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: After the extended time spent in Striaton City, Touko finally set out toward Nacrene City. Unfortunately, even the road showed its disruptions when Touko had to race to help a badly injured Patrat. After that, she had to deal with all the little bumps in the night, leading her to invite the odd boy from Accumula Town to join her previously Pokémon-exclusive traveling group. Though she had no idea what N was doing out in the middle of the night in the first place.
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Chapter Seven
Something So Important
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Another night of sleep without dreams, another weight off of her chest…
At least that's what should have been the first thought that went through Touko's mind when she woke up. Instead she had the distinct image of having a leafy branch whack her in the back of her head…which she wasn't sure counted as a dream or just a thought.
Either way…
"Ow," Touko complained as she lifted her head from her pillow, though whatever hit her hadn't hurt at all. It was just a rather rude way to be woken up. She blinked her still sleepy eyes until they cleared enough to see Snivy standing before her, positively fuming and growling angrily.
Did he have his arms crossed? That was kind of adorable, actually…
Though he seemed less adorable as it slowly clicked in Touko's head that he was responsible for the "leafy branch" that woke her up, though now she recognized its true form as his tail.
Rude.
She frowned and propped herself up to level a proper glare of disapproval at him. "What are you so worked up about?"
The grass Pokémon pointed, leading Touko's gaze to N, who was just standing there and looking mildly annoyed about something. Probably something that was Snivy's doing, judging by her short morning so far.
"Oh, yeah…" she murmured, remembering two very important things. The first was why N was there in the first place, because that struck her as odd for a couple of seconds. The second was the fact that Snivy seemed to have a problem with N.
The first was just typical disoriented, just-woke-up brain. That second thing was a little more embarrassing because there was plenty of time for it to occur to her last night.
"Relax, Snivy," Touko managed through a drawn out yawn. She sat up out of her sleeping bag and directed a small frown down at Snivy. "I don't know what your problem, but I can tell you, it's fine."
Snivy's particularly narrowed glare remained in place despite Touko's words and all his trainer could do was sigh; it was too early in the morning.
Instead she turned to N with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about Snivy. It's been a while since before, but he's still a little…I mean, both of us actually, we're still trying to figure each other out."
While Touko tried to smooth things over with Snivy, N had gone from looking just annoyed to outright frustrated, thinking too hard about something. Touko still couldn't entirely understand, but this thing with Snivy really seemed bother him.
But something in her words broke his concentrated thought and he turned to her in surprise. "How long have you been traveling with Snivy?"
"Oh well…" Touko bit her lip and attempted to count the days. So much had already happened that she'd lost track. Had it been less than a month since she sat, frustrated in her math class? Now she was failing at putting those skills into practice out in the real world. In between fighting off hypocritical, delusional drones in medieval gear.
In the end, she went for the simple answer, "I met Snivy the day before I met you."
Whatever answer N was looking for, this didn't seem to be it, his face falling from surprise into a frown.
But he didn't say anything, so Touko tried again, "You know, back in Accumula Town…"
"I remember." He didn't elaborate further.
Touko pursed her lips. He was being weird again. He'd seemed so normal the night before, not saying quite so many words in such a small space; though granted that was also in comparison to her own oddness that time. At this point, she was missing the original rambling. At least then she didn't have time to try and figure it out.
Or let her mind wander and remember embarrassing things. Pajama things…
She felt her face get hotter and she immediately huddled back down in her sleeping bag. "Hey…go somewhere for a minute."
After some awkward non-explanations, Touko got N to leave long enough so that she could make a dash into woods and change her clothes. The list of reasons why making him stay was a might have been a bad idea got a little longer when she remembered all of those differences between boys and girls. Differences this boy seemed to be oblivious to, considering how transparent she'd been.
"I need to just run into the woods…get all trainer-looking again with my clothes and stuff…but it's daylight now…and you know." He really didn't.
Despite that pesky bad idea list, she didn't say a peep to N about splitting up and was actually—if she admitted it—a little happy to see him when she got back. Traveling alone was, after all, lonely. And the things she'd said the night before weren't exactly wrong.
So, she perked up, her morning attitude fading away quickly as she ate breakfast with N and her Pokémon, who helped create a fun atmosphere. Except, of course, for Snivy who was sitting as close as possible to Touko and keeping a wary eye on N, barely even blinking. Luckily, only Snivy had this particular hang-up, while Panpour in particular seemed to be fascinated by N.
The only thing that might have been a little off was the fact that N's Pokémon didn't join them as well, but Touko decided not to bring it up. Don't rock that surfing Jellicent and all.
Somehow, after all of this and without a word spoken about it, the two just stayed together down the road to Nacrene, ending up as unlikely traveling companions.
"It looks like we're both on the same path for our trainer journey," Touko started up conversationally. "Who did you fight at the Striaton gym?"
"Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour."
Touko's eyebrows lifted at that. She noted that he didn't mention the leaders at all, but more importantly, it sounded like he had battled all three. "Wow…I only had to battle Chilli—I mean, Pansear. Why did you have to battle all three?"
"They asked what my first Pokémon was…I don't have a first Pokémon…I've had all sorts of friends with me as long as I can remember…From the beginning it was Zorua, Darmanitan, Woobat , then…"
Where are all those Pokémon? It seemed as if he'd go on all day if she let him, so she took a guess, "I get it. Because you didn't have a specific weakness."
N didn't seem to feel the need to confirm or deny and just kept walking silently beside her now that he wasn't listing off Pokémon.
Much of the morning's walk was like that. Touko would say something and N would often respond minimally to anything not about Pokémon. Even in those cases he'd often bring it around to Pokémon in ways that boggled Touko's mind.
Except…one time, when struggling for a topic of conversation, Touko started talking about how glad she was to be out of school and mentioned a specific formula in Geometry she had trouble with. That seemed to really spark something because N went on for about five minutes straight. Of course, Touko hadn't understood any of it and just nodded along, trying not to look too lost.
But despite the awkward (lack of) conversation, Touko reminded herself it was a lot better than the alternative of a solo trip through the wilderness. Especially when she considered it getting dark again.
If only Snivy would stop fidgeting in her arms every five seconds. She would have put him in his ball a while ago, except he actually refused. He didn't want to be anywhere that he couldn't keep an eye on N. Which he didn't indicate outright, but it seemed the safe assumption among everyone present, just not to be spoken aloud.
The point was, two hours down the road, she was already exhausted.
"Snivy, could you relax a little?" she tried in vain, as Snivy immediately switched to directing his glare at her. Her exhaustion was obviously her own fault for not worrying as well.
But Touko glanced over at N to see he'd stopped to rub Lillipup's belly and she couldn't help but roll her eyes.
There was a lot of talk about Pokémon instincts, it being such a difficult thing to research. Pokémon clearing out before a disaster, saving their trainer from an unseen danger, going to shelter right before it started to rain. This didn't even get into psychic Pokémon, like Espeon. Whatever instincts Snivy might have were yet to be seen, but right now she'd assume they were faulty.
N sort of seemed like a kid who would have gotten picked on at school, talking so much without really saying much. Does he even have any friends besides Pokémon? Really, he just didn't seem dangerous to someone like Touko, who completely eradicated her own bullied status at age eight. Thereafter only dealing with the boys the one time they tried to pick on Bianca instead.
Snivy, however, came upon a different feeling at the scene and hissed.
"Snivy!" Touko scolded, setting him down on the ground so she could properly look down at him, hands on her hips. He remained uncowed, but kept his glare over at N and Lillipup.
N's face seemed impassive, but Touko couldn't help but feel bothered on his behalf. Especially since this was just more proof that every other Pokémon got along with N just fine.
Lillipup rolled back onto his feet and began growling back at Snivy. Touko instantly regretted setting her charge on the ground, because Snivy looked ready for a fight, growling right back. A fight, between two teammates on her team of Pokémon.
They started to get closer, growling at each other, until Touko swooped in and scooped each of them in an arm. "That's enough!"
They both stopped struggling when they caught sight of her livid expression. Once she was sure of their obedience again, she set them both on the ground, though with a respectable distance from each other. She fixed them with a glare and tried for folding her arms over her chest this time. Satisfied there would be no more fuss, she launched into her lecture.
"Honestly. You two are acting wild. I hope you realize that we're a team, all of us. You two, Purrloin, Panpour, Patrat, and me. There's no fighting allowed. Not like this. We don't fight each other and we don't fight in anger over nothing. Got it?"
Neither Pokémon fought this declaration, but Snivy remained stubbornly silent, while Lillipup at least had the decency to droop a little. Then they grumbled a little at each other, not aggressively, so Touko didn't step in again, but it didn't seem like friendly teammate
Touko let out a huff of air and looked to N, wondering about an outsider's view of her approach. He was sitting on the ground, watching the two Pokémon with undivided attention and didn't even glance at her. So, not much help there.
"Looks like we still need to cool our heads…Let's see…" Touko took a look around her surroundings, not expecting to see much until she caught sight of a blue roof.
She hadn't seen one in person before, but it looked like one of the Trainer Stations she knew to look out for thanks to her magazines. Well, that and a rather famous incident.
A few years ago, some mothers got into a tizzy over their kids wanting to go out and be trainers right now rather than wait until they were thirteen. Coincidentally this wasn't long after a certain eleven-year-old Champion, the youngest ever, from the Indigo League. So, instead of just keeping the age at thirteen, a (small) group of parents campaigned to have the age restriction go even higher. Even though kids could still travel, own Pokémon, and battle with Pokémon. They just wouldn't get badges.
The whole thing had been silly in little Touko's eyes (as well as most of the rest of Unova), but she had to keep quiet as this wasn't very long after the "lake" incident and her start at any age was already at stake.
In the end, the compromise was to set up emergency stations with vending machines (for forgetful kids that didn't pack enough), chargers (for forgetful kids that didn't remember to charge their devices), and a phone (for the forgetful kids that had drained their devices' power).
It wasn't exactly a necessity for someone like Touko and her bulging bag of preparedness, but it would have something besides water or the crackers she had for snacking.
"Come on." She picked up Snivy again and lead the way, Lillipup trotting along behind her and N assumably catching up at some point.
It wasn't far, just slightly hidden from sight by the small ledge. Touko had jumped over taller ones. It was the sort of "I dare you" game to play in small towns. So, she nonchalantly just stepped down off the edge of the ledge.
So, what happened really shouldn't have happened. Jumping off of ledges wasn't a problem—old news, been doing it since she was six. The problem was the loose rock hiding in the grass where her foot happened to touch down.
The other problem was that both of her hands were taken up by holding Snivy. She was unwilling to drop him, instead holding him tightly in the split second, and took the fall instead. Luckily, she at least landed on top of her bag rather than meeting anymore unpleasant rocks. Perhaps less luckily, she heard the loud crunch of something breaking underneath her.
I hate the person who first said jumping off of ledges is a good idea, Touko thought vindictively as she winced, both in pain and at the sound. She made a not to later hunt her memories for the smart aleck who came up with the idea in class. Pretty sure it was a boy…
"Are you okay, Snivy?" she asked, not wanting to move until she was certain of his safety. He gave her a quick nod and looked up at her with the same question in his eyes.
"All good!" she answered with a smile, but as she started to shift off of her bag, she heard another crunch and her smile dropped off. "Not sure if I can say the same for everything though…"
She pushed herself onto the ground next to her bag with a thump and set Snivy down beside her. Now she just had to figure out what to do about this latest dilemma.
Touko White's Amazing Journey; a petty fight with a friend, knocked out by some incompetent idiots, and managed to break something with her butt. The ratings I could get on TV…
The whole thing was looking less like an adventure and more like a series of nuisances. At least it was a small problem comparatively this time, but she still wasn't willing to face the damage just yet. What if it was the Pokédex that broke? Professor Juniper will kill me…
N and Lillipup finally caught up. N took the jump down the ledge much more cautiously, but as he touched down on the ground, Touko saw that his hand could still reach the ledge. And despite her current feelings for the old childhood game, she couldn't help but snort like she would have when she was eight. Cheater.
Lillipup on the other hand just dived right off of the ledge and ran around as if he was missing out on some great adventure. Touko just rolled her eyes, wishing that Patrat had been the one out for a walk, she could use her only level-headed Pokémon right now.
"Why do you always have your Pokémon out of their Poké Balls? Snivy especially never seems to be in his…"
N had crouched down to her level on the ground, but Touko still found herself having to look up at him, adding to her irritation. "Do you really need to ask me about my training techniques now?"
"It's fine if you don't choose to answer. I'll just form my own conclusions instead."
Touko grunted noncommittally and let him do just that, instead picking herself up off of the ground. She'd assess the damage in that little hut they called a Trainer Station. It wasn't a very long time to procrastinate, but at least it was some.
Once they got inside, she laid out her collection of items gently, piece by piece, to see what had survived the fall. Potions, antidotes, and etc. were all still in tact. Most of what she brought from home was unbreakable (clothes and stuff), but all of her various little gadgets were fine, too. She heaved a sigh of relief over her still functioning Pokédex in particular
Unfortunately, when she got to checking her Poké Balls, the situation wasn't as perfect. As she looked at the six, she found two obviously damaged, broken in half; another was slightly crooked on its hinges, which looked minor, but with a Poké Ball…
"Agh! That only leaves three," Touko complained, frowning down at her broken supplies.
"You already have five Pokémon, why do you even need that many more?" N asked—quite unhelpfully as he had been since her fall, Touko might add—when he came over to look at the laid out Poké Balls.
She wasn't sure why this was the point of interest, but he was frowning as he looked down at her items, both broken and whole. She did, however know how to answer the question and held up one that promptly fell into two pieces. "Because they break."
"How many Pokémon do you intend to catch?"
She looked up at N, a small frown tugging at her face. Perhaps she was still sensitive, like with Cheren, but she got the distinct impression that she was being judged. "I don't know, maybe just one? Part of it depends on how many more are going to be literally given to me."
"What do you mean?" N asked suspiciously.
Touko narrowed her eyes, holding his gaze and trying to read into the implications she thought she heard; the accusation that she was a frivolous trainer catching too many Pokémon. Even though she was just trying to do right by the ones she met. She practically burst with the urge to tell him about Panpour, about that girl. That was what a truly bad trainer was like.
But…he wasn't her friend. He didn't know her.
This fact settled in and Touko slowly relaxed. It wasn't wrong for him to wonder about what sort of trainer she was. She was the one that hadn't been suspicious enough so far (but drastic measures had to be taken when confronted with irrational fears).
Though…Touko couldn't help but still feel a little out of sorts at the other fact that went along with this little non-friends realization. She had an "acquaintance", someone she was talking pretty easily.
However, this realization seemed to push her in the other direction as she noticed she'd been staring—gaping really—for far too long and she lowered her gaze with a belated mumble of, "It's nothing."
Her "acquaintance" took the odd moment in stride, or at least he didn't insist on an answer to the question she took ages to brush aside.
I'm still just defensive after being lectured by Cheren is all, Touko decided with a small little nod to herself.
She looked around the small shelter for a distraction and set her eyes on a set of vending machines. She stood up, immediately putting on her most personable smile. "Hey, do you want anything from the vending machine? You can consider it as a late way of making up for Snivy's little…tantrum."
N looked thrown by the sudden topic change. "No, I'm fine. I don't need—"
"Yeah, I wasn't really asking for a 'no' option. More like, 'What do you want?'" Touko clarified and pressed a button on the machine without further delay. She chose lemonade because it was the most expensive option and would therefore do the best job at appeasing her guilt on Snivy's behalf.
Except, if she was honest, the treat was more of a thank you to N for keeping a scared stranger company. But since he didn't know that, she couldn't exactly thank him so openly.
"Here you go," Touko said and held it out to him with a smile.
He looked at it. Suspiciously.
That was a little unreasonable. She might still be some odd amalgamation of stranger and acquaintance to him, but it was just a lemonade. That was free. So, she rolled her eyes and forcibly placed it in his hands. "You're welcome."
Then Touko got a soda for herself and plopped down on a bench against the wall. As she sipped from her can, she glanced up at N and noticed he was quite clearly not drinking. What more could a girl do after literally shoving it into his grip?
"If you don't like lemonade, you can give it to your Pokémon later."
At this comment, N's expression lightened; he almost smiled, but then he looked back down at the lemonade in his hand and his expression soured. "You think that Pokémon like this. It's something that was made by people. It's not something grown like berries."
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that lemon factory we passed on the way here," Touko replied with a roll of her eyes.
"It's meant for humans."
"Pokémon seem to like it though," Touko replied with a shrug. To make her point, she offered her bottle to Snivy. However, he proved a poor choice for demonstration, as he simply turned his nose up at the drink and turned away from it with a dramatic flip of his tail to further prove his distaste.
Touko frowned down at Snivy, who she was quite sure she remembered sniffing conspiratorially over her soda at dinner one night. Since she survived the fall all right, it appeared he went right back to playing obstinate. She'd never figured Pokémon were petty enough to hold grudges like people, but she supposed if one was going to, it would be Snivy.
"Snivy is an odd case," she explained, and to her surprise N nodded in agreement. She had to crack a small smile at the confused frown he wore whenever Snivy was about.
It's really like he's never had a Pokémon dislike him before… Touko may not have had a lot of experience with Pokémon, but that was at least one experience she knew.
Her dad's Bisharp had always blatantly disliked her. According to her dad, it was because Bisharp enjoyed battling so much and whenever they went home, he got cranky. And naturally, he decided that was Touko's fault because his trainer went home to see her. He was at least fair about it, extending his dislike to his trainer's wife as well, but Touko's mom had that little smirk that got him to at least by quiet about it.
It had hurt; her dad's other Pokémon seemed to love her. She would never forget how guilty she felt the day that her father finally gave up Bisharp to another trainer, like it was somehow all her fault. She could still feel the stab of guilt at the memory, even though she knew full well that Bisharp was quite happy after the adjustment. She'd seen him once after and he even greeted her with a respectful bow.
So…maybe it wasn't that funny, Touko realized as the smile fell off her face. After all, her memory was from when she was five and she still wasn't over it. She even wondered if it was a fair comparison, because at least she had Bianca and Cheren. All N seemed to have was Pokémon.
"Um…Lillipup likes drinks a lot I'm sure," Touko returned to the original—rather silly if she thought about it—topic on Pokémon and soda, hasty to get away from any more uncomfortable memories.
As soon as he heard his name, Lillipup came running over and this time when she made the offer, Touko got a far more positive reaction. Lillipup hopped up and down about fifteen times, at which point he started growling playfully at Touko's slow proceedings. She chuckled softly and dug a bowl out of her bag. Once the filled bowl was on the ground, Lillipup paid no further attention to Touko.
"See?" Touko looked up at N and sat back, arms folded over her chest and sporting a satisfied smile.
N looked down at the can of lemonade, then he offered it back to her. "Here. If your Pokémon like it, you can give it to one of them. Snivy, maybe."
Touko caught a little flinch from the aforementioned Pokémon and couldn't help but smirk a little. Snivy couldn't be so unreasonable to make a villain out of someone giving away their drinks to him. He could, however, be upset about this fact.
"Snivy can't have your apology drink. It entirely ruins the point." Touko turned back to N, though she still had a smile tugging at her lips. Finally, she gave in with a little laugh and took the can back. "You really do love Pokémon, don't you?"
"I don't just love Pokémon. I respect them. They're more important than anything and no one realizes that. Instead people use them and take them for granted," N said, shifting far too easily into that tone Touko would almost classify as rude.
"'Yes, of course,' would be fine," Touko replied with an unimpressed eyebrow raise. Which didn't have any effect at all upon its target. With a huff, she looked back down at her broken Poké Balls and started fiddling with one for a distraction.
Her impromptu traveling companion had been drifting somewhere between funny and mildly disconcerting to her all morning. She was starting to get an idea as to why.
"You were in the crowd too, when I saw Team Plasma that day in Accumula Town…" Touko began; she lifted her face slightly to meet N's eyes without fully exposing her face (and therefore misgivings) to him. "What do you…"
What do you think about Team Plasma's ideals? It wasn't a hard question to ask, but she hesitated. Once again, she reminded herself that she and N weren't friends, so it wasn't a problem to disagree on something so important.
Except…it was something so important.
So, Touko steeled herself, ready to ask again, until she noticed that the target of her question seemed distracted. She turned to look at what grabbed his attention and saw two trainers had arrived outside the little rest stop, talking away about who knows what.
They were a couple of boys, probably around her age. All in all, just looking like typical trainers from what little she could see of them. They were still loitering outside the shelter instead of just coming in.
Not really worth noticing… Touko thought, especially taking the look of distaste on N's face into consideration. Until she actually listened to their conversation.
"The Pokémon on this route are so weak. I don't know why we both going into the grass at all."
"I know, there's no good Pokémon. It's barely worth it for the training. What's the point if the opponent is weak?"
"How many have you brought down just today? It's been about ten for me."
"Lost count by now."
Touko's grip tightened on the broken Poké Ball. She stood up and walked to the edge of the shelter to get a better look at the loudmouths. Neither of them had any Pokémon out, but she could see a full collection of six on each of their belts.
"Even the common Pokémon around here are useless at just looking the way they should. That Patrat man…"
At that, they both laughed, and Touko's frown deepened. It couldn't be…
"Barely a hit from Scolipede, right?"
Scolipede!? A fully evolved…
"Yeah, what a waste. Shame you have to deal with this to get the Trio badge, since everything is as useless as that—"
The rest of the trainer's words were cut off when Touko's broken Poké Ball made contact with the back of his head and snapped cleanly in two.
She hadn't given it any thought in advance, but at the word "useless" she couldn't take it the Poké Ball was suddenly flying out of her hand at a target that was far from its intended purpose.
But seeing as it was broken, it was probably all right. Not like it could be used for that purpose anymore.
Scratch that, it wasn't all right at all. It seemed Snivy might have picked up his unfortunate little temper from her.
After the shock was over, both of the trainers turned to her. "What is your problem!?" the injured party shouted, "You—!"
No doubt he was about to call her something foul, so Touko felt free to interrupt, taking a particularly righteous stance despite clearly being the aggressor. "It's not just my problem! The whole world's problem is people like you!"
"Unlike crazy girls who go throwing stuff at people!?" the boy cried out in disbelief. He looked at his friend. "What was that anyway?"
"Poké Ball," his friend replied, picking up one of the broken halves.
"I'm not a Pokémon, you idiot!" he shouted, turning back on Touko.
"Obviously, because if you were you'd have some respect for your opponents," Touko replied with as much disdain as she could muster. "The Patrat you found couldn't have been older than a couple of weeks. You can tell that by looking at her. You didn't need to use Scolipede."
"What, you found it?"—Touko frowned at his use of 'it' when he'd very clearly been provided the option to say 'her.'—"Are you so weak you have to take up other trainers' remains?"
"Better that than be too stupid to know what level of power is necessary against a baby," she snapped back. "You go on about how it wasn't even worth it, so why did you do it? Even if that Patrat did jump out at you—which I really doubt—are you telling me that you couldn't have just walked away? A Pokémon that small…"
"It's still a Pokémon," the boy argued with a look of derision.
Touko's lips pressed into a tight line. There was no reasoning with this idiot. "I challenge you to a battle."
At that, the boy laughed out loud. "Come on. We were just complaining about how weak everything around here is and your solution is for us to fight you? A girl?"
"Do you enjoy repeating the cliché insults of an eight-year-old boy? Are you afraid of cooties, too?" She paused and then smirked. "Oh, I got it. Tell me I throw like a girl, too."
The boy's smirk fell right off his face, though his friend snorted. After a quick glare directed at his traitor, he turned back to Touko. "Fine, if it'll get you to shut up, I'll gladly kick your butt. I bet you're from Accumula Town, for crying out loud."
Touko ignored the insult to the town, but he was lucky he didn't get it right because she wouldn't tolerate it against Nuvema Town. But despite all her bravado, she may have just gotten into a bad situation. The fact was that no one of her team could stand up to a Scolipede. And who knew what else he had on his team.
Except…
He'd used Scolipede without hesitation against Patrat. Why not any other Pokémon? No matter how stupid this boy was, she doubted he was just overdoing it for the sake of overdoing it.
There were two reasonable possibilities excluding an amount of ruthlessness she didn't want to consider. Either Scolipede was his weakest Pokémon or…Perhaps he was just in the habit of using Scolipede all the time. She heard that happened with trainers and their starters sometimes.
In those cases, the other members of the team would often get neglected and he had six; an awful lot of Pokémon to train responsibly.
Touko smirked. It was a risk, but she was willing to bet on it.
"So, if I'm so weak, you should be able to beat me with your weakest Pokémon, right?"
The boy hesitated for a moment, and Touko knew she'd guessed right. But he shook his head with a smirk, reassuring himself and responded, "Easily."
"Then that's my challenge: my weakest Pokémon against your weakest."
At this, the boy looked visibly reassured. He'd had a glimmer of doubt that he wouldn't be able to defeat Touko's strongest Pokémon with his weakest. But weakest against weakest, of course his would be better.
What he was too stupid to know was that not everyone thought like him. Touko didn't have a "weakest Pokémon."
Sure, she considered Snivy her strongest, but each one of her Pokémon had their drawbacks and strengths. Snivy was a good fighter, but someday his pride might be his downfall; Panpour was a fast learner, but he was still adjusting; Lillipup never gave up, but sometimes that was the problem; Patrat took everything seriously, but sometimes he'd miss something important; Purrloin, she'd begun to learn, may be lazy, but had a cunning unsurpassed by any other.
Touko did not believe in the notion of a weak Pokémon, but by her opponent's reasoning, she knew Purrloin would be the one she'd have to send out.
"So, what do you say?" Touko asked, already taking out Purrloin's Poké Ball.
"Let me see yours to make sure you're not cheating."
She raised an eyebrow—she was the untrustworthy one?—but let out Purrloin anyway and ignored his snicker. She wanted the chance to talk to Purrloin anyway before battle, especially since she was already curling up to take a nap.
"Purrloin, if you put your all into this battle, I won't disturb you for the rest of the route," she promised her Pokémon. It proved to have little effect, because the dark-type only yawned at her.
"You have to bribe your Pokémon? How pathetic!" her opponent taunted.
Touko frowned. She knew Purrloin would fight back once hit by the opponent, but that would require getting hit. She had to think fast.
Luckily, Lillipup came trotting over at the first whiff of Purrloin, though recognizing a battle, he plopped down next to Touko rather than ruin it. One look at Purrloin's tormenter was enough to spark an idea. An idea about a certain silly topic she'd been involved in just a few minutes ago. "And…I will give you an entire bottle of MooMoo milk."
Purrloin's ear twitched at that. Then she got up, deliberately slowly, and stretched. However, once this action was complete, Purrloin sat up at attention, the fighting gleam Touko so often saw with her other Pokémon in her eye.
Never estimate a Pokémon's love of beverages, Touko noted to herself.
"So, I suppose you're fine with Purrloin?" She turned her attention to her opponent.
"Yeah, it's fine," he replied, shaking his head with a smile.
Touko smirked. Overconfidence in one's opponent was always a good thing. Well, as long as it was unjustified.
That reminded her… "So, you saw mine…"
"Right, I guess it'd be…Darumaka!" he called out dramatically, as if it was supposed to bring fear to her just at the name.
Though Touko had to admit she did flinch when she saw the red fire Pokémon, but that had nothing to do with the Pokémon itself.
Darumaka live in the desert, she noted and repressed a shudder. So, it likely hasn't traveled too far. Just from route 4.
Still, it came from a tougher area. On paper, it would be stronger and the likely victor. She'd have to play the strategizer for a change. Good thing Purrloin was just the Pokémon for that.
If she wasn't wrong—and she was sure she wasn't, because certain events made the Pokémon of the desert ingrained in her mind—Darumaka had a little bit of trouble with accuracy on their physical attacks. Not to an extreme degree, but…
She could make it extreme.
"Are you ready, stupid girl?"
"My name is Touko," she replied flatly. His grade school dislike for girls was just starting to become pathetic. Honestly, teenagers should be well beyond "girls are icky." After all, she'd moved past that into an awkwardness with both boys and girls at her school a long time ago.
"Weird name."
Touko pursed her lips. It wasn't a new comment, but it had been a while…everyone in Nuvema Town knew everyone else. Even her. But she didn't feel like playing the "how dare you insult my culture" trick today when she could just shut him up with the battle.
"Well, I'll only let you hear my name after I win. That way you'll never forget your mistake here today."
"Yeah, that's okay…it's not worth knowing anyway…"
Her opponent ignored the comment and turned to his friend, "Brian, you tell us when to start!"
"Wh-what? Leave me out of it, man…" By this point, her opponent's friend was looking a little uncomfortable with the situation's sudden escalation.
"You're the only one around, it has to be you!"
The only one… Until that point Touko had forgotten almost entirely about her fellow traveler.
She looked over her shoulder to see N standing back at the shelter, surprisingly with Snivy next to him. Though Touko guessed that was because they were both in the best position to see the strange events unfold.
Suddenly, she couldn't help but feel self-conscious. She tried to go over in her head everything that she'd done that might have made her look bad to someone. Seeing as that started with her throwing an object at a stranger…
"Ready, go!"
Crap!
"Headbutt!" Darumaka dived at Purrloin.
"Sand attack!" Touko responded quickly, despite her surprise. It helped that Purrloin was ready; she dodged to the side, swiping at the ground and spraying the dirt out at her opponent. Darumaka fell face first onto the ground where she once stood.
Purrloin glanced back at Darumaka and Touko could have sworn she heard something like a snicker.
Well, dark-type was dark-type, after all.
Touko smiled, already her mind cleared of everything but the battle. But the minor celebration was brief; Darumaka was already back up and ready to go. "Keep going, Purrloin. Make sure he can't hit you!"
Even in her strategy, she still tended to run things the same way. Purrloin kept dodging each attack and spraying dirt at her opponent. With each set, it got easier and easier to dodge.
"Tackle!" "Headbutt!" "Fire fang!"
She heard her opponent call out attack after attack, but none of them hit the mark.
However, Purrloin got complacent and received a hit from rollout which knocked her down. But, it was her first hit and Purrloin was up and ready for the next round, breaking rollout's streak at just one.
"Rollout is a great attack, but I have to say it's not as effective when you can barely even hit once," Touko called across their little battlefield.
Her opponent gritted his teeth and ignored the banter, calling for more attacks.
So far, there had been headbutt, tackle, rollout, and fire fang. Every attack was a physical attack. Touko smirked, her plan worked better than she would have thought. At that point, it was almost impossible for Darumaka to get a hit on Purrloin.
Time to go on the offensive.
Purrloin's only straightforward attack was scratch, which would get her close enough for Darumaka to have an easier time finding her. But assist…
With assist, Purrloin would call an attack from one of her teammates. One of her teammates was Panpour, water-type.
The first move was probably the least useful thing Purrloin could call forth with her paw, illustrating the problem with the gamble; Snivy's vine whip didn't have much of an effect. But it didn't hurt Purrloin or help Darumaka either. Touko stuck to the plan.
Next time, Purrloin dived in with Lillipup's bite. Purrloin hadn't learned any dark-type moves yet, but she certainly wielded one right with help, doing enough damage to make her opponent flinch and give Touko and Purrloin some breathing room.
However, when Purrloin dived in again with Patrat's tackle, Touko's fears about using scratch before came true. Darumaka took the chance and bit his opponent with a flaming mouth.
Purrloin jumped back, but too late. She was already burned and quite hurt.
"One more time!" Touko commanded, undeterred. Assist was random, but at some point the odds would turn in their favor. Darumaka was already quite hurt from the bite, a couple more hits might be enough to finish him off. Purrloin could at least survive that…
Touko didn't have to worry for long. Purrloin waved her paw, and a giant stream of water came shooting out, hitting Darumaka straight on.
Before the attack cleared, Touko let out a relieved breath; she knew it was over.
Purrloin turned back to her and Touko smiled, kneeling on the ground with her arms open. "Come here, girl." And Purrloin responded with a leisurely stroll over, immediately curling up in Touko's arms and falling promptly to sleep. Touko gave her a good look-over, Purrloin didn't seem too badly hurt, except for the burn, but the sight of that was enough to make Touko's heart ache for her injured Pokémon.
"I'm proud of you…" she whispered into Purrloin's ear.
Meanwhile, Touko's still nameless opponent was standing dumbfounded, staring at his fainted Darumaka.
Touko stood up tall, cradling the sleeping Pokémon. "You know, I don't have any weak Pokémon."
His head immediately snapped up. "You cheated! You said our weakest!"
"You accepted Purrloin as weak. I don't." Touko stubbornly stuck out her chin. "I don't believe in weak Pokémon."
"You're one of those…" he replied in disgust. "Figures, since you're a girl…"
"Yup, 'one of those' and a girl who just kicked your butt. I'd think you might take that into consideration." She paused, waiting for it to sink in. It didn't seem to. She let out an exasperate sigh. "Look, you didn't win because you don't train all of your Pokémon. You play favorites to the ones you think are strong. How many times have you even sent Darumaka out into battle since you got him? None, right? That's how you were able to come up with him so quickly as your 'weak' one."
"That's the way I do things. You don't have to butt in. It's not your problem."
"But it's not just your Pokémon you hurt with that system!" Touko shouted, losing her patience again. "To you, it's just weak versus strong, as if that's all that matters. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration. Each and every Pokémon is different!"
At the last shout, Purrloin fidgeted in her arms. So, Touko let out a deep breath to relax herself, then set Purrloin down on the ground so she wouldn't disturb her further.
"My problem is how you treated that Patrat. Wild Pokémon aren't like trained Pokémon. No one is there to look out for them. Sure, most of them do just fine after a battle, but even then, why would you fight a Pokémon you don't want? Self-defense, sure, but training?" Touko clenched her hands into fists and stood back up. "Pokémon aren't meant to be used!"
At this, the boy finally seemed silent and the two watched each other across their former battlefield. Then without another word, he finally called Darumaka back to his Poké Ball and turned to his friend. "Come on, Brian. Let's go. It can't be too far to Striaton City now."
Then the two trainers silently walked past her and on down the route to Striaton City.
Touko stared blankly ahead, not sure what to think now that the adrenaline was fading. Just…Nuvema Town wasn't like this. Granted it was a small town—of which Touko had an even smaller participation in—but it had been her world. Not this world.
As the shock and anger faded, Touko found the most unpleasant thing lurking underneath: disappointment.
All a part of growing up I guess…
Lillipup trotted over again, having caught on that the fight was over, and immediately started sniffing around Purrloin. Touko nudged him away with her foot and kneeled back down in between her two Pokémon, feeling that even more than usual, Purrloin deserved her peace.
She smiled down at Purrloin, her pride overwhelming everything else until she got another look at that burn. She leaned in closer for an examination and Purrloin twitched, even though Touko hadn't even touched the burn. She sat back up, her brow furrowed in concern.
Touko felt a small tap on her back and looked behind her to see Snivy looking back in a reflection of her worry. The grudges were again forgotten in times of trouble.
"Looks like we're in trouble, Snivy." Touko tried for a forced smile to belie her words so the situation wouldn't seem so severe. It didn't work. Snivy only frowned, seeing through her trick. He moved closer and nudged her with his head.
She sighed and managed a slightly more honest smile as she pet Snivy atop his head. Lillipup looked between Touko and Purrloin, worried glances for each, and Touko decided she had to figure out a plan. At this rate she was just worrying her Pokémon.
It was supposed to take between 4-5 days to get to Nacrene City. Going all the way back to the daycare now for another favor, especially one that wasn't quite so serious, didn't seem too helpful. If nothing else, maybe Purrloin would just have to stay in her Poké Ball so she couldn't get hurt any further. It was the best plan, but not a plan Touko liked very much. Purrloin being away from her sight for so long…
"Here."
Touko looked up at N in confusion. Until then he'd stayed well out of her dilemma. Now he was holding a blue berry out to her. Berries weren't too common in Unova, so it took some searching in her mind to remember which one…a rawst berry, the one that should naturally heal Purrloin's burn.
"What…why…" she began, dumbfounded. Why help her now after spurning her own attempts to be nice?
"Purrloin…your Pokémon is hurt…This will help the burn."
"Y-you don't have…" Touko started with an embarrassed stammer, looking back down. But that kind of "selfless" perspective in this case was looking a lot more like selfishness. Purrloin was hurt, what did Touko's pride matter in a case like that? So, Touko swallowed her objection and took the berry without further complaint.
As soon as she gave the berry to Purrloin, her Pokémon perked right up, and then (of course) proceeded to fall back down to maintain appearances. But the visible burn was fading. It was amazing how quickly these things worked.
"Thank you…Purrloin would have been in some trouble without you…" she murmured, feeling uncomfortable at the debt she didn't know how to pay back. Apparently he didn't like drinks.
"You don't have to thank me. I carry them around for hurt Pokémon, so of course…" N paused for a moment, appearing thoughtful as he looked down at Touko. "You would do the same thing, too, right?"
"If I could," Touko replied, looking back up at him with a frown. "I'm not capable of it. I can't buy burn heal yet. As for berries…where did you find that anyway? I almost never see berries."
"They're around if you look," N replied with a very stiff shrug, like he wasn't quite used to nonchalance. "Though they are supposed to be rarer in Unova than some other regions. Because Unova has so much urban development it becomes more difficult to find certain things. Pokémon here are much more likely…"
It seemed that N was on some sort of roll, so she took the moment to exchange a look with Snivy. It looked like her grass-type Pokémon had let his hostility fall down a few notches. After N's help in healing Purrloin, Snivy was reevaluating the odd trainer. If Snivy was going to rethink things, Touko certainly felt she might have to.
She stood up, folding her arms over her chest. She inserted herself into the very next pause in N's stream of words. "So, you just carry around berries."
"Ones I find," N clarified, looking unbothered by the interruption. "If I find a hurt Pokémon, I have to help them. It's the least I can do for my friends."
"Even if they're not yours…" Touko affirmed, already having a good idea about the response; a small smile was tugging at her lips.
"It's not different. All Pokémon are my friends."
"Even the weak ones?"
"There's no—"
"—no such thing," Touko finished with him, unable to contain her smile now.
She let out a small laugh at the confused look on N's face, but quickly collected herself. She tilted her head to the side inquisitively. "You really do love Pokémon, right?"
Before N could reply in the same way as her had before, Touko let her full, unrestrained smile go. "It's ok. I already know."
XWXWXWXWX
The afternoon was passing by a lot more pleasantly than the morning. Touko couldn't figure out why she'd had such trouble talking with N before. Sure there was only one topic that they could keep up with each other on, but since that topic was Pokémon, the possibilities were endless!
There was just one problem…
Every time a Pokémon jumped out of the grass to attack them, when Touko's Pokémon counterattacked, N would look really distressed. He didn't look angry, or anything, just sad and worried. Which was a lot worse in Touko's opinion. She could deal with anger, in fact she was proving to excel at any confrontation. However this…
It was making her feel like a bully…but it wasn't even like she wanted to hurt Pokémon!
She was starting to see how someone like N could possibly fall for Plasma's shtick. She was quite glad for the moment that she had kept the story about Panpour to herself and for a while she contemplated telling him about how awful Team Plasma was to Munna in the Dreamyard instead. That way he would know they were hypocrites like she did.
But…she figured that would just upset him more and she didn't really want that either.
Touko sighed after fighting off a Pidove. N was now taking care of the hurt Pokémon, glancing back at her every so often with an expression she couldn't quite figure out. Was he upset? Mad? Sad? Concerned? Disappointed? All the above…?
All she knew was that each time he did so, she felt a stab of guilt which was completely unreasonable. It's not even like she was just beating up on wild Pokémon to help train her own. They were jumping out at them first. And she was helping protect him too.
If she could, she would just stay out of the wild grass entirely, but it was impossible. The only other option left would be to try to run, but she was quite sure it wouldn't end well if they encountered one of the Blitzles she knew were sure to be around.
She paced back and forth while N continued tending to the animal. Finally, she sighed in defeat. She walked over cautiously and took a potion out of her bag, handing it over to N. When he took the peace offering from her, she decided it was safe and sat down beside him.
"Hey, um…I'm sorry that I…well, I'm sorry." It was a pretty weak apology, but she still wasn't quite sure what she was sorry for.
"It's okay," N mumbled. Probably the slowest she'd ever heard him…and she realized it was because he was sulking. This tall, older boy was sulking.
She hadn't seen a boy sulk about since she was twelve. After that point, they preferred brooding; it fit better with the teenage angst. Specifically, she was sure Cheren hadn't sulked since he was ten, after which point he decided to go with passive-aggressive jabs instead.
Clearly this wasn't okay at all.
She sat back on the grass and let out a huff of air. There had to be an easier way. Perhaps she should suggest that they part ways. But as she looked at N, she realized that wasn't an option. It really would make her feel like a bully. It felt essentially like saying, "I don't like being around you" especially since she was the one that made him stick around in the first place.
She rested her cheek on her hand and watched N. The Pidove seemed to be more lively now, so N was smiling just a bit. How does he manage these roads on his own if he doesn't want to fight back? I haven't even seen his Purrloin since our fight in Accumula.
She sat upright. Of course, that very question was the answer. She scooted closer to her temporary companion, a smile back on her face. "Hey, N. How do you handle it when wild Pokémon attack you when you're on your own?"
He looked at her and the spoke as if it were completely obvious, "I talk with them."
"Ah…oh yeah, that's right. I forgot you can do that. Talk and understand and…stuff…" She wasn't going to discount the ability entirely like Cheren seemed to, but she had to admit she still had her doubts, even after meeting him on Route 2. After all, it's not like it made sense for Snivy to randomly dislike him because he was being "protective" or whatever (though the fact that Snivy did not like N was undeniable).
But options were short, so perhaps it was worth a try.
And if it were true…wouldn't it be an amazing thing to see?
"Alright N, what do you say you take the lead for a while? That way no Pokémon will get hurt. Since, y'know…I can't really understand like you can."
N lifted Pidove from the ground and looked at the Pokémon for such a long time that Touko wasn't sure that he heard her. But when Pidove flew off into the air, he turned back to Touko. "Then I'll show you," he informed her with determination in his eyes. Then he stood up, towering over her.
Touko looked up at him a little guiltily. "Ah…okay…" She stood as well, holding Snivy in her arms and looking a little sheepish. Perhaps N had noticed that she still didn't quite believe him.
For a long time, she followed behind N silently without a single incident of Pokémon charging at them in the grass. Which was probably a good thing, except Touko found herself getting itchy at the silence oddly enough. It would have been easy to fix, but it was just too awkward to talk until N—hopefully—proved himself.
Doubt he'd even say anything back anyway since apparently I keep doing things wrong…
As it turned out, the world is very careful in its allotment of danger. If nothing was happening for a while, it meant something big was on the way.
Bouffalant were very big.
Touko let out a very undignified squeak of fear upon sight of the large Pokémon coming out of the grass. She covered her mouth, but too late; they'd been noticed. However, the Bouffalant made no move, only watching them warily.
Then, to her horror, N took a step forward as if there was nothing to be afraid of. Touko quickly grabbed his arm and yanked him back. "Just what do you think you're doing?" she whispered, so as not to attract more attention.
"There's a Bouffalant. He's scared that we're on his territory, so I'm just going to go reassure him," N explained at a normal volumed, not sharing Touko's concernes. He took his arm out of her grip, though at least stayed put, saving Touko from a young death by heart attack.
"There aren't supposed to be any Bouffalant in this area! I'll show you…" Touko started digging through her bag, trying to find some information that backed up this claim—though she wasn't even sure if it would be in the town map or Pokédex or whatever else she had. Eventually, she just gave up, throwing her arms in the air. "My point is this isn't his territory! This is really dangerous."
"You're right," N replied seriously, causing Touko let out a sigh of relief, until he added, "He must be lost," and walked off toward the Bouffalant before Touko could stop him again.
All she could do was watch helplessly, her knees locked to prevent shaking. She wasn't sure that any of her Pokémon could stand up to Bouffalant. Such a huge Pokémon…and all of hers were small enough to fit right in her arms.
However, as time went by, Touko slowly realized that nothing was happening. At first the Bouffalant was looking quite aggressive, then as N talked to the Pokémon, saying things she couldn't hear, it calmed down. Then N was pointing—giving directions?—and Bouffalant was on its way. No harm done.
Touko stared, completely dumbfounded. He really…he really can…
She'd thought a lot of things about N so far. He was weird; she thought that one a lot. He was really difficult to understand. Just today, she found out he was really smart, which made him even more difficult to understand. The most important thing had been that he really did love Pokémon.
Now, as the sun was setting and N turned back and gave her a little satisfied smile, because he proved to her how silly she was being, she found her thoughts halted in her amazement.
As she thought back on N's confident stride as he walked toward the Bouffalant without fear, now that she knew it wasn't a silly risk because he obviously knew what he was doing…
For a moment—just a moment—she'd thought he might have looked a little cool. Even though it was by talking instead of with a dramatic battle, he'd sort of saved the day like the heroes on TV she'd always idolized. In fact, the way he did it was a lot more impressive.
Snivy poked her in the face—which, must have looked pretty weird by now, all crumpled up in badly hidden embarrassment from her childish thoughts—to make sure she was still responsive. Touko swatted his little hand away, actually glad for the distraction.
Now that the situation was handled, N was making his way back and Touko quickly decided to find that the nearby trees were fascinating.
"He was lost, but he's going back to his home now." From the corner of her eye, Touko could see that N was still smiling, something she found distracting because he hadn't done much of that until now.
"Mm…" she mumbled stiffly. She glanced over at him once more before abruptly turning to look down the path again. "Well, good. Now we can keep moving onto Nacrene City."
Touko wasn't sure if she expected N to lead the way or what, but for whatever reason, despite what she just said, she stayed standing in the middle of the pathway.
After a while, she looked back, and N was looking back at her, waiting for something. Just like that, the words sort of fell out.
"Hey…N?"
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to say…thanks for coming with me."
In the middle of everything else, she wasn't sure why that little hidden thought was the one that decided to pop out. She was just a little surprised that it didn't embarrass her…
"It's no problem. I wanted to come…"
…and even more surprised at how the answer made her happy.
Instead of forcing her smile down, but faced forward again to keep it to herself. "Still, thanks." And without another word for either, Touko lead the way down the path again.
This time, even though their short journey before the sun fully set remained silent, she found she wasn't minding it quite so much anymore.
Note on Updates: Hay! I had to rewrite this entire chapter (and the next one…which were once one) so that mostly explains the gigantic fall of the schedule track. My plan is to still update every 5-7 days, but history is not on my side at remaining on track. So! I'm on tumblr [ .com] and I have something resembling a solution.
When I can't update on the seventh day of my already flexible schedule, I will instead post a quick preview on tumblr. Since it proves I'm working. So, follow me on tumblr for that stuff! It's just been a lot of fun in general, too. I regret being a fandom hermit for so long.
Note on Trainer Stations: The "trainer station," as you might be able to tell, my reconciliation with the fact that children are regularly tossed out into the wilderness in this world. I will never get over how okay everyone is with kids doing this incredibly dangerous stuff and I grew up reading Harry Potter, too. I think it's Cynthia in Platinum being like, "Hey! child! Come into this black hole with me. Then battle the villain. Then battle that world-distorting Pokemon." that did me in at some point. (I say this, but I love it really…It just distracts me when I'm writing.)
It also made for a meeting place that doesn't reek of too much coincidence for the battle scene. I still messed something up about the timing, but just in case no one will notice, I won't say what here.
Note on Next Chapter: This and the next are kind of a two-parter, so I'll have a bit more to say next time that sort of applies to this chapter. I'm saving it up so it stays a little bit short. Thanks for your patience!