Sorry about the slower updates, it's just too much for me to get one of these out weekly now. I'm trying to do them every other week, (I'd call it a fortnight, but no one calls anything fortnights anymore) and I'll see if I can speed it up.

Trainers

-

The Center's normal background chatter faded. Elliot looked up. A man walked up to the counter.

He looked like he was nineteen, with a clear, trustworthy kind of face framed by dark blond hair. There were six pokeballs around his waist.

He handed three to the Nurse Joy. "Could you hurry?" he said, voice undemanding. She nodded nervously and retreated.

The man stayed at the counter, not sitting down. A minute or so passed and the joy reemerged, hands empty. "There's a prob-" He moved one hand down, as if to pluck a fourth pokeball. "P-p-prob-" she stammered, losing her authoritative tone. "There's a-"

"I'd like my pokemon back now," he said calmly.

The Joy stared at him, mute. A moment passed, then she reached into her pocket and handed him three pokeballs.

"Thanks," he said, sounding sincere, and left.

Well, that was odd, Elliot thought. Slowly the noise in the Center returned to its normal volume.

-

-

Din sat on her haunches, watching the others eat, her gray tail wagging. She had the same look seen sometimes on Howler, of barely suppressed energy. She couldn't run around inside the Center but was out until they finished.

Prowler was in the process of wandering off, walking away from the group as she examined everything that caught her eye or nose. One sitting trainer froze in place as the huge persian climbed over him to examine the window behind the couch he was on. Elliot might have said something, but he wasn't watching her.

After a moment Din blurted out, ((Why are you eating?))

Caw looked at her disdainfully, then returned to pecking at his food. Sono paused. Discord answered: ((Because I'm hungry, of course.))

((He let you out earlier?)) Din asked, sounding a bit hurt. ((Why didn't he let me out?)) She looked automatically for Prowler.

((He hasn't let me out since feeding yesterday night. It doesn't look that late, so I don't think he's let out any of us since then.)) Sono said.

((But why are you eating?))

((Because I'm hungry!)) Discord snapped.

((But you can't be,)) Din said, voice puzzled and somewhat subdued by Discord's yelling. ((I never am when he lets me out.))

((That's stupid. Of course you are. We're always hungry when we're let out.))

((You're right,)) Sono said, speaking to Din as if Discord hadn't said anything. ((I'm empty, but I'm not hungry yet. I feel like a while after eating. Like I will be hungry soon. It feels like…about half a day after eating, I think.))

((Why would you go that long without eating?)) said Discord, sounding somewhat shocked.

((Half a day?)) Sono asked.

((Yeah.))

((That's not long at all. I've gone days without eating.))

((Why would you want to do that?)) Discord sounded baffled. ((You'd have to be pretty dumb.))

((Want?)) Sono repeated, fluffing her feathers irritably. ((There wasn't any food.))

((You mean you didn't know where to go?)) Discord asked. ((I thought everybody knew that.))

((What are you talking about?))

((You know. Where they put the food out.))

Sono and Din stared. Even Prowler's attention was momentarily attracted. Caw continued eating.

((The people,)) Discord continued as if it were obvious, noticing their blank looks. ((They'd put out food every day, and when you got hungry you went there. Everybody knows that. What was wrong with you?))

Sono looked to Caw. ((Aren't you going to say anything?))

Caw ruffled his feathers, a denial.

((But you always complain when Prowler's lying,)) Sono said, whining.

Prowler turned back to them, glaring. Sono flattened down against the tile. ((I do not lie,)) she growled softly. The spearow peeped nervously.

((The jigglypuff isn't lying,)) said Caw.

((Is so! There's no such thing!))

((There is in the Safari Zone. Stop arguing. Pokemon in the Safari Zone never have to look for food, that's why he doesn't know what it's like to feel hungry. Now eat your food and be quiet.))

((There is no point in eating, Bird,)) Prowler said, turning her glare to the murkrow. ((It vanishes when he recalls you.))

((He gives us food, we eat. He does not give us food, we do not eat. Be glad you have a trainer who gives food. If you don't eat, you'll regret it in the end.)) Caw returned to pecking at his bowl. Uncertainly, Sono followed suit, not wanting to challenge him. Prowler snorted and padded off. Din looked at the others, then followed Prowler.

Elliot missed the exchange. He was carefully turning the pages of the book he'd found back in Cinnabar. Like the other times he'd tried to look at it, he couldn't make much sense of the pages. He could make out letters and sometimes words, but most of it was too damaged. Even what wasn't burnt was darkened from the heat and smoke, rendering it illegible.

He hadn't been able to figure out what the pokemon was, or who had found it. The pokedex hadn't shown when pokemon were discovered, or by who.

If the place had burned down, Elliot wondered suddenly, what if they had never announced it? He didn't understand how discoveries were announced, so he thought that was possible.

So maybe…he thought, Maybe it's still unknown. Like that white bird I saw.

-

-

Vermillion was a city built by a harbor. For whatever reason, large boats docked there rather than at Fuchsia or Pallet. Elliot didn't really understand why. He only had the most rudimentary sense of geography, and no understanding of how it effected things beyond the simplistic – mountains were harder to travel over than plains. For a city on the one port in all of Kanto, it was strangely small and restrained, although Elliot couldn't recognize this. Thanks to the Gym, Vermillion also had boosted numbers of trainers looking for badges. Today there was also a Trade Convention taking place near, which served to attract more than the normal amount. And yet despite all this – trade, tourism, industry, and trainers – it was still small city, considering. Here, commerce seemed to take a backseat. There was little development, with buildings put up slowly and only when needed, and pollution was minimal. Even compared to cities like Celadon, it was especially wholesome and clean, with the water sparkling and the ground clear of debris.

On the way to the Gym, Elliot passed through one of the open plazas. There was a crowd, as there usually was in cities, watching a pokemon battle. Elliot went over to see as well.

This was a somewhat odd fight, as Elliot found out from his neighbor. In this city, trainers deliberately came to this place to challenge each other, so this wasn't, as he had thought, just an impromptu battle that had attracted an audience. The winning trainers typically remained to keep fighting until either they judged their pokemon too tired to continue – a true rarity, especially in the younger crowd – or they lost. Oftentimes winners lost the next battle. Winning streaks were rare. But the boy in the center had already beaten eleven trainers with a single pokemon.

A more jaded observer might have seen that the boy was inexperienced. It wasn't hard to tell, from his demeanor and speech, that he had only just caught the pokemon and hadn't used it in battle before. It also wasn't hard to tell he was – or had been, anyway, before his ego had got the best of him – surprised by his wins, and that he had only the barest idea of why he was winning.

The challenging pokemon had been unable to damage it. As luck would have it, they were mostly physical attackers, who flung themselves at the magmar and were quickly burnt. The two water pokemon sent out had both been weak, their attacks evaporating without much effect.

The undefeated remain so only temporarily, and this is far truer when such a thing comes from luck rather than skill. A new trainer stepped up. A fourteen year old, with the lean look of a young predator.

With her first pokemon, in her first hit, the undefeated fell, and the rest of his team followed. She though, did not remain to keep fighting. She collected the money, a sizable amount thanks to his former victories, and, ignoring the complaints of the crowd, left.

Perhaps unrelatedly, two boys, one thirteen, the other fifteen, broke away from the crowd when this happened, walking in the same direction. And perhaps unrelatedly, another took off at a run in another direction, perhaps toward the Trade Convention, it was hard to say.

-

-

"But-"

"Not my problem, kid," the guard said, looking bored. "Lt Surge won't be back until tomorrow. You can't fight him now."

Disappointed, Elliot left. Tomorrow! He'd tried to get there as fast as he could and now he had to wait. Why didn't Gym Leaders just stay at their Gyms? First the one at Viridian, and now this. It just wasn't fair.

With time to kill, Elliot headed off to buy more supplies. Once restocked, he purchased a hot dog from the ever-present vendors and began to wander.

Elliot walked past the fringe of a huge mass of trainers, all talking animatedly. He didn't join them. It was the Trade Convention, and he wasn't interested in trading any of his pokemon now. Bits of conversation drifted by.

"Hey!" said a girl somewhere on his right. Her voice was incredibly enthusiastic, even for the circumstances. It was slightly familiar too. Elliot stopped, looking around. "What pokemon do you have?"

A boy's voice responded. "I was hoping to trade my onix," he was saying when Elliot managed to pick him out of the crowd, "but I've also got a wartortle, a magmar –"

"A magmar?" The girl's face lit up. "I've always wanted one of those! Trade it for my quilava?"

"Quilava?" the boy repeated, stunned. "Yeah, definitely."

It was the same girl Elliot had traded Charmer to. He walked on, bothered somehow. It wasn't until he was well away that he figured out why.

She'd said almost the exact same thing to him.

But, Elliot thought, that didn't really mean anything. He kept going, forgetting the incident. He found some other trainers and fought, his wins undependable, relating entirely to which pokemon he used. Howler was about the equal of the trainers his age, Discord and Sono somewhat weaker, Caw far stronger. Elliot noticed this only peripherally, not really understanding. He didn't use Prowler or Din.

Time passed. The sun lowered, the sky darkened, and Elliot headed back to the Pokemon Center.

It was bustling, perhaps three quarters full. Elliot gave his pokemon to the Nurse Joy and sat. Over on Elliot's left, three trainers were talking.

"…practically impossible to get a psyduck," one was saying. "Even if you're got the money to buy one the seller's always out. They can't catch 'em fast enough."

"And they can't be found anywhere anymore. You used to be able to find them north of here, but everybody's combing there without any luck. I heard a supplier is trying to get ones from Seafoam."

"Ugh, good luck! You'd have to be pretty brave to try to steal a bunch of psyduck there. Those golduck are vicious – they'll knock you under the current without a thought!"

"I've heard that one of the suppliers is trying to get a contract to get ones from Johto. They've got loads there. Nobody wants them, not like here. But Johto's supposed to be pretty dangerous – might wind up like Seafoam. If there are golduck around, it's almost impossible to get the psyduck."

"Yeah, and it's not like Johto's interested. I've heard they want to keep everything the same there – don't care about the money, all that matters is that lotsa little psyduck keep running around uncaught because that's how it was a hundred years ago. Like they'd ever agree to mass-exporting them."

"I bet the breeders are making a killing."

About Sono: Sparrows are mainly plant eaters, and they can't go long without eating. But vultures are meat eaters, and they can go a while without eating. I figure spearow would be somewhere between the two. I'm not actually sure how long Sono would be able to go without eating. It was important for the point I was making, so I put it in. I think it's reasonable, but I could be wrong.

Next chapter: Lt Surge, another persian, some uncertainty about Din's evolution, more uncertainty about Prowler just because it's fun, and, um, popcorn!

And review! Like, dislike? What did you think?