Prompt: On the first day of their adventure, the hero is introduced to a large city instead of a small or quiet settlement.
The white duo finally emerged from the forest, just a few patches of snow lying here and there, melting away in the sun. The ice fox breathed a sigh of relief as her armored friend smiled at her.
"Good to be out of there." Elma said as she looked at her sandshrew friend.
"I will admit, it was getting sort of claustrophobic in there." he chuckled as they started to climb the hill.
"But you live in a cave."
Bunker looked back towards the forest, his smile fading for a second. "That just shows how that forest is. There is a reason most who live there rarely leave, and outsiders tend to stay away."
"So I take this is new to you as well?" Elma felt the breeze through her fur, enjoying how the gentle winds caressed her.
Bunker shook his head. "Been here a few times with dad and my grandma. Mostly to visit mom, but..." He sank his head.
"There is something going through your head that I can see I shouldn't pry into, so let's change the topic." They were nearing the top of the hill. "Are you sure this place can help me get back home?"
"As granny said, it's our best shot, what with the library, the university and the science centre. Besides..." He jumped the last few steps to reach the top of the hill and struck his arm outwards towards where Elma assumed the settlement would be. What met her was a sight to behold, as the towering buildings rose from the caldera in which the city lay. "The place is huge."
Elma's jaw dropped to the ground as she soaked in the view. From her travels in Unova and Alola, few places could compare. "Th-th-that... That's a pokemon city?"
"Impressive, right?" Bunker started his descent, Elma following behind him.
"I... I don't know what to think. Most human cities that I know of aren't of this scale." She looked around and noticed how the entire place was sunk into the ground. "So, how did this place come to be?"
The ice sandshrew scratched the back of his head, making thinking noises, before placing his fist in his palm. "Ah!" He raised his head with a smile. "It was something about a meteor. Slammed straight into the plains here. The story goes that it carried different species of pokemon to this world, and they were the ones to make the original settlement."
"Must have been some tough ones... Kinda like you." Elma tapped Bunker on his shoulder.
They could now hear the sound of the busy pokemon inside the city. It was uncanny for Elma, how similar it was to that of Castelia. "And there are no humans in there?"
"Well..." Bunker scratched his chin. "Humans fled these lands ages ago for some unknown reason, and few dares to enter here. It isn't uncommon for most pokemon to never see one. I've only seen pictures at..." he trailed off again. "Anyway, it's to those pictures that I know what a human is."
The sounds were getting louder and details could be seen on the buildings making the outskirts of the city. Elma stopped up, shaking.
"Something wrong, Elma?"
"Just... That place is enormous. I don't think we can avoid running into a vulp-p-p-p-pix... or t-t-two." Elma could feel herself starting to tear up.
Bunker went in for a hug. "Don't worry, and remember what dad told you. Just keep your eyes on me, and don't think of anything else."
"Ri.. Right!" Elma perked up again.
"Besides, if that's too hard, you can look through some of the shopping windows."
The vulpix looked at her companion with a telling look, and the sandshrew realized his mistake.
"Right... Reflections. Uhm..."
"I'll stick to just tunnel visioning, thank you." Elma said as she finally had calmed down again. "So, lead away."
"Oh, right." Bunker said as they entered the city. "So... How mad would you be if we got lost a couple dozens of times?"
"Will be better than me alone getting lost those dozens of times." Elma replied, shuttering at the thought. "Just... Just keep asking for directions so we don't have to deal with all that bustling for too long."
Five grueling hours later, at the university, the duo slumped down on a bench near the entrance. "Why couldn't I have just ended up near a relaxing village instead?" Elma complained.
"I'm with you on that one..." Bunker said, massaging his ears. "How can one live with so much noise?"
"Pah, country folks!" A behyeem scoffed as he passed the two.
"Probably by being like him..." Elma replied. "Well, we're finally here, let's see if we can find some answers."
AN: Before anyone comments, when I say thinking noises, I'm talking about the "Hmm"s, "Uuuh"s and "Eeer"s.
Yes, I did this pre-emptively because someone actually commented on that.
