Pride of Your Soul
Chapter 4: From Ranch to Virbank
AN: This chapter's shorter in comparison to the other chapters, but hopefully you'll still enjoy it.
Dawn has risen, and the chilled air and the sunlight of morning leaked through the window. The light hit Rosa's closed eyes, irritating her.
"Ugh...Morning already?" Rosa murmured as she got up from her bed.
She got out of her bed and stretched her arms, letting out a yawn. She looked around, seeing that Hugh was still snoozing in his bed, but Nate was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did he go?" Rosa asked herself.
As she got out of her bed, she heard clashing sounds coming from outside. She peered from the window, and to her shock, she found the missing boy who was sparring with Luca with nothing but his knives.
"What's the matter!?" Nate taunted as he slammed his knife at Luca's staff. "Move faster!"
Luca pushed Nate back and swiped her staff at the boy, but he ducked under it as his shoe produced several sharp blades and swiped it at Luca's foot, who jumped away from it. Luca then lunged at Nate and slammed the staff at him, but he moved to the side to avoid it while lunging at Luca with his own strike. Luca intercepted the blade with her paw spike, bouncing the knife and Nate back, before rushing towards the boy. Luca lunged the staff at Nate's head, but stopped at the last minute, as Nate had his blade up at Luca's neck.
"Not bad," Nate commented as he put away his knives. "Alright that's enough for today."
Luca smiled as her staff dissipated into energy.
"You fight with Luca?" Rosa asked from her view, getting the marauder's attention.
"More of a practice fight," Nate responded. "I mean practice makes perfect, and it never hurts to practice."
"Is that so," Rosa commented as Nate recalled Luca.
The girl could've sworn that the lucario had glared at her momentarily before getting recalled.
"I'll be downstairs eating whatever it is the old man's cooking," Nate dismissed as he headed back to the house. "Wake up spikehead and get downstairs if you want your share."
Rosa giggled a little at Nate's title for Hugh, before heading back into the room and waking up said boy.
"Huh? What?" Hugh groaned.
"It's morning," Rosa said. "C'mon, let's go eat."
Hugh grumbled in sleepy annoyance as he got up from his bed, following Rosa down to the living room. There, Nate and Alder were already at the table, eating what appears to be bacon, eggs and toast.
"Bout time you two showed up," Nate muttered through chewed eggs.
"Good morning you two," Alder greeted the two.
The two took empty seats next to the two, feasting on the plates of food presented to them.
"So how was the night, you three?" Alder asked.
"It was fine," Hugh responded as he chewed on a piece of toast.
"It was alright, Mr. Alder," Rosa said.
"So, where the hell do you two plan to go next?" Nate asked.
"The next gym, of course," Rosa said. "So we head to Virbank City next."
"Ah, that's not too far from here," Alder said. "Just go through Route 20. If I may, I suggest you visit the Floccesy Ranch."
"Floccesy Ranch?" Nate asked. "Why go to that place?"
"It's a rather peaceful and quirky place," Alder said. "It couldn't hurt to drop by."
"Whatever..." Nate muttered.
"I guess it couldn't hurt to do so," Hugh said.
"I guess..." Rosa said.
Nate scarfed down the rest of his food, before getting up from the table.
"Welp, I'm done here," Nate said as he grabbed his plate and placed it in the sink. "You two finish your meals. I'll be outside if you need me. Thanks for the meal, Alder."
With that, Nate left the room, and out of the house, leaving his two companions with the old man.
"How rude," Rosa huffed. "I'm sorry about that, Mr. Alder."
"Haha! No worries!" Alder chuckled. "I'm sure he didn't mean to be rude."
"If you say so," Rosa said as she finished her meal. "Thank you for the meal, Mr. Alder."
"Thanks," Hugh said as he finished his meal.
"Any time!" Alder said. "Now you three be careful out there."
The two bowed to him out of respect, before leaving the house, meeting up with Nate who was waiting for them outside.
"You done?" Nate asked.
"Y'know, you could've been a bit more polite," Rosa said. "He did give you free food."
"I thanked him," Nate replied. "I'm sure that's good enough."
Rosa simply sighed at Nate's bluntness as he stretched his arms out.
"So we're heading to the ranch?" Nate asked.
"I mean it couldn't hurt," Hugh said.
Nate shrugged his shoulders as he released Tep.
"Alright, Tep, rise and shine," Nate said.
"-Morning, Boss!-" Tep saluted his trainer.
Rosa and Hugh did the same with Ottavia and Eve, and Snivy and Vibrava respectively.
"-Morning Rosa!-" Eve barked at Rosa.
"-M-Morning,-" Ottavia mumbled.
"-Good morning,-" Vibrava said.
Snivy simply yawned while nodding to Hugh.
"-How come you never talk?-" Vibrava asked his Grass-type companion.
Snivy simply shrugged before climbing onto Hugh's shoulder.
After bidding farewell to Alder, the trio headed through the neighboring Route 20, before shortly finding the ranch that Alder had mentioned. The sign that was adorned to the entrance read 'Floccesy Ranch'.
The Floccesy Ranch was, for a lack of better words, average. It looked like any other typical ranch you would find in any country, sporting a variety of colorful Pokémon such as mareeps and lillipups. Albeit, to its credit, there are some rather rare Pokémon you wouldn't find in a normal ranch, such as riolu.
"So, why did Alder tell us to go here?" Nate asked.
"Scenery, atmosphere, I guess?" Hugh asked.
"Well whatever," Rosa said. "Now then."
Rosa instantly pointed to Hugh.
"You!" Rosa yelled. "We still need to fight!"
Hugh just groaned in response, while Nate simply raised an eyebrow.
"Y'know I'd figured you wouldn't mind fighting your friend," Nate commented to Hugh.
"He just doesn't want to fight me because he knows I'll win," Rosa scoffed.
"It's either I win, and she complains for an hour, or I lose, and she'll gloat about it for an hour," Hugh whispered to Nate. "Don't get me wrong, she's my best friend. She can just be annoying when it comes to battling."
So she essentially has an ego that's way bigger than herself. Ugh, those kind of people. On a more serious note, team wise, Spikehead holds a major advantage over Bunhead; his snivy holding the type advantage over her oshawott, and unless Eve has Hidden Power Ice, then she'll struggle against Vibrava.
But then again, he had never seen them fight with their main partners–well, he saw Rosa technically fight Keldeo with Eve, but that was outright pitiful and he shouldn't judge her by that kind of performance; no he wasn't that cruel. Maybe.
Either way, a fairer match would better determine how 'skilled' Rosa claims to be.
"Duly noted," Nate said, before glancing at Rosa. "Although...this would be a good time to see just how 'skilled' you claim to be as a trainer..."
"Verily," Rosa said with gusto. "I'll show you!"
"-Yeah, let's!-" Eve barked enthusiastically.
"Fine," Hugh muttered as Vibrava got ready. "Get ready, Vibrava."
Vibrava nodded in response, as Eve raced up in front of Rosa.
"Alright, Eve, Take Down!" Rosa commanded.
"Counter with Dragon Breath!" Hugh ordered.
Eve charged at Vibrava, who spewed a fiery breath at Eve. Eve jumped over it and lunged for Vibrava, connecting the attack and crashing into the dragonfly.
"Tch, push her back with Dragon Breath!"
Vibrava blasted a Dragon Breath at Eve, blasting her back, as Vibrava regained his footing.
"Now, Bulldoze!" Hugh yelled.
Vibrava slammed his tail into the ground, shaking the earth as Eve landed on it, and making her lose her balance.
"Shadow Ball!" Rosa commanded.
"Dragon Breath!"
Eve got up quickly and charged a shadowy orb before shooting it at Vibrava. Vibrava in response, shot down the shadowy projectile with a Dragon Breath, effectively shooting it down.
"Tch, Take Down, once more!"
"Bulldoze, then Rock Tomb!"
Eve charged at Vibrava, who shook the ground once more, prompting the fox to jump off the ground to evade it. Vibrava then summoned several boulders and shot them at Eve as she was airborne, pelting her with the boulders and sending her back.
"Are you alright, Eve?" Rosa called out.
Eve looked back at Rosa and nodded her head in acknowledgment.
"Our speed's dropped significantly low..." Rosa muttered. "Hyper Voice!"
Eve let out a horribly echoing shout, blasting Vibrava, and everyone in the premises with said horribly echoing shout.
"Now! Take Down!"
While Vibrava was weathering through the Hyper Voice, Eve took the opening, stopped her attack, and charged at Vibrava.
"Crap–!"
Vibrava was too distracted with trying to withstand the Hyper Voice, he didn't notice Eve crashing into him and sending him to the ground. Vibrava was knocked out from said Take Down, unable to continue.
"Damn it!" Hugh muttered.
"Yes!" Rosa cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "Nice job, Eve!"
"-Yay!-" Eve barked.
Hugh sighed as he kneeled down to Vibrava, taking out a yellow crystal and crushing it in his hand, letting the yellow dust fall into his mouth and reviving him.
"You alright, Vibrava?" Hugh asked.
"-Ugh...yeah...-" Vibrava groaned.
As Eve jumped into Rosa's embrace, Nate walked up to them, having observed the whole battle.
"So? What do you think? Impressive, wasn't it?" Rosa asked haughtily.
"Uh huh..." Nate muttered with one eyebrow curved up in a skeptical look. "Well...you're both amateurs."
"What?!" Rosa and Hugh yelled.
"You're even more of an amateur than him," Nate commented to Rosa.
"WHAT?!" Rosa shrieked. "EXPLAIN NOW!"
"Well, seeing both of you fight with your main partners," Nate decided to elaborate. "They were both pretty low-leveled."
Nate faced Rosa.
"You simply kept attacking without even assessing your opponent's strength," Nate said. "When physical attacks didn't work, you instantly switched to special attacks. Simplistic and basic that it's easily exploitable. You may not have done so since you were fighting your friend, so you probably knew how he fights, but against anyone else with a decent level of competency, that would've been exploitable, and they wouldn't hesitate to do so. You don't even bother to predict your opponent and act accordingly."
As Rosa looked agape, Nate faced Hugh.
"While you had a good strategy in pressuring the eevee with long-range attacks and even baiting the eevee to jump with Bulldoze so you could shoot it down with Rock Tomb," Nate commented. "Your vibrava did poorly with close quarters. Although I haven't seen the last move on your vibrava, Vibrava had little means to deal with close-range attacks like Take Down when you failed to avoid it."
"I see," Hugh muttered. "Well then, how do you propose we improve on it?"
Nate sent out Luca as he set Tep down from his shoulder and to the ground, all while instructing the little fire pig to observe what he was going to demonstrate carefully.
"Alright," Nate glanced to Hugh. "Try to hit Luca."
"Huh? Alright," Hugh said. "Vibrava, Bulldoze!"
Vibrava slammed his tail into the ground, shaking the earth once more. Luca simply jumped off the ground, avoiding the attack and lunging for the dragonfly while preparing a Bone Rush.
"Now, Rock Tomb!"
Vibrava summoned several boulders and shot them at the airborne Luca. Luca, in response, twirled around and shifted her position, avoiding the boulders completely and landing in front of Vibrava and striking him, stopping just as the staff was about to make contact with Vibrava's head.
"Luca was able to avoid all of the Rock Tombs and would be in a perfect scenario to strike Vibrava down, 'Levitate' be damned," Nate said.
Hugh just nodded dumbly, as Vibrava could only stare at the staff that was literal inches away from smashing into his face.
"Now, what's your last move?" Nate asked.
"Steel Wing," Hugh answered.
"Hmm...Not bad for a physical move...makes good use of Vibrava's physique," Nate commented. "Now, let's repeat the situation again. Try to strike down Luca as she tries to strike you down."
Vibrava nodded as Luca jumped back. Vibrava repeated the process, where Luca repeated the same evasion tactic. This time, however, as Luca fell down for the strike, Vibrava's wings glowed a steely luster as the dragonfly struck at Luca's staff with his wings. Vibrava managed to hold off against the staff, but Luca easily overpowered Vibrava and smacked the staff across his face.
"Vibrava!" Hugh cried.
"Better," Nate said. "Could still use some polishing, but you get the gist of it. Also why the hell did you hit Vibrava?"
Luca simply shrugged her shoulders as Vibrava recovered from the blow, giving the jackal a stern glare.
"Alright then..." Nate said, before facing Eve and Rosa. "Now, you two need to learn how to adapt to the situation."
"As if," Rosa scoffed.
"Oh really?" Nate asked. "Then try landing a hit on Luca."
"Simple enough," Rosa said. "Eve, Take Down!"
Eve jumped out of her arms and began her charge at Luca, who charged aura into her paw and began to shoot a stream of small aura spheres at Eve. Eve evaded them while running towards Luca. Noticing this, Luca kept firing at Eve, but made a quick shot at where Eve would dodge, where the fox ended up getting hit by that one stray shot as she avoided the main fire of aura spheres.
"Eve!" Rosa cried.
"Anyone with a decent amount of prediction can read the momentum of Eve's evasion pattern and act accordingly," Nate said. "It's your job as her trainer to act accordingly to prevent that, or else you'll end up being your opponent's plaything."
Rosa leered at Nate, but although she didn't want to admit it, he had a point. Luca predicted Eve's movement easily and countered it accordingly. While it only happened once, she had a feeling that Luca could repeat the process as many times as she wanted.
"You wanna try again?" Nate asked.
"...Very well..." Rosa muttered.
Nate nodded to Luca, who stepped back, as Eve stepped back, more determined than ever.
"Eve, Take Down!" Rosa yelled.
Eve charged at Luca, who repeated the procedure and began to shoot a stream of small aura spheres at the fox. Eve ran across the field, avoiding the stream of spheres, where her fur began to stand a little, anticipating the incoming stray shot. Luca shot the stray shot that Eve anticipated, and sidestepped to the right, avoiding the Aura Sphere.
"-Anticipation...-" Luca commented, as she began to shoot more stray Aura Spheres to test Eve's prediction.
To her surprise, Eve managed to avoid all of them and lunged at Luca, smashing into her chest. Unfortunately, Luca didn't even flinch, as she picked Eve up once she made contact.
"-T-That had no effect?-" Eve gaped.
"-Well, I'm a Steel-type,-" Luca said matter-of-factly.
"Not the point," Nate said, before facing Rosa. "See? Now isn't that better? You're not as predictable now."
Rosa grumbled under her breath, but agreed nonetheless.
"Now, Tep," Nate said, turning to his fire pig. "Did you pay attention to those demonstrations?"
"-Did I ever, Boss!-" Tep squealed. "-That was very informative!-"
"Good," Nate smiled. "That'll help improve your skills, but visuals don't make everything. Practice makes perfect after all."
"-Aye, Boss!-" Tep saluted.
"Then how about you fight me with Tep then?" Rosa challenged. "Luca might be too strong for now, but we can totally take on Tep!"
"Of course you can, considering you have a Water-type on you," Nate snarked.
"What? Scared?" Rosa smirked.
"No, I'm just being rational," Nate replied.
"-I can take her!-" Tep snorted aggressively.
"Well at least someone's positive," Nate muttered.
"Uh...Excuse us..."
Before Rosa could pick a fight with Nate, everyone turned to the source; seeing a pair of farmers with a light brown, canine Pokémon with a short snout and long, cream fur, which forms a mustache.
"Uh...can we help you?" Nate asked.
"Yeah, it kinda sounded pretty lively up here, so we came to check it out," the man said. "You all were having a battle, huh?"
"It's nice to be young, huh?" the woman asked.
"And who are you two?" Hugh asked.
"I'm the owners of this ranch," the man said. "And this is my wife."
"Your Pokémon must be tired from battling," his wife said. "So here! Have these potions. They'll heal them right up!"
The woman handed the three of them a potion, which they accepted.
"Thanks...I guess..." Nate muttered, putting his away since Luca didn't take any significant damage.
"Potions are real useful for healing up your Pokémon when you're far away from a pokécenter," the wife said.
"Evidently, have you all seen a herdier by any chance?" the man asked.
"A herdier?" Rosa asked. "You mean like that one?"
The trio glanced down to the dog besides the owner. The herdier in question barked in response.
"Yes, but we have another one," the man explained. "We can't just seem to find it. These two are always together, so this is the first time that he wandered off like this...and I'm kind of getting a little worried."
While Nate raised an eyebrow, he glanced to his two companions. Rosa slightly stepped back away from Hugh, who looked like he was about to explode.
"'A little worried'?" Hugh asked angrily, before proceeding to explode. "Are you KIDDING me!?" Your Pokémon might be lost forever, and you're just a LITTLE WORRIED?!"
"W-Whoa, easy there," the owner said, startled by Hugh's sudden outburst. "Well yes we're worried about Herdier, but this ranch is huge, and is protected by the wildlife that live here. I'm sure he can't be in that much trouble."
"Oh piss off!" Hugh spat. "Whatever, I'll look for him, since apparently you two can't be bothered to do so! Rosa, Nate! Help out!"
Before the ranchers could make a rebuttal, Hugh rushed off into the depths of the ranch, leaving the others in his dust.
"Geez, why did he have to get so mad?" the owner asked. "I'm sure he's probably just playing somewhere in the ranch."
Nate glanced back at Hugh as he disappeared into the ranch, while glancing at Rosa. He took note of how she backed away from him right before he unleashed his outburst, as if she had predicted that.
"So what was his problem?" Nate asked Rosa.
"It's...personal..." Rosa said a little uneasily, the tone of her voice somewhat surprising him.
"Uh huh..." Nate muttered. "Well if he hadn't gone berserk and actually thought rationally, then he'd remember that I could talk to these buggers."
As the two ranchers looked at him confused, Nate walked over and crouched down to the herdier.
"So, you have any idea where your buddy went?" Nate asked.
"-I remember him going along with some strange man in black,-" the herdier replied skeptically.
"A man in black?" Nate asked. "Any specifics?"
"-Wait, you can understand me?-" the herdier asked, shocked that a human could understand him.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Nate muttered.
"-Well, he had orange hair,-" the herdier said. "-But I didn't get to see where they went...-"
"So you have no idea where he went eh?" Nate asked, before contemplating. "...I got an idea."
"What is it?" Rosa asked.
"Alright, but don't judge me," Nate said.
Rosa tilted her head in confusion, as Nate lifted the herdier up and then began to smell him.
"Wha–?!" Rosa blurted.
"Don't judge me," Nate muttered as he continued to sniff the dog's fur.
"-Are you coming on to me?-" the herdier asked.
After a few seconds, Nate dropped the dog, before proceeding to sniff the air.
"...Oh there's where he went," he muttered.
"Wait, you can track the other herdier by following his scent?" Rosa asked.
"Well their both herdiers so I'm pretty sure they smell more or less the same," Nate said.
"What, you can use Odor Sleuth or something?" Rosa joked.
"You can say that," Nate chuckled. "Living in the wild does tend to force you to learn a few things."
Nate sniffed in the air of the ranch for a moment, before facing north of the ranch.
"Over there eh?" Nate smirked as Tep got onto Nate's shoulder. "Alright, let's go!"
The boy suddenly took off towards the direction, where Luca trailed behind, leaving Rosa and Eve in the dust.
"Wha–Don't leave me here!" Rosa yelled as she chased after Nate, leaving the two ranchers to themselves.
"That was strange..." the owner commented.
Nate raced towards the trees before jumping into the somewhat dense woods of the ranch, grabbing and jumping off of tree after tree like some kind of jungle man, with Tep hanging onto Nate's shoulder for dear life, and Luca keeping up with him.
"You alright, Tep?" Nate asked his Fire-type. "I probably should've held back a little, considering this is probably your first time going through something like this."
"-This is AWESOME!-" Tep squealed in excitement. "-It's like a roller coaster! I can't believe you're a normal human! As expected, you're AWESOME Boss!-"
"Gee, thanks," Nate said a little uneasily, somewhat embarrassed. "Although calling me normal is debatable."
"-Any luck?-" Luca asked from behind.
"No, can't seem to spot him anywhere..." Nate muttered as he took a whiff of the air once more. "His scent is getting stronger though, so he should be around here somewhere."
"Damn it! Stop biting me!"
They all turned to the direction of the sudden voice, originating from the center of the woods. Nate took a quick sniff, smirking when he smelled the scent of the herdier growing stronger over there.
"Bingo," Nate said.
Nate and Luca jumped towards the center of the woods and crashed through the trees, landing in front of a man with orange hair and blue eyes, wearing a black militaristic uniform, complete with a black officer's cap and a military vest, with his mouth covered. On his chest was a shield shaped insignia with a blue P, with one side black and the other white. With him was a herdier, which was currently gnawing on his arm.
"Get the hell off of me!" the man hissed in pain as he tried to pry the herdier off of him.
"Well, well, what do we have here," Nate said as Tep got off of his shoulder to prepare for battle, as did Luca.
The man glanced to see Nate and his Pokémon, before clicking his tongue.
"Tch...I've been found by a little pest..." the man muttered. "And stealing this herdier was all a bust!"
The man slammed his arm against a tree, smashing the herdier in the process, and forcing it to let go in pain.
"-Hey! You can't just do that!-" Tep growled.
"So what good would've came out of stealing a rancher's dog?" Nate asked as he crossed his arms.
"I'm a member of a group that strikes fear into the hearts of those who stand before it," the man said. "Team Plasma! Ever heard of it?"
'Oh you have no idea...' Nate thought darkly. "It rings a bell."
"That's right! We're the righteous group that tried to conquer Unova two years ago in order to liberate Pokémon from the tyranny of humanity!" the man proclaimed.
"'Righteous'? Hardly the word I'd use to describe you freaks," Nate scoffed.
"Whatever..." the man growled. "Like a fool like you would understand us. First I get lost trying to steal this herdier, and now some nasty brat spotted me! All of this is your fault!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, how is this my fault?" Nate asked. "You're the dumbass who tried to steal a dog from a rancher, and then got lost in said ranch. I just happened to find you, that's all. Half of this is your own damn fault. Don't blame an innocent kid for all of your problems."
"Why you...!" the man growled.
"Nate?! Is that you!?" Hugh's voice echoed through the woods. "Did you find the herdier!?"
"Oh great, someone else is coming," the man groaned. "I need to get the hell out of here!"
"Oh and where do you think you're going–?" Nate snarled as he reached for his knives.
The man took out a small pellet and threw it to the ground, releasing a huge smokescreen.
"GAH! SHIT!" Nate swore as the smoke got in his eyes.
As they were blinded, the man used this as an opportunity to make an escape, dashing past them and out of the woods.
"Damn it!" Nate swore as Luca cleared the smoke with her staff. "He got away?"
"-Unfortunately...-" Luca muttered, ashamed that she let the bastard retreat.
"Nate!"
Nate turned to see Hugh, having just reached them, panting slightly.
"Did you find him?!" Hugh asked.
"Yep," Nate said, pointing to the herdier that was happily circling around him. "He's alright."
"Thank god," Hugh sighed in relief. "So did you know why he was here?"
"Some bastard actually kidnapped him," Nate explained.
"WHAT?!" Hugh gasped. "Where did he go?!"
"The bastard used a smoke screen and got away," Nate muttered.
"GYAEEE!"
They all jumped at the scream of pain that echoed through the woods, turning to the direction that it came from.
"On second thought, maybe not..." Nate said.
The group rushed out of the woods, only to see, to their shock, the man in black, crouching in pain and incapacitated, with Rosa and Eve, who was snarling at him.
"What happened here?" Hugh asked.
"While I was trying to chase you, this freak tried to assault me out of nowhere," Rosa explained. "Fortunately, Eve made quick work of the problem."
"You caught the bastard?" Nate asked in shock.
"Of course," Rosa scoffed. "Anyone who would assault a lady deserves to be punished."
"I wasn't...even trying...to do that..." the man grunted in pain.
Hugh walked over and lifted the man onto his back. Upon seeing the insignia on his chest, Hugh's eyes widened, before lifting the man by his collar.
"You...you're from Team Plasma!" Hugh snarled.
"Y-Yeah, so what of it...?" the man grunted, still suffering from the pain from Eve.
"5 years ago. Do you know of a purrloin that you bastards stole from a girl 5 years ago?" Hugh suddenly interrogated.
"W-Wha...? No...?" the man asked in confusion.
Hugh clicked his tongue in annoyance, before punching the man straight in the face, knocking him unconscious.
"Damn..." Nate said.
"It wasn't him either," Hugh muttered.
"And the hell's your problem?" Nate asked Hugh.
Hugh glanced at Nate, before the two ranchers came rushing for them.
"What happened?" the owner asked.
"We found your dog," Nate said. "And some creep trying to steal him for questionable actions."
While the two looked surprised, the herdier with Nate happily went to the owner, reuniting with his brethren.
"Well, at the very least Herdier's all right," the owner said. "You had us worried. At least you're safe now."
"You're awfully calm about this, considering your herdier was kidnapped," Hugh almost snarled. "Your Pokémon could've been gone forever! Take better care of it!"
With that, Hugh left the scene, leaving the others behind.
"Seriously, what's his problem?" Nate asked.
Nate glanced to Rosa, who had that same uneasy expression she had when Hugh first snapped.
"Well at any rate, we're thankful for all of your help in finding our herdier," the wife said. "We'll call the police to have this man arrested."
"Hmm..." the owner wondered. "I wonder if something happened to him..."
"Huh?" Nate asked.
"It's like he's afraid of losing Pokémon," the owner commented. "...Eh, it's no use pondering over it since he's gone. C'mon, Herdiers, let's go home."
The ranchers gave Nate and Rosa their thanks once more, before heading back to the ranch, leaving the two and their Pokémon.
"Welp, let's get to the next city," Nate muttered, before glancing at Rosa. "And you wouldn't happen to know what was wrong with our friend?"
"It's...not really my place to tell you," Rosa said.
Nate raised an eyebrow, before contemplating. From what the owner implied, it seemed like Hugh was afraid of the thought of Herdier being lost forever. Then there was his animosity when Team Plasma was mentioned, from when he mentioned it back at Flocessy Town, and here, when he punched out the Plasma grunt. Maybe, perhaps...
...Well, he can only confirm it from Hugh, whenever he's ready to spill his part. Of course, Nate wanted to know now, but he wasn't that insensitive to just bug him about something that's obviously personal. Hell, even Rosa was somewhat uneasy about the idea.
"...No use worrying about it now," Nate muttered. "C'mon, let's go."
After regrouping with Hugh outside the ranch, they made their way through the remainder of Route 20, until finally reaching the next city; Virbank City.
"Awkward silence is always awkward," Nate stated, commenting on the awkward silence that had made up the majority of their trip through Route 20. He faced Hugh, who was staring at the other direction. "You calmed down?"
"...Yeah," Hugh muttered. "Sorry if I made you worry a bit."
"No, not really," Nate shrugged. "Just surprised by your actions is all. I figured you be the calm one to keep this arrogant blowhard in check."
"Hey!" Rosa yelled.
"Don't worry about it," Hugh muttered.
Nate stared at Hugh passively, before dropping it. Hugh didn't want to share his problems, so Nate decided not to pick at him about it. Hey, if he was stuck with them, might as well not piss him off too much. Unlike Rosa, Hugh was actually reasonable. Well Rosa was reasonable when she wanted to be, but Hugh was more tolerable overall.
"Get real!"
The trio perked up to see a commotion in the middle of the city. There was a girl with white hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes, wearing a blue dress with purple stripes and black boots. She was currently yelling at a sailor.
"You're a captain already, aren't you Dad? If that ship doesn't move, you're going to cause lots of trouble!" the girl yelled.
"Don't try to stop me, Roxie!" the sailor proclaimed. "I'm off to Pokéstar Studios to live up to my true potential! My dream is to be a ship captain and a movie star!"
"But Dad–!" the girl, Roxie, tried to protest.
"Oh, dear daughter, you split your time between your responsibilities as a gym leader and with your band, right?" the man, her father, reasoned. "If you can split your responsibilities, then I can do that, too!"
Without another word of protest or argument, the man rushed off elsewhere, leaving his daughter in the middle of the city.
"Father of the year, everybody," Nate said sarcastically.
"AAAAAGH!" Roxie yelled. "You dim-witted...dense...dumb...daft...dippy...dorky...doltish...doofish...DUMBASS!"
Roxie began grinding her foot on the ground in frustration, earning herself a few stares.
"For fuck's sake, doing double duty isn't the problem, you asshat!" Roxie swore. "You're fucking causing problems for people! Keeping people from getting where they're going because of your own selfishness is unforgivable!"
"AAAGH! I've had it! I'm going to the gym! This shit is pissing me off!" Roxie growled, stomping out of the scene.
"Well she certainly swears like a sailor," Nate snickered.
"So that's the gym leader?" Rosa asked.
"Yep," Nate said. "I managed to catch a glimpse of this place's gym while I was here earlier."
"You were here earlier?" Hugh asked.
"How do you think I got to Aspertia in the first place?" Nate retorted. "Anyways, she's certainly stronger than Cowlick on Normal Mode, I dunno how she fares on Challenge. Although I do advise that you expand your roster."
"Huh?" Rosa and Hugh asked.
"I mean, are you both planning to go through your journeys with just the two on your hand right now?" Nate asked. "I'm sure now's a good opportunity to expand your roster. Besides, I plan to do so anyways, regardless of what you two think."
"So, might as well go catch a new Pokémon?" Rosa asked.
"Yep," Nate said. "There's a complex outside the city, full of wild Pokémon. I'm sure there's something in there to your likings."
"I don't see why not," Hugh said.
"Very well," Rosa said. "Let's heal our Pokémon first, then go visit the complex."
All in agreement, they all headed for the pokécenter. Rosa decided to share her 'brilliant plan' to what kind of Pokémon she was going to catch, where Hugh rolled his eyes, and Nate simply tuned her out.
'Looks like Keldeo's warning came true...' Nate thought. 'If Plasma's back, then there's no doubt that Ghetsis is back too...and with Plasma back...then they'll certainly come back too.'
Nate grinned at the thought. It was two years since he saw them. A nostalgic feeling visited his thoughts. A part of him was happy about that, happy that there was a possibility that he could reunite with them, but he knew that his own feelings couldn't get in the way. He had an objective to complete. And even he wouldn't stop him.
Whether the end result spelled chaos or not; he didn't care.
AN: While I could've included more, and throw the Virbank Complex into this chapter (which I originally planned to do so), I figured this would be a good place to stop, and I figured this was enough for one chapter. Don't worry, these short chapters won't happen often if you're worried about not enough content. If you're thinking the complete opposite, and like these shorter chapters, well...sorry it's kind of hard for me to write short chapters nowadays for some reason.
Anyways, we get the first appearance of Team Plasma! What else are they up to now? You're gonna have to wait and find out.
Current Team Roster:
Nate: Luca (Lucario) / Tep (Tepig)
Rosa: Eve (Eevee) / Ottavia (Oshawott)
Hugh: Vibrava / Snivy
Anyways, hoped you enjoyed the chapter and look forward to the next chapter. See ya next time!