Chapter 4

Irving woke up, much to his disappointment, still in the same refugee camp he was in before. It was wishful thinking on his end that, maybe, he'd still have the chance to wake up from this dream. Sophia was still asleep at his side, so he didn't have to start the day quite yet. Still, he got out of his sleeping bag and got dressed. It's not like it was comfortable there anyway; it was just a cheap, used sleeping bag. Irving opened up the flaps to the tent, thanking Arceus that the summer warmth had not disappeared. The Sun was still low in the sky, so Irving reckoned that it be a while before everyone woke up.

He was Right. The camp was mostly empty, save for the few people who Irving ignored. Might as well get some quality time in with his Pokémon while he had the space to play with them.

Irving sauntered over to the large field especially quietly, so as not to wake any potential irritants. Mudkip and Togepi were released and they both voiced their pleasure at seeing their trainer again.

"Hey, you two." Irving said in as gentle as voice as he could muster, rubbing them both on the head. Mudkip instantly darted off down the field, retreading the area and generally making it difficult for Irving to keep track of him. At least Mudkip didn't bark loudly as he ran amuck; that was certainly one advantage he had over a rambunctious Growlithe. Energized for the day, Togepi ran off, albeit slowly, hoping to catch up. Knowing that Togepi would never achieve that goal, Irving intercepted Togepi, scooping him up into his arms. After a few seconds in Irving's arms, Togepi stopped squirming and instead relaxed in his parent's comforting arms. And so, Irving walked after Mudkip who darted around in Irving's periphery.

All good things come to an end, most of all silence. As the sun rose higher, the general clamor around the camp grew louder, until the camp started to resemble itself circa 16 hours before. Well, he had a good half an hour of peace; now it was time to start the day. Irving made his way back to their tent and was greeted by a half-awake Sophia.

"Morning, big bro." Sophia said, rubbing her eyes.

"Mornin'. You sleep alright?"

"Yeah, I-" Sophia replied as a giant yawn interrupted her.

"Priiiiii!" Togepi chirped at Sophia, trying to spread his cheer.

"Come on, let's go get some food." Irving said as Togepi forced a smile out of him.

Irving once again gathered everyone together, as dictated by routine, and brought them to the dining area to eat. The food was mediocre as usual, but at least there weren't any distractions from unwanted guests. However, Irving's morning improved as one of the workers made an announcement to those eating.

"Starting today, we're going to be offering travel passes into the city, assuming you don't cause to much trouble."

Irving was dying to leave this camp, and guessing from the spiking in murmuring around the tables, so was everyone else. These were pretty crappy living conditions, especially for the masses of Vermillionites used to living in the suburbs. Irving didn't mind the austere living conditions, but anything to get him out of this tent shantytown was okay with him. Scraping the last bits of food off of his plate, Irving prepared to be first in line. He was not going to be standing in another fuckin' line in this camp.

"Sophia finish up eating."

"But we just got here, Irving."

"Yeah, but I don't want to stand for an hour in the line to get passes. We either go now, or wait later."

"Okaaay." Sophia conceded. She quickly shoved food into her mouth and cleaned of her plates with Irving. After hurriedly getting ready, the two of them arrived at the station where an insufficient number of workers were processing the growing line of people eager to leave. Irving's haste paid off in the end, as the wait was only ten minutes or so. The passes were a couple of identification badges that they could easily store in their pockets. Irving lead Sophia by the hand to the gate and quickly left the compound, following a newly created dirt road.

Irving found the outside of the refugee camp to be much more pleasing to the eyes, especially now that he had the emotional energy to appreciate it. A forest encircled the camp, providing a more familiar and comfortable setting than the barren land where the two of them lived. Unlike the forests of the Vermillion region, which were mainly temperate trees, the Canalave forest was composed entirely of evergreen trees.

"Must look lovely in the winter around here." Irving thought to himself as he ambled about with Sophia, soaking in the atmosphere. Irving's enjoyment of the forest was short-lived, as the Eisenherz siblings soon arrived at the end of the dirt path and the beginning of the city. The abrupt change in scenery momentarily confused Irving. Back home, the city and the forest blended naturally together, with the ratio of houses to trees changing steadily depending on the direction one was going. Canalave's forest and urban build up were clearly segregated; once the forest met the road, there was nothing but buildings from there to the docks.

"Hey, Sophia. You wanna look around the city a bit?" Irving asked. Sophia shrugged. It's not like they had anywhere else to go anyway. The two of them aimlessly walked down one of the streets.

The city gave Irving bad impression the first time around and it continued to compare poorly to Vermillion. Many of the houses showed signs of disrepair and a number of storefronts were boarded up. There wasn't a sidewalk square untainted by litter. Most of the people looked down on their luck; avoiding direct eye contact with anyone else sorry we don't have any change, Irving and Sophia hastily made their way thought the streets.

They escaped from crappy housing projects and made their way into... crappy industrial build up. It wasn't exactly an improvement in aesthetic appeal, but at least Irving wouldn't have to put up with the homeless folk with their disturbing faces accented by puppy dog eyes Come on I don't even have any money I'm barely better off than you are.

The long industrial complexes morphed into dockyards; the density of people increased, as did the quality of construction. Considering the money that sea trade brought in, Irving expected that the docks would be less run down. Even better, looking down river, Irving saw a sliver of what appeared to be the Canalave beaches.

"Sophia, you wanna go to the beach?"

"Wait, what?" Sophia replied. "There's a beach here?"

Irving pointed down the river. "I assume you'd rather go there than stick around here."

"Well, let's go already!" Sophia said as she began running off.

"Wait up!" Irving yelled at her as he tried to catch up with her.

The beach was closer than Irving expected, or maybe that was just because he was running the whole time. Either way, Irving was panting from the exercise, and collapsed on the beach. Sophia was in much better shape than Irving ever was, and bounded from the street to the sand to the water's edge.

"Come on out, Psyduck!"

The confused Pokémon tilted its head upon arrival, only to be dragged by Sophia to Ocean. Irving released Mudkip. Might as well have the water-types play in the water. Mudkip sprinted across the sand and right into the waves, splashing Sophia and Psyduck with his enthusiasm. Giggling from being splashed, Sophia quickly took off her shoes and socks, chucking them onto the beach, and ran into the waves with the others.

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Much like Irving with Togepi two years prior, Sophia received Psyduck for her birthday. However, her birthday experience didn't involve nearly as much a surprise, or initial disappointment. Irving was never interested in any specific Pokémon (at least ones that were obtainable by a pair of middle class parents), so they just got a special one and hoped for the best. Given Irving's, frankly embarrassing, looking back on it, reaction at the time, his parents decided that instead of getting something random, they'd probe specifically into what their second child wanted, and therefore avoid any sort of potential trouble.

The choice wasn't even that difficult to make. Unlike Irving, a battler rather than a caretaker, Sophia had a specific affinity for nature. Every free afternoon was spent at the park or the fields, or assuming she could get Mom to drive her, at the beach. Much like a Growlithe smelling every fire hydrant and plant in its path, Sophia interacted with every Pokémon within sight. Some of them fled or growled, but occasionally one would chance sticking around. Irving didn't know how she did it; wild Pokémon fled from his presence if he so much as waved at them. Probably because Sophia's a lot cuter than Irving. He'd never exactly been praised for his looks and he wasn't exactly personable either. Sophia oozed charm, ignorable neither by human nor Pokémon. This charm brought her in contact with droves of Pokémon, but they all eventually returned to their homes in the forest. Except for one.

Every time Sophia passed by a certain pond at the park, a certain Psyduck would come greet her along with the others. But unlike the rest, as Sophia moved on, the Psyduck would follow her. Right behind her, too. The Psyduck kept right on her, staring directly at her with those giant eyes, as if waiting some sort of orders or acknowledgement.

Of course, Sophia couldn't ignore him forever. Every time, Sophia turned and told the Pokémon, in the nicest voice she had, to go back to the others. And every time, the Psyduck wouldn't and would continue to follow her. And then she'd tell the Psyduck again to go back to his pond. And he wouldn't. After a few more back and forth interactions, Sophia would give up and just let the Pokémon come with her. Frankly, Irving thought that if Sophia really wanted to stop Psyduck from following, she should have been harsher. But then again, Irving didn't know if Sophia really wanted Psyduck to leave. Or if she were even capable of a harsh voice when talking to Pokémon.

Sophia's time spent with this Psyduck lead to Sophia making trips to park specifically for her Psyduck. She'd bring food just for it and they'd play together almost exclusively come on just catch him already. Psyduck never acted shy or hesitant around Sophia, always doing whatever Sophia wanted, as though just being around her was good enough. They'd play tag or hide-and-go-seek and other such games, running about the fields. Sophia always did a bit better than Psyduck; he wasn't never really good on the uptake. It always did amuse Irving just how poorly Psyduck was at comprehension. He was more happy-go-lucky than observant, but his simplicity did have a certain charm. Irving figured this aspect was more to his Sister's taste than his.

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Irving snapped back to reality when he noticed someone approaching. Turning his head to the side, Irving noticed a boy around his age approaching through the sand. The two of them locked eyes, the boy looking down at Irving.

"Uhh, hi." the boy said, breaking eye contact in a nervous fashion.

"Hi." Irving replied in his usual curt fashion, wondering what this stranger wanted.

"Haven't seen you 'round here before." the kid said, trying to start a conversation.

"No, you haven't." Irving said, trying not to start a conversation.

"So, what brings you here." the boy said as he sat down a few feet from Irving. Irving's attempts at dissuading the kid had failed. Irving motioned towards Sophia with his head.

"Oh, okay." he said after noticing Sophia and her accompanying Pokémon. Unsure of what to say next, the boy introduced himself.

"That's a cool Pokémon, you got. What his name?"

"Togepi."

"Oh, cool. I'm Vinnie, by the way. What's your name?"

"Irving."

"I haven't seen you around, at school either. Do you go to a school outside of this district?"

"You could say that."

"Oh, really? Where do you from then?"

This punk's nosiness was really starting to irk Irving. Luckily, Sophia and company interrupted the conversation.

"Hey Irving, who's your friend?" Sophia asked.

"Hi, I'm Vinnie." he responded.

"I'm Sophia. It's very nice to meet you!" She said in her usual chipper tone.

"It's nice to meet you, too."

"So, what brings you to the beach here?" Score. Sophia was nice enough to take over talking duties for Irving.

"I usually play here during my free time. It's my own private spot 'cuz no one really comes by here much. Since we still got a few weeks before school starts again, I figured I should come more often, ya know?"

"I completely understand. Having your own private part of nature is a special, especially in the city. Honestly, this beach is nice enough that we'd like to come back again, if you don't mind."

"Oh, not at all. It's not really my beach." Vinnie said, looking away and scratching the back of his head. Clearly, talking to women is not his strong suit. Or talking to anyone, really.

"Thank you!" Sophia said. "We don't know any good places around here to relax, so we've just been walking around looking for one."

"You two must not be from around here, I reckon." Both of the Eisenherz twins nodded in response. "Well, if you're not busy, how 'bout I show you around town?"

"That sounds great!" Sophia replied. Irving figured they might as well, seeing as the city was big and their knowledge of it was small. "Let's go, Irving."

"Yeah, coming." He said as he returned Togepi to his Pokéball, got up, and brushed the sand off his clothes. The three of them left the beach and began down another street with Vinnie leading the way. This street was neither a boarded up slum or industrial complex like before, but instead was a quiet street filled with small stores and a few cafes. Most of the people in sight were sitting at their small cafe tables, reading the newspaper or chatting with friends. Irving could get used to this. He honestly wanted to spend more time here, but the price of food was a prohibitive cost given Irving's lack of money.

"Palm street's a pretty sweet place." Vinnie pointed out. "There's a few cafes and stores on this street. Kinda makes me wish I had a bigger allowance."

"Wow, yeah, this place does look cool. Right, Irving?" Sophia said.

"Yeah."

"Well, let me show you some of the shops here." Vinnie offered.

And he did. There were a few knickknack stores, none of which interested Irving in the slightest. Sophia did show some interest in a gift store that Irving couldn't be bothered to remember the name of. None of the gifts Irving could see through the window looked particularly interesting, but he never gave presents to people he wasn't obligated to give them to, so he didn't expect this crap to interest him anyway. The antiques store intrigued Irving, but he didn't have the money to have any business in that shop. There was one bookstore which did catch his attention. Called "The Murkrow", it was hidden beneath a series of apartments and was accessible only by way of a set a stone stairs leading down. It's stone walls and slight disrepair would be considered unwelcoming by most, but where many were turned off, Irving was intrigued. It's secrecy gave it an almost forbidden feeling to it and an air of mystery. Irving would definitely make time to come here again.

"Okay guys, let's go this way." Vinnie said pointing to a tangential street. The three of them ambled over to and down this street, as they followed Vinnie to a more populated area of the City. More people and cars started to appear as they reached what could be considered a hub in the city. The shops turned more upscale and the people more numerous and more "tourist-y". Irving preferred to stay away, but Vinnie's mannerisms seemed to imply that they were just in this area to cross from one part of the city to another. Irving's guess turned out to be true, as the trio soon arrived a slightly quieter section of the city.

"Here's what I wanted to show you guys." Vinnie said, pointing to an old three storey wooden building.

"What is it?" Sophia asked.

"It's one of Canalave's local libraries." Vinnie explained. Sophia stifled a laugh. "I know it's not that interesting to most people, but it's a building I spend a lot of time in when I'm not at the beach, ya know."

"Really?" Sophia asked incredulously.

"Sure. There's lots of cool stuff in there." Vinnie explained.

"I guess we should go in, then." Irving said, much to Sophia's dismay. Irving shot a look at her. She could deal with being in the library for a little bit.

"Great!" Vinnie said as the three of them made their way inside. The library had a very aged look to it, with only the computers the reference desk indicating what era it was. Despite, it's age, the library still had some use, if only for how absolutely massive it was.

"So, umm, there's children's books and young adult on the left and...uh... ones on Pokémon in general over there." Vinnie said gesturing with his arms.

The first floor was already quite large, with several comprehensive sections, and many more that were undoubtedly on the next two floors. The first floor was fairly populated, with a few families and lone individuals scattered about. Glancing toward the front desk, Irving noticed a stack of the local newspapers. He figured he might as well pick up a copy. Meanwhile, Sophia just stood around looking bored.

"Hey, Sophia. Why don't you go read some Pokémon books. I'm sure there are some good ones here." Irving strongly suggested to Sophia. Thankfully, she didn't put up much of a struggle, despite her unhappiness, and left the two boys to themselves. Irving hadn't had any time to really read in peace, so Sophia would have to deal with a little boredom.

"So... you wanna go see something really cool?" Vinnie asked.

"Sure." Irving replied. Why not.

The two of them made their way up the stairs. The second floor was noticeably less populated than the previous floor and the third floor even less so than the second. No one wanted to climb stairs to look for books, and Irving figured they put the books that most people wanted to read on the first floor to compensate. Their loss anyway because as Irving soon found out, the third floor did have come cool stuff. The third floor housed what could be considered the "rare books and reference" section of the library. A sea of discolored tomes filled out the shelves, most of which could use a good dusting. On top of some of the shelves were dictionaries and encyclopedias opened to the same page that they've been open at for years. Vinnie momentarily disappeared behind one of the shelves, only to reappear with a certain large book, which he plopped onto one of the tables.

"Come have a look, Irving." Vinnie invited, sitting down a one of the tables and flipping open the book. Irving followed suit and sat next to him, looking over at the tome which Irving recognized as an atlas.

"This book's an atlas of the entire Earth. I like to leaf through it occasionally and look at all of the cities my father's been to." Vinnie explained.

"Your father travels a lot?"

"Yeah, he's a sailor, like a lot of people in Canalave. After all, sea trade is what keeps people employed here. Dad's been all over the world. Here let me show you some of the places he's been to."

Vinnie flipped the pages until he reached the section titled "Unova".

"My dad's been to Unova a bunch. He usually stops by the capital, Castelia City, cuz that's where the biggest harbor is, but he's been to Virbank City a lot, too, cuz all that's where all of the factories are, and Dad works for a shipping company."

"I see." Irving responded as Irving flipped to the section on Hoenn.

"He ends up a lot in Hoenn, too, because of all of the port cities there. Let's see... he's been to Lilycove five times, Slateport three times, Rustboro once, Mossdeep... twice, I think, and Sootopolis twice. Oh, and he went to Pacifidlog town, but that was during Vacation when he was with mom before I was born. He said the weather was really nice there. I'd want to go there cuz it's kinda sucky 'round here."

"Your dad seems to travel more than most." Irving pointed out.

"Oh yeah, he's been to just about every region I can think of. He's been to Unova, Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto! Oh, and Sinnoh, but that's obvious." Vinnie said. Irving perked up at the mention of Kanto.

"Where in Kanto has he been?" Irving asked.

"Uhh, he hasn't been there too much. I think he went to Cinnabar Island once to transport something. I think he was briefly in Vermillion City once too to resupply before heading back home."

"I see." Irving responded.

"Why do you ask? You from there?"

"Yeah, my sister and I both are."

"Cool! Have you ever been too the docks before? My Dad said Vermillion had one of the nicer ports he'd seen." Vinnie said enthusiastically, much to Irving's dislike.

"Yeah, I think I saw them once or twice." Irving responded , regretting going off on this tangent.

"And were they nice?"

"Sure."

"Oh, okay." Vinnie said. "So why are you here in Vermillion City?"

Irving had quite enough of this. What the hell was this kid doing prying into Irving's affairs like this?

"I'd rather not talk about it." Irving said in a stern and curt manor, ending the conversation. Irving turned away from Vinnie and opened up the copy of the Canalave Herald that he'd brought with him. Perhaps the news would make him feel better.

The front page of the newspaper was headlined by an article about shipping. Some new trade agreement came through between rival sea trade groups in Canalave and Snowpoint city. Whatever. Irving couldn't be bothered to read the nitty-gritty details of some boring business deal. Looking farther into the pages he saw a piece on a local politician running for re-election. Irving didn't know anything about Canalave's politics, so it'd all be meaningless to him. There was about some sort of festival coming up in Canalave, but it looked really shitty and boring to be honest. A few pages in, an article caught Irving's eye. And it wasn't good.

The headline read "Kanto Army Weakened By Defections".

The Kanto National Army has faced major setbacks following a new wave of defections, reports Castelia Times office in Celadon City. In the past week, an estimated 10,000 soldiers defected to Team Rocket, following their successes in Eastern Kanto. Of the 10,000, the majority are said to have been stationed near Fuchsia City and Lavender Town, both known for their pro-rebel leanings. In addition, as many as 2,000 soldiers are thought to have defected in Vermillion City after a series of bombings pushed Government forces out of the northern suburbs-

Irving couldn't read any further. His hands shook in rage, as he tried to restrain his emotions. How dare those traitors betray Irving's country. People like them murdered his parents in cold blood! Just thinking about it made his blood boil. He needed to clear his mind. Wordlessly, Irving got up from the table and walked off.

"Irving, where are-" Vinnie asked, his voice trailing off. Irving didn't want to deal with him. He didn't want to deal with anyone right now. Irving stormed down the stairs, back to first floor and out the front entrance of the building. From there, he just paced. Up and down the sidewalk he went hoping to clear his mind with exercise and fresh air.

This strategy worked for the most part. The cool, fresh breeze calmed him just enough that he could think rationally. It's okay, Irving. He could work through this rationally. That's right, he was a man of intelligence and reason. No need for him to get bent out of shape.

Irving continued to walk to and fro, albeit at a slower pace than before. The fresh air was doing him wonders.

"You okay, Irving?"

He turned to find Vinnie looking at him with concern and pity.

"Yeah, I'm... I'll be fine." Irving replied as best as he could.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I just needed some space. That's all."

Vinnie didn't look very convinced. Who could blame him? Irving wasn't convinced himself.

"Let's go back inside." Irving said, walking back to the building.

When the two of them re-entered the first floor, Irving noticed what Sophia had been up to. Sophia was currently talking with some other girl her age in one of the reading areas. Irving doubted she even touched one of the books before looking for someone to converse with. Whatever. Her loss.

On their way back to the third floor, Irving broke off on the second floor. He needed something else to read and the books on battling were all on this floor. The section on Pokémon battling extended over a few shelves, but most of the books appeared to be relatively out of date. Irving didn't mind; he was just killing time. Irving picked up one of the books titled "Amphibious Pokémon: Fighting on Land and in the Sea" and returned upstairs.

Irving sat down once again at the seat next to Vinnie, who was still absorbed by his atlas, and cracked open his book. It wasn't exactly something he was unfamiliar with, given that most of the Pokémon he interacted with where water-type, but Irving was really just reading to pass the time. He slowly turned the pages, skimming through the text. After a few minutes of this, Vinnie spoke up.

"Hey, umm, I'm...uhh, sorry about before."

Irving turned to Vinnie, not exactly sure how to respond.

"If I did something to offend you, I didn't mean it." he continued. "I wasn't trying to hurt you or anything by doing... whatever I did."

Vinnie's response wasn't exactly eloquently worded, but Irving could tell that Vinnie really did feel like he did something wrong.

"No, it's okay." Irving replied in an attempt to mend the situation. "It's my fault for getting all worked up like that. You'd have no reason to assume I'd do that. It's just... personal stuff that I gotta deal with."

"Oh." Vinnie said, acknowledging Irving's statement.

"You know how I'm not from around here? Well, the reason I'm here is because my sister and I didn't have a choice. We had to escape the fighting after both of our parents were killed. We boarded the next ship sending refugees out of the city. Ours ended up taking us here, so now we live in a camp on the outskirts of the Canalave." Irving said, then taking a breath to keep his composure.

"I don't like taking about it." he continued. "It happened only a few days ago. It's still very painful to think about for my sister and myself."

"That's... rough."

"yeah, it is. I'd prefer if we could not talk about it, or Vermillion City, for a while."

"Oh, of course! We can talk about other stuff."

"Thank you. I appreciate it, Vinnie."

There was a short silence between the pair of them, neither really sure where to go from there.

"I should probably get going." Irving said. "Sophia and I haven't had lunch yet today, so we're going to head back to camp."

"Oh yeah, sure man. Don't let me keep you." Vinnie replied. "But it was fun hangin' out and showing you around the city."

"Yeah, I had a good time, too. Sophia and I will most likely come back to the beach. How about you come see us there again?"

"That's sounds great. I'll be sure to come whenever you can make it. I'm at the beach just about every day in the summer."

"Seeya."

Irving concluded conversation and returned to the first floor. Sophia was still taking to the same girl as before. Irving got them to separate eventually and the two siblings returned to the camp.

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Spah here!

I hope everyone who celebrates had a good Christmas (or whatever you celebrate if it already passed).

Shit, it's been a while. Sorry to my fan(s) for not updating, I've been busy the whole semester with college stuff and I'm generally not in the mood during then to write, considering the number of papers I have to write for my major.

Still, I hope to crank out another chapter before break ends.

On another note, this might be the longest chapter I've ever written. So, there's that.

R & R please. I'd be super thankful if anyone did.

Seeya!