"Now watch closely Artie."
"Uh, huh." Arthur nods his head quickly, watching his older brother with rapt attention.
"Heh, Haunter, Shadow Punch."
"Hauuun." Arthur watched as his brothers Pokemon destroyed the training dummy in one hit.
"Whoa!" He couldn't help but gasp, his brother was such a strong trainer, he couldn't wait till he was old enough to get his own Pokémon!
"Very well done son." Their father says, coming into the training room before he turns to Arthur and frowns.
"Arthur, what have I told you about coming in here? Your not old enough." He says disapprovingly.
"But! I just want'd to watch Aly!" He protested.
"And Alistair, you should know better than to let him in, he could have gotten hurt."
"Sorry Dad." His brother shrugs.
"Now come on Arthur, it's time for your lessons."
"Yes, Dad." He says as he follows him out, dragging his feet.
XoxoxoxoxoxoX
Arthur sits up in bed, awoken by the dream. The room is filled with darkness, the sun not yet risen. Looking over, he can see Alfred is still asleep, snoring loudly, Rufflet snuggled in beside him. Arthur sighs thinking of the dream, well, memory. 'Why did I have to dream about then?' He questions his mind grumpily, frowning.
Huffing he climbs out of bed. 'I need a walk.' Quietly he grabs his pokéballs and leaves the room. As he walks to the elevators his mind wanders as well.
'How long has it been? Three, four? years since I ran away.' He shakes his head, entering the lift and pushing the button for the ground floor. 'Ha, to think, he ran all the way to Hoenn, to get away from anywhere were someone might know him or his family name.' Quietly he exits the elevator and heads out the back of the Pokemon center.
'Honestly, What had I been thinking? Leaving in the middle of the night with nothing but my bag and Pumpkin by my side.' Silently Arthur walks out onto the battle field behind the center.
'It was a miracle I even managed to leave, damn Rhys for being himself.' He huffs at the memory of the night he left home.
XoxoxoxoxoxoX
"Artie? What are you doing?" Arthur froze, hand on the handle of the open front door, turning to look at his brother.
"Nothing!" He says too quickly to be trusted. His brother looks him over, from the travel bag to the clothes he wore, and of course the pokeball clutched in his hand. All that along with catching him leaving the house in the dead of night, it was easy for his brother to tell what he was doing.
"Your leaving." It wasn't a question. Frowning and suddenly feeling angry for being stopped just as he was about to disappear, Arthur snaps at his brother.
"Yeah, so what? You gonna run and tell? Like all of you do?" He expects his brother to do just that, but instead he simply shakes his head. Looking at him with an unreadable expression, Rhys nods to the door.
"Go."
"What?"
"Go, quick, before Dad finds out. I was never here, I never saw you. As far as Dad needs to know, you left without anyone noticing." Taken aback by this Arthur stares. Even after Peter was born he was always the butt of the joke to his older brothers. Nothing he did was up to their level, always going off on his own, never following the path left out for him by their families ancestors. Honestly, Arthur's not sure what he wants to do with his life, but he's sure he'll never know staying here. If he leaves, goes on a journey, even if it's against his fathers ruling, he knows he'll find out what it is he want's to really be.
Maybe that's why his brother is letting him go, maybe he thinks this too. Or maybe he just finally want's the problem child of the family gone, who knows.
"Thanks." He says instead and, without looking back, leaves.
XoxoxoxoxoxoX
Thinking back, Arthur still doesn't know why his brother let him go. But then, that's Rhys for you, no one can ever tell what he's really thinking. Looking about, he sees the field is empty. Of course, it's still the middle of the night. He lets out a sigh as he pulls Pumpkaboo's pokeball from his pokeball belt.
'"I don't know what you think you know, but I have no desire to go back home anytime soon."' That's what he said but that's not true, after all that's why he came back to Eprus, isn't it? 'To come home.' Even just thinking it makes him tense with anxiety, the thought of seeing his family again, what will they say? His father will be furious with him for sure, his mother is probably worried sick. What about his brothers? Alistair, Reilley, Rhys, hell even Peter, what will they say if, or when he comes home?
Shaking his head Arthur looks forward. 'I'm thinking about this too much again.' Taking a breath, he lowers his hand with the pokeball. Looking up into the night sky, he can just about see the stars past the light pollution of the city. Suddenly the ball in his hand opens and Pumpkaboo comes out.
"Puuu?" She questions tiredly, a look of concern filling her face.
"Sorry girl, did I wake you?"
"Pum." She says shaking her head. Floating up she looks into her trainers eyes and smiles at him.
"Heh, yeah you always know how I'm feeling." Shaking his head clear of all thoughts of home, Arthur looks across the empty field. "What do you say girl? Care to let of some steam?"
"Pum!" His Pokemon cries, suddenly filled with energy.
"Alright, Good. Pumpkin, Shadow Ball."
"Pum, Pum!" Quick as always, his Pokemon obeys, forming and launching the energy filled ball out across the field. The attack flies into the ground at the other end and explodes. Both trainer and Pokemon satisfied with the small dent the attack left behind.
"Alright, now Razor Leaf!"
"Pumpka!" Summoning a barrage of leaves, the Pokemon launches them forward with enough force to stir the wind and blow Arthur's hair about. The leaves leaving tiny impact craters across the field.
"Now, Flame Charge!"
"Pum! Pum ka!" Encasing herself in fire, Arthur watches as his partner speeds across the battle field, growing faster from the Speed boost of the attack.
XoxoxoxoxoxoX
By the time they finish the sky is beginning to lighten, not quite sunrise, but light enough to see the damage to the field clearly. Pits and craters of various sizes and depths, litter the area, marking the previously smooth surface.
Both trainer and Pokemon are comfortably tired from the activity and Arthur can now feel his mind calmed of the previous turmoil that plagued him.
"Oops, hehe, guess we might have gone a bit over board." He says, surveying the damage to the field.
"Pum..." Pumpkaboo voices, sounding slightly guilty.
"Well, I think that's enough for today, don't you?"
"Pum!" She nods happily to her trainer.
"Alright, let's go back to the room."
"Pumpka."
Walking back inside one of the Nurses waves to him.
"Feeling better?" She asks as the pair come over.
"Uh, yeah, thanks." Arthur says a bit sheepishly, scratching his cheek.
"Hehe, don't worry. It's not the first time a trainer has needed to let of some steam at night."
"Ah."
"Don't worry about the field either, we have the center Pokemon to help maintain it."
"Oh, you have construction work Pokémon at this center too? I thought they were mostly just leased out to places that needed them from the training centers?"
"Usually, but we have a trained Pokémon specifically for the field out back, saves having to always hire one each time the field is damaged."
"Hm, makes sense." He nods in understanding, at least his little night time training won't cause the center any extra hassle then. "Well, I think I'll head back to bed for a few hours."
"Have a nice rest." Nodding once more he takes his leave back to the room.
XoxoxoxoxoxoX
Alfred is still asleep when he returns, none the wiser. Sighing Arthur climbs back into bed, Pumpkin joining him to snuggle up by his head. After all that he's not sure what he was so worried about. After all going back home is inevitable if he intends to stay with Alfred, and besides it's about time he did. Come what may, he's ready for it.
Authors notes: Just a short chapter this time from Arthur's perspective were nothing really happens. And of course some good old back story-ish flashback-y stuff.
In other news, I intend to put out a new one shot for Halloween. It'll be a darker nation story feature the Magic trio as the central characters so stay tuned for that.
Till next time, stay awesome!