Chapter 4: Partners
Roku's P.O.V.
New Bark Town
"Goodbye! Don't catch anything I wouldn't catch!"
"Be careful! Stay safe!"
"Let me know when you conquer the League!"
With these farewells in my mind, I waved goodbye and headed out onto Route 29. This time, I knew I needed a team; Luna wasn't gonna do it all by herself.
As I traveled into the grass, a wild Pidgey swooped up and struck Luna in an uppercut fashion. She flew up and hit the ground hard.
"Luna! Are you alright?" I asked worriedly.
Luna was perfectly fine, as she jumped back up on her feet, shook vigorously, and launched a flurry of star-like beams at the unsuspecting Pidgey.
"Whoa!" I shouted, astounded. "Was that Swift?!"
"I don't know, but that felt awesome!" she yipped.
Remembering that she had felled a Pidgey, I located it and lobbed a Poke Ball at it. It popped open, sending the Pokémon into the virtual area. It wiggled once, twice, three times, then it clicked, meaning a confirmed capture.
"Yes!" I shouted with glee, running up to get my new partner.
"Hey!"
I jumped back to see a girl jump right out of a nearby tree and land perfectly, kind of like a cat.
"Was it you who caught that Pidgey?" she asked me.
"Uh, yeah," I answered. "Why?"
"No reason. I just like seeing what kind of Pokémon that Trainers are interested in." She held out a hand. "My name's Reia. What's your name?"
"I-It's Roku," I said, taking her hand and giving it a firm shake. "And this is my partner, Luna."
"How goes it?" Luna chirped.
"Pretty good, thank you," Reia said.
"Huh? You can speak to Pokémon?" I asked, surprised.
"Yeah, ever since I was young," Reia explained. "That's how I met my partner, Lyra."
I looked on as a Vulpix popped up from Reia's hood.
"Hi! Nice to meet you!" she spoke.
"Nice to meet you, too, Lyra," I said. "My name is Roku."
Lyra outstretched her paw, and I took it and shook it as well.
"Wait, you can talk to Pokémon, too?!" Reia gasped.
"Yeah, same as you."
We looked at each other for a short moment. Now that I noticed it, Reia was actually quite beautiful. She had medium-length blonde hair, and a pair of stunning blue eyes. She wore a white and blue dress, with the skirt extending high up her waist. She really did look like someone from a different region.
"So, where are you from?" I asked, breaking the silence. "I've never seen your face before."
"I'm from Vaniville Town all the way in Kalos," she replied. "It was quite the journey to get here. You have no idea how good it felt to get off that boat after 3 weeks!"
"Haha, yeah," I laughed.
"What about you?" she asked.
"I was born here, in New Bark Town," I explained. "I actually just started out on my conquest of the Johto League."
"Hey, me too!" Reia exclaimed. "Say, you want to travel together? I'm a good Trainer and I know my way around a fight, if you'll have me."
"Well, I'm not really concerned with how good of a Trainer you are, but sure, I'll let you come with me," I said. "But…now that you mention it…I kinda want to test your skills myself. How about a one-on-one battle? My Luna versus your Lyra."
"OK! Let's have it out!" she confirmed.
We paced away from each other for a short distance. Then we turned around. Both of our expressions turned from friendly to confident.
"Go, Luna!"
"Go, Lyra!"
The two Pokémon jumped forward and prepared for battle.
"I hope you're ready for a butt-kicking!" Lyra challenged.
"I'm ready to dish one out, if that's what you mean!" Luna retorted.
"OK, Lyra!" Reia started. "Use Ember!"
Lyra spit many tiny embers from her mouth.
"Luna, counter with Swift!"
Luna launched her attack and destroyed the small fire attack. The rays being much larger, they kept going and collided with Lyra.
"Score! Direct hit!" Luna cheered.
"Lyra! I know you can still battle! Use Confuse Ray!"
Confuse Ray. A very dirty and cheap tactic. Lyra jumped up and sent out an eerie ray of light into Luna's eyes, and she started to stumble around as if she was intoxicated.
"Luna! Stay focused!" I shouted. "Use Sand Attack!"
Luna wildly kicked sand in Lyra's direction, but didn't make contact.
"You missed! Lyra! Use Ember!"
Lyra spit more embers and hit Luna directly, singeing her fur slightly.
"C'mon, Luna, you have to snap out of it!" I shouted. "Use Swift!"
At least I knew that Swift always hit its target. Despite Luna facing slightly away from Lyra, the star-shaped rays honed in on Lyra and made direct contact.
"Lyra! Use Ember!"
Lyra launched her attack again. However, probably out of sheer luck, Luna just barely stumbled out of the range of the stream of embers.
"OK! Now, Luna, hit 'em with Sand Attack!"
Luna shook her head and kicked sand in Lyra's face, sending her sprawling back.
"Yeah! Now use Tackle!"
Luna dashed forward and slammed into Lyra, sending her flying and knocking her out, securing victory.
"No! Lyra!" Reia cried.
"Aw, yeah! That's how it's done!" I cheered.
Reia ran up to Lyra's limp body, spraying a Potion on her wounds. Lyra looked up at her and smiled slightly.
"We lost, didn't we?" Lyra asked.
"It's OK," Reia said softly. "You were great. We almost had 'em."
"Hey," I said as I walked up to her. "Good battle. I like your style."
"Heh…thanks," she said sheepishly. "You and Luna were awesome! I've never seen a combination like you two."
"Thanks," I said. "I think we should hurry up to Cherrygrove so we can rest our Pokémon. I can tell that Lyra's hurting from that battle."
Reia nodded. I held out a hand to help her up, and we ran off for Cherrygrove together. Before we went, I made sure to pick up the Poke Ball that held my recently caught Pidgey.
Latias' P.O.V.
Ecruteak Dance Theater
"So…this is the Johto division, huh?"
The Kimono Girl had led Latias to the Dance Theater, where they took a hidden elevator to a massive underground headquarters; the Legend Keepers' Johto Division.
"This is where you'll stay until Team Prime is eradicated," the Kimono Girl said, leading Latias to a room. She opened the door to reveal an environment that Latias herself loved.
"So, you share a liking to New Bark Town, too?" the Kimono Girl asked.
"Yeah…" Latias said. "It's nice and quiet. No signs of maliciousness either." Then she remembered.
New Bark Town wasn't quite the same without the people who had taken care of her. Professor Elm, and…
"…Roku…"
"Huh?"
Latias snapped out of her vision and looked at the Kimono Girl, who was looking at her oddly.
"Oh, nothing," she said. "Just revisiting some old memories."
"You miss someone, don't you?" she asked sadly.
"How do you…?"
"I know what you're thinking," she said. "You miss your brother, Latios, as well as another boy…a human…" Then she gasped.
"This boy…Did he have an ability to speak to Pokémon?" she asked.
"Yeah, now that you mention it," Latias confirmed. "Why?"
The Kimono Girl was frozen for a few seconds. Then she pulled out her P*DA.
"Sorry, I've got some phone calls to make," she said. "Make yourself comfortable."
Latias nodded and entered the room. The Kimono Girl closed the door and dialed a number into her P*DA.
"Hello?"
"Professor Elm, it's Zuki," she said. "Do you know how far Roku has gone yet?"
"Roku?" Elm asked. "Hmm…judging from when he left, he should be heading towards Violet City by now."
"Good…Do you have the Egg?"
"Yes, I do! It's quite an odd little Egg," Professor Elm said. "It seemed to have this slight glow when Roku was in the room, but now it's dull."
"Right…well, I need you or someone else to deliver the Egg to him," Zuki said. "It is imperative that he holds the Egg."
"You think he might be a chosen one?" Elm asked. "Why else would you have given Mr. Pokémon that Egg if you knew it was very special?"
"That will all be revealed to him when he is ready," Zuki said. "I feel as if he is not quite ready to control the responsibility yet."
"Right…Well, I can get one of my assistants to head out to Violet City right now," Elm confirmed.
"Good. I'll be up there as well," Zuki said. "I must go now. See you again."
Roku's P.O.V.
Route 30
After a short rest at the Pokémon Center, Reia and I had set our sights on Violet City, the location of our first Gym Battle. We had heard from a couple of Trainers in the area (after sending their butts packing) that the Gym Leader was an expert on Flying-type Pokémon. As long as I had Luna's Swift, I had nothing to worry about.
We were halfway across Route 30 when my stomach growled.
Man…I thought, I knew I should've gotten some food.
"Hey, you alright?" Reia asked seriously. "Your stomach just, like, barked at me."
Right then, Reia's stomach growled.
"I could say the same for you," I said. "Maybe we should've filled up on other things rather than supplies."
"That's cool," Reia said, moving towards the tree line. "I'll go grab some Berries or something. There's usually a lot of fruit in these trees."
"Hey! Wait!" I shouted. But Reia was already climbing the tree and disappeared from view.
"She seems really good at that," Luna said, impressed.
"Well, all we can do is wait for her to come back," I said, taking a seat on the ground.
A few minutes later, Reia exited the overgrowth, her and Lyra hauling a crapload of Berries and fruits, enough to last us at least a week.
"You found all this up in the trees?!" I said, astonished.
"You just gotta know what to look for," Reia responded.
"You didn't pick anything poisonous, did you?" I asked nervously.
"Boy, aren't we paranoid?" Reia laughed. "Nah, this won't kill you. Here, have an Oran Berry."
We sat down and had ourselves a small feast of Berries. Luckily, I knew how to cook, and so Luna and I had gotten some sturdy twigs and used them to cook shish-ka-bubs over the fire.
"Man, this is amazing, Roku!" Reia said, taking a bite. "Where'd you learn to cook like this?"
"Call it a family trade," I said modestly. "My mother's a better cook than I am. Whatever I fix, she can make ten times better."
"Ah, I see," she said.
After we had finished eating, Reia and I had just set up our sleeping bags and were now looking up at the night sky.
"Roku?"
"Mmm?"
"What's the reason for your journey?"
I rolled over and looked at Reia. "What do you mean?"
Reia looked over at me. "One doesn't leave home at your age just to conquer the Pokémon League. What's the real purpose of your journey?"
"Well…" I started. If I told her about Latias, she'd think I was crazy. I was better off only telling her half of the truth.
"I'm going out to look for a friend whom I haven't seen for a while," I half-lied. "She just left our town without even saying goodbye or where she was going…and I've got to find her."
"Oh…" Reia said, a slight tone of disappointment in her voice.
"What about you? What's the purpose of your journey?" I asked.
"I haven't really figured that out yet," she explained. "I've traveled all over Kalos and I haven't even figured out what I want to do with my life. It's kind of sad, really…"
"I wouldn't worry about it too much," I said reassuringly. "You'll find your purpose. You just gotta keep looking."
Reia looked at me and smiled. "Thanks for letting me come with you."
"Heh, no problem," I replied.
The both of us looked back up at the starry night sky. It wasn't long after our chat that I fell asleep.
Unknown P.O.V.
Route 30
"Sir…I have visual on the individual. Tell me when."
"Do not engage, I repeat, do not engage. Your orders were to follow him and Blue jay without confrontation. Do you understand?"
"Alright, fine. I never get to have any fun around here…"
Roku's P.O.V.
Route 30
"C'mon, let's go gather some more food," I said quietly. "We need to get started as fast as possible."
"Oh, fine. Whatever you say, lover boy," Luna teased.
Ever since that night, Luna has been badgering me about having a crush on Reia. I keep telling her to focus on the journey at hand, but of course, she won't listen. Once I mentioned the idea of going out looking for food, she accused me of trying to impress her with breakfast in bed.
OK, so maybe that part of it is true. I guess I felt like it was the nice thing to do.
As I went out to the tree line, I saw something gleam out of the corner of my eye. I looked over in the direction where Reia was still sleeping and found the source of the light. I walked over and picked it up.
"What is that?" Luna asked curiously.
I'll admit, even I was at a loss. It was a badge of some sort, a silver sword with a yellow pair of wings on a black triangle background. It looked really official and important.
"Hey, there's some sort of writing on the back," Luna pointed out.
I turned the badge over to see a small inscription.
REIA SAKURA
ID NO. 30442
"Wha…" I said. "This belongs to Reia…but, what is this?"
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Luna accused. "Reia's tailing you. Something about you interests whatever organization she belongs to. What if she's evil?"
"That's not true."
I gasped and whirled around to see Reia standing there with a sad look on her face.
"Reia…who are you, really?" I asked seriously.
"My name is Reia Sakura," she explained. "I'm a Legend Keeper."
Author's Note: So…the lovely Reia isn't who she seems…
Yeah, that was a bit of a twist, but there is an origin. I actually thought of the Legend Keepers as I was playing through Pokémon X. I had just rebooted it, playing as my female persona, (named Reia) (No, it isn't weird; it IS a role-playing game, after all) and I think: Hey, maybe I should do this as my first online fanfic.
Also, an idea on Roku's Pokémon team. I'm planning on using my competitive team on X, which consists of a female Ninetales with Drought, (sadly, Reia's will have Flash Fire) a female shiny Umbreon with Inner Focus (there's Luna), Latias, male Lucario (I will be incorporating Mega Evolution; this is a modern journey), male Serperior (without Contrary, sadly), and a male Delphox with Magician. A little overpowered, yes, but it has all of my partner Pokémon from each of the regions, and I intend to keep it that way. I don't have any idea on what Reia's gonna have on her team, but I will tell you that she will have a Legendary Pokémon on her side; she IS a Legend Keeper.
Anyway, I guess I kinda lied about what this chapter was gonna be. They'll get to Violet City in the next one, and they will take on the Sprout Tower before taking on Falkner.
That's it for now. Strato Abyss signing out.
