for 20 seconds before she landed, a bit winded but smiling. “Look, Lloyd, I flew!”

Lloyd smiled back and patted her on the head, “Yes, you did, very good.”

“Watch me!” Pete took a run and jumped up, the Pidgey-boy flapping just as hard and staying in the air for a full 30 seconds, dipping and even raising bit before he landed, panting a bit harder than Lindsay.

“Don’t strain yourself, one day at a time.” Lloyd turned to Loyal and Jack and even the other adults, including the Fletchinder-woman teacher, who were all gaping at what they had witnessed.

“But humans don’t fly, not like this!” the teacher pointed at the two.

Lloyd glared at her, his aura pulsing which made her back off before she could respond, “We aren’t human, we’re Poke-people and this is what aura can do. Stop telling your children to suppress what they are and open up. Even if we could revive that plane in the middle of the lake all you’d be doing is pushing that out. You can fly without those planes or the simulators as long as you keep trying. Let your children spread their wings, literally, and learn what you can be in this new world.” The adults were speechless as Lloyd turned to the children, some having flown for a few seconds while he was speaking, “Children, I have to go now.”

“But why? I want to fly more,” Lindsay gave the Dewott-man a pleading look.

Lloyd smiled, “I have my own life and my own tribe to get back to. I’ve taught you all I can, now it’s just your instinct and aura that will guide you and don’t let the adults say you can’t fly because you all just proved you can.” He looked up and around, sensing the shame and bewilderment from the adults then turned and headed for the front gate of the base.

Alex was gathering up some food for his walk back to New Lumiose with Lloyd when Mother Pearl entered the kitchen. “Outsider, Alex. I saw those children fly and heard what your serv- friend said.”

“Good, hopefully you learned something,” Alex didn’t even turn to look at her.

Mother Pearl winced at the harshness of his voice, “I heard what you said about this Kogun army of slaves from Raquel, what are they going to do?”

Alex finished loading his backpack and turned to the Pidgeot-woman, “They’re going to invade Kalos and if they win they’re going to enslave everyone. They have thousands, maybe tens of thousands of slave soldiers, and they don’t think twice about sacrificing themselves to win. When they find this place they will swarm over you, rushing until you’re out of ammo or slow down enough to get through, then they will butcher your fighters, enslave everyone and take your children to be soldiers as they erase your identity from history.”

Mother Pearl’s horrified expression remained even as she asked, “What can be done to stop them?”

Alex pulled his backpack on, “We’re going to war with them soon for a man named Mr. Robert House. If you want a wasteland that’s free from them and that can welcome you in, then use your gun to attack the Kogun when the battle breaks out. Then you’ll have a chance to grow beyond this above ground vault you’ve sealed yourself in. Now excuse me, I need to go get ready for the battle.” He carefully stepped around the eldest and headed for the exit.

“We will cooperate, so the children can fly,” Mother Pearl’s voice echoed as Lloyd, Alex, Melany and GR-0-WL, along with the pack Tauros, crossed the shelled field together then split up, Melany saying she planned to retreat with the NKR if the Kogun won the battle as Lloyd and Alex returned to New Lumiose.", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Fallout New Lumiose chapter 66", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "image/png", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "1", "rating_name": "Mature", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "2", "name": "Nudity", "description": "Nonsexual nudity exposing breasts or genitals (must not show arousal)", "rating_id": "1" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "1" }