[He's about five steps ahead of you on that one, Miss Carmen. Or rather, Susie is. She's climbed into her trainer's lap, and over the sound of Shaun crying Carmen might be able to hear the Buizel fretting as she smooths her little paws over his cheeks worriedly.
Shaun takes a couple of deep, shaky breaths that keep him just this side of breaking down entirely.]
Listen. I have a secret I want you to keep, just between the two of us, all right? I want you to stay close to Agent Jayden as much as you can. He'll take care of you, and he'll answer to me if Lieutenant Blake so much as looks cross-eyed at you.
[DAMN RIGHT.]
But if something happens, this is our plan, okay? If something happens, I want you to head straight for Goldenrod City. Fly if you can; ask someone for directions if you need to. When you get there, you buy a train ticket and take the Magnet Train to Saffron City. I'm going to make sure you have enough money in your account that you can do that at any time, and to cover the cost of a room at any hotel. But you save it for an emergency. And you call me anytime, day or night, if you have to. No one is going to hurt you again.
[The plan takes Shaun by surprise. He's never been trusted with that much responsibility and autonomy for his own fate so explicitly before.
It's easier for him to trust Miss Carmen, because teachers are basically the only authority figures who have never broken a promise to him, and even though she told him she wasn't a teacher, he's still settled her in that category in his head. He's taking notes in his head. He wants to be able to do it right, if he has to.]
O-okay. I promise I won't tell anybody, Miss Carmen. Go to Goldenrod and take the Magnet Train to Saffron.
I-I thought bad things didn't really happen here... I thought it was safer...
audio;
Shaun takes a couple of deep, shaky breaths that keep him just this side of breaking down entirely.]
audio;
[Her voice is calm and reassuring, but there's steel underneath it.]
No one is ever going to hurt you like that again.
audio;
I...I believe you.
[He trusts you and Norman to protect him.
Well, that and his team totally wiped the floor with Blake's team.]
audio;
[DAMN RIGHT.]
But if something happens, this is our plan, okay? If something happens, I want you to head straight for Goldenrod City. Fly if you can; ask someone for directions if you need to. When you get there, you buy a train ticket and take the Magnet Train to Saffron City. I'm going to make sure you have enough money in your account that you can do that at any time, and to cover the cost of a room at any hotel. But you save it for an emergency. And you call me anytime, day or night, if you have to. No one is going to hurt you again.
audio;
It's easier for him to trust Miss Carmen, because teachers are basically the only authority figures who have never broken a promise to him, and even though she told him she wasn't a teacher, he's still settled her in that category in his head. He's taking notes in his head. He wants to be able to do it right, if he has to.]
O-okay. I promise I won't tell anybody, Miss Carmen. Go to Goldenrod and take the Magnet Train to Saffron.
I-I thought bad things didn't really happen here... I thought it was safer...
audio;
I hope you'll never have to use this plan of ours, Shaun. But better to have it and never use it than the other way around, right?