A/N: Hello friends, welcome back! Bit of a short one today: the chapter was originally supposed to go all the way to Gloria and Hop's second battle and the stuff about wishing stars, but it just made sense for the pacing to break that up into two chapters. If you're really nice, I may post that chapter too ;)
Enjoy the chapter! And as always, follows and reviews are much appreciated!
When Hop said "bright and early," he really meant bright and early. I had just woken up and was spritzing Mum's prize Budew with a little fresh water out in front of the house when he jogged up, Grookey on his shoulder and Wooloo trotting behind, with three canteens of Arc knows what sticking out of his thick wool haphazardly.
"Morning, Gloria!" he cried cheerfully. "Had mum heat up her famous Roselia-leaf Breakfast Tea. Extra caffeinated, it'll even wake up Victor."
"Hop, the last thing you need is more energy," I laughed, meeting Wooloo in the road and pulling out one of the canteens.
"I know, two of those are actually for Victor. He even up yet?"
"I'm up, I'm up," Victor answered from the second floor of our house, peeking through the window. "Gloria, Scorbunny got a little too excited and scared Sobble half to death, can you please reign him in?"
"Just a mo, Vic! Hop, I'll get him ready in ten minutes. Let me at those other canteens, looks like I need 'em as a peace offering."
Route One was quiet. The sun was out, and a light breeze kept us cool as we walked North from Postwick and into Wedgehurst. Off in the distance we could see field after field, filled with crops or the occasional Wooloo herd. Above our heads, we could see a couple Butterfree dancing in the sky above in a mating ritual, or so Victor seemed to think (he had a veritable encyclopedia's worth of information in that noggin of his, so I didn't doubt his claim). Hop and I led the way, discussing the Pokemon we wanted to catch to join our team, Victor followed closely behind, quietly rubbing Sobble, who was riding on his shoulder. Wooloo brought up the rear, and in place of the canteens from earlier was Grookey, who had found another twig to play with. Scorbunny darted among the three of us. I had debated keeping him in his Pokeball so he wouldn't get too tired from all the running around, but I realized outside of the pocket of my grey sweater, I really didn't have a place to put any Pokeballs for my journey.
"I'm tellin you, mate, you need to get one of these ball belts!" Hop insisted, showing off the one he was wearing. "You can fit a whole team's worth of balls right here, plus a couple for reserves!"
"Reserves? Can't you only bring six onto the pitch with you?" Victor asked.
"Obviously," Hop sighed. "But no one's gonna come for you if you carry more than six outside of a stadium, dummy."
"Well, it's a moot point anyway. I can't even wear a belt with this!" I said, twirling and showing off the hem of my magenta dress. "I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I only have the one Pokeball anyway."
"You can always buy some at the Pokemon Center in Wedgehurst," Victor said. "Look, we've almost made it!" And so we had. Route One was short, after all, and though we could still see Wedgehurst from the highest hills of Postwick, we could see the small city in all of its glory now. Small shops stood up next to the cobblestone streets, and though it was partially covered by the shops, the dark brick of the Wedgehurst Train station towered over the stores. Near the edge of the city stood our destination: Professor Magnolia's research laboratory, a purple tower of about four or five storeys. Circling the lively main street were more houses cut from the same cloth as the ones we lived in back in Postwick. Wedgehurst was certainly no Wyndon or Motostoke, but compared to Postwick, it was a right metropolis.
"Gloria, look!" Hop shouted, breaking my concentration on the city ahead of us and pointing directly and excitedly at a patch of grass to our right. I snapped my head back to see what he was pointing at and only saw a small, round bird with blue and black feathers hopping across the dirt path.
"What, the rookidee? S'just a common bird, Hop."
"That's where you're wrong, Gloria," Hop said, grinning mischievously. He swiped at his trusty belt and pulled a Pokeball from it. He wound up, and threw the ball directly at the bird. With a whack, it bounced off the Rookidee's head and up into the air, where it opened at the seam and in a quick flash of red light, sucked up the bird inside. The ball wiggled once, twice, three times, and with a quiet click, came to a rest ten feet away.
"Ah ha!" Hop yelled triumphantly. "Didn't even have to battle to weaken it first!"
"Because it was a scrawny little Rookidee, Hop," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Maybe now, but I guarantee you this bird will help me write the next chapter in the book of my legend!"
"What, do all of your family members have dumb catchphrases?" I laughed.
"I'm shopping it," Hop said through gritted teeth and narrowed eyes. He jogged over to the ball and picked it up. "B'sides, you can't make fun of me if you can't beat me in a battle, Gloria."
"Hey, that was a two on one battle, and we still came pretty close!" I said defiantly. Scorbunny, excited by all the commotion, hopped to my side and started shifting from side to side, kicking up sparks each time his feet scrubbed up against the dirt.
"Well, here," Hop said smugly, as he tossed another empty ball toward me. "Catch another pokemon or two and I'll still trounce you, even with my 'scrawny little Rookidee.'"
"I don't need your handouts," I laughed, tossing the ball back at him. "You got lucky, that's all. But the minute I get another team member, you're going to eat those words."
"Yeah, Sobble, they always do this. Mum calls it flirting," Victor muttered dryly from behind.
"That's tough talk, Vic," I shot back, wheeling back and facing him. "You still gonna keep that sharp tongue when we meet up with Sonia, or am I gonna have to talk to her for you again?"
"That—okay, first of all, shut up," Victor said, flushing a deep crimson. Hop and I broke into laughter.
"You better get used to trash talk, mate," Hop said. "We're gonna be rivals now, the three of us, and there's gonna be a lot of it."
"Trash talk comes from a trash trainer," I ribbed. "Scorbunny and I are gonna fry up that little bird, you just wait and see."
"It won't be a little bird for long," Victor corrected. "You know what those things evolve into?"
"Spare me the lecture, Professor Victor," I said. I knew Pokemon evolved once they grew stronger, and I knew that Rookidee wouldn't be small forever.
"How about a visual demonstration, then?" he asked, pointing up to the sky. For a moment, the three of us were covered in the shadow of a gigantic Pokemon flying above us. The thing was a massive jet-black bird, and though I could see the outline of its feathers and knew instinctively what feathers felt like, it seemed like this gigantic bird's feathers were made of well-polished iron. As the sun struck it, the entire Pokemon glinted like a knight in a full suit of armor. In the grip of its powerful-looking claws, it held an equally large metal carriage, about the size of one of the carriages on the Wyndon Ferris Wheel. The carriage doors were emblazoned with the word "TAXI," as well as the phone number of the rider, who I could only just make out on top of the gigantic bird. I could see the silhouette of someone inside the carriage, making a scene. The window rolled down and a flash of fiery red hair stuck out as the passenger yelled something up to the rider above. Almost immediately, the bird tilted its head, looking at us with a single beady red eye, and began to circle around us, drawing lower and lower by the second.
"I see these Corviknight taxis all the time, but it never fails to amaze me how big those birds really are," Hop said softly.
"You…you mean that little Rookidee is gonna turn into…one of those?" I asked Victor incredulously. He just nodded, also in awe of the giant Pokemon.
"Hey you guys, I was just coming to fetch you!" shouted the passenger in a familiar sounding voice.
"Sonia? What are you doing?" Hop asked when she landed and exited the carriage.
"Keep the meter running, I won't take long," Sonia told the driver, who nodded curtly and patted down the feathers of the Corviknight. "All right, you lot?"
"More than all right, Sonia!" Hop cried. "I just caught myself a Rookidee! I'm going to have one of these beauties in no time at all!"
"'Zat so, kid?" the driver asked, impressed. "Good call on that one, lad. Brienne here has been the best friend a man could ask for fer years now. Unbelievably loyal, these birds are." Corviknight chirped in approval, if you could call such a deep and menacing sound as that a chirp.
"Fantastic, you're already building up a team," Sonia said, beaming. "What about you two? Wait, don't bother, hop in the taxi, we'll take you to Gran's estate just North of town."
"Weren't we supposed to meet at the lab?" I asked.
"Gran's in a mood," Sonia responded, rolling her eyes. "She doesn't want to go to the office today, I guess. But we can get you all set up at her place. I was just one my way to grab Leon because he needs to meet with Gran on official league business, so if you want to tag along…"
"I'll come!" Hop said. "Can you tell me a bit about training your Corviknight, mister?"
"Sure thing!"
"I can meet you there," I blurted out suddenly. "I'm trying to catch my first pokemon myself and I haven't found one just yet. Maybe I'll find one for me on the road!"
"You two remind me of me and Leon when we did the gym challenge," Sonia giggled, pointing at Hop and me. "Well, sounds good for you then. Victor?"
"I'll…I'll stick with Gloria," he mumbled, somehow looking more timid than the Sobble on his shoulder. Hopeless, I thought to myself.
"Fair enough. See you soon!" And with that, her and Hop clambered into the carriage and set off.
"Hopeless," I repeated, this time out loud so my brother could hear me. He grumbled.
The two of us made our way through Wedgehurst, stopping only to pick up some potions and pokeballs at the Pokemon Center. And then it was down Route Two to Professor Magnolia's estate. It was a long downhill path, and we could see her house from the edge of town. It was nestled neatly next to a beautiful lake, which reflected the distant mountains even further to the North. The path down to the house was scattered with trees and trainers alike, small kids and novice trainers like myself collecting and battling with new partner pokemon or pokemon they managed to catch. There also seemed to be a lot more life in the tall grass here than there was on Route One. I could already see a Chewtle hobbling by, its angry looking blue and orange face looking angrily at anyone who dare come near.
A couple trainers wanted to do some pick-up battles, and Victor and I got a chance to try out our new partners. None of them were nearly as good as Hop was, so Scorbunny and I made quick work of most, and Victor even picked up a win himself once he realized Sobble was able to use the move water gun. We had a grand old time, and it wasn't until we were under a hundred yards away from Magnolia's estate that I realized I still hadn't found any Pokemon who I wanted to join ranks with Scorbunny. I quickly hopped into the tall grass one more time and soon found another Chewtle, trying its best to quickly move toward the lake nearby.
"Well, it's not ideal, but I think we can take him," I said. "Scorbunny, let's do it! Go for an ember!" Scorbunny launched a small flame toward the turtle, but it just bounced off the Chewtle's hard shell and dissipated in the air above.
"Bad call, sis," Victor offered. "Chewtle's a water type with pretty high defenses."
"Damn, you're right," I said with a groan. "Well, maybe I'll just do what Hop did with that Rookidee and—"
Suddenly, there was a flash of bright yellow light as a fuzzy blur crashed into the Chewtle, sending it flying into the path next to us. It landed on its shell and wobbled, unable to turn itself over. The same fuzzy blur barked and charged again.
"Is…is that a wild Yamper?" I asked as the dog made contact with the Chewtle a second time, this time, sending it flying into the lake, where it spat out a water gun and swam away. The dog itself, turned to me and growled playfully. Scorbunny, upset that the Yamper took his battle from him, charged at the dog. It saw Scorbunny advance and started to glow again. This time I could hear the sparks of static electricity popping off of the dog.
"Scorbunny, hold up!" I cried, but it was too late. The Yamper pulled itself up next to Scorbunny and rubbed its head underneath his arm. When the stored electricity made contact with Scorbunny, it made a loud crack and Scorbunny yelped.
"Impressive Nuzzle," Victor said, nodding in approval.
"Thank you for the commentary," I grumbled. "Scorbunny, are you alright? Hit it with a tackle!" Scorbunny nodded and took a couple steps before freezing on the spot. He was paralyzed! An unfortunate consequence of being hit with a nuzzle, for sure, but I knew Scorbunny could handle it. The Yamper took the opportunity to charge at Scorbunny again, but it was a lot slower, and Scorbunny managed to move out of the way.
"Excellent. Try another tackle!" Scorbunny hopped after the Yamper angrily, and this time the paralysis couldn't keep him at bay. He connected, once, then twice, and the Yamper barked again, a bit disoriented. I took the opportunity and grabbed one of my new Pokeballs, lobbing it at the dog Pokemon. A quick flash of light, three shakes, and a click, and it was all mine! I pumped my fist and Scorbunny hopped as high as he could in celebration, which was not all that high.
"Nice one!" Victor congratulated, tossing me a Paralyze Heal for Scorbunny, who was more than happy to take the medicine.
"Thanks!" I replied, going over and picking up the ball. I'd have to heal him up, but I had a good feeling about this Yamper; almost as if it had scared the Chewtle away specifically so I could battle it instead. "Welcome to the team, buddy." I said, grinning. Scorbunny hopped in excitement, but then chirped in surprise as suddenly, it could hear some soft clapping. We both whirled around to see who was watching and found an elderly woman walking toward us slowly. She was wearing a white lab coat and golden glasses on a chain. Her hair was faded and nearly white, but still very thick and curly. Wrapped around her arm was a walking stick, which apparently was more for show than anything, as she did not seem to have any problems walking over toward us. Scorbunny hopped even higher now that he could, and he sped off to the old woman. When he reached her, he hopped around the woman excitedly.
"Well then, my dear, I wasn't expecting to see you again quite so soon," she said to Scorbunny. "And hello to you two as well. I noticed you just caught yourself a Yamper? Taking after my dear Sonia, I see."
"Are you…are you Professor Magnolia?" I asked. The woman nodded, smiling warmly.
"You must be the twins Sonia told me about. It's wonderful to meet you, and so early in the day! There's something to be said about punctuality. Why don't you come in? I've got a pot of tea on, and Sonia should be back with some breakfast any minute now."
A/N: Psst - can you tell that I really love Corviknight? My favorite Pokemon of the generation and yes I did go out of my way to put my own Corviknight into the story. This is my fic and I do what I want. Anyway, Gloria's team just added a new member! Will it be enough to knock Hop down a peg or two?
NEXT WEEK: WISHES COME TRUE