Chapter 26: Fintan's Return

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

POKÉMON

"She'd better not think she's ready yet…" Mason muttered to himself as he glanced over in Misaki's direction as she stood in the waiting area, watching her nod as Daichi took information down in a notebook, nodding every few seconds.

Tomoko turned to look at Misaki. "I don't think that she does…" The Coordinator sighed. "What's wrong with you lately, Mason? You don't normally act like this, but the moment that we mention Gym Leaders -"

"I don't want to talk about it," Mason responded, his tone rough as he cut her off.

"But -" Tomoko found herself being cut off mid-sentence once again as Mason paled unnaturally.

"I told you that I don't want to talk about it!" he suddenly snapped.

Tomoko started, taking a step backwards as she watched Mason slowly turn his head away from her as if he didn't want her to see his expression. He cleared his throat and fidgeted slightly, swallowing heavily as he briefly glanced at Tomoko.

"… I'm sorry…" he mumbled, his head lowered in shame.

Tomoko quickly shook her head and waved her hands in front of her face defensively. "No! No! It was my fault!"

Just as Mason opened his mouth to respond, he saw Misaki quickly approaching them, a smile on her face as she made her way towards them, completely unaware of what they were talking about. Mason shook his head to rid himself of whatever thought that he had been having and turned his attention to the approaching redhead.

"Hey, Misaki," he smiled slightly. "You look like you're doing better."

Misaki nodded. "That battle was just what I needed. It showed me that I can really do something, even if I don't think I can. I'm nowhere near ready to take on the Gym, though," she grinned.

Mason unconsciously sighed and offered a small smile. Tomoko spoke up. "So, what's next on the agenda?"

"Well, a big part of being a Trainer is meeting new Pokémon, and I won't get much training done if I stay in Faeria, so I was thinking of going to do some training outside the village," Misaki explained with a sheepish grin.

"Going outside the village is fine, but you should probably all stick together," Daichi commented as he approached them from behind.

"Sandslash!" the pangolin-like creature by his side cheered, the plates on its back bristling for a second before relaxing.

"Do you think that Team Gene might still be around?" Tomoko asked.

"Given their escape yesterday, that doesn't seem to be the case, but that might not be the case. There could always be more members lurking around out there, so please be careful and report any form of suspicious behaviour that you see," the Ranger warned, closing his notebook and placing it back in his pocket along with his pen.

"We'll do that," Mason immediately agreed with a nod of his head.

"Alright, then. Stay safe," Daichi smiled as he walked past them and headed towards the door. With a brief wave, the blond Ranger walked out the door and disappeared down the street, Sandslash close at his heels.

Tomoko immediately turned towards her two friends. "So, well head out after Misaki and I have our Pokémon healed, OK?"

Mason nodded and glanced at Misaki with a smile. "You aren't going on your own this time."

Misaki grinned and nodded just as the sound of a door opening sounded around the room. The three children turned to seek the source of the noise, their eyes falling on Nurse Joy who had emerged from the door that was behind her desk, a tray of Poké Balls in her hands. She began to approach the three Trainers.

"Excuse me, girls, but your Pokémon are ready for you," she informed them as she reached them, holding out the tray, waiting for the girls to take the Poké Balls that were nearest them.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy," the two girls chorused as they took their Poké Balls. With a brief smile and a bow, Nurse Joy left them.

"So, we're heading out now, then!" Tomoko declared as she and Misaki placed their Poké Balls back on their belts. With a nod of acknowledgement, the small party made their way towards the doors.

Meanwhile…

"That was good, Houndour! You too, Rufflet!" Fintan called out as his black dog-like Pokémon raced over to him and another small, fluffy, chick-like Pokémon hopped towards him, its grey and white feathers fluttering in the breeze and the large white and red feather that sprouted from its forehead bobbing up and down with each hop.

"Ruff!" Houndour barked, its short tail wagging as the injured Pidove that they had just defeated began to sneak off behind them. Rufflet wordlessly ruffled its feathers and began to preen itself under its wing.

Fintan reached up to rub his tired eyes with a yawn. "We'll be facing the Gym Leader at this rate… We aren't ready yet, but we'll work hard and we'll challenge the Gym Leader soon enough…" Suddenly, Fintan's expression became dark, causing the bright smile on Houndour's face to vanish and Rufflet to glance up at him, its indifferent expression becoming one of curiosity. "… I still need to track them down…"

Houndour cocked its head to the side in confusion. "Ruff…?" it questioned.

Fintan smiled sadly and placed a hand on top of Houndour's head, ruffling the sleek fur between its ears. "Don't worry about it… I'll tell you someday…" the boy murmured quietly.

Seeing that his fussing was earning a contented smile from the dog-like Pokémon and that Rufflet had gone back to preening its feathers, the tired Trainer sighed and stood up, reaching for the Poké Balls by his waist.

Removing the capsules from his belt, Fintan was left to ponder his journey up to this point. Catching Houndour… Catching Rufflet in the woods just a little while back… Defeating the Aquarei Gym Leader…

The last memory caused Fintan to increase the power of his grip on the Poké Balls in his hands as another memory naturally floated into his head that caused him to tense and grit his teeth, familiar yet distraught voices invading his thoughts.

"I'll beat you and show you that you're wrong!"

"… It's better this way…"

Fintan winced as his own shaky voice rang in his ears and a bullet of sweat ran down the side of his face, a lump developing in his throat. Fintan sighed, briefly noticing that his hands were shaking from the pressure that he was applying to his Poké Balls.

After calming himself down, he glanced down at his Pokémon who were going about their own business with Rufflet trying to preen its feathers while Houndour attempted to play with it, pestering it with gentle nudges that slowly but steadily increased into playful headbutts in order to gain the chick-like Pokémon's attention, an effort that quickly proved to be in vain as the indifferent Pokémon continued to shrug Houndour off, quickly getting back to preening its feathers.

Quickly shaking his head to rid himself of any unwanted thoughts that were invading his mind, he raised his Poké Balls and pointed them at his Pokémon, the red and white capsules glinting in the sun. He forced a faltering smile onto his face, his arms shaking slightly as he held them up.

"OK, you two. Take a break inside your Poké Balls," Fintan ordered, recalling his Rufflet and Houndour in beams of red light.

Fintan sighed as he placed the Poké Balls back on his belt. Taking a look around, he spotted the nearest rock and wandered over to it, sitting down to observe the scenery in a moment of brief silence as the wind played across the grass before him as he stared down into the depths of the beautiful valley, taking note of the colourful, delicate flowers that dotted the landscape around him that caused a sweet smell to reach him. The Trainer inhaled deeply, appreciating his brief moment of respite, and let out his breath with a sigh, the sounds of the Flying-type Pokémon chirping all around him creating the perfect atmosphere.

"… Silence…" he muttered thankfully as he reached up to brush his fringe from his eyes. It was places like this that reminded him of his originally-peaceful childhood in the beautiful town of –

"FINTAN!" a voice suddenly screeched, interrupting his calming thoughts and scaring off the Flying-type Pokémon which all squawked with fright as they fled from their perches and tore off into the sky at the fastest pace that they could muster, scattering feathers all around them as they made their escapes.

Fintan let out an exasperated sigh. "… Silence, my foot…" he mumbled as footsteps rapidly approached him.

Hanging his head in annoyance, he tilted his head slightly and glanced down the slope towards the 'intruders,' peering at them from behind the hair that hung in front of his face. His eyes widened slightly as he spotted the familiar redhead that was sprinting up the hill at full speed, slipping and stumbling on the loose dirt path that slid out from underneath her feet with every careless footstep that she took.

Fintan raised his hand to push his hair out of his eyes. 'Is that…?' Fintan thought to himself before finally deciding and finishing the though. '… Yeah… That's a headache…'

Deciding that it was better to face the situation head on, Fintan pushed himself up from the rock and, with one last look at the valley, he pushed his hair out of his eyes and turned his gaze towards the three people who were heading up the hill.

'I recognise that Tomoko girl…' Fintan noted before glancing at the boy that followed them. 'Misaki must be making more friends… I don't recognise him…'

"Fintan!" Misaki called out again as she reached the older boy, panting heavily from her run.

"… Misaki…" Fintan greeted quietly. "… Your voice is giving me a headache…" he added, rubbing his head with a genuine wince.

"Well, that's nice after what happened the last time that we met!" Misaki snapped.

"No… Seriously…" Fintan continued to rub his head. "Stop that…"

Fintan turned towards Misaki's new companions and gave each of them a curt nod. With a heavy swallow, Mason instinctively stepped forwards and extended his hand with an apprehensive, shaky smile.

"Uh… Nice to meet you…" Mason greeted with a nod. "I'm Mason… I… uh… don't believe we've met…"

"Likewise… As you've probably already gathered, I'm Fintan… I've known Misaki for quite a while…" Fintan responded, attempting to reciprocate the smile as he took Mason's hand, shaking it gently.

As Mason took a step backwards, Misaki took over the conversation. "You don't look like you've been sleeping, Fintan…" the redhead noted, her attention having been drawn to the dark bags that were growing under Fintan's eyes.

"Yeah… Well… I haven't really had the time, now, have I…?" Fintan answered abruptly. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Just as Fintan made a move to walk past the three Trainers, he suddenly felt a hand wrap firmly around his wrist, stopping him in his tracks. He turned slightly to see who had grabbed him and noted the redhead who was clinging onto his wrist.

"Fintan!" Misaki frowned, her expression one of determination. "Fight me!"