Chapter 11

Un-betaed. Also, there is a pic of Cap and Rick if you want to see it. In the next chapter I will be putting Ariann.

"How about 'Pretty'?"

"I already barked at that tree, Cap."

"Hmmmm…'Ferocious'?"

"She's a girl."

Cap and I were trying to find a name for my newly acquired gible. But I was picky with the names (as I was picky with almost everything). While I changed (I made sure to close all the curtains of the room and checked the doors to see if they were locked) into some clothes that Cap brought me (Which were too big for me), I let out my gible. She(because she was a female, I made sure to ask Cap that. He laughed at me.) soon started to cling to me, which I didn't found all that irritating (yet). It seemed like she was clingy by nature, which didn't suit her predator looks…at all. I sighed, glancing at the blue pokemon in my arms, but not knowing how to name it. I shook my head, finished changing and left the room.

Cap waited for me outside, giving me a slight smile.

"You look…weird." He commented. True to his words, the pants were too big on me, making me look smaller than I was already, while the shirt looked like a pajamas on me. I gave him a raised brow.

"Who was it that bought these clothes?" He looked to the side and said rather loudly,

"Well, you didn't tell me your size so—"

"Who was it that bought these clothes?" I asked, with more force this time. He gave me a glare before looking to the side, muttering, 'Me'. He looked like a child, I noted with amusement.

"Anyways, we can go check some extra clothes for you. They're pretty cheap."

We left the hospital (I didn't have to pay the bills, since my trainer ID took care of that) and headed towards a small store to buy some clothes. I entered, zooming instantly towards the female's aisle. I grabbed a navy blue hoodie and a black cap, along with some jeans that were one size bigger than mine.

'Ble?'

"It's okay. Just stay with Cap, I'll change quickly," I told the small dragon-type pokemon. It gave a whine, rubbing its head to my chest, making me roll my eyes at it. "Come on, go with him." It huffed and jumped towards Cap, who caught it swiftly.

I quickly paid the clothes, thanking the store again because they were very cheap, and went to the changing room in the store.

"But, y'know, how about you call her 'Savage'?" I heard Cap call from the other side of the dressing room. From what I've learned from Cap, he was just a beginner like me(although he had one badge), and he was (unlike Rick) very easy-going. He had that charm that made you act friendly towards him. It was weird. Especially after our meeting at the Pokemon Center…

"No. Why did you even considered 'Savage'?" I asked, putting the pants Cap bought in my bag and putting my new pants on. They fitted, though they were a little too big…

"Well, she will evolve in a garchomp."

"That's no excuse." I finished changing and took a look at the mirror on the wall. My blond hair was covered by my black cap(though there were a few bangs that fell to each side of my face, but not in my eyes) while my hoodie hid the rest of the hair while it was on top of the cap. My hoodie was too big, making me lose every feminine curves or characteristics that I was supposed to have, while the pants were loose and big, but not to the point where they fell off me.

In other words, I looked like a boy.

Target accomplished.

I have been thinking, most of the attacks were against women. Rape, Murder, Thievery. That meant that women were underestimated by men. So, if women were underestimated by men, I'll just have to cross-dress. Happily. (Or that's what I think)

I nodded to myself, stepping out of the dressing room and meeting Cap, who was waiting for me with my gible. He stared at me as if I were another person. Maybe I looked like another one, but I wasn't one…

"Well?" At the sound of my voice, my gible started to struggle in Cap's arms. I let out a laugh and she jumped towards me. I caught her with a yelp and a small stumble.

"Erm, who are you?" Cap asked, looking at me in teasing confusion. I decided to play along with him.

"Oh~ Now you know that I am not Ariann! Oh no! What are you going to do now, oh Great Hero?" I told him with a small smirk(I was doing that a lot lately). He blushed in embarrassment. Cute.

"I-I said Stop it!" I ignored him and decided to walk out of the store, knowing he'll be following behind(I was such a great leader). On my way out, I almost got knocked off of my feet by a grown up man. I stumbled back, giving the man a small glare while my hands tightened around my pokemon. My hands were shaking, that's why I was gripping at my pokemon so hard. I feet froze on the spot, deciding not to cooperate with my mind at the moment. I heard my gible growl quietly at my hands at the man, reminding me that she knew about my fear. About my Androphobia. My fear of men. The man smiled sheepishly, and apologized. I nodded back stiffly and practically ran out of the store.

Once outside, I took a deep breath. Held it in…and out… I had noticed that lately I felt a little-okay a lot uncomfortable around males(excluding Cap, though I suppose that's because he helped me). They made me freeze in fear when I neared them too much. When I asked the nurse about it, she told me that I might had developed a minor(Yeah, minor. Hahaha*sarcasm*) trauma. I couldn't do anything about it if I wanted to continue my adventure, so I just had to get used to being alone…

Or so I thought, because a certain black-haired teen didn't seem to want to leave me alone.

"Why did you left so fast? I thought something had happened," he said, scolding me. He kind of remembered me of my older brother…Maybe that's another reason why I let him get so close to me.

"Fast?" I asked feigning innocence, since I knew that I practically ran out of the place.

"Yeah, You ran out, as in, really fast! People looked at you weirdly," he told me as I started to walk towards the north of Oreburgh City: Route 206. I wasn't scared of going back there, just a little cautious. Then, I noticed that Cap was still following. Even if it was kind of obvious I couldn't help but ask.

"Cap, you're going to Eterna?" He nodded seriously, taking out a pokeball from his pack. Kind of stupid if you ask me. I always put my pokeballs in my pants pockets, though now that I have a hoodie, I could put them in the big pocket it had…

"I'm not gonna let you go alone on that Route again," he told me seriously. Now that I think about it…It would be good to travel with another person again. But the fact that Cap chose me of all people made me think that maybe he had a sister complex. After all, he was always with me like a parent to his child.

"Cap, do you have a sister?" I couldn't help but ask.

"No, why?"

"Nothing." I knew it.

The next week was spent mostly on Route 206. Cap caught a ponyta (whom he called Red, even though it was a girl…) and I saw my first pokemon evolution…

"Noble use Confusion!" To my surprise, Noble used another attack. He created leafs out of thin air, launching them at the foe without fail. Since it was a geodude, it got knocked out very quick. Soon after that, I saw an unnatural glow coming from my ralts. I looked down at him, watching in fascination as he started to grow from inside the white light. When the light died down, a Kirlia stood there, twirling around in its tiny legs. He had a skirt-thingy and was now a little taller, but still smaller than the rest of my team. Also, the green thing at his head changed, allowing me to see his red eyes. Even though I was a little disappointed, because I thought Epic would be the first one to evolve, I was happy for Noble. Well, it was understandable that Noble evolved first, he was out most of the time and could escape the battles he couldn't win quickly…

"I evolved! Did you see me?" I blinked hard. Then my eyes widened in recognition. Telepathy. Noble was speaking to me through Telepathy. That was epic!

'I have a pokemon translator!'I thought rather happily.

And the other day, Dread(I decided to call my gible that…it kind of suited her.) decided to evolve too.

"Dread, use Sand Tomb and then Take Down!" I called at her as she complied, quickly making a sand tornado and sending it towards the ponyta. Then she ran towards it, using a Take Down. But the ponyta was stubborn and countered with an ember. I was already growing annoyed at the small fire pony. "Use Tackle!" Dread tackled it to the ground, and it didn't get up again. I sighed (Finally!) focusing again on my small dragon-type pokemon. And it was… shining….Yeah….

Dread's body started to shine, growing bigger and lean(the contrary of her previous ball-like body). She was growing even bigger than any of my pokemon(since they were all so small…), reaching my chest even! Either I was very small(which I am not! I swear!*lying*) or my pokemon was growing too big.

The light dimmed out, finally disappearing and now a blue dragon stood there. Dread immediately looked down at herself, her eyes staying too long at her new sharp claws. And let me tell you, they looked dangerous. Then she seemed to notice me, rubbing her head against my stomach with a content "Bite…". I gave her a small smile, and hesitantly petted her head.

"Good girl, that's my good girl…"

When I asked Cap why Dread evolved so quickly(after all, dragons tended to evolve late right?) he told me that maybe she was stronger than most of the pokemon in the area and dominated them. I just gave him a blunt look and decided not to ask him any more pokemon-related questions. After all, he was not Rick. He was just… Cap.

Then, on a certain night, we decided to talk about a very interesting topic…

"So," Cap said conversationally, we were sitting near a campfire that Red had made. Our teams were out.

Cap had a Mightyena on his side (looking around cautiously), a Marshtomp that was on his lap and a big dinosaur-plant-like pokemon that was apparently sleeping at the back. It was like a lapras, but with legs and leaves. And of a different color. It was a Tropius. And also, his ponyta that was in front of him, near the fire.

My own team was all sprawled around me. Hope(who had grown a little too big for my head) was now on my lap, Noble was on my head in her stead. Epic was by my side while I was petting him and on my other side was Dread(my other arm was in her hands but she made sure not to cut me. How lovely). Ambition(whom I caught stealing glances at Dread's evolved form) was sleeping besides Epic, much to my surprise.

"So what?" I asked Cap.

"How many badges do you have?" I looked at him in the eye, smirking, while I held my hand up making an 'O' shape. He looked at me in surprise. "Zero? As in, none? But you have a team of five!" He shouted in exasperation.

"Well, let's say that the leader, Jack, and I had some sort of…disagreement," I told him, he raised a brow and was about to tell me something but I interrupted him. "Don't worry, I'll take him on." And crush him. "He'll just have to wait for the last place." Cap seemed shocked but then burst out laughing.

"Damn, you're going to crush him!" That's the plan. "What the hell did the bastard to piss you off?" asked Cap laughing. I shrugged and then remembered something.

"Hey, why is it that Roark isn't the gym leader at Oreburgh?" I asked confused. I heard some rumors about what might've happened but I didn't know the solid-proof-ed truth. Cap stopped laughing and sighed, scratching his head while avoiding my gaze. I noticed he was uncomfortable about this topic, but I wonder why…

"You see…I don't know much from Sinnoh, but from what I've heard Jack is Roark's cousin." I nodded, a little surprised by the fact. I felt Noble shift on my head, probably unbalanced by my nod. ('Sorry.'"It's okay.") "Well, I heard that Roark died in an…accident…involved with some growing institution. It is called 'Survival'." He finished with a grimace, narrowing his beautiful blue eyes for a moment. Then, he seemed to snap out of it and laughed nervously. "But, you know, it's just a rumor!" It didn't seem like it, he seemed pretty sure about the fact. I didn't pry about it though. But I did narrow my eyes at him.

"You seem pretty informed, I don't know why you say you don't know much about Sinnoh," I told him. To tell the truth, I was a little shocked that Roark actually died. I mean, they were the strongest trainers of the region, along with the Elite Four and the Champion. They had the strongest pokemons. But to actually kill one gym leader…

"You see…" Cap scratched the back of his head again; I noticed that it was a sign that he was either nervous or anxious. "I…am not from Sinnoh…I am actually native from Hoenn," he told me. and I couldn't say I was surprised. I mean, he had strong pokemons, all of them native form another region(plus he didn't look all that rich to buy them from breeders). I already had my suspicions about the matter, but why was he so nervous about the fact.

"Are you illegal?" I asked him. I was just teasing, but with a straight face.

"What? No! I am a legal citizen of Sinnoh! I have my ID right here! And my passport!" He said taking out said items. I just sighed and waved him off. I looked down to my lap and saw that Hope was asleep. I glanced at the rest of my team to find them all asleep as well.

"Noble, are you asleep?" I called to my psychic in my mind. s

Silence.

"No, I'm awake."

I chuckled lightly. It was obvious that he was previously asleep. I just woke him up.

I picked up my kirlia from the top of my head(prying my hand gently from Dread's grip) and dropped to my back, my backpack somehow softening my fall. I put Noble in my chest, ready to fall asleep.

"Good night, Cap," I told him. I closed my eyes and yawned. Not a minute later, some shuffling and crunching of leaves, a good night was heard from Cap. I sighed and tried to fall asleep.

Good luck on that one.