Chapter 29
Hiku smiled at her friends. Even though the battle Jaylon had just fought ended in Vekra's favor, she still congratulated him, as well as Vekra. All of the rookies including her were sitting in the meager cafeteria. Hiku's parents were sitting at another nearby table, as were Jaylon's scientist parents.
Hiku smiled in turn to each one of them. Vekra, who was quite cocky at winning even though her Pokémon had fainted, was chatting away at the fantastic fight. Caprico, who really won the fight, was sitting quietly, but was smiling a tad. Perhaps the company of the other rookies was making the blue haired boy warm up. Jaylon was listening to Vekra's story and adjusting it to his view when he thought he was being made fun of. The brown-haired boy still didn't like Vekra all that much, but what could you do? Rin sat like Caprico, listening to the conversation and smiling. Hiku had only known her from over the phone, so it was nice to see her in person.
Hiku herself had been allowed by the medic to walk around today and eat solid foods instead of getting nutrition from IVs. She still had an oxygen tank and felt frail and unable to walk very far, but it was worth it to be out of bed.
"I have to say, I didn't expect your Zangoose to wake up before the Riolu was finished." Vekra said degradingly.
"I don't know of any Pokémon that could sleep through an explosion like that. And then Rain sneak-attacked the Slowbro… that was so cool! She has some fighting skills. Sometimes I think she fights better when she isn't listening to me." Jaylon doted on his Zangoose, which was still inside her Pokéball.
"Frost actually fought, I was happy." Rin said quietly to add to the conversation. "Though I haven't won a single match so far, and that's a bit depressing."
"And Caprico's won twice in a row, huh?" Jaylon asked the table. He faced the blue-haired boy and raised his eyebrows. "You are a really good trainer. How can you be better than me when you are about five years younger than me?"
Caprico shrugged, showing his modesty.
Hiku glanced around the cafeteria. "Do you know where Kasmir is? He's a good trainer too. He helped Tamaki grow into a non-scary Pokémon."
Jaylon and Vekra exchanged strange looks to each other, as if there was something wrong with what she said. Caprico and Rin glanced around and shrugged.
Hiku didn't know what was wrong with her Hoenn teammates, but didn't ask. If she did, she might feel really embarrassed. "Did you guys see 'Salamence' battling before you? He's an amazing trainer. Almost every time he used only one attack to knock out the other opponent. Or, his Pokémon used one attack, not 'Salamence' himself." She scratched her head timidly.
"'Garchomp' fights pretty well, he taught me a lot about Pokémon fights." Caprico spoke up for the first time in the café.
"Yeah, I guess he does…" Jaylon muttered. "Hey, any of you guys know about this Lugia rider? Kasmir, 'Garchomp', Milo, and 'Raquaza' seemed to be involved with it."
Rin knew the answer. "I thought I already told you guys, but the Lugia Rider was a hero of Sinnoh. He defeated the human-made Pokémon called Razzen, but he died when the fight was over." She paused and her eyes widened. "Wait, you said 'RAQUAZA' was in the Lugia Rider events?"
Jaylon nodded. "Kasmir said that she was the Lugia Rider's sister."
Rin was astounded. "That's so awesome! But which sister could she be, Kyle Martin the Lugia Rider had several sisters…"
"I don't want to know who 'Raquaza' is, I want to know… never mind…" Jaylon sighed. "Hey, do you guys remember getting any food?"
"No we just sat down and started talking." Hiku said.
"I'm hungry, I'll go get something from the Café." He stood up and smiled at his raven-haired friend. "I'll get something for you if you want." He smiled so charmingly that Hiku couldn't help but blush.
"Yes please, that's so nice of you. A sandwich is fine." She grinned, blushing. The blush seemed to make her look healthier from her pale complexion. Hiku tried to cover up her fluttering heart by playing with her hair, careful not to accidentally pull on the oxygen tubes going into her nose.
Vekra tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and looked slightly ticked, as if she had wanted to try to make it up to Hiku for deserting the original Hoenn team. "Fine, I'll get something too."
"Don't forget the Pokémon too." Caprico said evenly. He looked at his twin Pokémon in their Pokéballs and smiled. "But then again, this place is too small to take all them out. We should feed them in a training room after we are done eating." Again, his talking was dull but more frequent. The other rookies smiled inwardly at his growing openness.
"You guys can get some food, I'll keep Hiku company until you get back." The short-blonde haired girl waved the others off. Rin didn't want to let Hiku to sit all alone.
"Ok," Vekra, Caprico, and Jaylon said as they got up and went to the small counter to order some food.
Rin looked like she wanted to ask something, but couldn't bring herself to say it. She smiled nervously and asked, "So, you three Hoenn people were a team?"
"Sorta, Vekra left to go on her own not long after we met. But Jaylon and I have been a team for a while…" Hiku answered.
"Do you… like Jaylon?" Rin asked, blushing a little herself.
"Me? I uh…" Hiku looked flustered and she tried to think of what to say back to that. She certainly liked him as a friend. He had helped her out so much during their little adventure to Fallabor. "He's a good friend…" she stammered. But he had done so much for her. He had chased after the evil men who had kidnapped her, he had helped her when she had fainted at the gory scene in Fallabor, and he had even convinced her to keep Tamaki the Shroomish. What if he liked her?
Rin nodded, accepting the answer. "He's a strange but funny guy. But I'm not interested in him relationally. I just wanted to know if you were." She shrugged, as if happy to get the subject done and over with.
The two girls smiled once more just as the said person sat down at the table again. Jaylon gave Hiku a turkey sandwich in a plastic box. "Here you go, I hope you like turkey. That was the only kind they had." The brown haired boy with the red bandana around his head said. He had for himself a burger in a steamy plastic box.
Hiku nodded and thanked him. "Thanks for that, Jaylon. I love turkey." She opened the plastic box and took a little bite of the bread. She was still unused to the oxygen tubes and didn't want to somehow clog them up with sandwich.
Rin smiled and went to get her lunch.
Vekra and Caprico also returned to the table with food of their own. The blonde rookie with trendy clothes had a slice of cheese pizza in a steamy plastic box, and Caprico had a small pasta dish. Vekra scoffed at the single slice of pizza. "Seriously, they charge a pretty penny for a single slice of pizza? I thought something from Raquaza would be a little more impressive."
"Maybe all her funds are going to research and facilities rather than food." The blue haired boy shrugged and bit a forkful of pasta.
Rin, returning with a sandwich as well, nodded with the conversation. "If 'Raquaza' is a Martin, then she's using her money well. The Martins are millionaires in Sinnoh, but they spend their money wisely."
"Wisely or cheaply?" Vekra mumbled and ate her pizza slice.
The rest of lunch went by with some more small talk and laughter. The five rookie trainers were finding that they got along pretty well together (excluding Jaylon and Vekra). Hiku was glad that they all were together. It felt better to be in the company of several trainers than a single other trainer.
Once they were done eating, the five rookies went to the nearest training room to let their Pokémon eat. 20 Pokémon were released and most of them set to their kibble-like food happily. Vekra's Metang and Caprico's Slowbro didn't touch the plates of kibble. Cancer the Slowbro sat down instead and nibbled on one of the berries on his spikey tail. Metang didn't need any food.
The other Pokémon sat in their own little groups, eating quickly. Rin's Sneasel and Buizel sat together, eating from the same bowl. Frost the Riolu was talking with Jaylon's Zangoose. The three Hoenn starters all greeted each other. The Twin Zangeese sat far away from the other Pokémon. Oan the Swallot was trying his hardest to eat his food close to Hiku's Kirlia. When Oan had eaten all his food, he sneaked a mouthful from Metang's plate. Tamaki the Breloom greeted Virgo the Leafeon with a wave of his white tail.
The trainers all laughed and smiled at their Pokémon.
The fun moments of watching the Pokémon ended as the man in Salamence cosplay walked into the training room. He had a female Pikachu on his head (you could tell by the tail that it was female). 'Salamence' walked up to the group of trainers and ridiculed them. "It was sure hard to find you rookies. I need to tell 'Gible' here his first mission. Granted, the mission won't be launched until tomorrow… but I digress." He huffed. The Pikachu on his head glanced at the happy mass of young Pokémon. She shook her lightning-shaped tail and snubbed them.
Caprico stood up from the bleachers and tilted his head slightly. "And what is the mission?"
"You and I will go out to Johto and fight off some wild Pokémon. If we are lucky, we'll find some Pokémon we don't have yet and you can capture your first Pokémon." Salamence huffed. "We'll be starting early in the morning, so you'll want to get to bed earlier than normal." With that, he turned on his heels and marched back out.
Vekra frowned. She was a captain in training too, didn't she get a mission? "What do I get to do?" she asked.
The haughty man smirked at her, "You, 'Dieno', are going to train with 'Latios' along with the other rookies." He slammed the door as he exited.
"'Dieno'? What kind of Pokémon nickname is that?" Jaylon leered.
Rin pulled a large book from her bag and flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. "Deino is a Unova Pokémon. I just got the Unova handbook… anyways; Dieno is a dark/dragon-type Pokémon."
Vekra glanced at the page that showed a little blue Apatosaurus-type Pokémon with black fur covering its eyes and neck. Vekra didn't entirely like the look of it, but the dark/dragon type was a strange combo and could be pretty strong. She rolled her eyes at the thought that the younger captain would go on a mission before her.
Hiku tried to soothe Vekra's sour emotions. "It's ok, Vekra, I'm sure they will give you a mission soon. You are a good trainer."
"Thanks, Hiku…" the other Hoenn girl sighed.
…
'Raquaza' and Kingdra walked together to the main computer, the place where all the Pokémon stored in Lanette's storage system could be accessed. 'Kingdra'/ Atri was in charge of cataloging all of the Pokémon owned by their group and all the employed trainers. It was a harder task than you would think, seeing as Pokémon were traded and new ones captured. But collecting was Atri's hobby.
The scrawny man went up to the main screen and printed out a long list of Pokémon species names. He handed the list to Raquaza without a word.
"So which Pokémon do we not have?" the lady in green asked, looking up from the long list.
"Species wise, we are only missing a few Pokémon excluding legendary Pokémon. In Pokémon, we have far less. Like a Venasaur would count for its entire stages species wise, but if we counted individuals, we'd only have a Venasuar out of a Bulbasaur and Ivysuar.…" Atri explained in his quiet voice. "The species we do not have are on this list here." He coughed at the large amount of talking he was doing. He printed out another list and gave this to 'Raquaza' as well. "Don't you remember me telling you this earlier?"
Hianna mentally grimaced. He had told Corinne before, but not her. "Yes, I'm sorry, I'm feeling a little forgetful." She covered for her ignorance. The blonde woman took the list and scanned it. "Very well, this is good. I'll send a copy to 'Salamence' for his rampage fight."
"Why do you want every Pokémon… out of curiosity, my lady?" Atri whispered and arched an eyebrow.
"Collecting…" she answered hesitantly. She couldn't say out loud that she was gathering up Pokémon to make sure that if the Pokémon trainers had to flee, then they would still have a large stock of Pokémon to give to future trainer generations.
Atri/'Kingdra' shrugged and headed to his quarters to pack for the trip of gathering up the gym leaders. He stopped and thought out loud, "Do you think that Kasmir might be able to help in this mission of bringing gym leaders here? He is a Mewtwo after all…" he whispered.
Hianna was slightly taken aback that he knew of Kasmir. But then again, it was hard for the Pokémon to keep his mouth shut and identity hidden. "I'm afraid his help is needed here, but that is a good idea."
"Very well…" Atri said in a barely audible voice and walked away.
Hianna shrugged and scanned over the list of Pokémon not captured yet in the database. She nodded to herself and went to make a copy of it.
…
"Rio!" Frost cried out angrily in the training room. The rookie trainers jumped and watched to see what was going on.
"Lu-lu Rio Riolu!" the blue jackal-like Pokémon growled and pointed at Zuni the Grovyle. He was angry about something, perhaps sore from losing to Zuni and Cancer.
"Vyle gro-gro." The gecko Pokémon shrugged and went back to socializing with the other Pokémon.
Frost the Riolu didn't like being ignored. He ran up to Zuni and pushed him. "Lu! Rio-rio Riolu!" he snarled.
Zuni retaliated and pushed the smaller Pokémon back. "Grovyle gro gro."
Other Pokémon began to back away from the two fighting male Pokémon. Taynee the Sneasel scampered away the quickest. The Pokémon trainers glanced at each other.
Rin made an uneasy face. "Vekra, should I call Frost back into his Pokéball?"
"If they fight, your Riolu will lose, so I don't care." Vekra said dismissively.
"What? Frost is stronger than that. Oh, I'm sorry." She apologized for her outburst. "But I don't want the Pokémon to fight each other just because Frost is sour that he lost." She sighed and watched her irate Pokémon. "He always seems angry."
The Pokémon now had made a ring in which the two Pokémon could fight in. Rin's Buizel was actually cheering for a fight. However, most other Pokémon didn't care or were worried that their trainers would be upset with them.
Rain the Zangoose seemed angry along with the Riolu, but didn't join in the fight.
The gecko and jackal Pokémon continued to hurl insults at each other, getting ready for a fight. Cancer the Slowbro thought differently. The pink water/psychic Pokémon lumbered into the circle and came in between the two angry Pokémon.
"Ssssssllllllloooooooowwwwww." Cancer said, voice dragging. He reached to his spikey tail and took off the last Oran berries from the shell. He offered one impaled berry to Frost and one to Zuni. He blinked slowly, his mannerisms somehow soothing.
Zuni took the blue berry happily and ate it.
Frost glared at Cancer in hate. "Riolu Rio-Rio lululu!" he spat.
"." Cancer droned and handed the berry to the Riolu. The pink Pokémon smiled slowly, trying to be as friendly as possible. "Bbbrrrooooooo…"
Frost snarled but took the berry. He stomped back to the circle of Pokémon and pushed through to be by himself and his rage.
The rest of the Pokémon cheered slightly for the fight being broken up, except for Lee the Buizel. The orange water type Pokémon had wanted to see some action, but was disappointed.
"Your Slowbro is really dull." Vekra huffed. "Even though he was good in the double battle, he's stupid. He thinks berries can solve everything."
Caprico went back to the bleachers and shook his head. "No, Cancer is pretty smart. He has a supply of berries in case he gets hurt or paralyzed, or even poisoned. And he won the fight because he didn't listen to me." The blue haired boy nodded. "I told him to use 'surf', but that would have lost the battle. If the Zangoose could have used thunderbolt in the surf attack, Cancer would have fainted. But he used head-butt and won the match. He's really smart." Caprico stood up and walked over to his Slowbro. He reached into his pack and gave Cancer a handful of berries. The pink Pokémon took them gratefully and stuck each one on the shell points on his tail.
"I never really think of Slowpokes or Slowbros to be smart, but they are psychic type, right?" Rin shrugged.
Hiku nodded along with the others. She wondered if (when she recovered) she would ever be able to Hoenn again, or even a herd of Slowpokes and Slowbros in Kanto or Johto. What did the world look like outside of this base? She couldn't wait to get better.
Wow, I'm going to be coming up to thirty chapters! Just wondering, should I make a trilogy of this or continue writing the story in 'Fallen Trainers'? Please PM or review to tell me what you think.
