Disclaimer: I still own nothing.
Chapter 2
We had been travelling along route 203 for a few hours and my patience was thinning. Molly insisted that we stop and battle every trainer or wild pokémon on the way. At this rate, we wouldn't make it to Oreburgh until late this evening. I looked over as Czar bubbled a Bidoof and knocked it out. "Do you think we can actually try to get to Oreburgh now? It'll be too late to eat if we don't get a move on." I checked my watch and scowled, "It's already noon. We should have hit Mount Coronet by now." I stalked off the road and began to rummage through my bag in search of the pokémon food. The girls followed after me unsure of what I was doing.
"Um, Elliot? If you're so worried about getting to Oreburgh, why are we stopping?" I had to wonder if Molly was hungry at all. I said nothing and pulled out the good sized container of pokémon food. Another quick look revealed that I had forgotten the bowls in my old room at the pokémon center, which wasn't a bad thing it just made keeping the food together a little more difficult. "Elliot?"
"Send out your pokémon, we are taking a quick break." I released my four pokémon from their pokeballs and set to work serving them all food. Analise, my grotle, gets two scoops because she is so large. I dreaded the day she evolved and needed at least twice that. My staravia, Quinn gets one scoop because he would play with the food if I gave him too much. Lennox got a scoop and a half because the Luxio seemed to always be moving and burned off the food much more quickly than the others. Dakheel wasn't a glutton but I had found a scoop and a half kept him in a relatively good mood longer than one. I glanced at the new three… five mouths to feed and had to judge. Czar was very small so he would be fine with half a scoop, same with Vahni. Olivia I was unsure, glameows were incredibly evil if they felt slighted. I shook my head and gave her a little over half and would give her more if she needed it. The pokémon were all fed, so I reached into my bag and pulled out a few sandwiches wrapped in plastic that I took from the breakfast bar in the pokémon center. "I'd rather not stop again if we can help it. The pokémon center puts the food away at seven."
"Do you really think it will take us seven hours to get to Oreburgh?" Payton pulled out her map and studied it for a moment. "This route doesn't look very long at all."
"Route 203 is pretty short if you don't stop every few feet to battle." I shot Molly a look, but she was too busy eating her sandwich to notice. "However, Mount Coronet is a big place and it's really easy to get lost." Payton nodded and began to stroke Olivia's fur as she thought.
"Ah Elliot, your pokémon is so cute!" I looked at Molly who was looking a short ways away at a pokémon sitting against a tree. That's certainly not my pokémon, and I told her so. "It's not? So, I can catch it then!" Molly jumped to her feet and called her piplup to her side. "I'll just do exactly what you said earlier Payton, battle and weaken it."
"No, just throw the ball. Abras don't stick around to battle. It'll teleport away before you can get an attack in." Molly scowled at me.
"Is that why you don't have one? Hah, I'll catch it and have something that you don't." Molly puffed up her chest and grabbed a ball from her bag. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I didn't have an Abra because they aren't very useful until they evolve. I hadn't had the patience to work with one back then. Molly threw the ball with a yell, and it hit the ground and bounced into the Abra's lap sucking the pokémon in with a red light. We watched it wobble for a moment and click as the lock fell into place. "Yeah! Now I have two pokémon to!" She bolted over and picked up the ball grinning like a madwoman. "I bet you'll be so awesome when I use you in your first battle." I shook my head as I began to clean up. Analise followed beside me and leaned against me whenever I stopped to pick anything up.
"I'd check its moves before you decide that." Molly shot me a look that promised pain, but pulled out her pokedex.
"What does teleport do?" Exactly what it sounds like. "When does Vyomini learn a new move, Elliot?" I nearly tripped over Lennox as I stared at her in shock. Just why? I might have been imagining it, but Dakheel seemed just as confused by the name as I was. He was staring straight at Molly in a way that just seemed to say 'what the hell?'
"Vyomini? Really Molly?" She huffed and stamped her foot in response, loosely translating to answer my question. "It will learn a new move whenever it evolves." She glared at me sharply.
"She. Don't call her an it."
"I'm sorry, the strange name you pulled out of the air threw me off." She muttered something under her breath that I didn't quite catch. "She is kinda difficult to use right now, but if you'll stop acting like a stupid child, I'll see what I can do to help. Now, gather your stuff we need to get moving." We didn't have to wait long because Molly hadn't gotten anything out of her bags.
"So, what can you do to help?" Molly refused to look up at me and kept her gaze firmly on the ground at her feet.
"Well, I have some TM's in my bag from travelling around, also the pokemart in Oreburgh may have a useful TM there." I doubted they would have anything all that great though.
"Where do you find TM's at? Aren't they kind of expensive to leave lying around?" Payton asked with a curious frown on her face.
"Sometimes people drop them on accident, sometimes on purpose. Not every TM is useful to the pokémon you have." I looked ahead and was relieved to see Mount Coronet looming ahead of us. "And, strangely enough, sometimes skilled trainers leave TMs lying around to help younger trainers."
"Have you ever left something for younger trainers?" Payton asked, but both girls looked incredibly curious. Should I disappoint them or should I lie?
"No, I'm really not a skilled trainer. I like to keep TMs because they can be very useful to me later if I get another pokémon who could use it." They were both frowning. They would get over it. If I was a skilled trainer I wouldn't be in this mess, but if I had been, would they have been able to leave for their adventure? I didn't dwell on that for very long, otherwise I might start to be nice to them all the time. I thought about that possibility, it wasn't likely, Molly's attitude was really starting to bother me and I would surely snap at her sooner or later. We walked on in silence for a while and I smoked cigarettes to pass the time. I had just lit up my ninth one when Molly had decided she'd had enough.
"Czar use bubble! Put that cigarette out!" The large bubble hit me squarely and put out my cigarette, but it also soaked me to the bone. "Just stop smoking! It's gross." Molly was scowling at me and Payton was nodding in agreement. I was beginning to hate these girls. I continued on and dug into my jacket pocket pulling out my soaked pack. I was pissed. Every last one was ruined. The last bit of this trek would not be pleasant. Now that I was unable to distract myself, we seemed to be walking painfully slow. I lengthened my stride to my normal walk, making the girls have to try to keep up. They seemed okay with the new pace for about half an hour, then I began to hear quiet complaints as they chattered back and forth. As if he could sense my mood, Dakheel growled darkly at anything that came within a few yards of our group.
"Hey Elliot, do you think you could slow down a little? Our feet are really starting to hurt." That wasn't my fault, they wore stupid shoes. When I didn't answer she continued, "You seriously aren't mad because I soaked you, you're dry now so, whatever." I stopped short and turned to them. I pulled out my ruined pack of cigarettes and held them up to Molly's face.
"You owe me fifteen hundred credits." I turned back around and continued walking. "I'm nice enough to come along, I didn't have to come you know. I could have disappeared and left you both in Twinleaf. I'm here looking after you, the least you could do is allow me to smoke."
"Well what if we don't want you here? Maybe you should just leave us alone and go smoke so much you die." Molly was stamping her feet as she walked. She was just as mad as I was. "I don't owe you anything because you didn't have to come."
"Can we please stop fighting?" Payton was holding Vahni close to her chest. We were making her nervous. I stopped talking, I didn't need to make this worse.
"So, you're all quiet. I guess that means I win and you can just go away."
"I won't unless you seriously tell me to, but I will warn you. Once you tell me to leave, make sure that's what you want because I won't be back." Molly opened and closed her mouth a few times unsure of what to say. We fell back into an uncomfortable silence as my urge to smoke grew with each step. With no more complaints about feet, we continued with my pace to the end of the route.
I stopped outside of Mount Coronet and released all my pokémon, "We'll take a quick break. You don't have to release your pokémon, I just like to." I sat down and leaned heavily against a rock. Analise settled against my side and we watched Lennox spring up trying to smack Quinn with his paws. Quinn would swoop down and change direction quickly, throwing Lennox off balance. It was a strange game, but it kept the Luxio from being bored. A bored Lennox always meant trouble. Dakheel was sitting a few feet off of the path seeming to keep watch. He was much more likely to be plotting my next injury though. We sat for forty five minutes and I decided that we should get moving. When I stood I looked over and saw that Molly and Payton had both dozed off in the grass. I shook my head and gave them a few more minutes to nap. "Hey, wake up. Once we get to Oreburgh you can sleep all you want." The girls didn't move. "Lennox. Wake them up." Lennox looked up from his rocky perch at his new prey. His tail twitched in warning and I turned to face the entrance of Mount Coronet as they screamed in surprise.
"What was that for? You could have just told us to get up like any normal person would!" Molly put her hand on her chest and sighed. "That scared me so bad."
"I think next time I'll get up when I hear you." Payton was blushing, "I heard you, but I didn't really feel like getting up. I thought you might go away if I didn't move." She cleared her throat and made a face, "Guess I was wrong." I nodded in response. With the girls up we could move on. The large cave loomed before us, I looked around for a tree branch or something that might give us light for a while. Analise shook her branches and threw a few leaves into a large tree nearby, easily cutting down a thick branch from the middle of the tree. I held the end of the branch in front of Dakheel and he lit it without a command. I recalled all of my pokémon including Dakheel, I didn't even want the chance of being separated from them. "Should I keep Vahni out since his fire could help with light?" Payton looked up at the Chimchar who was chattering to the piplup on Molly's shoulder.
"Do what you want, I just know that my pokemon aren't too useful in the dark and Analise doesn't like the fire." I made my way into the mountain as I spoke. Molly and Payton followed closely behind me, probably because I had a big torch to light the darkness and they had a little fire monkey's ass. The zubats flying around in the darkness were unnerving and the girls stayed silent adding to the creepy factor. I stopped when we came to a fork in the cave both ways were too dark to see very far, but one way had the sound of a large amount of zubats screeching. I chose the path without the Zubats, they didn't like light so it was more likely that the exit was to the right. I could hear the girls struggling to keep up on the rocky cave floor, so I slowed a bit to keep track of them. We didn't need a twisted ankle.
We didn't get far when a Zubat screeched and swooped into the torch, throwing it from my hands and into the darkness. Molly and Payton screamed attracting more zubat to our location. I couldn't see the zubat that hit me in the gut throwing me to the ground. With the wind knocked out of me all I could do was gasp and try to tell them to shut up. An abrupt silence made me look around, where were they? I sat up there was only darkness around me. I wheezed hoping they could hear me. If they heard me they didn't respond. I stood carefully and looked again, a flickering glow not far from me was a refreshing sight. If I had the torch they could see me before I saw them. It wasn't far away, but I stepped carefully to avoid twisting my ankle. I circled the rock and found not a torch, but a fire monkey. "Vahni! Are you alright? Did you see which way Molly and Payton went?" He looked up at me while rubbing his head and slowly shook his head. I frowned there was no sign of them. Oh yeah, nothing will happen to them… only I'll lose them in a big ass cave. "Come on, let's see if we can find them." I held out my hand and Vahni climbed up my arm. His flame wasn't very bright, but it showed enough to keep me from being blind. Why was the cave so silent? I couldn't even hear the zubats anymore. I could not lose them on the first day. My head was beginning to ache, probably because I wanted a cigarette. I would have to find the girls as soon as possible.
I wandered through the cave for what seemed like hours. The fear that the zubats would react again kept me from calling out. I frowned, Dakheel was a dark pokémon, but he probably wouldn't want to help me search for them. My only other option was Lennox. I grabbed his ball and released him. He appeared and looked around confused. "Lennox, we need to find Molly and Payton. They are in this cave somewhere and I can't call out to them. See if you can find them, if you can't I'll send in Dakheel to help you." The Luxio flicked his tail in annoyance before bounding off into the darkness. The little cat was not fond of Dakheel at all. Hopefully, it'll keep Lennox motivated.
I kept moving until I felt paws press against my thigh. I looked down to see Lennox with an excited look in his eye. He had found them. "Lead on." He turned and sprang back the way he had come. I hurried behind him hoping neither of the girls were hurt. He led me through twisting tunnels until he stopped short and began to crawl across the floor to a small hollow in a cave wall. I could hear the Zubats above me and waited until I heard a soft squeak that was unmistakably Molly's voice. Lennox appeared again and pulled Molly out of the hollow by her jacket sleeve. A screech made me look up, a zubat swooped down towards the pair and I scowled at it, "Lennox, spark." He released her sleeve and his body began to crackle with electricity. Lennox threw himself into the air and collided with the oncoming zubat. The bat pokémon fell to the floor unconscious and Lennox pushed the girls in my direction. Once they saw Vahni's glow they hurried without Lennox's assistance. Molly and Payton attached themselves to me and began to cry. Totally uncomfortable with this position, I awkwardly patted them on the head. "Okay, we really need to get out of here, so can you hold off the crying until we are outside? Lennox can you find the exit?" Lennox bounded off again without even looking back.
"W-we knew you wouldn't leave us here." Molly sniffled and I examined her carefully, she didn't appear to be hurt.
"Er… yeah. Are either of you hurt?" They shook their heads and cuddled their pokémon. Vahni looked incredibly happy to be back in Payton's arms again. It had only been a short separation, but they both looked ecstatic. Lennox appeared and yowled to get my attention. "Alright, he's found the exit, so let's get out of here." Lennox kept close enough to see, but we never caught up to him either. Finally, the cave began to light up. We tailed Lennox around a corner and the bright outside lay before us. Molly and Payton threw themselves out onto the dirt and screamed in excitement. I looked over my shoulder into the cave, why had the zubat been acting so strangely? Sure they were a nuisance, but they had never deliberately attacked people before.
"Hey Elliot! Is that Oreburgh! Why didn't you tell me it looked like that much fun?" Molly was waving her hands in excitement and I looked down to Oreburgh City to see what she was talking about. The roads were lit up by colorful lamps and stalls were swarmed with people. Weren't we lucky, there was a festival going on.
"Looks like a festival or something."
"It looks like a lot of fun, can we spend some time at the festival Elliot?" Payton looked up at me endearingly and I sighed.
"Well we can't challenge the gym leader until tomorrow anyways so go ahead. My only rule is if you eat make sure you feed your pokémon first." The girls were nodding in excitement.
"Thank you Elliot! Come on Payton let's go see what's all at the festival!" Molly grabbed Payton's arm and they ran down into the mass of people disappearing almost immediately. I looked down at Lennox, now that it was light enough to get a good look at him I could see scratches and cuts from the zubats all over him. I grabbed a super potion and sprayed his wounds.
"Thank you Lennox, I probably wouldn't have found them if you hadn't helped me out." Lennox purred as I scratched him behind the ears. I checked my watch and the dinner buffet was surely going to be closed by the time I got there. "Let's get something to eat, you deserve it." He rubbed against my leg and I recalled him and followed the girls' path into the people looking for a place to eat that wasn't too crowded. I had looked for a while and decided on a corner café with a few tables set on an outdoor porch. I settled into the corner table and released my pokémon where I could keep an eye on them. Analise was too big to go anywhere but the corner of the café and the porch. She didn't seem to mind the small quarters, but I shifted the table and chairs to give her a little more room. Quinn took his place on the back of a chair and Lennox took his place in a chair. Dakheel sat on the floor next to me. I glanced over the menu sitting in the middle of the table for a short moment.
A young waitress walked over to me and pulled a pad out of her pocket. "What'll you have this evening?" She pulled her pencil from behind her ear and smiled brightly at me.
"I'll have a water for the moment, and one sweet, two bitter, and one spicy pokémon food, please." The waitress nodded and disappeared into the café to place my order. I could immediately tell that Lennox was growing bored just by looking at him, his tail was twitching and he was watching mundane things with too much interest. I shook my head and looked at the menu again, they had typical food like burgers and sandwiches so it wasn't hard to pick what I wanted. There was some movement to my left as Lennox sprang from his chair and bolted towards the crowd of people, I jumped to my feet only having time to yell, "Lennox!" before Dakheel snatched the Luxio up by the scruff and carried him back to my table dropping him at my feet. I looked at the Luxio and sighed. "I swear you'll be the death of me Lennox." Lennox merely purred in response. "Thank you Dakheel." The houndoom snorted and snapped at the Luxio's claws that were swatting at his face. The waitress chose this moment to appear with the food. Lennox leapt into his chair like he had done nothing wrong and dug into his spicy food. I passed the bitter food down to Analise and over to Quinn. Then Dakheel got his sweet food. She placed my water before me and smiled.
"Have you decided what you would like to eat?" I nodded
"I'll just have a hamburger and fries please. Everything on it." The waitress scribbled down my order and walked off again. I leaned back in my chair and sipped on the water. The people passing by didn't even look my way. I kept my eyes out for Molly and Payton, but I wasn't sure I'd see them if they were standing a few feet away. I reached down and scratched Dakheel behind his horns lightly. Once Lennox had finished his food I recalled him to avoid another leap towards the crowd. Quinn ruffled his feathers and settled himself down for some sleep, I recalled him as well. Analise was content sitting next to me, I knew she wouldn't wander off so she was easy to sit with. I frowned, how long have I been waiting for my food? I checked my watch, and thought about my lack of cigarettes. I was going to need one very soon because my head was really beginning to pound. Dakheel growled in warning to a familiar figure.
"Is this seat taken?" Before I could answer, my new dining partner sat down across from me.
"Do what you want." I shrugged lightly, "It's been a while, Roark." He grinned at me.
"A few years I think, mostly your fault. You never came back to visit." He leaned back in his chair comfortably.
"I've been… busy. I didn't expect you to be around, can I ask why I'm the lucky festival guest this evening?" I asked sarcastically and nudged Dakheel with my foot to make him stop growling. It only changed his focus to me. "What is this festival even for?"
"Well, you have this asshole-ish air that makes you the ideal person to sit with." He sat up a little straighter and glanced around, "My mother is around here looking for me. She has arranged a date or something. As for the festival, it's celebrating the opening of the mine and the founding of this town many years ago." I shook my head.
"So… I am your pick because I'm an asshole that people don't want to approach so you can avoid a date?" He nodded. "I'm not sure that I mind."
"It's hard to mind when it's the truth, Elliot." Roark snorted derisively. "How have you and Caroline been? Are you two as close as ever?" I went ridged.
"Er… no, we don't travel together anymore." I muttered and took a drink from my glass. Roark didn't pursue the subject, although he raised a brow in question.
"What brings you back to Oreburgh?" He waved his hand in a grand gesture towards the festival. "After all you've been gone for like… 4 years."
"I'm babysitting. Mom couldn't trust my sister, so here I am keeping her in check." I shook my head in disgust. "I can hardly believe it." The waitress reappeared with my food and got a drink order for Roark allowing us to continue our conversation uninterrupted.
"The great Elliot a babysitter? Hah! I'm sure you were thrilled to hear the news."
"Oh yes. Ecstatic." Roark grinned brightly and I had the urge to punch him in the mouth. "So, who's your mom setting you up with? She must be pretty horrifying for you to seek my company." Roark went completely still and looked around again as if he was a fugitive just waiting for the police to arrive at any moment.
"She's pretty I guess. I just don't really think it'll work out." I made a motion for him to elaborate and he hesitated to do so. "Er… well… I'm not exactly… interested… in dating… women." He looked at me sheepishly, I imagined his face was very red because he was admitting that he was gay to someone he barely knew, but it was too dark to tell. I merely shrugged.
"Well I guess it won't work then, does your mom know?" He shook his head. "Maybe you should tell her?" He shook his head again. "Well you can't hide here forever." I looked out in the crowd and could make out Molly looking into the porch and waving franticly. I scowled and bit into the burger. I was beginning to enjoy myself and she appears. What could she possibly want?
"I can at least hide here until my date has gone home."
"Well, I can't sit here because my charge is desperately trying to get my attention from a few feet away." Roark turned in his chair to see Molly waving more furiously than before. She was beginning to attract odd looks from the crowd.
"Shouldn't you go and see what is wrong?" He looked at me with genuine curiosity and I just shook my head.
"I'm not getting up just yet, I need to finish my food first." I kept eating knowing that she would reach her limit sooner or later and charge over to yell at me. I glanced in her direction again to see her standing with her hands on her hips huffing at me. Yeah, she would be over here in a few seconds. As I took another bite I felt a tap on my shoulder. When I turned to face Molly I feigned a surprised expression. "Oh Molly, we were just talking about you." She stamped her foot angrily.
"I know you're ignoring me! But come on! I want to show you something." She tugged on my jacket.
"That's nice and all, but I think you are being rude to my friend." Molly froze and finally noticed Roark seated across the table.
"Oh don't mind me. I'm merely hiding." Roark grinned at Molly, who only looked mortified. "I'm Roark, a friend of Elliot's. And you are?"
"I'm Molly. His sister." Molly was blushing and I shook my head.
"Well Molly, don't let me keep you I need to be going. There's the person I'm hiding from heading this way." Roark stood and walked off in the opposite direction faster than the waitress could say you forgot to pay.
"I'll get it, he only got a drink so its fine." I passed the money to her with instructions to keep the change and turned back to Molly, "Okay, what did you want to show me?" I'd have to stop by a corner store and pick up a pack of cigarettes on the way whether Molly liked it or not.