At last, here's where things get more interesting.

Day 4

Littleroot, Legendary, Oldale,

Current party: Kimmy

7 AM

After routine, Kimmy swiftly searched the house for money. He found just enough and he headed towards the bus stop, a tad later than usual.

Up the bus were three people: the bus driver, a brown-haired girl in the front row and in the back… was the tanned man from yesterday. He ignored that the girl in the front was May and headed straight to the back after paying his ticket. He had a lot of questions… let's hope he's willing to talk more than a few words this time, thought Kimmy.

"Excuse me," The man turned towards his caller. "Can we speak about yesterday?" asked Kimmy, still standing on the bus floor. The man turned away and gave an almost imperceptible nod. The student sat next to him at his response. He thought for a moment about his first question.

"So, uh…" He didn't know how to begin. "Why…? Why, uh…save the man?" The tan man smirked.

"That was Professor Birch," said the man without emotion. "You can't leave an important person like that to die," he said after a long pause. Kimmy processed this new information, and he found himself a small contradiction. 'If Professor Birch is that important, then he wouldn't risk being outside that late in the day. Am I missing something? Doesn't everyone know about the dangers?' He began to elaborate the question in his head before he asked.

"But wait, that was a little late for a guy like him to be outside, don't you think?" asked Kimmy curiously. The tan man closed his eyes, apparently thinking. Although they were oblivious to it, they had the other passengers' attention (May and the driver, who were looking at them from the rearview mirror).

"You're right," he began. "I don't know the reason. Whatever it was, though, it must have been very important." Kimmy looked back to the assault scene. 'So it was Birch, huh? That would explain the lab coat. But he had another peculiar item with him, didn't he… a beige bag. It looked heavy, too. I'd be willing to bet that's the reason,' the boy thought. He didn't notice the man was grinning until he spoke.

"I don't need to know anyway. That is not my job," he stated with apathy. 'I wonder what he does for a living…'thought the student and then inquired "Your job?" to which the man didn't respond.

Kimmy looked in front of him, finding his eyes to glance at the rearview mirror and noticed a pair of eyes looking back at him; at the same time he gazed at them they turned away. He hadn't noticed. It was May! He felt an incredible guilt running through his body. 'I have to speak to her,' he thought, and with that, he left his remaining questions for the tanned man for another time, which Kimmy felt for sure there would be. But before he moved, he asked a single question.

"Hey, um, last question. What is your name?" The man continued to stare in front of him, and after a few seconds of observing nothing, he answered.

"Juarez. That is my name…"

Kimmy nodded and bid farewell. "Well, I guess I'll see you again?"

Juarez smirked. "Yes. Yes you will," he finalized cryptically. Kimmy blinked as his hunch got confirmed and he stood up.

He looked at May. She was looking at the depressing misery belt through the window. He struggled to move from his place. It was definitely harder than he thought it would be. But he had to do it. He walked a few steps towards the middle of the corridor then stopped as a new passenger went up and picked a seat on the back side. Kimmy leaned to one side so the person could pass through. Then he hesitated once more and walked slowly to the front with decision. Right behind the driver, at the first set of seats sat May. Kimmy cleared his throat and a startled May turned to see him. She obviously didn't expect him to come to her.

"Oh!" she flinched, then greeted timidly. Kimmy returned the greeting with a small nod.

"Um, can I sit here?" asked the boy. May remained in place as she tried to concede, but a few seconds passed before she gave an almost imperceptible nod, which led Kimmy to sit down still with some feeling of discomfort, though he also felt accomplishment for overcoming his struggles.

After a very uneasy quietude, Kimmy began.

"So…" Pause. "Uh, hey, where do you study?" He knew that was a very irrelevant question, as he wouldn't know any part she'd mention, but he thought it a good idea to first get rid of the silence. He observed her uniform: a red shirt with a gray skirt. 'That doesn't tell me much. I could ask around, though,' thought Kimmy while he waited for an answer.

"It's… a private school," replied May with nervousness. "…For middle-rich-class." She said with embarrassment, reflecting on Kimmy's economic situation. 'That makes sense. Her father is an important scientist,' thought Kimmy. 'But in that case… why would they live in such a dump? And why would she be taking public transport….' Kimmy's train of thought broke when he heard a giggle to his left.

"I… I know what you're thinking… Why do I take the bus?" Kimmy leaned back in astonishment. 'Woah, she guessed it,' he thought with surprise.

"I help my dad… in his research," said the red-shirted girl, lowering the volume of her voice, shame peeping in her tone that went unnoticed by her companion. "…Every day, before… I go to school. Have you, um… Have you seen the beach?" Kimmy thought back to his first day in Hoenn…

Beyond the big building, far beyond, there seemed to be sand, probably from a beach…

Well, technically he hasn't, he's just seen the sand.

"You mean the one far beyond the Lab? No… I haven't." Kimmy replied. May pondered her statement.

"Yeah, so… The bus terminal is there… and there is no other means of transport, so… Yeah. I, um, I… take the first bus that leaves. And, I think, um, that the trip is, er… relaxing." 'Oh, so that's why I haven't seen her, she takes the other buses as well…' Kimmy reflected; he remembered two other routes aside from Legendary going through the stop. He moved on to a different topic.

"So, uh, about your dad…" he tried to begin, but surprisingly, Birch's daughter talked right away.

"He is into his research a little too much. He doesn't eat nor sleep when he gets an important advance," said May with impetus, which took the new boy by surprise; he never expected her to ever speak like that. "I… I overheard your conversation," said the girl, her face turning red from embarrassment, but then recovered the energy from her first statement. "He even takes extreme measures to assure his precious research goes well, illegal means included. That event yesterday was probably just that," she said, again with energy, almost like possessed. Then she returned to her timid self and left Kimmy with his thoughts. 'This research… I wonder what it is. Also, there's something else that's been bothering me… Should I... Nah, there's no way she would know anything.'

"Um, so… What is your father researching?" he asked. May looked away, ignoring the question. After a few seconds of confusion, Kimmy asked "May?" but no answer. She looked troubled by that question. 'Eh, who cares, it's not my business,' thought Kimmy after noticing the impression he left on her. And with the end of his thoughts came an awkward silence.

Kimmy looked back. Juarez was standing in the corridor, his hands holding from the horizontal bar. His gaze focused on the outside of the bus, looking at the misery belt. Then Kimmy looked to the front. The driver was a swarthy man, with a flat nose, medium short hair and a black mustache. He was wearing a cap and a green shirt, seemingly content, and he wore a small grin as he hummed quietly a dissonant melody, result from lack of musical aptitudes. After that he looked to his left. The girl sitting next to him was shy, but something about her gave Kimmy the impression that there was more to her personality; he had seen a radical change when she began to talk about her father.

Four days in Hoenn and Kimmy had been in a number of peculiar scenarios. He moved to this strange city with abysmal security levels. He transferred to a school where the lowest from the low-class neighborhoods assisted. His mother had disappeared. He had found himself with no money at a dangerous hour of the day, far away from home. He had been the witness of a crime and had also contributed to a murder. He's had premonitions of meeting a man in the proximate future. He was the neighbor of a man who cared for nothing but for his investigation, and his daughter, who appeared to lack social skills, but inside, Kimmy felt, there was more complexity, to a degree that perhaps inclined to something more sinister.

"Uh, you know…" Suddenly, May derailed Kimmy's train of thought. "I… I was hoping… that you would, uh, be nice, and, um… that we could be friends." And she smiled with a tinge of embarrassment. "Oh, but… this is silly… isn't it? I've…um, I've just met you." Kimmy listened intently to every word she was saying, in silence. '…Be friends? Yeah, that'd be nice,' thought Kimmy, who remained quiet for the lack of an answer to give. A long silence followed, but then May began talking again.

"You know… my dad has an eye on you. I've heard about you from him." By the tone of her voice, Kimmy could assume the professor was not talking good about him, which was odd: they had never met in person, therefore he had no foundations on any prejudices he may have made and told his daughter. Then again, he could've wrongly judged him when he called his mugger's attention, but in that case the man had no reason to talk about him, not to mention he shouldn't have even known who Kimmy was in the first place.

"…From before you arrived," May said, as if she was reading his mind, her face holding some sort of disgust, sympathetic to what her partner was thinking. Kimmy was completely surprised. That's twice in a row she seemed to read his thoughts. This time he felt the need to ask.

"Woah, you read minds or what?" he said teasingly. "That's exactly what I was going to ask!" he continued, his tone reflecting his surprise. May's face changed to a giggle, and she shrugged. "Well… I dunno."

"Anyways, that's weird. I've never met him before." Kimmy stated with more seriousness, finalizing the conversation. A few moments later, Kimmy saw the walls of his school. He stood up from his seat and bid adieu to his partner, then went down the bus with a couple of other students from Stabac.

As soon as he went down, he met with Sol Seminario and Esteban Domene, also known as "Marino" (Kimmy had no idea why*), another one of his classmates. Together they stepped into the half-decent institution. They attended normal classes.

Little did Kimmy know that it would be the last he'd have.

* ...and by that I mean I have no idea why I called the guy Marino ._. It isn't a name (not that I know of) but an area in my city. So is Juarez, and Seminario and Del Valle as well xP.

Anyways, I fragmented this chapter because it is very long (not exaggerating: I'd say it's about 8,000 words) but the action begins after here :D Grats if you had the patience to read to this point.

Any kind of review whatsoever is greatly appreciated, even if you hate it so much you want to murder me, that's fine, do leave it in the review section.