Chapter 6: Starting the Journey
The train ride from Sunyshore to Sandgem had gone awfully pleasant. The train was absolutely magnificent and completely normal, without a single trace of magic and looked akin to the new world. One of the major differences was the compartments having beds allowing them get a good rest during the night fall, it was also a bit longer when compared to the Hogwarts Express giving them room to explore and meet different kinds of people; some of them normal while others... not so much. Such as the ones Harry was currently deal with.
"Royal flush, my win boys," the teen declared revealing his cards on the table as the other four members jumped out of their seats in awed horror oblivious to Harry collecting his winnings with glee shuffling carefully into a small pile. Glancing upwards and smirked widely at the still shocked men. "Care to play again?"
And with that the four grabbed whatever they had before leaving the table and the room carrying the only amount of dignity. The clouds of dust visible trailed behind them filled with the burning sensation tingled his nose. It never failed to amuse him at easily he was capable of winning so effortlessly, having perfected his technique over the years and used it during the Poker tournaments that occasionally went on in the boy's dorm while never serious gambles he usually came out as the winner. Though, he never played that often and more than once left his opponents bewildered and shocked.
"Where in the seven hells did you learn that?" Sirius commented, staring at his godson in shock.
Volkner smiled slightly. "I should have realized you weren't completely naive."
Norman was more bemused rather than shocked his eyes danced with mirth, lips threatened to spread into laughter. His hand covered his mouth in an attempt to conceal his smile as the other hand twitched with amusement hanging by his side.
Harry didn't seem fazed. "It's the only thing useful I learned from the Dursleys," placing the money into his pockets and removed himself the table nonchalantly walking past the three. "So what should we do now? Shouldn't we be arriving soon?"
The Dursleys? Volkner made a quick glance at Norman, whom appeared curious as he was. Judging by Sirius' expression and the tone from Harry's voice they were not held in high regard, deciding not to bring it up as he casually checked his Poketch.
"We should be arriving shortly." He answered, as they had left during the afternoon when the train had departed from the station.
Norman stroked his chin. "You know this will be my first time in Sandgem Town," very rarely did Gym Leaders venture outside of their assigned cities unless of an emergency and conventions.
"Really?" Volkner asked curiously.
"Well, I'm original from Johto. So I mostly travelled regions closer to home," The man admitted sheepishly. "And after I decided to become a gym leader I went straight to Celadon University in order to achieve my goal and eventually ended up as the Hoenn Gym leader." Shrugging his shoulders he smiled brightly. "I helped that my friend, Professor Birch ended up being re-located to Hoenn. I was able to get a good deal on a house that I needed for my duties and my botany."
Sirius eyebrows furrowed. "Botany?"
"I study plants in my garden," Norman explained.
"And you train normal types?" Sirius retorted not unkindly. "Shouldn't you be training grass types instead?" So Botany was like Herbology then that was new. Harry hadn't realized muggles were capable of studying the same fields as wizards were despite magic not being involved.
Norman laughed. "I love plants don't get me wrong, but normal types always had a special place in my heart."
"There are some leaders that are actually assigned a certain type." Volkner murmured. "It's rare, but not uncommon."
"I know a few people like that, Drake of the Hoenn Elite is strictly for Dragon types." Norman commented, musing thoughtfully.
Volkner's lips twitched, fondly. "Flint and I are the same way though we try to be versatile."
"Having versatility in your team is good to have and having your gym team being able to counter threats," Norman stated with approval. Many of his Pokemon had been trained and taught moves in order to counter type advantages when challengers tried to gain the upper hand.
"And that's what TMs and HMs are for," Harry spoke up. "Right?"
"Not entirely. Some Pokemon are capable of learning moves of a different type naturally," Volkner answered truthfully. "But using TMs and HMs do help when trainers which to teach their Pokemon a move that they can't normally learn. My Octillery learned Charge Beam through the use of a TM."
Harry appeared satisfied with the answer heading to the compartment to grab their things, each having a bag only to hear the whistle from the front ring loudly nearing towards the destination. The other passengers also began to swarm preparing to leave the train, doors swinging up and people roughly moving past colliding unknowingly at times. It was rather expected seeing how busy it had been upon leaving Sunyshore, Sirius and Harry had been rather use to it due to King's Cross being packed with families trying to get their kids on the travel on time, and tourists trying to explore to their next location. Volkner was passive, not even blinking keeping a firm gaze forward. And Norman...
Norman was being polite and apologizing to anyone that ran into them.
"Remind me to teach him how to be rude," Sirius murmured to Harry, the teen snorted audibly.
"Whatever you say, Sirius," He replied rolling his eyes ignoring the mocked glare from his godfather.
"Attention all passengers we have currently arrives at Sandgem Station. Please make your way out in an orderly fashion," The voice of the conductor rang clearly from the PA system and repeated the message again. Lines began to form quickly at the various doors. Thankfully they managed to think ahead and were the first set to get off the train.
Sirius whistled. "That really didn't take all that long did it," being the first one out of the door. His bag was hanging over his shoulder, turned sharply as he waited for the last three.
"The train is one of the fastest in all of Sinnoh," Volkner began. "In fact it was designed after that Magnet train that runs through Kanto and Johto region."
"So how long has it been around for?" Sirius commented, smirking at how long the Hogwarts Express had been around compared to this one. While he loved that old train, it hadn't take him very long to figure out how many changes and repairs that the Access Express had gone under and developed during it's time regardless of how new it looked Sirius was able to see past the coating.
"Twenty or thirty years," The blonde responded nonchalantly. "I think the Magnet Train has been around for at least... a century-"
"It's coming up to it's 151st birthday," Norman instantly answered only to blush at the stares, sheepishly smiling. "I know my history?"
"At least someone does," The darker haired man said shooting a knowingly look at Harry.
The teen shrugged, giving a tiny smile. "I...err...still managed to pass?"
"Sure.I believe you," Sirius remarked giving a mocking smile watching as Harry shook his head and walked forward with Volkner tagging behind him. Norman and him exchanged a look, both wearing smirks before following behind the other two but kept a gap of distance. "University?" The word seemed familiar rolling off his tongue oddly, he remembered Lily having brought it up once when she had begun dating James as an official couple. He didn't show an interest having his attention focused upon Remus rather than his friend's conversation. A sharp pain stabbed him in the stomach at the memory of his friends and how he acted during his younger days, Sirius had come to terms that he could not change the past deciding to focus on the future and his duty to Harry.
"It's secondary schooling; while it isn't necessarily required it does help when trying to find a job. Plus it does help when finding a house," Norman answered with a chuckle. "I was able to get a good house for my family, the gym and my botany. Did you not have Universities from where you're from?"
Sirius waved his hand. "Most of the kids I knew growing up had been homeschooled from birth to the age of eleven before being sent off to the private academy we attended. After I ended up joining the army since a civil war broke out." He carefully avoided mentioning Aurors giving a half-truth instead making him feel horrible withholding information from the man after Norman had treated him so kindly.
"And you're cousin was..." Norman began as his voice trailed off.
He understood what the other man was implicating. "Was on the opposite side in fact, she was a part of the inner circle enjoying murdering and torturing innocent people." His face twisted into something ugly as he clutched his fists together at seeing the headlines when he had been placed into Azkaban: 'Famous Auror Couple Tortured into insanity! Lestrange trio arrested!' The very thought made his blood boil at discovery the loss of his other friends and Order members. Obviously that had put the final nail on the decision to incarcerate him into prison without a trial, damn bastards.
Sirius realized how hypocritical he was being especially how he instantly linked certain names with being associated with the Dark Arts and the Death Eaters, his horrible experience with own family and with the rest of the Slytherin house hadn't done well for his view of the world. Everything seemed to black and white back then as everyone was labeled and flaunted their loyalties out in the open never questioning or changing, until they had learned a traitor in the Order had shaken his vision leading him to question Remus during the man's constant absence among the group eventually perceiving the man as a potential threat to James and Lily. Then came that fateful day when his world had shaken because of Wormtail's betrayal.
It had been that point where he had become disgusted with himself and his stereotypical sight he had developed, cursing that rat with every fibre of hatred and angry that coursed through his veins. In a strange sort of sense, Sirius owed it to the man for helping him mature his thoughts and ideals, no longer childish and clouded by Gryffindor's being good and Slytherin's being evil. Houses never mattered, it was the person themselves that determined whether intentions and future actions.
Norman sensed his discomfort and changed the subject. "Well, we should be arriving at Professor Rowan's lab soon. At least a half-hour walk minimum."
"I thought you've never been to Sandgem," Sirius stated confused.
"I haven't," the gym leader answered truthfully, smiled sheepishly again. "I'm going with my instincts to be honest," Norman looked thoughtful for a moment. "I could be wrong but after sitting on the train for nearly two days I think we all need the exercise, don't you agree?"
Sirius shifted uncomfortably. "I guess. I haven't done much exercising lately." not that he had the chance after being locked up in Azkaban for all those years. The only time he was even able to do anything freely was during his escape while being his Animagus form. It hadn't been the greatest thing in the world, but it had been something rather than nothing for that he couldn't complain. He enjoyed running freely opposed to be confined like he had been back in Grimmauld place, it wasn't his style.
"I'll help you get back into it," Norman offered kindly.
Sirius stared. "Really?" That was a surprise, no one back home had offered him any help getting back to how he used to be. His throat tightened and swallowed, feeling the dryness seeing the sincerity and the truth shined in Norman's eyes. "I...thank you."
Norman flashed a smile. "No need to thank me, I want to help you."
Continuing onward only to be oblivious to Sirius' blush as he remained behind, staring at the man's back with a strange expression that couldn't be placed. Snapping out of his stupor Sirius hastened to catch up to the three.
It was strange. Sirius couldn't remember the last time he had meet someone as kind as Norman, Remus didn't count for various reasons and neither did Tonks for that matter. Too much had happened between him and his old friend the wounds were still fresh and barely able to heal as Remus had become too much of a Dumbledore devotee in his opinion and cared far more about himself instead of others. In fact, Sirius couldn't help but think as the man being more than a coward then Wormtail had at least the rat had admitted he was scared all while Remus was still deluded in his fantasy's of the so-called 'great and powerful' Dumbledore that was unable to do wrong.
It sickened him and nearly caused him to grimace when Remus had approached him before Harry's fifth and asked about being Harry's secondary Godfather incase something happened. Sirius used all of his willpower not to strangle the man then and there, couldn't he understand that the reason Lily and James hadn't trusted him wasn't because they suspected him of being the traitor but instead was too weak in all aspects?
Thankfully, he had managed to deter the man and change the subject entirely and being extremely gullible like he had been Remus fell for it completely. It was another reason why he didn't and wouldn't ever trust Harry in Remus's care, had the common sense of a gnat.
Trust was a difficult thing for Sirius to give to other people only ever giving it to Harry, who was the only one that seemed to understand it. They had both been treated as delicate figures that would break at any given moment, verbally abused by others like Molly and Snape, never being able to find solace besides one another. Having such a large distance between them and little to no communication had made the previous year like an utter hell, being kept in Grimmauld place had done what Azkaban hadn't: driven him insane.
But...something had changed. He couldn't explain but it was obvious that it had something to do with this new world. Whether that change was something positive Sirius wasn't certain on however, Harry seemed far happier than he had been in their home world and that was enough for him.
That being said, Sirius had taken notice of the friendship between his godson and the blonde. He didn't know much about Volkner other than he was the Sunyshore Gym leader and he had looked after Harry upon his arrival in the new world but, overall, he seemed like a good lad. A bit on the silent and gruff side, but nothing that struck him as bad despite Volkner's initial appearance he seemed okay in his books. That didn't mean Sirius liked the way he looked at his godson.
The small smile and softened expression that appeared on their faces when the other turned away. It was almost painful to watch.
Sirius gritted his teeth at the thought of the blonde attempting to court his beloved godson. In his mind there would never be anyone good enough to date Harry, especially after the abysmal date the boy had with that Ravenclaw girl Cho and the indian girl for the Yule Ball, one of the Patil family as far as he recalled. Poor kid never had a chance, having never being taught properly about dates or how to handle a girl then again he had pegged Harry for playing for the other team long ago.
That was neither here or nor there at the moment.
Regardless of his own thoughts on the blonde, in retrospective Sirius knew that in truth he knew absolutely nothing about Volkner and had quickly judged him as unworthy. He dismissed his own feelings as a father and his own selfish desire to not give Harry away so easily-and not just anyone either. The very last thing he wished for his godson was to be whisked away unhappily against his own will just as he had been back home. Though... as much as Sirius hated to admit it, it seemed as if Harry reciprocated Volkner's feelings.
They hadn't known each other long, but love and attraction were incomprehensible to humans. Sirius was by no means an expert on love, but seeing the way James had sought out Lily for affection at least provided him with some insight. Thankfully, Harry hadn't inherit his father's lovesickness and, for a lack of a better term, skirt-chasing.
Sirius's lips twitched remembering how much trouble James had gotten them into trying to gain Lily's heart. Most of them were normal ideas that every teenage boy had and others were absolutely insane, James had been the crazy one out of the four of them.
A heavy sigh escaped his lips, there had been a time where they had believed that the Marauders would last forever, surviving the war that tore families and friends apart. They had been too naive and young that a group of school boys were smarter than the average wizard, upon reaching the real world was when their friendship had begun to deteriorate with Remus forced to fight against the prejudices against werewolves and Peter, whom was always a coward, without any of them to protect him from the Death Eaters, it was probably when he had joined the dark side.
Thinking about it more clearly now, Sirius could see why Remus had suspected him and vice versa. They both had acted rather shady, with Remus struggling to find a job and his missions during his time with the Auror's were reasonable enough for them to distrust the other.
Not like there was anything that could be changed. What was done was done, and Sirius, despite spending twelve years in Azkaban, wouldn't have changed a thing since Sirius wouldn't have become whom he was today.
Besides what use was there dwelling on the past when the future was in front of you?
The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was neither too hot nor too cold, the wind was a gentle breeze across the fields. The day could almost be perceived as perfect. Almost anyway, perfection was a state of delusion and false perception for the desperate and competitive. In his opinion anyhow, especially after yesterday's little mishap.
A rather prime example could be the small hole in his wall, that had been broken open. Which really needed to be fixed, of course he wasn't going to call a professional, nope. One of his assistance would be able to take care of it with precise ease.
Professor Rowan made sure to hire those with various skills and talents that would aid them in the research field and of course, for repairs when they time called for it. Just as it had been for the previous day, admittedly he should have predicted some of the damage that would occur when having the three starters out of their Pokéballs. However, it was rather inhumane to keep them inside for long periods of time and refused to do as such. However, once a trainer selected their starters he lost say in how a trainer raised and cared for their respected Pokémon.
That was best left up to Gym leaders and the Pokémon League Association. If they discovered a trainer treating their Pokémon badly, then it was in their full right to ban them from being a trainer and if necessary, arrest them.
This brought him to his greatest worry of all: Paul.
There was something about that boy which disturbed him greatly; he was unable to exactly put a finger on the reason only that it was there. Rowan knew from experience that judging someone based upon first impressions was hardly accurate, he preferred to leaving it up to time to learn about the person just as he did when doing Pokémon research, observing how they interacted over time. Unfortunately his instinct, heart and mind all agreed in unison that there was something off about Paul, not evil, but close to it. The twisted and malicious expression and callous attitude towards Pokémon, his and others alike sent him warning flags inside of him.
Rowan would have been lying if he hadn't thought of taking Paul's licences and calling the Police right then and there, the boy was capable of becoming too dangerous and violent if left unchecked. He managed to suppress the urge deciding to let time and fate decide the boy's path as he hoped that his decision had been the right one. Trusting and believing in the journey could aid Paul to grow out of whatever menacing intent the buried deep inside of the boy, changing him into someone good. Rowan sincerely had doubts of it occurring as horrible as it sounded. Too many trainers had succumbed to the power of the Pokémon, acting out for the sake of power and greed.
He had seen it happen far more often than people thought possible. Once humans got a taste of power they wished to gain more, it was in their nature.
However, it made him wonder as to why Paul had decided to begin travelling Sinnoh now of all times? He didn't know much about the boy in general only that he had initially travelled through Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn regions. Either he hadn't been entirely confident about challenging his home league until now or there was something going on.
Rowan sighed, pressing his back against his chair. That sounded completely stupid now that he thought about it.
"I need a drink," He murmured lowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. That past two days had been rather hectic, between research and prepping for beginning trainers he hadn't had much time to himself only taking what privacy he was able to find and use to hear himself think. The life of a researcher was a demanding one. But in the end it was worth it. Speaking of demanding he knew that the new set of trainers would be arriving at his lab shortly.
Unfortunately, he had received the message from Nurse Joy a bit too late as the starter Pokémon he had left were now down to one. The young girl from Twinleaf Town, Dawn had selected Piplup as her starter and the second trainer had chosen his starter leaving only one left out of the group.
It would have been great if Nurse Joy had given him an approximate number of the group rather than leaving him to speculate.
A knock of his door grabbed his attention opening to reveal one of his assistants, a young woman with short auburn hair and small glasses wearing a pointed and tenative gaze.
"Excuse me, Professor Rowan, sir?" She spoke clearly and waited as he nodded for her to continue. "The group you mentioned has arrived. They're waiting in the lab."
Rowan nodded. "Thank you, I shall be there in a moment."
"Of course, sir." She bowed her head, closing the door as she left.
It was now or never he mused removing himself from the chair and began to walk towards his lab. A feeling of guilt stirred inside, he was unable to provide these brand new trainers with the proper starters like so many had received before them, having being told of them rather late. There was only one Pokémon left to give out, if needed be he would accompany these trainers into the forest in order to capture the necessary pokémon just to make certain that they were protected.
It wouldn't do any good for them to venture without a Pokémon though if his luck held out hopefully the group would be small. Closing upon the door leading towards his lab he quickly straightened his posture before heading inside and met with an interesting surprise.
"Volkner?"
The legendary Sunyshore Gym leader turned his gaze on him and nodded politely. "Professor Rowan."
"I must say it's a surprise to see you. The last I heard of you was the blackouts occurring endlessly back in Sunyshore," The blonde looked rather sheepish at the remark as Rowan let out a gruff chuckle. "You managed to make a good name for yourself, you must be very proud."
"I guess so," Volkner shrugged disinterested. It wasn't that big of a deal!
Rowan's lips twitched. "If you say so, now then," His eyes wondered over towards the rest of the group spotting the two men and Harry. "I'm assuming you three are the new trainers?"
"Actually I'm a gym leader from Hoenn," The man wearing the black jacket corrected pleasantly.
The man with the long hair spoke next. "It's Harry, my godson and I that are the new trainers."
That was unexpected not many trainers started their journey so late. It wasn't an uncommon thing due to parents wishing for their children to complete their education before sending them off into the world, others were sent off after finishing the Trainer Academy.
"Well then, it's a pleasure to meet both of you. I am Professor Rowan," He introduced himself professionally.
"Name's Sirius Black!"
The teen with the glasses nodded. "Harry Potter, sir."
"Unfortunately I don't have enough Pokémon for the both of you I'm afraid." Rowan gave them sympathetic look, striding over towards the table where the lone Pokéball remained on the table. Picking up and opening the ball allowing the bright bluish light to engulf the room forming into a small turtle like creature with green skin with a small brown shell, it's feet were a pale yellow and had a small sprout on top. Looking around, the turtle blinked tiredly.
"Turtwig?"
"As it said this is Turtwig, holding the title of the Tiny Leaf Pokémon," Rowan elaborated coolly. "As you can probably tell Turtwig is a Grass type, and is usually one of the three starters given out to trainers. The other two were Piplup and Chimchar, whom have already been selected by a trainer. I'm sure you'll encounter them sooner or later."
The turtle still looked around, confused. "Turt?" Shrugging and let loose a small yawn.
"Cute," Sirius commented, smiling at the small creature on the table. Reminded him of himself actually during his time of confinement at Grimmauld Place, being unable to do anything other than sitting around watching as the so called 'guests' run in and out of the house like the headless chickens that they truly were. Maybe Turtwig felt the same way he had, holding out his hand towards the turtle observing as it's beady eyes watched his hand carefully before stepping forward, nuzzling the head affectionately.
"Looks like Turtwig likes you, Sirius." Noman said, watching as the man and the Pokémon continued to interact.
Sirius smirked. "You think?"
"Not surprisingly, starter Pokémon and beginning trainers usually form a bond rather quickly." Rowan stated with a firm nod.
"So what do you say, want to come along?" Sirius asked the small creature.
"Turt!"
Sirius grinned. "Glad to have you!" As Turtwig jumped into his arms and began to nuzzle into his chest, drifting off to sleep upon doing so. The dark haired man watched bemused and placed Turtwig's Pokéball upon it's belt, still carrying the small creature gently in his arms.
"Technically Sirius and I already have Pokémon." Harry brought up, coughing as Rowan's eyes landed on him. "We only really came to get our Pokédex."
Rowan stared before blinking rapidly. "Then why didn't you say so in the first place?" Not giving them a chance to answer he moved towards the desk to open up a drawer pulling out two beige boxes as he sharply turned back holding them out towards them. "These contain both of your Pokédex and five Pokéballs, I assume that you know how they work?"
"Volkner and Norman explained it to us," Harry answered truthfully.
Rowan nodded. "Do you have your trainer cards?" On cue the two held out their cards. "Excellent, first open your boxes and pull out your Pokédexes," Harry received a deep green and Sirius pulled out a golden one. "Now if you look at the circular black handle with the green light on it, you'll notice a slot. Simply place your card through there and the data will be uploaded into your Pokédex."
As Harry was doing so his eyes landed on Turtwig and the Pokéballs in the box. "Do we register the Pokéballs with the Pokédex?"
"The Pokeballs in your kits are pre-registered with the accompanying pokédex," Rowan answered with a chuckle.
"I thought you only had one starter left," Sirius stated cautiously, eyes flickering towards Turtwig and the two Pokédexes. "Yet you have two of these," holding them up where all of them could see. "Seems kind of suspicious if you ask me," crossing his arms and waited patiently for the man to answer.
"It never hurts to have a spare," Rowan informed the man.
The wizard wasn't entirely satisfied but relented as his eyes stayed on him. "Is this all?"
"That should be it. Though, I would highly suggest you take a Town Map with you, without one navigating your way will be rather difficult. However, Volkner should be able to help." Nodding towards the blonde, whom looked away attempting to hide the blush. "You can grab one in the next town over."
"Thank you Professor Rowan we'll take your advice," Norman stated.
"If there is nothing else I wish the four of you good luck on your journey," Rowan said with a tiny smile gesturing towards the door. "If you go out that way it will take you directly to Route 202, it till take you straight to Jubilife City."
Sirius nodded slowly. "Alright, thanks Professor. C'mon then," guiding Harry towards the direction lazily followed after by Volkner with Norman sending the man an apologetic look before joining them.
After several moments of silence Rowan shook his head, unable to keep the grin of his face. "That was rather unexpected, but not unwelcome. I could use a few changes in my daily routine at this age," only to sigh heavily. "I really am getting old."
Chapter 6 end.
And finally the journey begins with a new team member added to the roster! I apologize for such a short chapter, but don't fret the next one will be much longer!
Once again I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, they are what keeps this fic going!
IMPORTANT NOTE: Speaking of reviews, my beta articuno13 has received a strange email from one of the admins of FFN regarding the ban and remove of same-gendered relationships being in fics and mentioned, I was wondering if anyone has received a similar notice or knows anything about it?
If so, I've already created a LJ account, the link is posted on my profile and will be posting both here and on my LJ.
So until next time!