Chapter Nine - A Trainer's Journey!
August 10th, 2022
Outskirts of Jay Town, Asture Region
Raine, Mirella and Constance had said their farewells to the other six Gym Leaders early in the morning. Three of them would remain in Jay Town, while the rest, split into two groups, would head out in opposing directions throughout Asture. It was the first steps of a true trainer's journey for Raine. The two mid twenties women accompanying him had completed the Gym challenge as youngsters but he had spent his youth and the remainder of his life in the laboratory. Along the way he would need to not only expand his team, but also continue his training of Buizel and start to train his new Teddiursa.
"Now, dear, remember to let us know as soon as you get any whiff of them," Claire had said. "Don't do anything rash."
Rashness was not a quality that anyone would have recognised in Raine so he was certain to alert everyone as soon as they found any clues to Team Omni's whereabouts. He was happy to have been put into the group he had because they seemed the least likely to even find them. There was no way they were just hiding out in any of the beginner towns. It seemed most likely that they would be found because they had returned to Jay Town.
The Team Omni grunts had fled south towards Sparrow Town and that was the direction that they would go first. Taking Constance home to her little town to investigate if there were any clues or witnesses. It was hard to hide a Charizard that was flying free if they didn't put him away in a Poké Ball.
"So, this is it," Raine said as they stood at the forward edge of the forest that surrounded Jay Town with a well groomed Route One leading away before them. "On to Sparrow Town and a potential showdown with Team Omni."
"Are you ready to set forth?" Mirella asked for possibly the hundredth time. She was worried for Raine and rightfully so. He had barely ventured out of Jay Town even when the trip was guaranteed to be safe. And never without Professor Sakura as a companion.
"If we don't go now I'll never take the risk. We just need to put our heads down and bulldoze our way through our trepidation. Team Omni won't be caught otherwise."
"We have your back," Constance said quietly. She was such a gentle soul and seemed to be the perfect companion to Raine who was also very reserved. Mirella was the loudest and most boisterous of the three, not that she was extremely overwhelming herself.
Constance's four bird Pokémon flew free above and ahead of them, scouting for danger and stretching their wings. The other two kept their Pokémon held securely inside of their Poké Balls. Both were extremely fortunate to not have handed their Pokémon over to Team Omni when they had stolen the rest. Raine had been tempted to bring along four other Pokémon that hadn't been stolen from the lab, but had finally decided against it. He would make his own team along the way and develop a more natural bond. Things with Teddiursa had been going so well in their short time together that it made more sense for a trainer to catch their own partners.
"One foot in front of the other," Raine whispered to himself, forcing his legs to get moving. "You can do this if you do it for the Professor. He deserves justice."
"What's that?" Mirella asked, walking on one side of Raine with Constance on the other.
"Just trying to get myself moving," Raine explained and laughed awkwardly. "I've never done something so bold."
Mirella, who like himself and Constance, no longer wore her job's attire, but instead wore comfortable walking clothes, pointed at the long road ahead. "We'll face things as they come," she said warmly. "Nothing is going to make us rush into danger."
"Nothing, unless Team Omni somehow finds out we're looking for them or recognises you," Raine said. "Then their Charizard could just melt our faces off too."
"Raine!" Mirella chided. "Please don't make light of our plight."
"I was being completely serious. We face a real threat of death by Pokémon. I don't think that's something that most people have to contend with in this World. We've made things relatively safe for ourselves and have made Pokémon mainly see each other as their foes instead of humans. When is the last time that you heard of a Pokémon committing a murder? Whether in the wild or at the command of a trainer?"
"I've never heard of it happening," Constance interjected. "We're supposed to be safe."
"Team Omni, if they are going around killing people other than just Professor Sakura, have turned the World we know upside down," Mirella said. "Even if we manage to stop them before they can do any more harm, what they did will always be remembered."
Raine stared at the road at his feet as he focussed on putting one foot in front of the other. For the first time since the attack he let his mind fill with thoughts that seemed too big to handle. He wondered why Team Omni had wanted to kill Professor Sakura. What was the purpose for committing a senseless murder of a remarkable man? He couldn't have possibly been in the way of whatever their plans were.
He started kicking a fist sized rock down the road. The thoughts and meanings behind Team Omni's actions were simply too confusing.
"What are you thinking?" Constance asked, breaking his train of thought after an indeterminable amount of time. "I only ask because you've slowed almost to a stop."
Raine hadn't realised that he was barely making any forward progress. Or that his face was streaked with heavy tears. "Harn… Professor Sakura… he was like a father to me. I can't understand why Team Omni took him away. They didn't even recognise him at first. They thought that I was the Professor. Why, Constance? Why are they doing this?"
"We'll find that out, Raine. Whatever it takes." That had been their motto since Fergus had said it the day before. Raine felt that they said it whenever they didn't know what else to say. Soon it would lose all meaning, if it hadn't already. Obviously they couldn't do less or more than was necessary.
Suddenly Constance's Staravia, who had been flying ahead, flew down and landed on the road before them. It was squawking wildly and pecking its head back and forth.
"What's the matter, Star?" Constance asked, running forward to kneel down with her Pokémon in a panic.
Raine and Mirella rushed to her side and both asked, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," Constance cried, trying to calm Staravia down. "I sent her ahead to check out Sparrow Town though. Something must have happened."
Raine and Mirella locked terrified eyes. It was clear that neither of them had expected to be walking straight into another Team Omni disaster.
Constance, failing to calm her Pokémon, returned it to its Poké Ball and without a word started jogging towards Sparrow Town. It was hours of walking still to get there, but she was clearly intent on getting there in a rush. Raine ran after her, his stuffed backpack bouncing painfully on his shoulders and lower back, but he didn't give up even if he was far too unfit for the exertion.
"Slow down, Constance," Mirella yelled, easily outpacing Raine and closing in on Constance's fleeing back. "We can't rush into this."
"I have to know what's happened," Constance proclaimed over her shoulder with no apparent shortness of breath. "I'll stop when I can see what's wrong and scout the situation. I promise."
"That's fine, but don't leave us behind. We need to do this together. If they spot you, you'll be no match for them alone."
Suddenly Constance stopped and turned to face them, her face streaked with tears. "I haven't seen Fletchinder!" She raised her eyes to the sky and looked about desperately. "He went ahead with Staravia. Do you think that they would kill our Pokémon too?"
"I'm not going to lie to you," Raine said morosely. "But there's no way that they could know that a Pokémon flying overhead belonged to a trainer. I doubt that they're killing wild Pokémon so surely Fletchinder is okay."
"Then where is he? I only see Pidgeotto and Pidgeot overhead."
"There!" Mirella shouted, pointing at a black blur rocketing through the sky towards them.
Fletchinder flew rapidly straight towards them, not slowing as he barrelled into Constance's chest, knocking her down. They tumbled through the dirt and came to a stop in a heap.
"Fletch," Constance cried, patting Fletchinder's wings as Raine noticed that the tips were singed and burnt. "Those monsters."
Raine put his backpack down and dug around for one of the many Burn Heals that he had packed, knowing that they would face Charizard again. He handed it to Constance and she sprayed Fletchinder's wings gratefully before putting him away in his Poké Ball until they could reach Sparrow Town's Pokémon Centre.
"I think you should bring back your other Pokémon too," Mirella suggested. "We can't guarantee their safety with Team Omni's Charizard out there somewhere. Hopefully it didn't follow Fletchinder or Staravia straight to us."
Constance got up with Raine's assistance and patted herself down. When she realised that she couldn't brush off all of the dirt she gave up and placed two fingers in her mouth. Whistling sharply her two remaining Pokémon swooped down and she recalled them to safety.
Raine returned his backpack to his back and they took off at a brisk walk. Constance could be heard quietly sobbing, but there was nothing to say or do to reassure her that everything would be okay. That was a false promise. Raine was never any good at those.
