A/N- This chapter is now edited for grammar. Please note the change of Seph's sister's name.
Ch. 3
A couple of days had passed since I joined this rambunctious team. We are currently sitting beside a flowing stream eating lunch.
I was enjoying a rare moment of silence; all of the other Pokémon had their faces crammed full of Pokémon food, stuffing UFOs down their throats.
I felt a light tap on the shoulder. I turned to see a green and brown dragon Pokémon. The Flygon eyed my bowl of UFO with great fervor, then he looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Go ahead," I replied, pushing the bowl toward him. He chirped once with gratitude and began to work on consuming my share of the food too.
I was notorious for giving my Pokémon Food away. The Flygon, whose name I learned was Scarl, learned this rather quickly and he took advantage of this every mealtime.
"You and your strange quirks," said Arios the Umbreon in between gulps, "I have yet to meet a Pokémon beside you who's not taken in by Pokémon Food."
I ignored him and went to gather my lunch from a nearby Bluk Berry bush. Over the past few days, my new teammates quickly learned much about me—too much in my opinion.
Seph's Pokémon were not the only ones studying; I also absorbed much information on my new master. I learned his favorite color is Blastoise Blue, his favorite number is forty-two (Arios tried to explain it to me; he said it was the answer to the ultimate question or something like that. I didn't quite understand), and he never go anywhere without two things: his Pokémon and a jar of Pecha Berry Jelly.
According to Arios, Pecha Berry Jelly sandwiches are Seph's staple food. In fact, he must have at least two of these sandwiches per day to be fully functional. The Umbreon told me when Seph was young, his sister hid all of the Pecha Berry Jelly in the house once. When she and her parents came home at the end of the day, they discovered Seph laying face down on the sofa, only half conscious. His sister returned his jelly at once, fearing further separation from the jelly could lead to permanent damage.
In fact, Seph is plugging away on a sandwich right at this moment. In one of his hand, he held a paperback. The only thing he had more than jars of jelly was books, he could somehow produce a new one every time I see him read.
Seph popped the last of his sandwich in his mouth and marked his place in the novel with a Rayquaza-shaped bookmark. His team members presented him with cleaned food bowls which he carefully placed away. The Flygon washed my food bowl along with his. Our deal is he can have my food if he does my dishes.
"Come on guys!" Seph beckoned, "If we hurry, we can make it to Purenal City by nightfall!"
A series of groans came from his team; each of his Pokémon claimed a section of grass and lazed across it, bathing in the sunshine and readied for a nap. Seph tried several motivational words but he was very much ignored.
Seph ran a hand through his hair, at lost as to what to do. But soon, his face brightened.
"Guess we won't be able to eat dinner there. Purenal City is famous for its five-star cuisines, you know."
His Pokémon perked up right away and bounced on the road in the proper direction. Scarl was so excited he tried to carry Seph and fly him over.
I read once that the only way to get a man is through his stomach; I guess the same logic works for Pokémon too.
Before I could even catch a sight of Purenal City, the wash of many aromas interweaved together reached my nose. Many of my other teammates followed suit and sniffed the air in pleasure.
"This must be the smell of heaven." Zeal sighed while wiping the drool threatening to fall from the corner of his mouth.
"This is why Purenal is also called 'City of Nectar and Ambrosia'. Its foods are fit to serve Gods." Seph filled in his Pokémon with facts about the city while gazing at the city gate.
"I don't wanna hear how good the food is; I wanna taste it myself!" Zeal led the team toward the city gate, looking like the general of a raiding party ready to raid the city of all its food.
"Oh no you guys are not." Seph said firmly with a tinge of a smile at the corner of his mouth, "You are all going back to your respective Pokeballs; the last thing I need is a bill for the destruction of a multi-million Pokedollar city."
"Aw com'on. You can earn that in a couple of years!" Zeal complained before he was zapped into a red-and-white sphere. The rest of the team followed the suit.
I felt the familiar tickle of the red light before being catapulted into my capsule.
A strange but refreshing light filled my Pokeball; all signs of wariness faded from my body. No matter how many times I went through it, I could never get used to the healing machines at Pokémon Centers.
"Release."
I joined my teammates in a brightly lit white building. I recognized the room as the lobby of a Pokémon Center.
"Okay guys. We're feasting today!" Seph's brightly lit face matched every member of the team showing he was no less excited about the food than his Pokémon.
"OH! Can we hit the desert table first? Maybe the meat! I don't mind the seafood table either!" Fal leaped around her trainer, babbling away and completely forgot the fact Seph could not understand her. But one look at his face, I could tell he got the general gist of it.
"You can eat whatever you want Fal. Just as long as you don't stuff yourself sick...again."
The rest of the team chuckled at a shared memory.
"Last time Fal was allowed to hit a buffet," Arios explained, filling me in, "She ate so much she had stomach pains for days. She moaned in her sleep which drove us all nuts at night."
I smiled at the mental picture, feeling as if I were there too.
We all simultaneously took a step into the banquet room of the Pokémon Center. Each table glistened with piles of food. Even I thought we had died and gone to heaven.
"Well, let's go!" Seph gave the command to start and his Pokémon shot out like they were participating in some life-or-death race.
The team split into three fractions. There were Fal and Zeal, who tackled the desert tables as if they were already on a sugar high. Arios led Scarl to the table with roasted meats which they ravaged with great fervor. Then there was Seph and I, who were the only one sensible enough to start with a light salad.
We looked at each other for a brief second. I tossed my head toward the table, the epitome of healthy eating, and eyed him a question of why was he over here.
He seemed to comprehend, "Ma had trained me well. She always served dinner in a certain order and salad just happens to be the first on the list. I miss her cooking, good thing we're heading home."
His speech had a hint of a country accent that was only present when he talked about home. I knew we were heading toward his hometown right now. But I did not know exactly where.
"Hey man! Never thought I would bump into you here!"
We turned. Behind us stood a boy around fifteen with a Gengar swallowing rare meat whole by his side; he waved hello to Seph.
"Hey!" Seph greeted, "We battled on the road some days ago right? Sorry, I never got your name."
"It's cool, I never got yours either! I'm Jayden. Join me for dinner?"
"I'm Seph, and sure."
After Arios' third slab of meat and Fal's fifth slice of cake, Jayden suddenly jumped up and shouted out, "YOU'RE SEPH ASPEN!"
Seph shushed him right away, looking around to see if he had attracted attention.
"Aw man. I'm dinning with three times Battle Tower Top Trainer, two times Battle Frontier Brain, and the champion of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh!"
I chocked on a piece fish bone. What was that list that trainer spurted out?
"You became champion of Kanto when you were only thirteen and the champion of Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh when you were only sixteen! Man! I admire you so much!"
"Thanks," Seph looked a little embarrassed. So what Jayden spurted out was the truth? I was stunned. I knew Seph is good, only now I know exactly how good he is.
"What are you doing here in Anjou? There are no gyms here. And I heard you gave up your position as champions of all four regions! When are you planning to reclaim them?"
"Woah," Seph held up his hand to stop the bombardment of questions, "One at a time. I'm currently heading home."
"Oh yeah," the other trainer piped, "You're from Canaltown. You're the son of the world famous Professor Aspen."
I was still digesting that last comment about Seph being this all powerful trainer, now the other trainer tossed me another unexpected fact. He's related to Professor ASPEN?
"But why did you give up all of your titles?" Jayden voiced my curiosity as well.
Seph thought for a while. Jayden interpreted the silence as he had offended the older trainer, so he retracted his question.
"If you don't want to answer, that's okay. I'm shouldn't pry."
Seph smiled at him, "It's fine. I just...lost my inspiration. I guess."
Jayden nodded, asking no more. But I was too curious to let it go at there.
"We don't know either," Arios spoke for the group, "We know as much as you do."
Jayden and Seph parted after dinner; Jayden left happily with Seph's PDA number and an autograph for his sister who he claims 'wants to bear your babies'. We are now sleeping in the Pokémon Center with Seph already fast asleep in his bed.
"You should know when he 'lost his inspiration' right?" I questioned, figuring that a 'lost of inspiration' was just an excuse.
"We don't know," Fal piped, "Almost all of us joined Seph not too long ago. Arios should know something; he is Seph's starter Pokémon."
Arios sighed, looking remorseful, "I don't know what happened. I was napping on the couch. Seph...came home with his sister Aya. She was badly hurt, neither of them would saying anything about what had happened."
"Maybe Aya said something to Fal?" Scarl asked hopefully. The big guy hardly ever speaks up; speaking up this moment meant he must be worried about Seph too.
"Though I'm Aya's Pokémon, she didn't mention anything!" Fal looked visibly upset.
"Wait, you are Seph's sister's Pokémon?" I repeated. Too much information was thrown at me and I was having trouble sorting them out.
"For various reasons…Aya left me with Seph to train," Fal answered, "I love Seph, but..."
Fal had the look of longing of a child without a mother.
Our little discussion group soon broke up after that.
We left the city via the southern gate. A lush forest surrounded us and I couldn't tell which direction we were headed. Seph told us we were going to visit an old friend of his.
"I wonder what kind of person is he." I wondered aloud, "Must be a strange guy living in a maze like this."
"His friend is very...interesting..." Arios answered my thought; I could tell he doesn't like this friend very much.
"Ariados! Spider Web!"
Out of the top of a tree came a glisten, then a streak of silver shot through the green.
"Ardelle, Flamethrower!"
I automatically opened my mouth and let out a string of fire. The web disintegrated into harmless ash. I was dumbstruck that I obeyed him without a second thought, his charisma and confidence extended its influence onto me.
"As quick as always!" A giggle came from the top of the tree and a moment later a girl and an Ariados landed with a light thump in front of us. Her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail and her body attired with camouflage-patterned shorts and jacket. Two dirt streaks across her cheek were so evenly placed it looked intentional.
"Do you always attack your visitors?" Seph asked, seemingly annoyed but with humor too.
"Nah, just recently picked up the habit. I honestly thought you were them again." The girl winked and giggled again, then she slid within two inches of Seph. "Haven't seen you in awhile. What do you need from me this time?"
"I can't visit just because I wanted to see a friend?" Seph asked, seemingly undisturbed by her close proximity.
"Nope. I know you too well Seph." The brunette breathed those words into Seph's ears with a velvety voice. She then grabbed one of Seph's arm, "Come, let's talk inside."
Seph complied, still very indifferent.
"Eww...She's hanging on to Seph like a...a...Heracross on a sap-covered tree!" Fal stuck out her tongue, disgusted.
"Avert your eyes Fal. It's not going to let up anytime soon." Arios suggested.
I felt a bit sorry for the girl. No matter how hard she flirted, Seph never even batted an eye.
"New Pokémon, eh?" The brunette girl opened the conversation while setting a cup of tea in front of Seph. The log cabin was quite cozy and homely but it was evident only one person lived there. "Allow me to introduce myself to them." The girl turned her attention to us, "I'm Nina, I'm a PokeRanger."
"Nice to meet you! Even if you are a witch that is probably thinking of ways to cast a spell on Seph to make him stay forever! Well you know what? Evil never wins!"
Fal chirped her long greeting with a perfectly respecting smile, down to the part where she even reached out a paw for her to shake. Nina blinked confused at the length of Fal's greeting. She looked even more perplexed when the group began to snicker.
"Strange group you have here," Nina the PokeRanger said with a wrinkle of brow.
"Nina, you said you had mistaken me for someone. Mind telling me who?" Seph stated, setting down his teacup with a look of complete seriousness.
"Always straight to the point, eh?" Nina smiled, "That's what I like about you."
"And you almost never answer my questions right away." Seph said simply, completely oblivious to her almost confession.
"Have you seen the news lately? About the activity of a new criminal group?" Nina settled down on her chair, her expression turned serious too.
"No I have not."
"Then you've been in a box for the past two month. There a group that's active recently in Anjou specifically, they've been causing quite a ruckus. Taking Pokémon, stealing top-secret information, the police even labeled them as the perpetrators of several kidnappings! I had also been attacked, just last week, you know how there are rare Pokémon in these parts." Nina sighed. When it came to Pokémon, I could see she was thoroughly dedicated.
Seph's eyes widened, "Our own tiny region has its own criminal group now? Great...it was Team Rocket of Kanto and Johto, Team Magma and Aqua of Hoenn, Team Galaxy of Sinnoh, what this one called?"
"It's called Sigma."
My blood ran cold; I could feel my heart speeding up. A part of me wanted to jump up and tear up the word she just said, another part of me merely wanted to run, run far far away like a frightened kit running away from a thunderstorm.
"Can you tell me more about it Nina?" Seph's expression was dark, his expecting eyes were on the brunette.
"Sure," Nina nodded exuberantly, "The group is not exactly new, it has been around for twenty years of so. It's just that they didn't do anything really until recently. I hear they do a lot of...engineering with Pokémon."
"What do you mean?"
"They've been documented with experimenting with Pokémon DNA and gene splicing and recombining. I heard their goal...is to create something powerful. They really are the mad scientists; all the other criminal teams are way out of their league."
Yes, every word Nina said was true. But she was off about one thing. Sigma is very much active; they are just very good at not attracting public eyes. Sigma's sudden burst in activity along with their decision to throw away all their secrecy didn't sound at all positive. I felt cold all over. I must have been inadvertently shivering because Seph walked over and dropped his jacket on me.
"Thanks Nina, we'll be leaving now."
"What? That's it? You came here just for that? But we haven't even talked!" Nina stamped her feet and sulked like a little kid; I could hear Fal giggling behind me.
"What do you mean? We've been doing that for the past half an hour."
"No! Like REAL talking! All we had been talking about is what's going on around the world!"
"And that's not 'real talking'?" Seph questioned, looking quite baffled. I decided it was good he was so dense.
Nina was furious. She slammed the door on Seph's face and told Seph to find her when he had 'reflected on his fault'. Seph was completely befuddled. He turned his wide-eyes gaze from Nina's closed door to us.
"Did I do something wrong?"
His team chortled so loudly we scared a flock of Pidgeys perching on a nearby tree. I found myself quite warm under Seph's jacket.
A/N- In chapter 4, watch out for your footing! An accidental tumble forced Ardelle to reveal herself?
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