Pure White Dreams / First of the Dreams & Destiny Trilogy
Next Update in 6-7 Days
Rating: K+ for occasional minor language
Disclaimer: Despite using characters, story, and some dialogue from this lovely source material, I can only express my admiration, rather than any ownership.
Previously: In the Dreamyard, Touko encountered Team Plasma, falling to a surprising attack that forced to relive her worst nightmare. Somehow, she was rescued, but without a single clue as to who was responsible for her mysterious rescue or why…
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Chapter Six
Mysteries Left Behind
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Not long after their conversation, the doctor from before came back, this time insisting that Bianca left for the benefit of "patient privacy" while she did some "routine check-ups." And since Touko was quite all right now, Bianca politely assented and left with a smile and a promise to come back later.
As the doctor went about her business, she kept muttering about how she wasn't used to dealing with a place where Pokémon roamed around freely like that. Since this was said within the hearing of Touko, a very obvious Pokémon enthusiast, the trainer had some doubt that she was particularly good at dealing with anyone. It seemed she'd been called in from a regular hospital, just for Touko, but since she was quite fine now—without the help of her doctor—the patient herself wished they hadn't bothered.
After all of the prodding was done, the doctor informed Touko that she was quite healthy, but she would have to stay overnight for observation.
Then just as the doctor left, the police came. A female and male duo of detectives like you'd see on TV: Detective Jim Bacon and Jenny Law. They even flashed her their badges.
She had to have told them the whole story about five times before they seemed satisfied. It was frustrating, but even Touko could admit, she'd been rather quiet the first two go-arounds, but after that frustration gave her new confidence and there really was no excuse. When Bianca showed up before the last go-around, Touko irritably asked that they let her in so she at least wouldn't have to repeat it yet again after they left.
At least the details of the nightmare were not deemed necessary information to the case. Touko said she couldn't remember just the same.
"Is that it?" Touko asked as Detective Law closed up her notepad, the clear sign from TV that that was, in fact, it.
"Unless you have something else to tell us?"
"Well, no, but you guys don't have anything to say to me? What's going to happen from here and stuff?"
"That's right!" Bianca exclaimed, though she'd been very polite and silent until then, save for a few shocked gasps of outrage in the appropriate places. "There are a couple of shady villains out there that could be looking for their revenge!"
Touko somewhat doubted that, what she'd heard while semi-conscious lead her to believe they wouldn't exactly be getting off that easily.
The two detectives exchanged glances. Then Bacon let out a sigh and informed them, "They're actually already in custody."
"What?" Touko may have figured she was quite free of the duo nuisances, but she'd never figured on this.
"Yeah, they turned themselves in a couple of hours ago. They were going on about repenting for dishonoring Team Plasma and such."
"Then," Law continued. "There was some commotion in front of the Trainer's School while some guy in robes 'decried' the actions of the two Pokémon abusers who had infiltrated their Team. He actually used the word 'decry' too, like 'We decry these two wayward criminals. They are not true members of Team Plasma.' And so on."
'Some guy in robes' sure sounded familiar. "Was his name Ghetsis?"
"The speech guy? Nah, I don't think so. Something else that ended in an S though. It's in my other notes."
That wasn't too helpful. Touko sat back in her bed, arms folded and frowning. "So, what about Team Plasma?"
"Well, they're not tied into anything obviously…" Bacon said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sure, not now," Touko shot back.
"Look," the detective took a seat in the stool beside Touko's bed. His partner rested against the wall, ready for a longer wait. "We've been looking into Team Plasma. It seems like the popped out of nowhere. A few sightings of speech-making are not exactly a criminal offense."
"But the woman from Plasma implied they were stealing Pokémon for their whole liberation thing!" Touko complained. "Stealing definitely is a crime!"
"Yeah, there have been a couple of complaints in other towns recently it seems. The thing is, there's no proof. It was things like a person saw them hanging around, their Poké Ball went missing, and they just assumed. You seem to be the first witness to any real crime. Multiple crimes actually…Whatever they tried on you seemed like something particularly nasty…"
"But," his partner continued, "you heard what we said. Everyone, including the suspects, is saying that they're not in Team Plasma or that they weren't following orders. So, we can't tie it to them. Team Plasma could be telling the truth when they go around claiming this isn't their way and such."
"Is that the stealing? Or just the entirely hypocritical Pokémon abuse that 'isn't their way and such'?" Touko asked contemptuously.
"They've been kind of vague on that front."
"So, what? Nothing is going to happen."
"For now," Bacon answered. "If there's truth to the other reports, it's only a matter of time."
"As far as criminal organizations go though—well, alleged criminal organizations—they've been tricky up until now," Law started again. "Quiet, it seems."
"Oh?" Touko raised an eyebrow. "How exactly does that fit with the speech-making, knights uniforms, and robes?"
"Just before we left, there was some information that leads us to believe they've been somewhat active for at least ten years. Maybe more."
Touko's sardonic expression fell at that, replaced with a genuine look of concern. "How long have you been hearing about them?"
"About a week?" Bacon estimated. "Though that's just when we heard reports from other towns, mind you. No one in Striaton mentioned them until the speech three days ago. It seems a few towns have received visits like that, but not all of them. It's real quiet, just some rumors from people visiting the City, and then after the speech, it's all anyone talks about."
"Probably won't be long now until it's on the news."
Touko bit her bottom lip. Team Plasma had made her feel uneasy from the first time she met them, but she never imagined that they actually had a chance of accomplishing their goal. They had just been freaks in weird uniforms that tried to make her feel bad for loving her Pokémon. Except Ghetsis.
Ghetsis had felt wrong from the beginning. She still couldn't explain it, but he was the reason she'd practically seen it coming when she saw what phonies they really were.
Well, at least those two were.
And Ghetsis. Probably.
And with a leader like that, why wouldn't there be more…?
This is getting too confusing! Touko thought, sitting back with a huff.
There was still the hope that they really were the exception in Plasma and the rest really did genuinely love Pokémon. But it wasn't very comforting when it seemed to be clear that they really did intend to "liberate" Pokémon.
She looked over at Bianca, who looked just as worried as she was, hugging Oshawott.
"Touko? You have a phone call from—" Fennel came in suddenly, shattering the serious mood instantly. "Oh my, am I interrupting?"
"We were just leaving," Jenny Law informed her stiffly and she and Jim Bacon left without another word.
"Do your best on the case," Fennel sent them off in a sing-song voice. Then she turned back to the girls, both still wearing grim expressions despite Fennel's particularly light-hearted appearance. She shifted to a more relaxed smile to fit the mood now that she'd sent off the stranger. "Phone call for you, Touko. It's from your mother. She didn't answer when we called originally. Naturally, now that she has the message, she is quite anxious to make sure you're all right."
Touko scrambled out of bed and into the hallway where the video phone was in fact waiting for her, displaying her mother's worried face. Although she hadn't thought it out beforehand, she was pleased to find her dizziness was in fact, gone.
She picked up the handset for some privacy. "Hello, Mom?" she spoke into the receiver.
"Touko, thank goodness you're all right! What's this I hear about a hospital?"
Her mother's panicked voice caused her throat to seize up. As if her expression hadn't been enough. Of course her mother would think the worst, as soon as she got a message from a hospital.
Not to mention how Touko had completely forgotten to call her since she last saw her on Route 2, despite their promise. That surely hadn't helped matters.
"Touko!"
"A-actually it's a Poké Center," Touko answered, still struggling for useful words.
"What?" For the moment, her mother's face lost all concern, replaced with confusion. It was almost enough to make Touko laugh.
"I'm sorry, Mom, but I'm fine now. It wasn't a big injury or anything. I was able to sleep it off just fine."
"Well, I'll come to Striaton right away—"
"Mom, it's fine really. I just have to stay overnight for observation. I plan on leaving for Nacrene first thing in the morning." She paused, trying to figure out the best way to alleviate her fears. She pouted a bit, to help her get into the mood, and used her best bothered teenager voice, "If you came all the way here, I'd probably just end up waiting on you before I could leave. I already lost a day with this stuff, you know?"
The other end of the line was silent for a few minutes while her mother looked stuck between fret and relief. Then there was a quick laugh. "Honestly, can't you let me be a proper mother?"
"Not when Cheren is so far ahead of me."
"Oh! Cheren!" Bianca's voice came from the room and she dove out into the hallway, looking at Touko in a panic. "I completely forgot to call him back!"
"What!" Touko whipped around to look at Bianca, who had clearly been eavesdropping.
"I didn't say anything yet," Touko's mom protested. "Maybe you aren't better yet after all."
"Sorry, Mom. It's not you. Just wait a second." Touko put her hand over the receiver and hissed to Bianca, "What did you say to him?"
"That you were hurt. He was still on Route 3, so he said he was coming back…"
"Call him back! Tell him to turn back around and go to Nacrene!"
"But—!"
"Tell him I told him to…and that when I get there myself, he better be ready to battle me!"
Bianca nodded and hurried out the door to make her own phone call.
"Honestly…" Touko let out a huff of hot air. She returned to her call. "Sorry about that, Mom."
"Hehh…sounds like Cheren is pretty worried. You three are all so cute."
"You heard that?"
"I heard Bianca anyway. She's quite loud when she's wound up. Your challenge was pretty cute too though."
Touko sighed. At least it looked like her mother was back in prime shape if she could go on about things like that. "I'm sorry I haven't called you, but I won at the Striaton Gym."
"I see! Then you must have faced Chili since you have Snivy. Did you have a tough time?"
"A little. Actually, some girl gave me a Panpour right before, so it turned out all right."
"Oh…that's odd. But I guess that's nice."
"Not really. At all."
"Ah. Well, you'll find all sorts on your journey. I can assure you that most of them aren't so bad."
Her track record for Striaton begged to differ, but Touko had neglected mentioning that her illness was due to an attack. There was no point in worrying her mother further though, so she changed the subject.
"By the way, Striaton isn't the gym you were talking about…is it?" Touko asked carefully, dreading the answer a bit.
"Goodness no! Striaton is a Family Restaurant and Gym. Those boys inherited it right from their father."
Touko let out a sigh of relief.
"No, I don't think Striaton is really my style. No matter how cute I look in an apron."
"I have to say though, Mom. I don't feel like aprons made for a very intimidating look for a Gym Trainer," Touko said with a little giggle.
"Oh…you're going to regret saying that…"
"What do you mean?"
"You'll find out soon enough. I do believe I should let you get your rest now."
"Mom? Seriously, what—?"
"I love you very much, dear."
"I love you too, but—"
"Stay safe then. Bye!—" The line was silent and her mother's face blinked off the screen.
Well, it seemed there was one sure way to get her mother to leave her alone, even if she was sick in bed. Try to get information from her and she'd go all mysterious on her.
Honestly, she was coming to the conclusion that all adult women were weird. Professor Juniper was the most normal one she knew—just a little more easygoing than most—and she was a Pokémon researcher. They were supposed to be a little weird.
Bianca came back a little while later, but only got to say that Cheren was heading back to Nacrene before she was shuffled out of the room because visiting hours were over.
Touko wondered if they always had visiting hours or if her presence there made for a special set of rules. Then again, there was no reason why someone wouldn't want to visit a sick Pokémon. Apparently, Bianca had been doing just that when she'd been shuffled out of the room; visiting the hurt Munna.
It was the first night Touko had a bed all to herself. It was a little lonely without Snivy or any of her other Pokémon. She knew they were tucked somewhere safely (Snivy and Panpour were both also "under observation" for the night), but she worried about them anyway.
A future without Pokémon, she thought as she stared up at the ceiling of her dark room. How could anyone even imagine such a thing?
XWXWXWXWX
The next morning, Touko was quite impatient to get out and on her way. It seemed like people get stopping her with "One more thing!" each step she took. It took until almost noon before they even gave her clothes back.
But at last she was reunited with her Pokémon and standing in the lobby with Fennel. She'd already stocked up on medicine (and after what happened, she practically cleaned out the store, just to be safe) and now they were just waiting on Bianca to say goodbye before Touko continued ahead on the journey.
"It was very nice to meet you, Touko. Despite the troubles," Fennel said happily. "And although it wasn't in the ideal way, I still got my Dream Mist, so feel free to come by anytime if you need help." She paused for a moment and then laughed. "Actually, because it wasn't the ideal way, I should give you lots of help."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't exactly your fault…"
"Oh, how nice of you to say. But since Plasma gets away with it, I'll take some responsibility. Anything you want and I'll do my best to help."
Touko looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well…are you helping out with the Nightmare Mist?"
"At least until someone more qualified comes in to take over. I have some dealings with Dream Mist, but it's not exactly my specialty to deal with things like this. Why?"
"I was hoping you could tell me something or keep me informed. People have been pretty good about that so far, except about the Nightmare Mist."
"Hmm…I will try my best, but I'm afraid there isn't a lot to keep you informed about." Fennel folded her arms and looked oddly thoughtful. "You see, the only thing we have to study is your blood sample. There's not a lot there."
"I see. But isn't there anything? I've been thinking that it's weird, because they called it Nightmare Mist, like Dream Mist, but it does something entirely different."
"I can't really explain that…unless a theory we've been tossing around would be helpful?"
"I'll take anything, really."
"To be certain, Nightmare Mist does not come from any Pokémon. Well, that's not accurate. It does not come from any one Pokémon. Perhaps it is a mixture of various poisons and gases and other materials from a collection of Pokémon to create something particularly foul. Your symptoms were both psychic in nature and physical, so we can't think of any other way it could have been done."
Plasma has that sort of capability? Touko thought in alarm. No…wait. They said they needed to replicate it. It must have come from somewhere else.
"I don't think it came from Plasma," she said quietly.
"Well, that is the official line I hear…"
"No, I mean, I think those two got it from somewhere else. They needed to figure out how to make it."
"You told the police?"
"Probably. I don't remember everything I said each time, but they asked enough questions."
"Hmm…well, I'll keep it in mind as well. Though I'm not quite sure if it makes me feel better or worse."
Touko understood the sentiment. Team Plasma was enough to worry about without someone else lurking around, but at least they didn't seem to have the capability to immediately make more.
"Sorry I'm late!" Bianca came bounding down the hallway into the lobby. It wasn't exactly the direction Touko had expected her to come from, but she hadn't expected to see her holding Munna either.
"New friend?" Touko asked with a smile.
"Heh," Bianca smiled shyly. "It seems this little one wanted to come with me. I was just checking on her again since you weren't here yet and she tried to follow me right on out when I left. Since she's all better now, they said it was fine to just let her come along with me. It seems she took a liking to me during my visit!"
Bianca was practically glowing with her contained excitement.
Touko smiled and gave the Munna a little pet. "Thanks for trying to help me." Then she looked at Bianca and stood up straight. "Well, I think I have someplace to be."
"Cheren said he'd be looking for you at the end of Route 3."
"And so I better get there before he gets another badge and has to run off," Touko said with a fake sigh of exasperation. She was quite over Cheren's impatience. If she could say one positive thing about her ordeal, it was that it sure put things in perspective. "But I think you better catch up too."
Bianca looked determined. "No problem! Now that I have Munna, I'll really do my best at the gym!"
"I'm counting on it." She turned to Fennel with a nod. "And thank you."
"No problem. I'll get your information from Professor Juniper if I need to tell you anything else."
Touko gave her another nod and headed out of the Poké Center, waving at them from the entrance before leaving.
As soon as she was outside she let Snivy out of his Poké Ball for their walk to Route 3. They'd already had their tearful reunion (mostly her tears, but Snivy really did look glad to see her), but it felt nice to have him by her side again after her night alone.
Already, as she walked through the city, things felt like they were returning to something resembling normal.
XWXWXWXWX
Once Touko stepped onto the route, she let Lillipup out as well for some exercise. She figured she'd go through a rotation of the 4, while Snivy stayed out. Touko got the feeling she might be spoiling him, because Snivy be glaring at his Poké Ball again. Either that or it was still his usual expression.
But it made her feel better, so just this once it was okay. Probably.
She met a few other Trainers along the way, but as usual, the further she walked, the less there seemed to be. It made sense. People from Striaton wouldn't go out that far for some battles. After she passed the daycare (one for children and Pokémon, lucky brats), she didn't see another person again.
For the longest time she didn't even encounter any Pokémon. Considering her problem was catching too many Pokémon, she was fine with this for the time being. Although, she knew there were Blitzle somewhere on the route and that was something she'd like to see…
…Probably…Maybe…
Touko let out a sigh as she plopped onto the ground for a break, setting down Snivy beside Patrat. Patrat's turn only came a few minutes ago and he looked a little dismayed at the break. Even Touko had only been walking for an hour since her last one, but they had told her to take it easy…
Excuses…seemed like she had a lot of those now.
Oh, there was the self-pity too.
Touko laid back in the grass and looked up at the sky, watching the clouds go by, trying to erase all of her unpleasant thoughts.
There was a secret place back home in Nuvema Town that only she knew about. A place where only a child could squeeze through the trees and find the clearing far away from the town, offering the perfect view of the sky. Since she'd discovered that place after a tough day at school, even just looking up at the clouds always seemed to make her feel better…Like it brought her back there. To an innocent place that could only be reached in childhood.
Of course, she could clearly remember the day she found out that she was too big to go there. She hadn't been since she turned ten and her mind became all about becoming a trainer, but after the accident she'd wanted to try anything to forget…and all she found out was that her childhood was over.
Touko frowned. Why was it that even her good memories had to be spoiled?
Suddenly there was a pressure on her chest and a certain grass-type Pokémon was obstructing her view of the sky.
She raised an eyebrow; he seemed to be just staring at her impassively, which wasn't that unusual at all, but when he'd do something to get her attention, he was usually a lot more obvious about what he wanted.
"What's up, Sniv?"
Still being mysterious, Snivy only looked up at the sky and then back down at Touko. He tilted his head a little and made a small squeak.
Touko sat up suddenly, causing Snivy to tumble down into her lap. He only looked mildly bothered as he picked himself up and instead returned his focus to Touko, now she realized, looking a little uncertain…or perhaps…
A wide smile broke out across Touko's face. "Are you worried about me, Snivy?"
Snivy sat on her lap and kept his gaze on her, looking for an answer to his own question instead. Something Touko finally figured out…
"Are you all right?"
Touko felt her heart swell in her chest as she looked in his worried eyes. She had her usual urge to grab Snivy into a hug, but resisted it, knowing Snivy's feelings on such affection. Instead, she put her hand on top of his head, in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. "I'm just fine," she informed him in a soft voice. "You must have been pretty worried, huh? I'm sorry I didn't think about that."
I was a little worried about you, too…
Even though she didn't say it aloud, Snivy must have caught her full meaning and tucked himself into her arm. At least, there was no other reason Touko could figure out that would make him specifically seek a hug. At any rate, Touko recognized the enormity of the gesture and held back, just giving him a small hug before she set him back down on the ground.
She had to do her part, too, after all.
They shared a quick smile, before Snivy got distracted, looking behind Touko. His tail twitched ever-so-slightly. Touko turned around and was faced with Patrat darting at her from the bushes. He came to a stop in front of her and started chattering at her.
"H-hold up…I can't speak…Patrat-ese?" Touko tried with a grimace. Honestly, it was just unfair that her Pokémon seemed to understand her just fine.
Patrat pointed impatiently into the bushes. Perfectly easy to understand. Touko picked herself up and followed Patrat into the bushes. As soon as she crawled through, it was easy to determine what had gotten Patrat worked up.
For the most part anyway. She realized right away that it seemed to be a hurt Pokémon, it took a few more seconds for her to realize it was another Patrat.
The Patrat was a much darker shade of brown, almost black. It was also quite small, it had to be under a foot, much smaller than any Patrat she'd seen.
She was gentle as she picked the darkly-colored Patrat up so she could figure out what was wrong, but by the wild Pokémon's lack of reaction to human touch, she figured pretty quickly that it—she—had already fainted. Examining him even closer showed some sort of cut (perhaps a sting?) where it looked like he'd been poisoned.
There weren't any Pokémon on route 3 that could poison, were there?
She looked at her own Patrat, who was looking up at her expectantly. Somehow, she was expected to solve this problem. She looked down at the bag slung by her side, though even without searching she knew what she had; perhaps three antidotes, but revives…she couldn't even buy those yet.
But looking at both Patrats, she knew that leaving the hurt Pokémon behind wasn't an option. She was too small…still had to be really young…
That settled it. Touko stood up, cradling the fainted Pokémon gently. She couldn't do anything, but the daycare she'd passed by must be able to.
XWXWXWXWX
Touko stood alone in the lobby of the daycare, pacing back and forth and trying not to worry too much. Her Patrat seemed to be mimicking her, though whether this was intentional or not she couldn't say. Snivy sat on the lone chair of the room, just watching the both of them…back and forth, back and forth…
The rest of the Pokémon in her team remained blissfully unaware of the situation and still in their Poké Balls.
After what felt like hours (actually less than five minutes), the older woman who ran the daycare reappeared at the desk with a smile.
"How is she?" Touko asked, darting to the desk immediately.
"Fine, fine. Just one revive and she woke right back up. Fixed up her sting with an antidote too, to be safe."
For the first time since she found the hurt Pokémon, it felt like she was finally able to breathe again. But the relief was short-lived.
"So, how long will you be boarding her?"
"Oh…oh…" Touko looked down at the desk. Somehow, in her panic, certain…very important details had gotten lost.
She looked up, a hesitant smile on her face. "You see…I didn't need to board her, just heal her. I only have one badge, so I can't buy revives yet. I don't think it would be right to board her since she's not really mine…but whatever you need payment for, I'll gladly pay, of course!" Touko finished off with an earnest look.
The woman looked at Touko for a good, long while. "She's not your Pokémon?"
"N-no…she's wild and Patrat—my Patrat—just found her and I had to fix her up somehow."
"You didn't even fight her?"
Touko frowned at that; it felt like an accusation to even suggest she might have. "Of course not. Look how small she is. I doubt she'd go attacking trainers."
"Not even to catch her?"
"I just said I have my own Patrat." And Touko gestured to the Pokémon sitting on the floor.
"Haven't you noticed her coloring? Even if Patrat are common, any shiny Pokémon is a rarity."
"Oh…yeah…I guess…" Touko murmured. She'd noted that her coloring was odd, but hadn't thought much about it, too concerned with the injury. Shiny Pokémon were always a big deal with the other girls at school, but Touko hadn't exactly been like the other girls at school.
"Just what are you going to do with her?" the old woman decided to cut right to the point.
Touko looked down at Patrat standing beside her. He motioned to the door, then gave her a little nod. Touko looked back at the woman and relayed what her Pokémon seemed to be advising her, "Bring her back to where I found her. She's still little enough that she might have a family. Patrat seems to think it's best anyway."
After a period of silence, the woman suddenly burst out laughing. Touko looked uneasy, unsure what to make of the sudden development.
"There's no charge," the old woman finally said with a pleasant, almost surprisingly sane smile.
"R-really?" Touko asked in disbelief. "Revives are pretty expensive…"
"You're not doing this to get any benefit. I don't see why I can't do the same." The woman put her hands on her hips. "It would be pretty little of me to take money from a new trainer, don't you think?"
Well, obviously no, that wasn't what Touko thought since she'd been expecting it. But instead she just managed a small smile that she hoped showed her thanks.
The woman smiled in return, so it must have been good enough. "I'll just go get that wild, shiny Patrat for you so you can bring her back." Even as the woman said it and walked into the back, she was still shaking her head in disbelief.
Touko wasn't sure how many times adults had told her, "it's not what's on the outside, but on the inside that counts," but she was starting to think that maybe they hadn't repeated the cliché to enough other people.
After the dark Patrat was passed off to her, Touko immediately headed back onto the road—after another several thank yous to the day care woman. It was going to start getting dark before she knew it and she at least wanted to make it back to where she turned around. Snivy had willingly gone back in his Poké Ball and let just Patrat join her and the other Patrat down the road. That way she could make good time. Probably the best choice considering the circumstances
With the darkening sky, it was hard to tell exactly where she was, but her Patrat seemed to know the way and eventually came to a stop by a bush. Touko kneeled down and set down her healed cargo.
She looked up at Touko. Up until then the Pokémon had been a bit fidgety, but patient under the circumstances. Considering how complacent she was, Touko was wondering if perhaps this new Patrat wanted to stay with her. If that was the case, she definitely couldn't turn her away. After all, she'd taken Panpour in. Purrloin sort of counted too.
But then the Pokémon just scurried off into the grass, not even glancing back.
As Touko watched the rustling grass, all she could think was that relationships with Pokémon were complicated. Snivy, who seemed to take to her immediately, but still remained obstinate when he felt like it. Lillipup, who had been so aggressive when she first met him, but turned into this happy, bouncy creature after she caught him. Purrloin, who didn't seem to object to being her Pokémon, just to doing anything. Panpour, who agreed to join her despite already being loyal to another owner.
She looked at her own normal-colored Patrat, the only Pokémon that hadn't given her any trouble. He looked up at her and seemed to shrug his little shoulders, unable to give her any answers.
Perhaps…maybe… If Touko tried really, really hard, she could see where Team Plasma's reasoning came from. Because if you actually bothered to think about it, on the surface, it didn't make sense.
Why did Pokémon like their trainers? Because they were beaten by them? But with a case like Panpour, had the effort to save him been enough? But still unexplained were starters like Snivy…
Somehow…Touko knew that shiny Patrat didn't want her. Despite rescuing her, even more so than Panpour…
Pokémon and trainers…no two were alike. So, every single relationship was different.
Touko stood up. That may not be much of an answer, but it was one she could live with to continue on her journey. She smiled down at her calm and helpful Patrat, unlike any other Pokémon she'd ever met. "Come on, we've got more road to cover."
Just the two walked down the road. As the sky turning orange and red with the sunset, Patrat started to get a little sluggish—running to the daycare and back had really taken it out of him—so Touko let him rest inside of his Poké Ball.
It was probably a good time to stop for the night, but Touko had lost a lot of time going back to the daycare and she wanted to make up for a little bit of that time. Plus all the rest from the hospital for a person who wasn't really sick gave her a lot of excess energy to burn.
But then it got dark. Really dark, really suddenly. And Touko just happened to be in a gap between the street lights.
She looked around uneasily at her dark surroundings. It was her first night camping out on the road. She could see another light a bit further ahead, but it wasn't doing much for her yet. She wondered how Cheren had seemed so willing to walk in the dark, until she remembered Tepig.
Touko grumbled a bit to herself, wishing that fire Pokémon weren't so hard to find in this part of Unova. She saved a little more grumbling for her own impatience; also the doctor because she wanted to blame her for something. The shiny Patrat stayed out of it because she was too cute to blame, and seriously, she'd been hurt.
Once Touko reached the light, she decided it would be best to set up camp right beneath it to feel safest. She really was feeling quite content as she ate her pre-bed snack. That was, until she heard some rustling from a shadowy area.
At that point she decided it was best to let the Pokémon out again, because after all she had promised her mom they would protect her. She chose Lillipup and Patrat so she wouldn't show too much favoritism to Snivy. But when she heard another rustling sound and the two didn't look particularly bothered, she let Snivy on out too…and Panpour.
She was about to let Purrloin on out too, but this wouldn't really be to anyone's benefit. Purrloin would just be cranky about her sleep being interrupted.
It was the third rustling and the complete lack of reaction from all four Pokémon that got Touko out of her sleeping bag. "Fine, I'll investigate it myself," she informed her still-sleeping companions. Still no reaction.
She sighed and started rummaging through her bag, trying to find some source of light. She found her Xtransceiver and in the course of testing out the light it cast, shined its light right on Patrat's face, finally waking up one of her Pokémon.
As he opened up his sleepy eyes, Touko winced and whispered a small, "Sorry." She knew all too well what it was like to be woken up so rudely, which was why she'd been trying to avoid it despite her fear…
But Patrat didn't seem to bothered about that, attention suddenly snagged elsewhere. He suddenly stood up, ears and nose twitching, and then took off into the darkness.
"Patrat!" Touko called after her Pokémon and immediately ran after. Though as she left the light, she had to slow down. The light cast by her Xtransceiver was barely helpful and her legs were shaking more and more at each sound. She vowed to buy a flashlight as soon as she got to Nacrene City.
Though she felt that she would have been a lot braver if she at least weren't wearing her pajamas.
"H-hello?" she called out uneasily as she walked through the grass. "Patrat, where are you?"
Something slithered right by her foot. At first, she stepped back in alarm, but then Touko slowly realized she was walking through the grass. Grass that hid wild Pokémon. Wild Pokémon that could be making the noises that were disrupting her.
She was worrying over nothing.
Touko let out a sigh of relief and lowered her Xtransceiver. Oh well, Pokémon aren't going to be a problem…once I get out of their area, anyway… Unfortunately, she couldn't do that until she found Patrat.
Then she heard a snap of a twig and a very human voice murmuring nearby.
She whipped around, brandishing the Xtransceiver as if it were a weapon as she signed its light on her would-be opponent. "Who's there? I-I'm warning you I have five huge Pokémon and my friends have a lot more too! And…" she drifted off uselessly, she wasn't very good at threatening, especially when her voice was cracking at each lie.
Then she noticed the figure caught in her light, crouching in the grass. Long green hair…white shirt…then he stood up and she was sure when she had to tilt her head to look up at him.
"It's you. From before."
He said it so casually, that Touko almost dropped her Xtransceiver in shock.
It took a couple of minutes to regain her brain functions, but soon enough she sputtered, "Wh-what are you doing out here in the middle of the wilderness in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere?"
"I was looking for someone…but it seems that problem was already solved…" He looked down beside his feet, where Touko saw her Patrat sitting quite comfortably.
"Patrat!" she called and he immediately came running at her worried tone, and jumped into her arms. She fell to her knees and hugged him tightly in her relief. "Don't make me worry about you too…" Patrat squeaked his response, hopefully an assurance that he'd try.
"Did you…" N's voice came, startling Touko out of her overblown reunion, to the more present issue at hand: figuring out how she kept running into this other trainer.
However, she paused before darting into detective mode, since he seemed to have a question of his own…
…that he wasn't going to finish, Touko decided after several silent moments where N just looked at her, a slight frown of confusion.
"So…what are you doing out here?" she repeated her question from before, because the vague nonsensical "looking for a person/problem that was solved" didn't do her much good.
"Aren't you here, too? A trainer has to travel along the routes to get to each town," he replied, as if reciting something from memory.
Touko's mouth opened and closed uselessly. Then she stood up straight, trying to regain some of her composure. "Well, yeah…but I didn't scare you half to death."
"I didn't mean to."
"Well, you didn't, so whatever," she said, covering for herself even if it made no sense.
Luckily, N didn't argue.
"You're heading for Nacrene City, too then?" Touko asked, deciding she might as well make some conversation while she figured out what exactly was happening. She heard noises, Patrat ran off, leading her to this strange young man she'd now met for the third time in the middle of the night…
Yeah, trainer traveling. She got that. But it still didn't seem to click.
N nodded to her question. Then there was a rustle in the grass behind him and he turned, looking a little dismayed.
So, maybe the rustling was his fault after all. Though, Touko wasn't really sure how, so she decided against making the accusation.
"I'm going to keep walking, since I figured out what I needed to," N informed her, having decided to leave the conversation without much consideration as to how to do it politely.
"It's the middle of the night!" Touko argued in disbelief. "You can't even see!"
"No, I'm fine," N said without bothering to explain why he was fine and he turned around. Apparently, that was the end of that.
Unlike the other times she'd met him, he seemed a little anxious to get moving, rather than ramble opinions that didn't make sense to her. His answers were actually short and to the point.
Maybe he's tired… And somehow, she couldn't help but worry a little bit. Traveling at night was dangerous, but while tired too…no matter what that didn't seem right.
However, these thoughts only dwelled for a couple of seconds before they were superseded by her own worries and Touko bit her lip. The only person she'd seen since the miles of travel away from the daycare was about to leave.
Then she'd be left alone. In the dark. By herself.
Suddenly, without forethought she reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt before he could leave. "Hey, wait!"
N turned back to look at her, an innocent look of confusion on his face, but remained silent.
Of course, since it was obvious she was the one with something to say.
Touko opened her mouth, but nothing came out. What was she supposed to say? It was pretty obvious now that she was scared out of her wits alone in the dark, but would asking a virtual stranger to stay really be better? Plus, how awkward was that?
Actually, it was already pretty awkward. Touko standing in the dark, in her pajamas, still clutching his shirt…She quickly let the fabric go and took a couple of steps back to be completely polite. She also felt quite thankful for the most modest set of PJs she'd ever owned since she stopped wearing footy pajamas.
She cleared her throat, feeling it regained some of her dignity and explained herself at last. "You know, it's pretty dark. I don't think it's a good idea for you to wander around by yourself. It gets dangerous."
"Pokémon won't hurt me," he replied certainly, as if that was that. He turned to walk away again.
"Wait. Even if Pokémon aren't something to worry about, there are other dangers."
"What other dangers?"
"Well, people, I'm sure. Didn't your parents ever tell you to watch out for strangers?"
N looked thoughtful for a moment, but then answered quickly and with conviction, "Of course. There are a lot of bad people who hurt Pokémon who can't be trusted."
"Well, there are bad people who hurt other people too!"
"My friends will protect me."
Touko furrowed her brow in confusion. Friends…oh, his Pokémon? Well, that was certainly true, though the only one she knew of was his Purrloin and she wasn't sure how much help that would be…hers would go down if you just scratched her ears right.
Though Touko couldn't help but think her Purrloin's idiosyncrasies were…unique.
But then she thought of her encounter in the Dreamyard, something she'd been managing to avoid thinking about so far, and her breath halted for a moment. She looked down at the ground, trying to hide her expression as she spoke softly, "But…sometimes…you have to protect your Pokémon too. Even at risk to yourself."
N was silent at that.
She looked up hesitantly. "You would do that, wouldn't you?"
"If someone was trying to hurt my friends…I wouldn't let them no matter what…" he replied definitively and quickly.
Touko smiled in relief, then grinned with more confidence. "See! Well, two people can protect each other and a lot more Pokémon." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked away again. "So…just to be safe…you should stick around too."
"What about your friends?"
"Hmm?"
"Won't there be more than two of us?"
Touko's brow furrowed in confusion, until she remembered her earlier threat. "Oh. Oh…no, that was…that was…Well, that was just so that…if someone was dangerous they wouldn't think…" She took a breath and let it out slowly. "It's just me. Sorry."
N frowned in confusion, though whether he was confused about why she was apologizing or why she had lied before, she wasn't sure.
Instead she laughed uneasily. Clearly, her secret about being scared was hanging pretty tenuously in the wind. "So, are you going to stick around?"
For a while he just frowned as he looked at her. Then he glanced down at Patrat and without looking back at her, replied succinctly (enough), "Yeah…ok…"
Touko started to smile brightly in her relief, but she quickly forced it away. Then with another throat-clearing for dignity, she pointed to the street light. "My camp's this way."
She led the way much more confidently and upon reaching the camp tucked Patrat back into the little burrow he'd dug for himself, giving him a kiss on top of his head. Whatever weirdness caught him that night seemed to work out to give her more peace of mind.
She still wasn't sure that this was a logically better choice, but she certainly felt safer. She might not know N too well, but she was sure he wasn't some crazy evil lurking in the shadows. That put him a few points above the imaginary company she'd have if left alone.
As Touko got into her sleeping bag, N sat down on the ground a while away. He was close enough so that he was still in the light, but still out of the area Touko considered her camp, keeping a distance.
Then as he laid back, she realized he was missing something she considered rather vital.
"Don't you have a sleeping bag?" Touko asked with a frown. If she thought about it, she hadn't seen him with any kind of bag, which was strange for a Trainer.
"I'm fine like this," he replied. Succinct, without explanation.
Touko decided to go with her theory that he was tired and that the best option was to let it be. Especially since now she could sleep. So, she burrowed herself down into her cozy bedding to find Lillipup had sneaked in while she was away. She smiled and hugged the small Pokémon to her chest.
"Good night, N."
When there was no response, she continued louder, "You know, it's polite to say good night."
"…Good night."
"Good night, N," Touko repeated once again yawning this time. Then she snuggled in her bed and fell asleep with a smile.
Author's Note on Pokémon Personalities: I think the toughest thing about writing a Pokémon story is remembering the Pokémon. It's what sets it apart, so it's important, but because so few series feature anything resembling these sentient-not-animals, they don't really exist in your writing style to begin with. I certainly don't deal with this in my original stories. I mean, have you noticed that characters in most books just don't have pets? Even though most people have pets. It's because they're an unnecessary detail and hard to write, giving them a personality without making them unrealistic.
However, here it's very necessary and Pokémon aren't exactly pets. So, in my first go-around I basically ignored the Pokémon, but now a lot of the rewrites are about making the Pokémon more important. But still…they aren't exactly human, so what do you do? I think the easiest way to do this has been to do what the games sort of do, with the "nature" thing (even though that has no story importance in the game whatsoever). Basically, give them one basic trait and roll with it from there.
Sometimes, in the case of Snivy here, they get a little more complicated than that. But I think it's the least that can be done. Give each Pokémon something quirky for which they can be remembered. As I was realizing this, this Pokémon personality stuff sort of became the big theme of the chapter, to the extent I might have drifted into even more tell than show than usual. But I believe I'm getting a handle on it as a result.
Note on Scheduling: I edited this into the last chapter, but so everyone knows, there's a lot of rewriting that needs to be done for the next 3 chapters, so the schedule has been bumped to 6-7 day wait time. I make no promises of even that being strictly adhered to, because clearly schedules only exist to make a fool of me.