*Gasp* a double post!? I got excited and edited this on time, so why not? Hope you like because trouble is brewing.
I don't want to be in today's battle, Espeon sits at the doorway of the bathroom while Serena brushes her hair.
"What?" she turns to the pokemon with a frown on her face.
"What?" Lance calls from his bed.
"I'm responding to Espeon," she says back and listens for a response.
He glances over at the back of Espeon's head with a frown and then back at his hands for a moment before shaking his head. "Oh, okay."
I am not yours and it feels strange to behave as such.
I never said you were, but I thought you were enjoying battles? Serena sets down the brush and faces her pokemon with a thoughtful look. What changed?
I do enjoy the time we spend together, however, if I will be reunited with my trainer soon I would like to be in good condition.
Conflicted feelings make Serena silent as she takes in the psychic type. Espeon is warming up to her enough to feel like she's betraying her trainer, but she's also prepping to be with her trainer again. At last, she feels guilt wash over her and her selfish wishes to keep Espeon by her side. Is she evil for wanting her to like her?
She doesn't answer herself and opts to focus on how this change will affect her strategy. She tries to remain optimistic as options run through her mind.
Ok. You will not battle today, Serena turns away from her and grabs her things to pack them up.
You're not angry? Espeon steps into the bathroom with a frown on her face.
Serena shrugs back at her, I am sad you don't want to. But as you said, you are going back to your trainer, meaning you're not mine and I can't make you do something you don't want to do.
Espeon grows silent, her tail flicking like she's annoyed. Serena doesn't push further and leaves the bathroom to go to her bed. Lance doesn't say much while she packs, he figures her sudden silence is a continued conversation with Espeon or nerves. He just watches her pack, noticing how much she's grown.
Still with a bit of chub (he finds it cute) with some muscles around her legs and arms. Her skin is a glowing light brown, dotted with some scars from training, or being Serena: clumsy. Her loose waves seem to have gotten longer, falling to the bottom of her shoulder blades. He watches the spot where her scars hide behind her thick hair and glances away again.
"Do your scars hurt today?" he asks before he can stop himself.
Serena stiffens at his question and then considers it. "Mmm. Not really."
"What makes them hurt?" he moves to sit on the edge of his bed.
"Well, it depends," she turns around and mirrors his position. "If the weather will be bad, I've noticed they get sore. When I have a bad dream, they hurt a lot."
He tilts his head. "What about when you... use your powers?"
The way he says it makes Serena pause, like it's a big secret or something he's not allowed to bring up.
Like he's scared.
"I haven't been using them much. The times I do, are like, to get something down that's out of reach or to talk with Espeon and they don't hurt for that," she answers. "Why?"
"I was just curious," he suddenly glances away and grabs his things. Before Serena can point out his deflection, he jumps to his feet and steps to the door. "Let's go to your gym challenge!"
She drops it in favor of the sigh that comes out of her mouth. She has her plan set, take on the gym trainers for a warm up, get confident and go fight the leader. Simple enough and easy to follow. It should be a good battle despite the loss of Espeon as her third, but hopefully it won't come down to Sygna.
She grabs her bag and joins him with a smile.
OoOoOoO
"Breathe."
The command makes Serena inhale and then exhale as she stands before the battlefield.
Vermillion City Gym is under construction, one that has been put on halt for a while now it seems, and there are no gym trainers. Straight into a battle with the gym leader is not what she wanted. When she woke up her plan was straightforward: warm up with the trainers, get a feel for their different strategies and then feel confident she will win against Surge. With no trainers, how is she supposed to do all that!
"You'll be fine without them," Lance soothes her while clasping her hands between his. "I saw you battle at the tournament yesterday, you were great!"
Another shaky breath and a glance out at her opponent speaking with the ref and she groans. "I just want this to be over with."
"Then make it happen," he shakes her hands to make her look at him. She tilts her chin up. "Get out there and kick some ass."
"All right, okay," she laughs and pulls away with a snicker. She gives Surge a thumbs up and he jogs over to spot after a short nod at the ref.
All the formalities are over with and the battle begins. Surge sends out a Voltorb straight away while Serena goes ahead with Wynn. She grins with the beginnings of a plan formulating in her head. Voltorb are quick pokemon, hard to hit with the way they're rolling around the field, but Wynn is quicker. Despite being the runt, she has grown into her speed stat amazingly well.
This should be good.
"This'll be easy," the gym leader smirks. "Use Sonic Boom!"
Voltorb rolls in a zigzag across the field, gaining energy as it goes, starting to glow white. Wynn holds her place as Serena waits until the pokemon crosses the field and most of the white waves from its body fly out towards her. Once a few feet away, Serena gives the command of Extreme Speed and Wynn disappears from the onslaught and the well timed Tackle called from the other side.
"Now use Twister!" she cries out. Going over Wynn's move set, she doesn't believe Wrap will do any good here. She'd just get paralyzed and Thunder Wave is useless. Working with two moves will be tough, and she's not even sure she can do it.
"Yeah, Serena! You got this!" Lance cheers from the sidelines.
With a smile, Serena turns back to see Voltorb dodge each impending twister while crossing the field closer to Wynn. The blasts hit the ground, sending debris flying all over the field. She watches them create tiny holes in the ground and snaps her fingers at a sudden idea.
"Wynn, dodge that attack!" she shouts as Voltorb nearly rams her again. "Good, now use twisted on the ground, once and really hard."
Wynn nods at her, rearing herself up and making the pressure change a bit with how much power she's gathering. Surge calls out a thunderbolt to try to throw off Wynn, but she surrounds herself with a powerful wind stream to block the attack. Serena beams as her pokemon forces the funnel down into the ground, stirring up way more dirt and rock than earlier. Voltorb gets knocked back, narrowly missing a shower of dirt as it rights itself and rolls back towards its trainer.
"You don't scare us, show her voltorb and use screech!" Surge grins on the other side of the field.
Serena plugs her ears as fast as she can as yellow waves emanate from voltorb and a piercing screech makes the gym vibrate. Wynn curls in on herself while rolling into the crater she created and disappearing beneath a bit of dirt. The ringing in her ears doesn't stop Serena from calling to Wynn as Voltorb descends into the crater to get closer.
"Perfect," she grins. "Wynn, extreme speed!"
Surge seems to catch on and tries to urge his pokemon out of the hole. "Roll out of there as fast as you can!"
Too late.
Wynn rears up and slams into the round pokemon as it tries its best to escape the trap. Back and forth, side to side it flies with each hit harder than the rest. Finally, Serena calls for one last twister and watches as the opponent flies into the air from the impact of the funnel and allowed to fall on the other side of the field.
"Dratini wins!" the ref calls when Voltorb doesn't move from its spot.
"Yeah, that's my best friend!" Lance calls from the sidelines and she can't help but blush and roll her eyes at him.
"Not bad, Spunky," Surge calls while returning Voltorb to his little home. "Let's see how you do against my best, my Raichu!"
The tossed pokeball pops open, letting out a large blob that forms into the electric mouse looking pokemon. Serena tenses at the sight of him, her mind goes into panic mode as the pokemon stretches out and lets some sparks fly in a show of intimidation.
Message received.
"Hey, don't give up Rena!" Lance's voice cuts through her thought. She glances over to see him watching with his hands fisted over his knees and his back hunched forward.
He's really into this fight.
"Okay, okay," she takes a deep breath and addresses Wynn. "We can do this, fight with everything you have."
The dragon type hums in response, her head fins vibrating to show her excitement.
From there, the battle goes downhill. Despite Wynn's best efforts, there is not much power behind her moves. She puts up a great fight, managing to dodge some powerful attacks from Raichu, but a few hits and she's down. With only Ty able to put up the best fight, Serena calls him onto the field and the pressure builds.
With the stare down between the two, the ref calls out the okay to start. Serena hesitates, and that gives Surge the upper hand as he calls out thunderbolt. The attack is powerful as it rips through the field, sending dirt and rock flying, as it barrels down on Ty. Thankfully, Ty understands his trainer's nature and dodges it. He rolls away and attacks with Flamethrower to knock the electric type off it's game.
"Focus, Rena!"
Lance's shout puts Serena back in her shoes as she clenches her fist and cries out. "Drown the field in Smokescreen!"
Ty does as told, expelling a dark mist from the flame openings on his neck and back. Surge calls for another thunderbolt, but Ty disappears into the smoke. It's a game of hide-n-seek as the two pokemon land some powerful hits on the other. Serena keeps Surge on his toes as she always makes sure smokescreen is covering the field.
Though they haven't practiced this strategy, Ty gets the hang of finding where his target is through the dark smoke.
"We're getting close to the end, Spunky. Whatcha' gonna do now?" Surge taunts as Raichu uses Mega Kick and hits Ty in the gut.
Beaten and tired, Ty stays on his feet and disappears once more in the smoke but it's futile as it dissipates and he's unable to keep making more. With a deep breath, Serena calls for her pokemon to hide using Dig, much to the gym leader's surprise. Lance bellows from the side of the field in favor of the move. Serena can't help but smile as Raichu runs all over the field, hoping to dodge the potential attack.
"Guide him around," Serena shouts, hoping Ty can hear her.
She crosses her fingers and then beams when little bits of earth jut upwards at Raichu's feet, luring it to the crater made by Wynn earlier. Lance cheers as Raichu takes a tumble into the hole only to be booted out by Ty as he emerges from the ground. He slams his body and some debris into the electric type. Raichu soars over the field, landing in a heap in front of his trainer and, much to the shock of everyone, faints.
"Raichu is down, Quilava and Serena are the winners!" the ref shouts raising the green flag in her favor.
With a squeal, Serena opens her arms welcoming Ty to celebrate the victory. Lance dashes over and gathers them both up in his arms, twirling the two around and squeezing them tight. He sets them down when Surge approaches. Breathless with joy, Serena accepts the Thunder Badge and thanks Surge for the great battle.
"Thank you, Serena," he beams with a pearly white smile. "That was a good strategy, hopefully your spunk takes you far."
Serena nods and exits trying to seem professional. Once she's outside, she turns to Lance and squeals. "I did it!"
He laughs and listens as she recounts the battle as if he wasn't watching from the side. Her arms gesture to every emotion she felt, arms swinging as she describes the way her pokemon moved. His eyes track her movements, the way her smile gleams in the sunlight as she beams at him, the way her blue eyes seem to glitter and hair bounces behind her with each step. Did her eyes always have slivers of gray? Or is it the light from the ocean waves?
"La-ance!" Serena sings as they reach the center, her hand waves in front of his face.
He shakes his head. "What?"
"I asked where you wanted to get lunch, you okay?" she holds the door for him.
"Yeah, just lost in thought," he brushes off his observations of her and grins. "I was thinking some pizza, yeah?"
The smile on her face makes his own grow bigger. "Heck, yeah."
April 30th
I beat Surge! It was an amazing battle! Wynn and Ty kicked some ass, I can't believe how much better we are getting after all that training and learning. It felt so good to be into the battle, I am starting to understand why Lance likes it so much. My pokemon and I felt in sync and ready to take on what came next, despite my hesitation they were able to reassure me that everything would be fine. I can actually do this, I can actually be a great trainer.
"Is that the journal your mom gave you?" Lance questions. He takes a sip of soda as they wait for their slices at a local pizza place.
Serena nods while finishing a sentence and sets it aside. "Yeah, it helps clear my mind when I'm worried or something."
"You seemed to handle yourself well on the field," he nods along with what she said. "Maybe that's helping you too."
She hums an agreement and reaches across the table to take his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. "You too, thanks for cheering for me. It means a lot."
"Duh, I'm your best friend," he squeezes her hand back just as their food comes up.
The two eat in comfortable silence as the afternoon light turns to early evening. The sky going from soft blue to orange to red as the sun retreats over the horizon. Once finished with their meal, they leave the shop and take a walk along the boardwalk of Vermillion Port.
Since her other pokemon are getting looked at, Serena lets Espeon walk with them. She supposes the fresh air will be good for the both of them. They walk to the end of a pier and lean on the railing, Espeon on Serena's left, looking content.
Serena marvels at the sky and its reflection in the sea; the light reflects yellow on the waves with hints of reddish pink along the horizon. It looks like a painting, she can hardly believe it's real. Lance watches her marvel at the sight, he's spent so many sunsets and sunrises looking at the ocean while traveling, and yet it doesn't look as beautiful as it does with the way she's looking at it.
"I thought seeing the sunset in the mountains was the best," she murmurs and glances at him. She's surprised to meet his eyes, but smiles.
"Mmm, I thought so too," he switches to lean back against the pier. "But I think the best is a sunrise over a lake in the middle of the woods."
She perks up. "Yes! Think we'll see plenty of sunsets and sunrises when we travel?"
"Of course," he snorts. "As your travel buddy, I am required to make sure you're up at ungodly hours of the morning to witness such things."
She rolls her eyes. "Oh, thank goodness you will be with me."
"Exactly," he ends with a playful shove.
With a laugh, she returns it before they head down to the boardwalks and stroll farther down. Unlike the daytime, the beach is almost cleared of all people except a few couples holding hands on the beach. Lance notices and smiles at the thought of holding someone's hand while doing the same. While he enjoys his nightly escapades with strangers, a part of him dreams for consistent intimacy in his future. Without thought his hands slide to Serena, but he catches himself on it and pushes the urge away.
Espeon glances up at him from Serena's side, though he misses her look, before returning her gaze towards the front.
As they walk on in silence, other people head back as they come up to the shipping area of the port. Boats come in and out of this area carrying loads of goods for the Orange islands and other places. There are several light posts illuminating the empty shipping yard, a fence and a guardhouse comes into view prohibiting entry. The two turn around when the bellow of a horn sounds and makes them plug their ears.
"It's the SS Anne," Lance comments as a large cruise ship prattles by towards the main port. "It goes around the world for a year before turning here for some time. All the richest people take the cruise."
Serena raises a brow. A whole year? Yeah, you would have to be rich to go on a cruise for a year making little to no money. She would love to see the world though. Just as she travels Kanto, she would love to just visit other regions to see their pokemon, their people and their culture. She marvels at the thought before glancing around them.
"Hey," she starts and spins in a circle. "Where's Espeon?"
"What?" Lance tears his gaze away from the ship to Serena's side.
"She was just here," Serena panics until she sees her pokemon running towards the port where the SS Anne is heading . "Espeon! Stop!" The pokemon doesn't even flinch at her name being called. "Uugh!"
"She doesn't listen, huh?" Lance chuckles as they jog after her.
"Not really."
They follow the psychic type as she leaps onto the pier leading towards the SS Anne's dock. Around the entrance there's a side where the pier meets a small island of shipping containers and such. It's set apart from the main walkway to the boat where the ground is neater and everything puts on a show for those going on their luxurious cruises. On this side a big wooden building, dark with no inhabitants, and some garbage sits abandoned.
Espeon comes to a stop at a break in the fence and waits for the two to catch up. Lance keeps an eye out for guards as they get to her and kneel beside her.
"What are you doing?" Serena demands in a whisper. "We can't be over here."
It looks familiar, Espeon responds while watching the crew descend from the boat and disperse.
"Oh, oh!" Serena frowns then exclaims in surprise.
"What?" Lance hushes her.
"Espeon said the SS Anne looks familiar," she turns back towards the yard. "Maybe one of them is her owner."
"Your dad said that he couldn't find anything on her here, no records of a missing Espeon or that someone even had one here," Lance states with his own frown. "I'm sure someone would have said something, even if they worked on a ship that docks every once in a while."
"But when he checked, the SS Anne was in the orange islands for repairs," she reasons. "Maybe, it wasn't registered yet with the office here in Vermillion."
The situation is strange. So many factors are at play and neither of them can really comprehend what happened to Espeon or her trainer. Glancing between them and the shipping yard, Lance debates on what they will do. The area is off limits, given the signs declaring such going out there with Espeon may help someone recognize her.
"Okay, lets just walk up and see if someone recognizes her. We'll mention that she's lost and that may help our case for trespassing," he explains, getting to his feet.
Sounds good, Espeon agrees as Serena stands up and dusts herself off.
"She likes this plan."
The three of them head towards the entrance. By now most of the workers have gone home with a few remaining. Tough looking sailors talking amongst each other while waiting for something unseen. Lance walks closer to Serena, as if to block her from an impending attack before clearing his voice at their approach.
"Oi! No trespassers allowed 'ere!" one of them shouts. The closest sailor turns to them with his arms crossed.
A long-haired sailor slinks forward and squints at Espeon as she takes the lead. His eyes flash in recognition and he turns to the group. "Oi, isn't that-"
"Trespassers? Yes," the first guy shoves the second one hard. He glances back at the two and sneers. "What did I just say?"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Lance brushes off his attitude. "This Espeon is lost, does she belong to one of you?"
All of them freeze and glance at the first sailor. Serena stares at them, studying the fear on their faces after they gaze at Espeon for too long. It's like they want to stake a claim but cannot for some reason. She nudges Espeon with her leg and gestures towards the men.
"Do they look familiar?" she whispers, fear starts to grip her voice. She unconsciously clings to Lance's arm as he faces down the men in front of him.
"No, she don't look familiar," the first one finally speaks after a quiet murmur rumbles through the group. "Now get outta here."
"But you know something," Lance states taking a step forward.
Serena squeezes his arm. "Be careful."
He pats her hand, "I've got this."
"Listen to your girlfriend there," the man spits. "This is no place for boys and scared damsels with rare pokemon. Especially that Espeon."
"What does that mean?" Lance presses. "We just want to find her owner, okay?"
"It's not safe out here," the second guy steps forward, his dark eyebrows set in a frown. "We don't know 'er."
Espeon leaps forward and growls. He knows something.
"Watch it!" he flinches back. "Get ahold of your pokemon."
"You know something," Serena states, gaining her confidence from Lance. "Please tell us."
The other two men laugh, the second sailor snorts while the first holds his hand to shut them all up. He turns to the kids and crosses his arms once more. "How 'bout a wager?"
"What kind of wager?" Lance grins.
"Not you, pretty boy. Your girlfriend," he points at Serena. "You battle me, if you win we answer all your questions. If you lose, you have ten seconds to run outta here."
"Or what?" Lance demands, much to Serena's chagrin.
"Or the world will miss two brats and we'll have some nice pokemon with us," the guy wheezes out a laugh.
"Lance, we should go," Serena tugs on his arm.
Her hands tremble at the thought of taking on this guy and losing. Even with her powers, or who their parents are, there's no ending of this that is good. This was a mistake. These guys are bad news and all she wants to do is leave.
No, I want answers, Espeon demands in her head. The pokemon has turned her head to stare Serena down. Let's battle.
Serena sighs just as Lance speaks up, having not heard Espeon's decision. "You did so great today, I bet you can take him."
"Espeon already decided, two to one," Serena responds and lets go of his arm to wring her hands out. "We will battle you then."
"Ha!" the sailor bellows and the others join in. "You see that? Little thing's got some fire in 'er. Let's go, lass."
He pulls out a pokeball, tosses it and waits as his Cloyster adjusts to its surroundings. Serena gulps and nods at Espeon so she takes her spot on the makeshift field. It's just a cloyster, nothing too different from what she has handled before. She feels that she can't fail, it's important to Espeon and it should feel important to her.
"I'm not going easy on you, lass," the man starts and then commands his pokemon, "Cloyster use Aurora Beam!"
"Quick Attack to dodge it!" Serena cries out as a colorful beam emits from Cloyter's horn and tears down the field at amazing speed. Lance gazes at the battle, worried about the speed of the opponent. He watches Serena call out another command and hopes she can make it through this. "Then use Swift to knock Cloyster away!"
"Protect!"
Cloyster is fast, much faster than Espeon as it stops attacking to pull up a bubble around it as the stars from Espeon's head jewel bounce off the shield. Serena clenches her fist, already put off by how it's going. Once the shield drops, Cloyster lunges forward in the air and Clamps around Espeon at his trainer's command. Serena gasps as Espeon's front leg is caught on the shell and the pokemon cries out in pain. Lance flinches at the hit, his hands clenching at his sides.
"Espeon, use confusion to get out of there!" she nearly screeches in panic.
The psychic type's eyes glow, a glow that matches the one appearing around Cloyster as it grasps her, and she forces the pokemons mouth open before shoving it away from her. She limps over towards Serena and collapses at her feet. Down for the count.
"Ha, can't even get through a whole battle," the sailor snickers. "Go on. Get outta here and don't come back muddling around in something that's too much for you!"
Serena, tears in her eyes, kneels over Espeon. "I'm so sorry. I'll get you to the center right away."
"Let me try," Lance takes a step towards the man.
"Lance, please," she stares at him with Espeon in her arms. "Let's just get out of here."
He stares from her to the men just waiting for him to try something, but it's futile. He gives in to her, helping put Espeon away before putting an arm around Serena's shoulder and help her up. The two scurry out of the yard to get away from the derisive laughs and comments.
It's silent on the way to the center, except for the sparse sniffles from Serena as she can't get Espeon's scream out of her head. Just when she's feeling confident about battles, she can't help but shake the feeling of putting her pokemon through something way out of her league.
The center coming into view does little to relieve Serena's stress as they walk up to the counter. Lance helps get Espeon checked in with Nurse Joy and settles Serena at a table in the cafeteria's corner with a mug of hot chocolate. She's been silent the whole time, unable to stop some tears from flowing or stop shaking.
With her hands around the mug, he reaches over and touches her wrist.
"Hey, talk to me," he mutters with his brows knit and voice gentle.
"I can't believe I let her do that," Serena glances up at him. "The battle. That was horrible, that Cloyster was way out of our league. She is barely used to battling anyway and now this?"
"You did your best," he responds. "Besides, I shouldn't have encouraged you to do it. I forgot how new to battling she is. We should have walked away."
"We should have," she agrees with a sniff. His hand pulls away as she lifts hers to wipe away her tears. "But she wanted answers."
"Do you?" he tilts his head. He also gestures for her to drink more.
She bites her lip and glances outside into the darkness. "I'm not entirely sure. Is that so bad? I just want to keep her. She is such a good friend."
"It's okay that you want to keep her," he leans back keeping his eyes on her. "You've become so accustomed to her and you've grown to really understand her like a good trainer. It only makes sense."
"But I should have tried harder to get answers for her," she responds. He notices her hands gripping the mug so hard her knuckles turn white. "I can't be selfish about it, I'll be no better than my uncle if I try to keep the truth away from her."
"Don't say that," he cuts in with a serious tone. "Serena, you are not like your uncle at all. You are a thousand times better than he is. You knew it wasn't safe. We just got caught up at the moment."
She takes another sip of hot chocolate, her eyes following the melted marshmallows as she swirls it over the surface of the table. In all honesty, the rush of excitement was enough to get her to foolishly agree to a battle she wouldn't have won with Espeon. If it were daylight and more people around, she is sure those guys wouldn't have been so cruel as they were tonight.
They still got enough information just through the pre-battle interactions and she thinks back to what they said.
"Hang on, that guy recognized Espeon, though," she looks up at Lance. "Did you hear what he was about to say?"
Lance rubs his chin. "You're right. He was about to mention someone's name, but then they all froze up. So he must know where she came from, but how?"
"Maybe he used to work with them?" she shrugs. "Then he got robbed by Giovanni and had to quit? Espeon knew he knew something. She said it before the battle started."
"Hmm, it was suspicious..." he trails off in thought. His light eyes tracing patterns on the table while she watches. He suddenly snaps his fingers with a grin. "What if we asked him?"
"What do you mean?" she frowns. "I lost, we can't go back. They'll kick us out for sure."
"Yeah, if we went back to the shipping yard," he grins. "There's a bar not far from the docks I know all the sailors go to and get super drunk."
"How do you know that?"
"I may have glossed over some details in my storytelling yesterday," his grin widens. He laughs at her shock. "Come on, no parents, remember?"
"My god, Lance. Only you," she rolls her eyes and then sits up again. "We're not sneaking into a bar."
"You don't have to," he shrugs. "I can do it on my own."
"No," she shakes her head. "That's too dangerous. Look, you're my best friend, but I will not let you get into trouble because of me."
"Our time in school says different," he retorts with a grin. "You know that I will absolutely get into big trouble for you and that you would do the same for me."
Despite the warmth coming from his voice, Serena shakes her head in exasperation. "This is getting bigger than it should."
"Rena, either you come or you don't," he lays his hands on the table. "If you do, I'll tell you the plan. If you don't, then just go to our room and wait there until I get back. I promise I will be fine."
She bites her lip, considering her options. Espeon deserves to be with her trainer, whether her trainer wants her back and whether Serena wants to give her up. Her father trusted her to find out what happened to Espeon and return the pokemon to where she belonged. The least Serena could do was that. The rest can come later, whether Espeon actually goes with her trainer. The picture is bigger than her and she has to accept her piece in it all.
That sailor knew who she was, she had to come from somewhere around here and it has to be something that her father missed. But if her father missed it, then it may be something underground a.k.a illegal. She and Lance are still teenagers, there's no way the two of them could take on something like this with no training. Logic calls for her to call her father and let him know what happened, but they can't say they trespassed and found out about something illegal. It'll cancel out their supposed evidence.
So, more logic calls for them to go forward with their own investigation and call it a mere coincidence they found some information on her trainer.
"Fine."
OoOoOoO
Nurse Joy had reassured Serena that Espeon was doing well before they left. Some bruising, but it will clear up by morning and she will be asleep until then. Serena felt bad about leaving her, but there's not much else she could do aside from sit next to the slumbering pokemon. She could at least try to get more answers before morning came.
Dressed in a dark sweatshirt, pants and some boots, she stalks beside Lance in a similar outfit minus his usual cape. The air is nice and cool as they make their way down some shady streets towards the bars. Lance walks the streets with purpose as if he's been around here more than once and that concerns Serena. He needs to clarify some details missed the next time they're back in the room.
They come up to a brick building with a crumbling roof and battered front door, the Seaside Tavern. Lance pulls Serena into the alleyway behind a dumpster and checks their surroundings. He turns to her and pulls out a pokeball; he tosses it into the air and she watches as a long serpent pokemon emerges.
It's Ryu.
"He will watch you out here," he states.
"Okay."
She breathes in and goes over the plan in her head again. Lance goes in alone, a girl in the bar is bound to bring attention. He's been in there before and has gained a bit of a rep under whatever the name is on his fake ID. He'll distract them by announcing a drinking contest between some other men (more regulars), this always gets a crowd going and they're bound to be boisterous tonight. Then he'll lure the target out to the alleyway where Ryu will intimidate him into talking.
Mind numb with all the ways this can go wrong, Serena nods as Lance urges her to stay hidden and to leave if there is trouble. Ryu will protect her and then get him out of whatever is happening inside. They agree to rendezvous back at the center in an hour if something goes wrong.
He's powerful, the words Lance used to describe Ryu ring in Serena's mind as she watches him sway out of the alleyway.
She turns to inspect the dragon type staring after his trainer, ignoring her. As a dragonair, his body is much larger than it used to be. Stretching and piling beneath him like a bed of hoses. The round jewel on his head is now a horn, the head fins now reminiscent of wings, glow in the street's lamp at the end of the alley. She remembers when he was a dratini, so straightforward and hard-headed. He used to play with Wynn, but looking at his stern face now, she doubts he would give her the time of day.
Serena leans back against the brickwall behind her and stares up at the night sky. For being near the city not as many stars are visible, but she traces imaginary shapes with what she can see to pass the time. The music from inside pounds against the door and she wonders if she could even hear Lance if he gave a distress call. The thought unsettles her, her eyes darting to Ryu wondering if he would just sense it.
The pokemon shifts closer to her, sensing her distress and offering comfort with the touch of his cool, soft scales. She reaches out and runs her hand along his side, his muscles beneath his skin are hard and powerful. She wonders just how much training he has been through to already be evolved and as big as he is.
After what seems like forever, the door bursts open and out comes the sailor from before. He stumbles down the steps and hits the ground on his hands and knees. Serena leaps from her spot on the ground and stands back against the wall. Lance trails after the sailor, letting the door slam shut behind him, before coming to a stop next to his pokemon. Two on one from Serena's view huddled against the wall.
She watches Lance; he looks much older than he did when he went inside, shocked at his rough attitude. It must be the confidence oozing from him as he stands tall with Ryu next to him. His jawline is prominent in his show of anger and his muscles tensed for an attack should it come to that. Ever the hero, always standing up for what he thinks is right. In Blackthorn and now in Vermillion.
"What the fuck, kid?" the sailor curses coming to his feet. He glances between the two. "You brats better hav-!"
His words die in his throat as Ryu leans down and makes himself better known in the lone light in the alley. The sailor's mouth drops and he takes a shaky step back only to stumble upon an old can on the ground. He lands on his butt and backs up a foot or two towards the mouth of the alley.
"Not so hot now, huh?" Lance states with his arms crossed. "We just want answers, no trouble."
"O-o-okay!" the guy holds up his hands and glances at Serena. "It's about the Espeon, right? That expensive ass, rare pokemon!?"
"Yes," she steps forward. "Please, just tell me where she came from."
"Nothing about me can get told to anyone, you hear me?" he gains some dignity and leans forward, shaking a finger at the two of them. He puts it down when Ryu growls. "Promise me!"
"We promise," Serena nods and waves her hand to get Lance to back off with his pokemon.
Once Lance and Ryu lean away, the sailor seems to relax a little, and he sits up. "I would have said something without that freaking dragon type here."
"We had to be sure," Lance narrows his eyes before making a 'spit it out' gesture with his hand.
"Okay. There's a place in Celadon City, a gambling ring, the guys and I like to go to after a particularly nice trip," he explains. "It's below the flower shop called, Lila's Garden, run by a harmless old geezer but don't let him fool you. Guy used be in the mafia or somethin'. Anyway, besides gambling money, you can gamble pokemon."
Serena gasps. "No."
The guy looks sad as he continues. "Yeah, kid. I'm sorry, but she came from a real prick. No one saw the face of the guy who won that round of poker, he came in, made a big bet like he owned the place, won and left without a word."
"How are they able to reconfigure the pokeball to not bring up her original trainer?" Lance interjects.
"I don't know nothin' about that shit," the guy sneers back. "I just go to get some money or pokemon. That all?"
"Do you know who her trainer used to be?" Serena speaks up after a moment.
"Besides him being a prick and one of the best there? Nope, but most likely lives in Celadon or Saffron. They don't get a bunch of traffic from here or other regions," he answers and then smacks his hands as if cleaning them of dust. "Now that's all the time I have for you, kids. Don't come back and don't tell anyone I told you anything!"
"Yeah, yeah, go ahead," Lance waves him off.
He scurries up to the door and disappears into the bar once more.
A prize. Her trainer gambled her and she didn't even know.
Serena's world feels as though it's spinning. She has no idea how to feel about the news.
Her trainer was willing to give her away as though she were a stack of money. First she feels pity for the pokemon, so desperate to get back to a trainer that gave her away in a game of poker. Second, is anger, she wants to punch, kick and scream at the trainer that would raise a pokemon just to give it away for something 'bigger and better'. Third, the feeling she doesn't want to admit, is excitement. Maybe with this knowledge, Espeon won't want to go home and she'll want to stay with Serena.
Selfish.
"Rena," Lance's voice cuts through her thoughts, hands on her shoulders. Ryu is gone, in his pokeball in a movement she missed. "Let's go back, okay?"
She nods in silence and follows him back with a trudge in her steps. Her thoughts swirl around as they head up to their room. She leaves Espeon down in the clinic for the night, there's no use in waking her up only to break her heart. As she gets ready for bed, she vaguely hears a soft knock on the door and Lance whispering to someone about coming over for the night.
"Go ahead," she mumbles as she brushes her hair in the bathroom. "I'll be fine tonight."
"You promise?" he sticks his pinky out.
She smiles and wraps his pinky with hers. "Of course."
"Okay."
She listens as he explains to the girl that he's not dating her, they are best friends. She can't help but laugh at that.
Could she ever date Lance?
He's always been there for her, he knows her secrets (the few she has) and accepts her. He never judges her most ridiculous insecurities and always does his best to get her to see the good side. He knows just how to cheer her up, what to say to make her feel better and what kind of day she's having from just a glance...
"No, no, we couldn't," she mutters to herself, pushing the thought away and finishing with her hair. "He's my best friend."
The room seems so much bigger without him in it. None of his jokes, stories or just his presence to fill the empty space. She listens for his breathing only to remember he's off having fun for the night. All that excitement from tonight, she can't blame him. She only wonders why she doesn't feel like doing the same, or if she did, why it couldn't be with some random person.
