Chapter 5: Unlikely Allies

Slateport City was a haven for oceanic researchers, its docks occupied equally by submarines, commercial freighters and private yachts. Its economy depended on shipbuilding; indeed, nearly half the city consisted of warehouses, assembly plants and finished hulls sitting around on trailers. The tallest building in town was the region-renowned Contest House.

It was rather late in the day when Nori arrived via the Cleferry, the title of the wretched scow she had traveled from Mossdeep upon. Oh, the accommodations were fine, just fine, but it was the highly irritating passengers that were the trouble. In between being violently seasick over the railings, they were forever challenging anything with a trainer's belt. Nori had refused her first challenge, being unsure of her abilities and not wanting to endanger her critically low money supply, and hid her pokéballs underneath a jacket tied around her waist.

Disembarking in Slateport, she had visions of having to make her way around sailor's taverns under cover of darkness, but the summer sun was still very much in evidence as she cleared the harbor and made her way toward a large, open-air market.

There were numerous shops and stalls, selling everything from dolls to bootleg vitamins. Nori wandered from stall to stall, hoping she could find something useful and cheap, but it seemed as if any purchases made here would dangerously strain her current funds. She was perusing a table of technical machines when something tall, dark and leather-clad smashed into her right side.

Nori staggered but kept her balance. Turning to face her assailant, the stream of abuse she had lined up died on her lips.

He glanced at her briefly before turning back to the display. "Did I bump you? Sorry." Every inch the obvious gangster, from the sunglasses to the gelled hair to the leather jacket.

"It's okay," she managed to squeak, intending to flee without actually looking like she was running off in fright.

Something rather shorter appeared from behind the gangster, with violently green, spiked hair, a tartan skirt and sporting a leather jacket and combat boot ensemble similar to her cohort's. She squealed in delight upon seeing Nori.

"Awesome spikes, mate, where'd'ja get 'em?"

Nori blinked twice in surprise before realizing what the punk girl was talking about. "Oh, these?"—She glanced at her wrists—"I bought them in Mossdeep, ages ago."

"Damn, I was hoping you got 'em 'round here someplace, I've only been able to find these pansy blunt ones," she held up her own wrists in evidence. "Anyway, my name's Eve, who're you?"

"Noirsha, but I prefer Nori."

"Nori? Like the seaweed?"

"Noirsha, eh? Pretty name," said the male gangster.

"Er, thanks. It's supposed to mean 'blackbird', not sure what language, though. I figured it was French for a long time, then I actually learned some and that's not true…"

"Sweet. This is Johnny," said Eve, gesturing at the male gangster, who nodded. "Just so you know. He never seems to get around to telling people his name; I waited two months before I finally found out. So where're ya from?"

"Sootopolis. Nice place, I guess."

"We're from Johto. Got bored, decided to do some traveling, you know how it is. You a trainer?"

"Technically. I was going to head over to the lab that's just outside of town and get a starter."

"A starter? But you've gotta be"—Eve squinted appraisingly—"at least as old as I am."

"Yeah. I'm a late bloomer and all that," Nori shrugged, trying to seem dismissive.

"I see," said Eve, who didn't look completely convinced. "Anyway, we just got here a day or two ago; don't know the terrain or anything. We were looking for a local who knew their way around, so maybe we could wander without, you know, dying horribly in the wilderness."

"Well, I've got the map pretty much memorized," interjected Johnny.

"Shush, you don't count."

"Er, well, I suppose you could wander with me, if you like…I was getting worried I'd only have my pokémon for company for days on end."

"Great! I like it. We never had much interest in challenging the league, too much work. So where're ya staying?"

"I just got into town, but I was figuring on the pokémon center."

"Lovely. What say ye, Johnny?"

"'S all the same to me."

"Great. Shall we go?" said Eve, gesturing in the direction of the pokémon center.

Nori was beginning to regret meeting up with the two punk trainers, as they both loudly discussed music the entire way to the pokécenter, leaving her to feel rather like a fifth wheel in the conversation. She was thankful for the brief quiet as they left for the cafeteria, leaving her alone in the lounge area. They returned with sandwiches and juice for three. Nori attempted to protest, but was cut short.

"No, no, it's on me. You look like you've been on starvation rations for a year," insisted Johnny.

Nori mumbled her thanks, still rather intimidated by the six-foot-tall gangster, and tried not to devour her sandwich as her stomach urged.

"So, you've got some pokémon already, I noticed. Why d'you need a starter?" asked Eve.

Nori hastily swallowed a bite of sandwich. "Well, any one of the three evolves into something dead useful; they're strong and have great attacks…and my current team is somewhat advanced in terms of levels, so I wanted another decent pokémon to train while my skill level catches up with the gyms'."

"Oh really? What've you got so far?"

"A gyarados at about level twenty-two and a poochyena at around level sixteen. At least, according to my older brother's pokédex. Oh, and a skitty, at level thirteen, I think, though I'm not going to train her."

"A gyarados? Lucky bastard," muttered Johnny.

"Well, most trainers from Sootopolis have one…the only wild pokémon there is magikarp, and then a few wild gyarados. I caught mine wild…well, not really. Levi…Leviathan was just a friend, basically. I asked him to come with me and he agreed."

"Hold up. You make friends, with a gyarados, how?" asked Eve.

"Well…back when I was, I dunno, like ten or eleven, my friend and I stopped a swellow from eating this puny magikarp that was flopping around in the shallows of the lake. We felt really sorry for him, and started bringing him food and stuff. He started to get bigger, and then we didn't see him so much anymore, but we used to go swimming every day so we'd see him eventually, and we'd be really nice to him, of course. Then one summer we didn't see him at all, so we figured a swellow or something had finally got him. But nearing the end of the summer, my friend and I, we were floating out on this raft, all peaceful and whatnot. Suddenly, the raft turns over and pitches us into the water, and when we surface there's this farking huge gyarados there, grinning at us. Being as there's not much more frightening than a gyarados grinning at you when you're fourteen and floating in the water in your underwear, we both figured we were going to die. But after a minute or two passed and we still hadn't been eaten, we realized that this was our old magikarp friend. We started calling him Leviathan, and he'd give us rides across the lake and things…and then when I finally got going on my trainer's quest, he agreed to accompany me."

Eve gave a mock sniffle. "Oh, that's so beautiful…"

"Oh, be quiet," said Nori, a bit indignantly, but smiling all the same.

"You seem rather troubled, though. What's the matter?"

"Well, I feel a bit…I dunno. It's just that, I always figured I'd end up being a doctor. Being a pokémon trainer was always my friend—my best, and only friend, now that I think about it—my friend Owen's dream. I probably wouldn't've been interested in pokémon without him. And so I dreamed that eventually, we'd both go training together…unbeatable duo and all that. But now, I'm the one out training…and he's the one who's going to university."

"That's…rather unpleasantly ironic. Are you sure you haven't particularly angered any gods?" asked Johnny, one eyebrow raised.

"Heh. Not that I'm aware of," answered Nori. "But it was when Owen gave me his poochyena that I knew things'd never be the same. Bitey really meant a lot to him. He was his sole reminder of his older brother."

"Reminder?" said Eve, questioningly.

"Yeah, I think his name was Bruce, or Ben or something like that. I can't really remember, he was five or six years older than I was, and he went out pokémon training as soon as he got his license. I can't really remember what he looked like, even though he used to come home for the midwinter festival every year. Then when he was fifteen or sixteen, he didn't come home, but he sent his family gifts. Owen got Bitey. Ben, or whatever his name was, disappeared shortly after that. His parents never forgave him, but Owen really missed him. I guess I can't remember because no-one talked about him, ever."

"Jeez. Heavy," commented Eve.

"Sometimes…you've got to go it alone. You've only really got yourself to trust," said Johnny, leaned back in his armchair, arms folded and eyes closed. "People come and go."

"Well, I know…but…" Nori trailed off. "Listen, I'm going to go up to my room. I'm really tired."

"Okay. See you in the morning, then?"

"Yeah, six AM. I want to get to the lab bright and early, and try to make it to Oldale Town by nightfall."

"Six AM?" Eve grimaced. "You're cruel, but we'll try to manage."

"Great. See ya." Nori got up and swung her backpack over one shoulder, then disappeared up the stairs.

Johnny was right, of course, one couldn't deny that. But it just hurts too much, sometimes, Nori thought to herself, staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror of her room at the 'center. Too damn much. She toweled her face dry and went to bed. A flick of a light switch immersed the room in darkness.

The dawn found the rather motley trio on their way toward the laboratory, Nori setting a brisk pace and the two punks yawning widely as they followed, toting messenger bags bedecked in patches, pins and buttons of extremely varied origin.

Nori had noticed a poster on the pokémon center's window, advertising a new shipment of starter pokémon at Professor Willow's lab, outside Slateport. Any new trainers were advised to go there on the fifteenth of June—today—to receive one. This gave her all the more reason to hurry. She did have an early start, but one never knew…

As the forest closed in on the group, shading the road with branches of varied apparel, its beauty and the chorus of birdsong was lost on the three. Eve and Johnny were loudly discussing the merits of dictatorships, and Nori was completely focused on getting to the lab.

They had been walking for at least forty-five minutes when the lab, stark gray metal in the midst of the wood, finally came into view. Nori had to restrain herself from running the last few meters to its large double doors. She rang the doorbell, heard the faint musical tinkle somewhere deep inside the lab, and then stepped back to wait for someone to answer.

This Professor Willow's lab was very large, with a high glass dome to the north of where they were standing and a large, open paddock area to the west.

The door opened before she could admire further. Looking down, she saw that a short, dark red Pokémon had opened it. A charmeleon, if she remembered correctly…they weren't native to Hoenn. It sighed resignedly and beckoned to them with a claw, bidding them entry. They walked in, the door hissing shut behind them. The charmeleon scurried ahead of them, calling into the seemingly empty lab.

"Char? Meleon? Char!"

"Yes, I'm here, Chad! What?"

A golden-blonde-haired woman appeared, dressed in a lab coat over a lavender spaghetti-strap top and denim cut-offs. She was drying her hands on a towel and looked frazzled, and even more so when she noticed the three young adults.

"No, not more trainers!" she said in dismay. "It's seven in the morning and there's already eight of them—"

"It's actually just me, um, Professor?"

"Yes, that's me, Professor Willow! I am never doing this starter pokémon thing again, you hear me? Never! Let Birch do it if he wants, but not—did you say it was just one of you?"

"Er, yes," confirmed Nori, a bit taken aback. Johnny looked amused and Eve was shaking with suppressed laughter.

Prof. Willow sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just that they only sent nine pokémon…I didn't realize aspiring trainers would be this eager, so I'm going to have to set up a competency quiz if too many kids come. And the ones that are here are such brats! Real attitude problems on most of them…but say, aren't you a bit old to be a beginning trainer?"

"I'm a late starter."

"Well, whatever, you'd better go wait with the rest of them…sorry if it's a bit cramped, but they were annoying my pokémon, tapping on cages and rattling bars and things, so I had to restrict them all to that one room…"

Nori nodded, heading in the direction the Professor was gesturing.

The room wasn't especially cramped, but the three boys and two girls were making enough noise for ten. They seemed to be arguing loudly about something, probably the merits of each starter.

Johnny tapped her on the shoulder. "Listen, Nori, we're going to wait outside…Eve has some painkillers if you need 'em."

Nori smiled ruefully. "I probably will, after this. Hold on to 'em for me."

"Great, see ya."

The decibel level had fallen somewhat, but quickly picked up again as the two punks left the room. Nori glanced around and sat in an unoccupied armchair, appraising the other beginning trainers.

They all looked around twelve or thirteen years old, which she thought was good; ten seemed too young to her now.

"Hey, what're you doing here?"

Nori glanced at the speaker, a boy who was trying to look brave and/or imposing, but was failing miserably in her eyes. "I'm part of Team Rocket, and I'm here to steal all your pokémon," she answered, bored of these kids already.

"You can't be," said one of the girls, who was nervously twisting a strand of her aqua-blue hair around her finger. "Team Rocket's only in Kanto and Johto."

Nori pretended to sigh and lifted her hands in mock resignation. "Darn, you guys're way too smart for me. Okay, I'll level with you; I'm actually three treeckos and a machop standing on one another's shoulders underneath a trenchcoat."

"But you're not wearing—"

"I'm here to get a starter, you morons."

"Aren't you too o—"

"Do not finish that sentence; you are the third person who will have asked me that and I get really tired of people asking me the same question over and over."

"Jeez, why are you so m—"

"Because I don't like you, or you, or you, or you and I've only just met you, but I don't like you either," Nori answered, looking at each in turn.

Thankfully, it was then that Prof. Willow appeared in the doorway and asked them to follow her.

They joined three more aspiring trainers in a room with three small enclosures: a grassy one with a tree in the center, one with a large pond, and an arid-looking one with a couple rocks and some cacti inside it. As they drew closer, it was apparent that each enclosure had three pokémon within; three each of each of the starters, treecko, mudkip and torchic. The other trainers watched them, enthralled, while Nori looked around for Prof. Willow. She reappeared with cardboard box under one arm, which she set down beside a computer that looked like it had been hastily relocated.

"All right, everyone, there's nine of you here, and it is past eight o'clock by my watch, so whoever arrives now is late. If I could get you all to line up beside my computer?"

There was a rush to be first in line, which Nori was not innocent of participating in. She was fifth in line, however, and hoped that they were not going to select their pokémon now, as she wanted a torchic rather desperately. A specific fire chick had caught her eye; it was bright-eyed and strong looking and its trio of crest feathers were tipped with black.

Nori got her wish, as they were only lined up to register their names, provide their license numbers and receive a pokédex, a pokégear and another device. It was egg-shaped, though large enough to sit in the palm of one's hand comfortably, and a golden yellow color.

When they had all been registered, the Professor took a moment to explain the function of the tools they had received.

"Your pokédex is a comprehensive source of information on every pokémon that exists or is rumored to exist. It can be used as an encyclopedia; it will tell you the levels at which pokémon usually learn attacks, the levels at which they evolve and the attacks they can learn by other means. In battle, it can tell you about the pokémon you are facing as well as provide approximate level and statistic calculations for both your own and the opponent's pokémon. You should not, of course, depend on these statistics; some things go beyond numbers. It can also show the locations specific pokémon are usually found.

"Your pokégear functions as a radio, a watch, a compass and as a telephone. It also served as a map until a few months ago; I will explain why it no longer has this function in a moment. With it, you can tune into all radio stations on the common range of frequencies, as well as contact others with its telephone function. You will notice a tag attached to your pokégear; on it is your own pokégear number. Share it with others and they will be able to contact you. It is advised that you memorize it. I have programmed my telephone number into it already, so you can contact me if you need to.

"The final device is quite new, recently developed by Devon Corporations, and is called the pokénav, short for pokémon navigator. It has a map function, can determine the level of your pokémons' pokéblock-related statistics, keeps track of the ribbons you win in pokémon contests and records the details of trainers you battle. Your own details have been programmed into your pokénav. Oh, and perhaps most useful of all…as long as your pokénav is in contact with your body, you can understand the speech of any pokémon.

"Now, if there are no further questions"—she paused meaningfully—"we can begin. My computer will randomly select someone to receive a pokémon until everyone has one. Is everyone ready?"

There was a murmur of assent as nine trainers hoped they would be first.

"The first name…Justin Triterra."

The boy in question walked quickly over to the treecko enclosure and selected one.

"Excellent choice. The next person is…"

And so it continued until four trainers, two girls and two boys had selected one treecko, two mudkips and one torchic, though the one that Nori had her eye on had not been taken. She was beginning to feel antsy, though, and hoped her name would be picked soon.

"Hans Mueller…"

Rats…

Nori had not been paying attention to the individual trainers, only what pokémon they selected, but something about the trainer who had just been called up caught her eye. He was quite tall, six feet at least, and had neatly trimmed blond hair. He was also wearing a Pokémon Technical Institute uniform, as were the two other trainers who had arrived after her.

One had to be very rich, very talented or very lucky to study at the PTI. Graduates were said to have unrivaled knowledge of all things pokémon, and to be unparalleled in battle. It was, however, widely known but never talked about, that rarely did a PTI graduate ever become league champion. There was simply something missing…

Nori watched him select the last mudkip and realized she had been holding her breath again. She exhaled and resumed hoping that her name would be called.

"Noirsha Hunter…"

Yes!

She walked over to the torchic enclosure and offered a forearm to the torchic with the black-tipped crest. The fire chick gave her an appraising look, then hopped onto her forearm.

"Good choice," said Professor Willow, who gave her the torchic's pokéball.

Nori recalled her new pokémon into her pokéball, which she clipped to her belt and returned to waiting with the other trainers.

When all nine of them had received their pokémon, Professor Willow presented them each with a 'newbie pack' of five pokéballs, five potions, two antidotes and two paralysis heals. The room was briefly filled with the low hum of nine digital storage devices converting objects into data. Nori felt a brief surge of resentment; how many of these kids would have just walked out of the house and bought their storage device, while she had squirreled away money for years before getting two, only to hide them until she needed them? If she needed them. Denial made you do weird things, sometimes.

The new trainers wandered outside, setting off in various directions. Nori had stowed her pokédex in one pocket, her pokégear was around her neck and her pokénav was clipped to her belt. She was walking toward the tree that Eve and Johnny were dozing under when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to face them.

"Hi. Hans Mueller," he said, offering a hand. He had a very slight German accent.

"Oh, hi. Noirsha Hunter," she said, politely, returning the handshake.

"Am I correct in assuming that you are rather older than the children in there?" he asked, his tone scornful.

"Yes. I'm guessing you are, as well?"

He nodded. "I studied at PTI for longer than my cohorts, there"—he tilted his head in the direction of the two girls wearing PTI uniforms, who, Nori noted, were highly attractive—"and as a result, I reached nineteen years of age before deciding I had learned enough to go out training. I was heartened to see that I am not alone in my late beginnings."

"Indeed. How old are they?"

"Sixteen, I believe."

"I see."

"We are two of a similar make, you and I, Noirsha. I believe with our power combined, we could achieve anything," Hans said, smiling lightly but his smile not reaching his blue eyes.

"I am flattered, but I prefer to work alone," she said, still polite, but beginning to feel the itch of danger.

"Nori? Who's your friend?" said Johnny, appearing on her right.

Hans seemed to lose his voice for a moment, seeing Johnny, but regained it as Eve walked up on Nori's left.

"My name is Hans. Hans Mueller."

"And he's not my friend," said Nori, deciding she didn't like this guy at all.

"Very well," said Hans, his blue eyes cold. "But my offer still stands, if you decide you'd prefer more"—his eyes flicked toward Johnny—"…respectable company." He turned and rejoined the other former students and disappeared into the forest.

"Jeez. Creep city, eh?" said Eve.

"Tell me about it," agreed Nori.

"So, didn't you say you wanted to make Oldale Town by nightfall?" said Johnny, checking his watch.

"That's the plan," said Nori airily, studying her pokégear to determine which direction was due west.

"Okay, I guess we'd better get going, then."

"Agreed."

w00t! A new chapter, finally! And extra long (11 pages o.o), to make up for lost time. Heh. Anywho, just a note to all two of you (-_-;; ) who submitted characters: I liked both of them, and never fear, they WILL appear (I'm the poet who doesn't know it! Durr), soon, hopefully. Also, I'm still taking character submissions, so it's never too late! C'mon, I know I've got some creative people reading this. ::pokepoke::

Anywho, I'm very very sorry if I "copied" Professor Willow. At the time of writing this, I'm very sure I thought her up myself, but if I unwittingly created a character similar to someone else's, I apologize profusely and beg forgiveness, but I'm not changing her. I like her how she is, sorry. Also, if there are discrepancies between this and earlier chapters, please tell me so I can correct it depending on what I like better. X3

So yes. Review! Reviews make me want to write mooooooore. ^_^

Oh yes, and read the story "Wings of Flame" by Charpal, for it is good and the author asked me to plug it. Yay!