Chapter 20: Back on the Road
After a few days of rest and recovery, it was time to leave Solaceon Town. Though the two never discussed it, Morgan and Lucas ended up traveling together as they gathered their supplies and headed north. As the two headed further and further away from the foothills of Mt. Coronet, the landscape changed from hilly forests with the occasional clearing into the flat plains and tall grasses of Route 210. Morgan explained that the grasses were good places to catch Pokemon, and that Scyther and Chansey were more common here than the south of Solaceon where they had come from, but warned him that it was easy to get lost. As they explored the route and Lucas collected some more Pokemon, the two discussed everyday things such as music and food and how annoying people could be. While Morgan could be insufferable with her condescending insults and abrasive personality, Lucas was enjoying her company.
The teen boy was too distracted by his attraction to Ashley to actually enjoy just traveling with her, but with Morgan it was entirely different. As much as he would have rather denied it, he did sort of like her and having a being to talk to that could actually answer back was nice. Lucas knew that many Trainers did travel in groups on their journeys for safety and company, something he never even thought about when he stormed out of his brother's house that now felt forever ago. For the first time since he left his gang in Cherrygrove, the pierced teen felt like he really had a friend again. He missed that more than he even realized. Mildly homesick, he asked Morgan to tell him more about the experiences she had of the hometown they both shared. The two didn't even realize how far they had traveled during their conversation.
As the afternoon passed, the travelers came across a cafe, that according to the Pokevice, would be the last place to stop for a very long time. The place was clearly very popular, as Morgan and Lucas were hardly the only Trainers there. Though the place was crowded, the decided to stop in for a short break and some hot food before the long journey to the next patch of civilization. The waitress behind the counter was swamped by questions and demands left and right, but still managed to take their order and warn the two that Trainers challenged each other inside the restaurant and to be ready to fight.
Lucas let out Gizmo as he and Morgan grabbed one of the few remaining tables in the bustling establishment, "I really hope I don't get challenged in here, I wouldn't mind the extra dough but I really don't feel like battling today. It's too nice out. One of those days where you just want to nap on the roof or something,"
"I guess. You're heading to Veilstone, aren't you? To challenge the gym?" Morgan asked. The white noise of the conversations at the other tables forced the two to raise their voices to hear each other. Gizmo looked around at the other Trainers, and some nerdy-looking boys who sat at the back excitedly pointed out the Eevee and seemed to start talking about it.
"Well, yeah," Lucas replied. He was confused by the obvious question. She knew he was doing the Gym Challenge in Sinnoh.
"Just making sure. Then that means after lunch it will be time to say goodbye,"
"What?" Lucas was taken aback by Morgan's announcement. The waitress rushed by and dropped their plates off with a smile before moving on to the next table. The food was piping hot and smelled pleasantly of sizzling meat and the peanut oil used to fry just about everything the menu offered.
"I'm not headed towards Veilstone, I'm going to Celestic Town. Route 210 splits off into a fork just past this cafe. You go east to get to Veilstone City, west for Celestic," Morgan explained as she prodded her soup with a spoon before picking up her sandwich. It was turkey on rye, but the dark-type trainer grimaced as she noticed they had put mayo on the bread despite asking for a mayo-free version.
"What's in Celestic?" The nerdy boys from the back passed by the table as they went to pay their bill, they still seemed curious about Gizmo, though they didn't dare talk to the tough-looking teen that owned them. Gizmo watched them lazily as they finally left the restaurant, only to be passed by new patrons coming in for their own meals.
"It's a very old city, supposedly home to a lot of ancient supernatural forces. I plan on visiting so I can see it for myself, as well as talk to someone there," Morgan explained dryly as she began scrapping the egg-based condiment off of her sandwich with a knife. Satisfied the offensive ingredient was gone, she finally started eating her meal.
"Well, you've got your plans, and I've got mine, I suppose," Lucas shrugged before digging into the burger set in front of him. In truth he was quite disappointed. He had hoped he'd be able to travel with Morgan for a little while longer, if only so he wouldn't have to be alone again. Though honestly he was sure he'd even miss her bad attitude and awful hair.
They ate the rest of their meal in silence, the noise and the atmosphere of the hectic cafe replacing any further discussion and were undisturbed as they paid their bill and left together. The bell on the door rang as they opened and closed it behind them, the two Trainers faced each other wordlessly, wondering which of the two would say something first. More Trainers were coming to eat, but the stream was not as steady as the lunch rush died down. The sun was no longer at its zenith, and would begin its slow march towards evening. Not liking to be in yet another awkward moment with a person, Lucas broke the stalemate, "So I guess this is goodbye,"
"I guess so," Morgan sighed. It seemed as though she was upset about their parting as he was. It was unlikely the two would ever admit to each other that they were friends, but perhaps the fact that they didn't have to declare it was what made them work so well, "It was nice knowing you, even if you could be a jerk that looks like he got hit by shrapnel. Good luck becoming the Champion,"
"And good luck opening your dark-type Gym. When you get it, I'll come challenge you for a badge,"
"Just don't expect to win. Even without Achilles I can still kick your ass."
"Not likely. I'll be able to blast your Gym with just one Pokemon, you'll see,"
"Dream on,"
"Make sure to tell everyone where you got King Lucas,"
"Ass," And with this final exchange of insults and bickering, the two teen Trainers turned their backs to each other, she facing the west while Lucas turned east, and walked away from each other, never knowing if the two would meet again. Though it was not a long or emotional parting, for them, it worked.
It felt eerily quiet to be alone again, but it allowed the teen boy be with his thoughts again. It didn't take long for Route 210 to turn to Route 215 nor for Lucas' melancholy day with its lazy weather to turn entirely miserable. It was true that Lucas hated a lot of things, and it would take less time to list the things the teen liked, but his top three hatreds never changed. Number three was having his hands restrained, be it handcuffs, rope or being pinned down in a fight, but angling for number one was a statistical dead-heat between his brother John, and rain. Lucas hated the rain with a passion: it made him cold to the bone, ruined his hair, messed up his clothes and made him feel like he could never get dry again. He had no issue with water in general, beaches and pools were something he often frequented, but as soon as it came from a cloud instead of the ground, Lucas immediately got into one of his worst moods. And seemingly as soon as he stepped foot onto Route 215, the skies opened up and poured down on him.
The Trainer sent Gizmo back into his Pokeball as he let out a chain of NC-17 swears as riffled through his duffel bag for something that would protect him from the irritating droplets that hit his face in such a way that he ended up blinking twice as normal. Lucas didn't own a jacket or a poncho. He didn't find the necessity as he made it a point to never, ever go outside when it rained. Even his parents gave into this demand, as his cat-like dislike of the stuff made him even more difficult to deal with than usual. But now, the grumbling young man wished he owned even a sheet of plastic to drape over himself in this unpleasant weather. He started trudging forward, and it didn't take long for nature's shower to wash the gel out of his hair and turn his mohawk into a pulpy mess of sopping strands that got in his face and made cold water run down his neck. It was a short time as well for his intimidating looking boots to be flooded with the puddles of mud and squishy grass to turn is socks to a course mush that made a squealing sound with each step and rub against his damp skin. His skin-tight turtleneck clung parasitically to his skin, hooking onto the normally invisible peach fuzz called his chest hair, making if feel like he could count the hairs and itched like crazy.
His mind was no longer on missing Morgan, or being alone, or the stock of his like that he liked to reevaluate on a regular basis, now his focus was entirely on getting out of this weather as quickly as humanly possible. Whether he would reach Veilstone or simply someone's house didn't particularly matter to him, all he hoped for was a space heater and a stack of towels at least as tall as he was. The rain had an additional side effect besides turning Lucas into a human sponge, it also made it incredibly difficult to see. The young man shuffled his feet as quickly as he could, feeling in front of him with his arms as he sought to avoid trees and the large boulders that seemed to litter the mini-swamp he was now traveling. He took a step and slipped into a puddle, dragging himself out of it only to fall into a deeper, muddier hole. Lucas pulled himself up and did his best to clean himself off, but he knew only a proper shower would get rid of the squishy, gritty muck that made itself inside his belly button and other places that were equally unpleasant. Thinking he was finally free of his predicament, Lucas reached his arms out again to avoid obstacles, and system that only worked if the threats were waist-high or taller. Not more than a few more steps from the mud pit, Lucas' boot slide against the edge of a small cliff, sending the Trainer rolling down a small hill.
When he finally came to a stop, he slammed into a soft dirt embankment. He did his best to pull his wet, bruised carcass into a sitting position and put his arms on his knees so he could rest his head and not having the pouring rain continuously splash his face. Lucas let out a sound somewhere between a sigh, a groan and a scream to express his misery. For the first time since the beginning of his journey, the teen had seriously considered quitting. He was not an outdoors man. Yet for a dream he long ago he gave up he was now knee-deep in the middle of weather that he hated so much, it threatened to surpass his fury for his older, cocky brother. What was he doing out here? John may have been a completely unlikable human being, but he had a TV, food in the fridge and a roof that kept rain away from him like god intended. Would that really have been so bad?
As Lucas got further and further into his cycle of self-pity and disgruntled dampness, he heard a funny little sound just beyond where he was sitting. He forced himself from his slump into a crouch and peered around the corner of the embankment he crashed into. Two little Marill, water-type mice with round bobs on their tails, were jumping and splashing in the puddle, delighting in the weather that Lucas loathed. He watched them playing and singing their calls happily, and found himself smiling. Despite the fact that he hated rain so much he was honestly considering crawling back to John, he was grinning like an idiot as he watched these two happy creatures. And his smile turned into laughter. The sudden human sound startled the two wild Pokemon and they ran into the bushes, but Lucas' laughter only got louder and more maniacal.
Was he serious? Was he that big a pussy that he would quit the one thing he truly loved and go back to the one thing he truly hated because a little water fell from the sky? Lucas loved Pokemon, and he was on this journey not just to prove something to his brother or his parents, but because he wanted to be the Champion for himself. He wanted to catch all the Pokemon he could and see what the world had to offer. And sometimes the world offered monsoon rains and soaking wet underwear. Lucas finally stopped laughing and pushed his collapsed mohawk out of his eyes again to turn back to the embankment and grab his bag.
As he reached for it, it shook slightly. Something Lucas found very odd. His Pokeballs were still on his belt, and the bag was unopened, so a wild Pokemon was unlikely to be rummaging through it when he back was turned. Slowly he undid the ties and carefully searched through it, making sure to let in as little water as possible in the only waterproof thing he owned. Finally, he pulled out the Pokemon Egg he received from Ashley, it had a crack in it. His heart rose to his throat as he realized that when he fell down the hill his ungraceful body landed directly on top of the duffel bag and slammed it. Horror filled his mind as Lucas clutched the egg closer to his body, thoughts racing as he figured out what to do. Where was the nearest Pokemon Center? Could Pokemon Centers even do anything for eggs? What do I do? I can't let it die! I promised Ashley I'd take care of it! Lucas found himself on the edge of sobbing as the crack in the egg expanded and the item shuddered violently, as though the unfortunate creature inside was on its last spark of life.
The cracking and shuddering intensified until the shell completely fell away and disappeared into the gooey mud at Lucas' feet. The small Pokemon inside had its eyes closed and took a slow breath, before popping its eyes open and chirped, "Bun! Bun!"
Lucas felt a wave of relief relax his body. The small Buneary looked completely unharmed. He hadn't injured it, it was ready to hatch anyway. The tiny normal-type cocked its head and sniffed Lucas and looked in awe at the new world around it, flinching slightly as small drops of rain hit its face. The Pokedex revealed this new Pokemon to be a female, and remembering Ashley's Lopunny Luna, the mother of this new creature, Lucas immediately thought of a name, "Welcome to the world, Stella,"
He quickly got a Pokeball to place the newborn away from the rain and remembered his promise to Ashley. He would raise this Pokemon with love and care. And though he never said anything to her, he now vowed to meet Ashley again. And he'd meet Morgan, too, with her Gym and kick her ass. That way whenever the two would meet he could lord it over her. He'd keep going. He'd make friends both human and Pokemon and achieve any goal he set out for himself. Now was the time to get back on the path and head for the next town, after all, he had a Gym badge to win.