Authors note: "hopefully I can post the compensation chapter within the coming days as my apology." Ah... poor, naive, past me. If only you knew that time is relative and unconventional. Yeah, I'm starting to realize I shouldn't make promises that I can, in theory, keep; but ultimately won't find the effort to do so. Officially, Chapters will be posted sporadically. I do not expect to be able to post within' the coming months, given all that life has offered to everyone. With that said, I'd like to quickly shout out to everyone who's been either waiting for/reading my chapters. You're all fantastic people not because you choose to give me the time of day, but because you let your creative mind flourish to become an unique individual!
*Ahem* Sorry about all those fancy words, when I start writing after a long period of time my sentence structure's get the better of me. Anyway, I hope everyone has a fantastic day!
Our steps hit the hard pavement of the city as Ryan and I had to catch up to Otrera. Given her nature, her "Walk" was more of a half-run. Otrera turned, frowned slightly, and slowed down. "You guys are slow..." she commented. Ryan inhaled sharply as he was catching up. "No, you're just unbearably fast" he said, power walking to catch up. Otrera gave a hearty laugh as she matched our pace.
"So... Otrera. How exactly... Do we get registered?" I huffed out, as my pace slowly fell short behind the two once more. Jeez... I really need to settle down and decide a weight here, all these activities are starting to get the better of me... Otrera wheeled around, staring at me as she casually walked backwards, once more at a faster pace then either of us. "Well, it's a really simple process, more like a form. All you do is fill out basic trainer information at a pokecenter and then you get badge cases, which you can customize or such, etc etc."
Ryan shook his head "I'm not even sure if I want to go ahead with this whole thing. I mean... I said I was only gonna do this for the one gym Bahamut." Ryan proclaimed. My face was too tired to look at him and frown, so Instead I just replied with "Just get this done and we can talk about it later". I yawned as Ryan contemplated for a moment, before replying with a simple "Fine." And walking ahead of us both. Otrera, in my stead, frowned as we walked next to each other.
"What's his problem?" Otrera questioned. I shrugged, "Beats me, I know him only a little more than you do". "Pardon?". "Yeah... I only met him like, a day or so ago. I found him late at night after trying to find a partner for this gym. He's very reluctant and stubborn, since he supposedly has his own thing going on, and also supposedly hates battling, but I know he's just not admitting the truth. He seemed to have a lot of fun when we battled together."
"I'm sure you don't need me to add onto the list of weird and obscure things you two bring to the table" Otrera replied, "But it's very impressive you two managed to beat me just barely knowing one another. Your personalities are just so different from as far as I can see that it's a miracle alone you two can tolerate one another". I smiled up at her and quietly whispered a thanks as we continued onward.
The doors to the pokecenter opened up with a satisfying noise as the three of us entered the air conditioned building. A nearby nurse joy waved hello as we approached the front desk, Otrera taking the lead. "Hello Otrera! It's good to see our resident Gym Leader is back in business. I saw the match. You two trainers need to be officially registered, right?"
My face went pale as a ghost as I stared at her in horror. "W-What.. What do you mean you saw our matches?" Nurse joy giggled as she took out a remote and pointed it at a TV to the corner of the room, with it turning on. And to my horror... the TV was displaying our match in replay. "Our local station covers gym matches in the city and broadcasts it locally for people to see. May I say, you two are quite fun to watch." Ryan smirked, "Of course it was, It was me after all". "Hey, now's not the time to be so self-centered Ryan, I'm too busy thinking about how I'm going to live with a whole city watching my embarrassing parts..." I slumped against the desk face first. Otrera stepped forward. "Anyway, yes. I came here to show these two where to register". "Well you've come to the right place. As you two gentlemen may not know, every licensed pokecenter has an official registration location. It's an add-on to our PC boxes that allows you to register there."
Ah well, hopefully this won't be another disaster waiting to happen. "So.. I just go.. Register?" Nurse joy nodded at my question. Shrugging, I head over to the PC where Ryan is. During our conversation he slinked off before me, so as the responsible person I am I looked over his shoulder to see what he was doing. "Hey, watcha doin'?" Ryan didn't bother to glance at me as he worked the PC. "I heard you can deposit Pokémon here so you don't have to carry them around. I was going to put my Shelgon in there". "Why would you want to do that? I thought you LIKED Shelgon?"
"Yeah well... Like I mentioned before, I intend to leave now since we're done with the challenge, and this Shelgon wasn't part of the original plan". "Fair, but aren't you being a bit mean? I mean can you really deposit it now, when you know you have space for it on your team?" Ryan shrugged in response. "The only team I need is Charmander."
I clenched my fist lightly, this was getting me a little annoyed. "Fine then, how about you say that to Shelgon's face? I'm sure he'd love to hear you talk about why you're essentially dropping him." Ryan swirled towards me and looked at me with a glare in his eyes, his sharp-teeth poking out slightly from his lips. He tensed up and slowly became less aggressive, likely taking my advice and realizing the consequence of his potential actions. "F-Fine. I'm just gonna head to my room then." Ryan quickly walked up the stairs to avoid talking any further. "You know, as much as that was a clever way of getting him to stop being so inconsiderate, it was also pretty intense.." Otrera commented, having watched from afar. "But you do you kid". I shook my head and went towards the PC. Booting it up prompted me with a light-blue colored background, with a few options and choices to choose from. Obviously this was very similar to the real games, minus apparently the registration thing. I tapped on the 'Register new trainers'' button and the PC quickly switched screens to a list of questions, which I typed in, such as age, name, date of birth, date of registration, gender, height, weight, eyes, etc etc.
Being no stranger to basic information, I entered as follows. "16, Bahamut, 10/14, 8/29, Male, 6'0, 270, and Light Brown (When I put my weight down, a twinge of regret washed over me, and as quickly as it appeared, the feeling disappeared.).
As soon as I confirmed my choices a new screen popped up that showed my face. Ignoring the quick display of guilt I had over not taking care of myself better, I went into photo shoot mode and smiled for the camera. I quickly smiled for the camera as it shuttered away, taking pictures of me.
It was an awkward smile. But, it worked none-the-less. The device shuttered once more as it processed the picture and dispensed a lamented version below the screen. I took the picture and admired the craftsmanship of this simple card. Not of me, of course, but just of the design, it looked like a driver's license and had all the information to match too!
With the card in hand I was about to turn to walk away when the PC made a noise and I looked over, another screen had appeared. This time it asked for my color preference. I didn't think much of it though so I just decided to go with a simple black; that matches with mostly everything so it'd be the easiest color to work with. The PC rocked slightly back and forth, and a slot opened up next to where the Lamented card came from. Suddenly, a shiny black case popped out of the machine, with a new screen on it saying "Congratulations, you've successfully become a registered trainer!" I then took the badge case.
"Well, there you go. You completed your trainer registration. Simple, right?" Otrera walked over to me, swaying her hips nonchalantly. I grinned from ear-to-ear "It sure was. So now I get the badge, right?" She nodded yes. "Yeah, you can put your badge in your badge case now. Originally I was supposed to hold onto the badges until you two got registered, but I guess it passed my mind" She said, rubbing her neck awkwardly. "Anyway, I wanted to actually talk with you in private Bahamut. I had some questions about our battle. Do you mind if you walk with me through the city?" She asked.
I looked around to see if there was anything I had planned, noting the stairs leading to our rooms. I shrugged, replying with "Sure. Some alone time would do Ryan some good... probably". We waved the nurse joy goodbye as we left the center, with her promising to let Ryan know where I went if he came down.
This time, Otrera was in no rush to walk around. So I was able to catch up to her for the most part. The sky was no longer an orange hue, but rather a light dark. A faint shadow was casted on the city, as the street lights were slowly coming on one by one.
"So, you mean to tell me that you had made plans ahead of time to counter me being observant?" Otrera asked quizzically. "Yep, just about. It was pretty hard to come up with stuff to fool you... and, I didn't even know if you would catch on or not and try to use it to your advantage, so it was all a really big gamble. But, It worked out." She gave a hearty laugh. "Oh lord Arceus, you're a riot! I wish there were more trainers like you to spice up the competition Bahamut. It can get pretty boring just winning all the time. Alright, I guess that satisfies one question I had. But I still have a few more."
"Ask away, I'd be happy to answer." I told her. "Alright, well since you planned to specifically trick me out with helping hands, and for the most part, plan to have your friend hit your Pokémon so it could power up your move, how did you not get flinched by my Pokémon? I specifically remember using fake out on your Rockruff, but to no avail. Did you plan for that with an item or something?"
I looked over at her, pondering. "Well actually, that was the one thing I didn't plan myself. But, when I first got my Rockruff, I noticed his different behavior as opposed to others I've seen before, and something in the back of my head had a sneaking suspicion as to why. I think my Rockruff can evolve into a dusk-form Lycanroc." I said to her, serious this time. "Dusk-form? I've never heard of that one. I mean, my knowledge of their regional variants from Alola are limited, but as far as I knew I thought there was only a midnight form and midday form?" Otrera responded, tapping her fingers to her chin.
"Well, it's a super duper rare variant, and can only evolve into that form through very specific conditions. But, the one way to know if you have a dusk-form rockruff variant is if it has the ability Own Tempo, which prevents Pokémon from flinching. It's an ability regular rockruff by nature can't have."
"Huh... go figure. I guess you learn something new everyday. How come you know so much information on Pokémon if you weren't wise enough to register as a trainer before my gym? That's an odd set of skills to have." She said, turning to me with a raised eyebrow.
A small bead of sweat formed down the left side of my cheek as I quickly wiped it away. And to clarify, it wasn't from the walking. There's no way I'd tell her where I'm from and how I know so much, not now at least. I need to come up with an excuse. "Oh uh, I guess it's just because I always read informational books and articles over Pokémon. I was always fascinated with them, hence why I'm here. But... I never really read up on general trainer knowledge.. Hehe" I said, now being the one to awkwardly rub the back of my neck.
We kept walking casually across the city as the night became slightly darker overtime. More lights popped up and even though it was a bustling city of people, Sinope city was starting to bring out it's night owls and bring in the morning hawks. During our whole conversation, although Otrera was confused, she was always smiling and having a good time. However, things got silent for a while during the latter parts of our walk. The silence abruptly stopped when I felt Otrera put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey Bahamut. I had one more thing I wanted to ask you."
"Well uh... I'm all ears." I said, slightly trembling from the impact of her natural strength. Her face grew neutral and serious as she turned towards me, having us both stop walking. "I saw a lot of you work during the gym setup and your gym challenge. I also noticed your behavior during our walk to the pokecenter. You don't seem all that healthy, do you?" I stared at her, with a blank expression. I had no idea how to respond other than with a "Y-yeah.. I guess"; No one's ever been concerned for my weight. "Well... I wanted to offer you some help in that field. As you know, I'm a professional athlete. It's basically my job to always work out and have a healthy body for my job. It hurts a lot to see others in bad shape, because it usually indicates there's no one there to motivate them or push them forward. So.. if you want I can help get you fit. That is, if you're willing to commit to it?" I blinked. "Yeah, Yes of course. It's really nice of you to offer me this Otrera, are you sure your schedule won't struggle while also training me though? I wouldn't exactly want the Sinope city powerhouse to have to work with a beginner like myself, especially considering all the stuff you have to do everyday."
She bit her lip in thought, but eventually responded once a thought came to her head. "Well, yeah. I usually don't give this offer to trainers, and I know a lot of people would love to be in your position. Honestly, I'm not even sure myself why I'm offering you. But, at that same time, you kinda remind me of when I was your age. I was just like you at one point, out of shape and with little motivation. But, I met my mentor one day and they brought me to greatness. I feel like now's no better time to pass on my mentor's teachings than the present." She let go of my shoulder, her grip having left a large red hand mark on my shoulder, even through the clothes. "However, I'll need a few months to clear my schedule. You are right, it will be a hefty burden to train you and do everything I always do. So I'll need to focus on my work and training for a while, and then also figure out a schedule, routine, the whole sha-bang."
I nodded. "Sounds good. Just two things though, how will you be able to get in reach with me? I plan to keep traveling. And also... no one says sha-bang anymore." Otrera returned to her regular up-beat self and carried on walking. "Well, I can either just get into contact with you through the PC, or I can send a messenger of sorts, there's lots of options really. And to answer your second concern" She twirled back towards me, "I could probably say just about anything and it would be popular, so long as a fan was nearby." We both laughed as we continued walking.
After that conversation the walk felt a lot lighter, at least mentally. Both of us seemed to get everything off our chests there, particularly Otrera. Our conversations afterwards were also much more light-hearted and casual. Everything was going great until we passed by the TM/TR shop I had bought items from a while back. Otrera seemed to want us to keep walking past the shop, putting a hand on my back and guiding me forward. "Hey, Otrera! You sure seem to be in a hurry, are you trying to avoid yer old man again?" A man had called out after us. Otrera cupped her hands to her face as she slowly turned around to the person talking to her.
To my surprise, it was the shop owner from earlier! He waved us hello as he hobbled over in his worker's clothes from before. "Ah, you're the young man from earlier! It's good to see Otrera has nice friends!" He said, as he finally stopped in front of us. "DAD! Stop embarrassing me! I'm an adult now, I don't need you to embarrass me in front of people now, especially since I'm the gym leader of the city." Otrera said, her tone drastically changing from how she usually acts. The old man chuckled in response. "Just because you're the main attraction of the city doesn't mean you won't stop being my little girl Otrera. It's a father's job to embarrass their daughters", the old man turned to look at me smiling, "Sorry about her, she doesn't appreciate her old man like she used to." He sighed in content, his eyes closing as he presumably recalled the past.
"Wait.. Your father is the TM shop owner Otrera?!" I said, completely out of the loop. "Yep.. sadly". "Well Missy, that's no way to treat your father. Just because I embarrass you doesn't mean you should avoid me all the time. I get it, I do, you have a job as the gym leader and a famous athlete. But surely it can't hurt to visit every so often? Every time you avoid me you end up making me talk to my customers. Like this gentlemen here". "Oh" Otrera responded, turning to me, "You're the person who got gramps' question right?" I nodded in reply. Otrera, in turn, threw her arms up. "Ah, but of course. I expected nothing less from our resident mysterious trainer" She said. The old man laughed as he started walking to his shop. "Come inside for a bit with me so we can catch up, and bring your friend."
The shop's break room felt much more comfy then the shop. No surprise there, that's what a break room is for anyway... I sat in a chair with an older table in front of me, a cup of steaming hot tea on the table. I tried picking it up to drink, but it was too hot, so I decided to just wait for it to cool naturally. I looked up and saw the old man and Otrera arguing, as he was trying to pour everyone a cup of tea but was struggling to do so. "Come on dad, just let me do it for you. You're too old for this!" She exclaimed. "I will not let my age tell me what I can or can't do. I'd be no better than a street Rattata if I couldn't even pour my guests tea". I attempted to cut in, but their arguing kept getting more and more heated. "Do you hear yourself? This is why I avoid you all the time. You're too stubborn to reason with". The old man grouchily replied "Well at least I know how to properly act. You're just as guilty of having faults y'know. Don't think I haven't seen your matches". Otrera stopped moving, looking at her father. "Wait... you watch my matches?" The old man turned and looked at her seriously. "Well. of course... you're my daughter. What kind of parent would I be if I couldn't at least support your matches?" Otretra's lip trembled. "But.. I thought you always cared more about the shop and business?". "Screw the shop Otrera, it can be replaced, a daughter can't. Family is much more important than your work... If only I learnt that a long time ago before your mother left..." Otrera started forming small tears in her eyes as she hugged her dad. "Thanks dad... Maybe I SHOULD visit you more often." The old man returned the favor and gripped her tightly as he hugged her back.
Then suddenly, during their moment of reconciliation, they turned to me. "Oh... I'm sorry you had to see that young man." "Yeah.. sorry Bahamut". I sipped the tea, having watched this all go down. "No.. it's uh.. Fine. I think I should probably go anyway, I have to get ready to leave town tomorrow for travel". Otrera looked at me and smiled. "Well, alright then. Be safe out there and good luck. Remember what I told you about earlier, you'll know when I'm ready to help you" Otrera said. I waved them goodbye and left them to their business, heading back to the pokecenter.
The night had turned a dark shade of black now. Almost no people were on the streets as I headed back up to the pokecenter rooms and paid for another night, this time having to begrudgingly pay for Ryan's room too, since now he was past the free-trial too. The nurse told me Ryan never left his room, so I sighed and headed to bed early.
Morning woke, and the sounds of bird-like Pokémon could be heard echoing in the daylight. I groggily got up from bed and did my morning routine to prepare myself. Then I made sure I had everything with me and packed it all up again. Walking out the door I saw Ryan was sitting outside my door, casually leaning against the wall. He turned to look at me and noticed me. "Huh, so you're finally awake? I just thought I'd let you know before I go that I finished your gym thing, so now I'll be heading off." Ryan casually said, walking away and giving me no chance to respond. I quickly shook my head and ran after him and into the city, as he already found his way outside near a fountain, looking for a direction to head towards.
"Hey dude! That's no way to say goodbye." I said, walking over to him. He eyed me up and down and blinked. "Oh... well then, goodbye." He said, as he kept walking. I grabbed his shoulder as he moved to turn away. "Look man, are you really just gonna leave after everything we've done? You really don't like me that much to the point where you don't even want to attempt to keep going?" I questioned. Ryan gave me a deadpan look in response. "Look Bahamut, I'm not like you. I don't exactly like people, we've been over this. I already dislike being outside during the daytime, because that just means more people I have to encounter. I have things I need to do, to accomplish. Certain goals I-" "That's no way to treat a friend!" I yelled at him. He looked at me, confused. "What.. do you mean?" He said.
"Do you really think of me so little that you don't care about what happens anymore? After literally everything that's happened in such a short amount of time, you really want to give it all up? The rush and excitement of battling, the fear and adrenaline in each battle? The uncertainty of catching a Pokémon? The bonds you get to make and share with the friends you meet, with your Pokémon? You'll lose these experiences if you keep going on this path Ryan. I barely know you, but surely you must want more in life?! SURELY".
Ryan glanced down at the pavement, thinking carefully. "You don't get it man... I'm not worth anyone's time. I'm stubborn, Rude, openly honest, straightforward.. Everything I do is selfish... My real goal is to get revenge on someone. Are you truly sure you can deal with all of this? All of the bad things I bring to the table and none of the good qualities."
"Don't you ever think sometimes that people are willing to forgive you, Ryan?" I said, asking him honestly. He looked towards me, sniffling slightly. "W-What?". "You heard me... Do you really think I'd hate you that much just because of your personality? I wouldn't. That's not fair on you. I learnt something recently. Just because someone has goals and intentions doesn't mean they can't care for others. You're my friend Ryan. and I want what's best for you. And I think traveling with me would be best for you. You'll need someone to help you, grow with you, learn with you. I'm willing to be that person."
Ryan looked at me in shock, stunned beyond words. "Well.. if what you're saying is true... then fine. I'll go with you, and travel. But... I can't stop my original goals, you know that, right?" I nodded my head in understanding. "Of course. As much as I disagree with revenge, I'm sure I'll be able to persuade you otherwise anyway" I said, grinning. "Besides, you need to get strong if you want to take revenge, yeah?"
Ryan, for the first time since we've met, gave a faint and small chuckle, almost undetectable. Undetectable to everyone but me, that is. "We'll see about that. Well, I guess if that's all settled, where are we going?" Ryan asked, cheering up slightly. "Well... I have no clue actually." I said, laughing nervously. Ryan facepalmed as he guided me towards a nearby sign on the outside of the city. "Well... since we've already been to Cleave mountain, that leaves the other three" Ryan said, turning towards me. "Well actually, two. I came from Trimmer forest. So it's between Cooperville and Lake Porry."
"Oh..." He said, frowning. "Well then let's head to the northeastern part of town and choose which path to take from there." Within a few minutes, we made our way to the edge of town. In front of us was a diverging path, with one direction curving to the left labeled "Cooperville ahead" and the other path curving to the right labeled "Lake Porry ahead".
"How cliché" Ryan said, "A fork in the road..." He turned towards me. "So, what'll it be? Left.. or right?" I looked ahead to both paths... "Uh... let's head to..."
And that's all folks! A bit of a cliffhanger but really it's more of a suspenseful type of thing. I hoped you all enjoyed the chapter, and have a wonderful day!