A/N 1-4-19: Before starting, I just want to mention that NTFFH is now on Ao3! If you prefer reading there, it's under the same title and under the "Arbirchy" pseud. Thanks! And now, back to your regularly scheduled fic.

A/N 5-30-19: Also! I'm back from a long ass hiatus, so I can hopefully post chapters regularly now!

#4 - spill the tea, sis

Writing Key -
+1 = a day in advance

Horizontal Line = scene change

Lucas tried to sputter out a reaction to Barry's ignorance, but instead, a series of "uh"'s and "I-"'s came out. He sighed. "I mean, I'll teach you if you want."

Barry looked at Lucas. "I mean, uh, sure. That'd be great, actually." He was still shocked, almost paralyzed even, from Dawn and Lucas' apprehensiveness.

Lucas laughed. "I mean, it's normal for beginner trainers to not know how to catch a Pokemon. Come on!" Lucas lifted Barry by his hand, pausing to talk to Dawn. "You don't mind if-"

Dawn nodded with a yes and gave Barry a threatening look. Barry sighed, and turned back to cross the road to the open grass.

"So first we need to find a Pokemon. Let's see…" Lucas was already hard at work scouting out a Pokemon, when a Starly flew by and landed in the tall grass next to Barry.

Barry crouched over, looking at the brown bird-like Pokemon and smiled. "Aww, you're cute. Can we keep it?"

"Well, yeah… but you have to catch it. With one of these." Lucas handed over a glossy red-white ball over to the boy. "It's a Pokeball. You just tap it here, and hopefully it will stay in. Otherwise…"

Barry touched the ball's protruding element onto the bird, and it clicked. "It clicked?" the boy thought. The bird quickly turned into a blue wisp of smoke that vaporized inside the ball. The ball fell to the ground as soon as the exchange was done, wiggling with uncertainty. "1, 2, 3, 4 wiggles so far," Barry muttered. "Come on… Catch it!" The ball glowed after a few seconds. "It stopped. Is that… normal?"

"I…" He blanked out for a few seconds, pondering Barry's accomplishment. "Yes! That is normal- you learn really fast, Barry!" he laughed. "I remember I took the longest to catch a Pokemon out of my group, that my dad just felt sorry for me and gave me my Chikorita." He instinctively took it out from his Pokeball and the green Pokemon immediately nuzzled in between his forearm and armpit. "Today I can catch Pokemon with ease, but… I feel like me and Chikorita have a bond like no other. You and that Starly can do great things- it's no wonder my dad said you were an excellent practical achiever."

Lucas smiled at Barry, which made him feel like a warm, cozy fire inside. However, he managed to compose himself in front of his crush and said a simple "Thank you, Lucas!"

All of a sudden, the boys turned to a car and Dawn's face. "Hey, guys! Our taxi is here to take us to Canalave! Hurry up!" They walked over to the black car, Lucas getting in the front seat and the two teenagers in the backseat. Free candy for this trip too? Lucas couldn't believe his eyes. Ride sharing services were mediocre in Johto.

"Thanks, Dawn," Lucas said, happy for the free ride. "Is this quality ride sharing service normal?"

"It is, Lucas. Me and Bar over here used to ride to school everyday in one of these. This is normal quality over here."

"Normal quality?!" Lucas looked surprisedly at the girl behind him. "Back in Johto, the cars we would use were some old 1980's style cars just to hitch a ride to the mall. This is fancy."

Barry, on the other hand, was stuffing his face with candy, despite the "Only one candy per passenger" sign on the bowl. "This is fancy, Dawn. Do you know how many car rides we've taken that have Happy Farmers? Zero. Absolutely zero."

"Barry. Is that- one, two, three, FOUR pieces of candy on you?"

"N-no?" Barry laughed.

"Put it back, Barry."

"Alright, fine, Dawn."

"So I see that you all don't have the best relationship." Lucas laughed.

"No, we're the best family around," Dawn grunted as she was struggling to keep Barry's arm in check. "Right, Barry?"

The boy could only nod as the girl had him in a deadlock in the back of a car. However, the duo tumbled out of their seats (resulting in some laughter from the driver and Lucas) due to a stop sign.

"Shit. Sorry guys, but I'm gonna have to reroute you around to SN 202. The Lake Acuity bridge is closed for flooding, I guess. It's been raining a lot here recently. I won't charge you any extra."

"No, it's okay, mister! Just get us to Canalave any way you can."

"Alright, but make sure you all have got your seatbelts on. You don't wanna know what happens when people don't have their seat belts buckled and we suddenly stop on Interregional Highway 2."

The duo promptly followed the driver's direction, putting on their seatbelts tight. Just then, a call popped up on his Pokegear with a loud ring. Ethan.

"Hello?" Lucas said, answering the call.

"Hey, Lucas! I heard that you were starting your adventure today. How's Sinnoh so far?"

"Actually, it's not as bad as expected. Mountains and rain are prevalent, though, and lots of it. How's Johto?"

"Well, it's okay! We just moved on to the next town. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to Canalave City with some friends- no, acquaintances I've met here. They're pretty cool, for the most part. I taught one to catch a Pokemon earlier."

"Wow! Well, I have to get going now. Me, Silver, and Lyra are eating out tonight. Good luck, Lukey!"

"I already told you don't call me that, Ethan." Lucas snapped. "But I miss you and the bunch too. Bye! I hope I see you around sometime."

"Bye!" Ethan replied, before promptly ending the call.

Lucas put down his trusted piece of equipment for a second, looking back at Barry and Dawn to make sure they weren't setting the car on fire. They weren't, thankfully, so Lucas pulled out his device once again and pulled up an online map. He like knowing when long car trips would end. It was, perhaps, how he entertained himself on these trips in addition to letting himself fall asleep.

"One hour?" Lucas said to himself, really confused at the time it took just to get to their destination. "Oh." He noticed the mounds of traffic in dark red lining the interregional highway connecting the two cities. "It must be rush hour." Sighing, he decided to put in his FlyingHusks and listen to some seductive music as he dozed off.

1:23 PM, Barry and Dawn

Dawn was playing a simple mobile game on her phone, oblivious to the fact that Lucas was sleeping. Meanwhile, Barry was intently fixated on Lucas. "He is so cute when he's sleeping. Isn't he, Dawn?" he asked, turning back to the girl.

"Barry, that's weird. Don't do that. It's…" Dawn was still fixated on her game rather than on the boy in front of her. "...very weird and stalkerish."

"Fine. But you've gotta admit, he is cute."

Finishing a round of her game, Dawn turns to look at the blonde haired boy and smiles. "Okay, fine, you caught me. He is kinda cute, but I'm not the type to marvel at a guy- or a girl, unlike…" She circles her finger towards Barry.

"Don't call me out like that!" Barry whines.

"You deserve it." Dawn smiles a bit before returning to her phone.

"And you're a meanie." Barry hmphs back on his seat and looks out the window. The rolling fields and occasional tractor out in the open were being slowly replaced by suburbs much like the ones in Twinleaf. They came to a stop at an intersection- a busy one at this time of day. They stopped there for what seemed like an hour before they were finally allowed to pass, and from that point, the tall roofs of the houses became skyscrapers and hotels so big Barry thought they were exclusively for rich people. Within minutes, they were on the highway, travelling at speeds faster than what Barry had experienced before. His parents always took the back roads, which were much slower. Watching the bland landscape, Barry's eyes began to droop, eventually giving in to the soft vibrations of the car riding effortlessly on the asphalt.

2:01 PM, SN 219 Canalave Canal, Lucas, Barry, Dawn

The car came to a hard stop at the canal, making both of the boys that were asleep grumble awake.

"Are we finally here yet?" Barry asked, frustratedly.

"Almost. Just have to cross this canal. But there's a ship crossing right now, so that's gonna take a while," Dawn responded.

"Ughhh," Barry obviously was very grumpy, being awaken with only 15 minutes' worth of sleep. Lucas, however, was still very calm and composed, immersed in the music. Suddenly, a loud HONK! startled the bunch, even through Lucas' noise-cancelling headphones.

"What in Arceus' name is that?" Lucas snapped.

"That's just Canalave City. It's way worse in Sunyshore. Trust me." Dawn replied.

"Oh. Cool, I guess. Is this where you two went to school?"

"Yes, actually. We went to the Pokèmon Future Trainers School on 7th Street! That's actually close to where the gym is."

"Oh, that's great! Are you two going to face the gyms? It was always a dream of mine when I was a little kid in Johto!" Lucas rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I definitely am," Barry cut in. "I wanna become the next Sinnoh Champion!"

"I'm- not so sure," Dawn sighed. "Sounds like a lot of pointless effort, but I'm willing to try new things."

"Speaking of new things…" The driver's gruff voice cut into the teenagers' conversation. "I'm going to be collecting some fancy new luggage, Pokègears, and whatever miscellaneous items you may have with you if you don't pick them up before you leave!"

"That was rude. Don't steal our stuff." Barry said, protective of his new Pokèmon.

"If it gets you to listen, it works for me." The driver winked before crossing the bridge following the green light.

"Hey, Dawn?" Lucas asked, trying to create some small talk. "Is the traffic always like this?"

"Unfortunately, yes it is. The Sinnohan government is too focused on preventing gay marriage than taking care of its education systems or their roads' deteriorating conditions. In fact, Barry here is-"

"STRAIGHT!" Barry yelped, pausing for a second. "Totally straight. Girls, yes. Guys, no."

Dawn looked at Barry suspiciously, before returning to the conversation. "Yes, I guess. But we're allies."

Fortunately for them, Lucas didn't notice anything. "I actually have two gay friends at home. Ethan and Silver. They've already made it to sixth gym back in Johto."

"You're from Johto? Wow! I've always wanted to go there," Barry marveled. "How's it like?"

"It's actually pretty good. I lived in New Bark Town with my friends. We always went to Goldenrod on the weekends- the bakery there has the absolute best baguettes! I've got to take you sometime."

"That's pretty cool. However, I would argue that the bakery in Solaceon makes the best baguettes. « Cette est le meilleure de la meilleure ! » , as they say in Kalosian.

Soon, the sky became almost constrained in the heights of mid-height city buildings, with people buzzing all over. This really was a port city, Lucas thought. The Pokèmon Center was on the corner of a busy intersection, where they were dropped off. They got out of the car, waved to the driver, and proceeded to head inside to the Center.

(A/N) Credits:

Ao3: Arbirchy

FFN: Arbirchy - PNS

Wattpad: Arbirchy

Discord: / Arbirchy /#4336

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Arb