"Shinji?" He should've known this would happen. Any time his life seemed to be going well there he was, crashing his party. He didn't look different since the last time they ran into each other.

He was taller. Instead of the dark blue and yellow striped vest Shinji remembered, he now wore a solid yellow vest with a black zig zag across the chest. The most noticeable difference was his hair.

The normally messy raven mop was no longer hidden under a baseball cap, and was cut short and spiky. Pikachu was on his shoulder as always, smiling at Takeshi and Shuu who were making their way towards the living headache.

"Satoshi! It's been too long." As Shuu took care of small talk with the idiot, Shinji noticed something that made him relax instantaneously. Behind a laughing Satoshi stood Hikari and her friend who's name he didn't quite recall. The brown haired girl was staring at his cousin like a lovesick fangirl, but he couldn't care less.

No, Shinjis focus was solely on the sad bluenette. Just like back on the boat, he was speechless looking at her. Her long hair was mostly loose at but at the top she had two space buns that looked perfectly messy. She had changed her clothes and was wearing a pair of camouflage print leggings, tan hiking boots and an army green tight long sleeved shirt.

He couldn't figure out why she looked so depressed though. Sure he called her troublesome, but that didn't mean he enjoyed seeing her troubled. Deciding he didnt like the gloomy aura she was emitting, he walked over to her ignoring the now animated group of trainers.

"You look like you hate it here already." Though his tone was harsh, the small smirk on his face let Hikari know he was just messing with her.

With a smirk of her own she nodded in silent agreement. "Hi Shinji."

He noticed the dark bags under her eyes that were poorly concealed with makeup. She looked exhausted. The red veins in the whites of her eyes made it seem like she had been crying, not to mention they lacked that specific gleam they always emitted. Her bright eyes were always what drew him to her, so seeing her look so dull worried him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Hikari answered a little too quickly for Shinjis liking. But before he had a chance to say anything she forced a smile and chuckled mildly. "I'm just tired. Jet lag... well, ship lag I guess. It's four thirty in the morning back in Sinnoh right now."

"Hn," he grunted not completely buying her excuse. He decided not to press it further but made a mental note to find out eventually what was really bothering her. It's not like they wouldn't run into each other again before their journeys were over.

"Why were you with Takeshi?" His rambling thoughts were interrupted by an accusatory voice. "He was supposed to meet us but said some important business came up. Now they're leaving and we find his 'important' business was you."

Not sure if she was angry, irritated, sad, or a combination of the three, Shinji quickly explained how He had managed to ruin her plans. "He ran into us at the docks and asked me to beta a new move. We were headed to the Pokemon center so I could give Torterra the TM disk."

Whatever defensive emotions Hikari had left her and she immediately smiled, a real smile. "Oh you mean Terrene Spore?"

"How do you know about it?" His smirk had returned and he could feel his interest peaking. Someone who hadn't been training for years shouldn't know anything about a developing beta move.

"I gave him the idea for it." The confusion and curiosity Shinji was feeling must have shown on his face because without missing a beat, Hikari explained further. "He called me a while back asking what I thought would be a good move."

"And you came up with this?" Amusement tugged at his lips as Shinji realized he was smiling an actual smile. Hikaris eyes had regained their brightness. Her voice was carefree and filled with excitement as she described her role in developing the move.

If letting her brag is what brought that angelic aura to her, then Shinji didn't mind indulging a little bit."Not all of it. He told me it would be for grass pokemon so I thought about their disadvantages. Then I remembered there are some moves that can change a pokemons weakness, there's also moves that deal more damage than normal. So I figured if you combine them, you could give yourself a huge advantage against say, a fire type."

A rare chuckle escaped Shinjis lips as he joked with the bluenete. Something he normally only did with his cousin Shuu. "That's uncharacteristically strategic of you."

Luckily, Hikari easily picked up on his dry sense of humor and was quick to retort. "You'd be surprised at what I'm capable of."

The two cynical trainers shared a comparative smirk before Hikari laughed lightly. "So did you just come over here to be a jerk or was there something specific you wanted?"

"No, being a jerk was just a bonus." The sarcasm was dripping from his voice and Hikari found herself surprisingly amused. Years ago, this same man had done nothing but infuriate her.

But over the years it seemed like his personality hadn't changed. Still a smart ass, she wondered why she found his banter so amusing. Maybe she had changed. She didn't really have time to dwell on her thoughts as he continued talking.

"I actually just wanted to get away from pathetic and my bake cousin." That one sentence reminded her why they had always clashed in the past. His seemingly endless hatred for her former traveling companion both angered and confused her.

"What exactly is your problem with Satoshi?" It was the one thing about Shinji she couldn't understand. His cynical attitude: the world sucks, he just figured it out sooner than her. Even his brutal pokemon training.

Maybe if she had trained her Pokemon as well as him they would still be with her. But his baseless contempt for one of her best friends was a complete mystery to her. "I mean I get he's a bit... eccentric, but he's not that bad."

"You wouldn't understand." The tone in his voice was all she needed to hear to know this wasn't a topic up for discussion. As much as she wanted to know, she knew she would just have to wait. It's not like she wouldn't see him again. They were traveling in the same region after all. Deciding to drop the subject, she figured she should get him back on track since she had obviously distracted him.

"Ok. So you said you were going to give Torterra the TM disk," motioning behind him, Hikari pointed out the fact that they were standing in front of the Pokemon center. She had to hold back a laugh at the flush of embarrassment on the man's face as he turned rubbing the back of his neck.

"Er, right." He took a few steps before he turned and looked over his shoulder, embarrassment evident on his face. "Do you want to come in with me?"

"Sure." Feeling a strange mix of excitement and anxiety, Hikari followed Shinji through the pebbled walkways to the front if a large yellow brick building with a bright red roof. Right as they stepped up to the automatic sliding doors, Satoshis voice blared behind them sending Shinji into a visable fury.

"Shinji, battle me!"

XxX

Ok monsters I'm gonna end it here or it'll be way too long. The next chapter will be up by friday! We're going to be meeting a new Pokemon AND seeing the new move in use. The name Terrene Spore was submitted via PM on FFN and I really liked the way it sounded. So yeah lol.

I would like honest opinions though... Am I making Shinji too OOC?

I'm trying to go for a more mature/older version while staying true to his cynicism and general distaste for other people.

If he's being too fluff for his character lmk and I'll work on fixing it. (It would make for some good drama I'd imagine).

Anyway yeah hope y'all enjoy it. Until next time monsters!!!