Archie - Pokémon: 7 Deaths: 1
Blue - Pokémon: 4 Deaths: 0
{Monua 26th, 4:48PM}
{Eterna}
In the entire week that Blue had come to know Archie, the gym leader couldn't remember his travel companion ever being so quiet. Ever since the forest residents had started their ritual for burying the Gyarados- with special prayers and well wishes for Mark, having saved many of the forest's inhabitants at the cost of his life- he hadn't heard a single sound come out of the Aqua Leader's mouth. Even the occasional prompting from Star was only answered with a short glance. It wasn't that Blue liked hearing the asshole talk, he was actually quite content with the silence- but it did worry him that, faint as it was, he could feel bloodlust.
"You're not planning on killing anyone, are you?" Blue asked bluntly after a while.
Archie turned and looked at him, giving him only a slightly longer stare than Star had been getting until now. "I'm responsible for enough deaths that another one or two probably wouldn't change a damn thing as far as my criminal record goes," the Aqua Leader snorted bitterly, marching forward again. "But...no. Tempting as it sounds, I don't voluntarily kill people. Otherwise I'd have murdered that other piece of scum years ago."
Oh, look, he finally spoke. "Well, you recently revived a god to pit it against him, so you came close enough to it."
Blue saw a muscle in Archie's jaw twitch, but the Aqua Leader didn't argue.
"Okay, so I know buildings can be hard for us Pokémon to recognise, but even I can see how ugly that thing is," Star said with audible disgust. The two humans looked up in the same direction as Star and Archie actually came to a halt.
"I'll bet you anything that belongs to Galactic," Archie said flatly.
"I'll bet you anything that you're probably right," Blue replied. "C'mon, let's check it out."
Archie nodded once and jogged on ahead, with Star sprinting even farther. Blue sighed and took his time, carefully checking the bushes instead. I didn't see anything that looked like an obvious entrance or opening from here, so they might have a hidden passage of sorts...
A solid ten minutes later and Blue hadn't found anything along the lines of what he'd imagined. He'd have expected someone to have cut a bunch of branches off and allow people to slip through, but…
Archie and Star both returned. "Couldn't find anything," Archie reported. Next to him, Star was sulking. "No holes in the bushes, no nearby underground tunnels we could sneak through… If they have any tunnels to get in, it's probably somewhere outside of Eterna."
"Probably. I've been keeping watch, and I've never seen anybody enter or exit that building inside city limits."
Star started growling angrily, making the young woman who was approaching them stop and gasp nervously. She was tall, with bushy red hair and a green cape and cargo pants, and had a big, green Pokémon with her. It had a head like a white rose and hands like bunches of pink and blue roses, and met Star's snarling with a snooty glare.
"Are you with the police or something?" Blue asked, causing Archie's hands to nervously jump to his wig.
"Do I look like the police?" the woman asked with an eyebrow raised. "My name's Gardenia. I'm the Eterna City Leader. Why are you trying to get into the Galactic Building?"
"Because they're a bunch of shady shits and we're curious," Blue said bluntly. "Isn't that why you're keeping an eye on them?"
"Well, yeah… they're rumoured to be something to do with some Pokémon that've gone missing recently, and some rangers who said they were going to investigate Galactic… but like I said, nobody's been seen going in or out of that building," Gardenia said, spreading her hands in a what can you do? gesture, "and it's not like I can just break in to find out. Can't get a search warrant approved. Honestly, I'm not sure there's anybody even in there."
"You don't build a hedge like that to hide an empty building," her Pokémon said, giving the hedge a Look. Then it turned that glare on Star. "What, may I ask, is your problem?"
"You are," Star snarled. "If you don't have any business here, keep walking."
"Well, my business was coming to see if you were Galactic members getting into the building, but I guess not," Gardenia said with a shrug, looking Blue and Archie up and down again. She stared fixedly at Archie for a long, uncomfortable moment, then grinned brightly. "Hey! The Oreburgh badge!" she said brightly. "Did you beat Ben? Or did you fight his apprentice? I heard he was letting the new kid handle some of his gym battles."
"Uh- y-yeah," Archie said, tapping the badge on his jacket self-consciously. "Roark. Yeah, I beat him. Uh… I'm guessing you're a grass leader?" He gestured to the green Pokémon.
"Yeah! Oooh, you have to come to my gym for your second badge! Say you will!" Gardenia said excitedly. She backed away nervously as Star's growling increased sharply. "Uhh… it's a few streets south of here giant greenhouse floral clock can't miss it bye!" she babbled, turning and outright fleeing.
"Forgive her, she's easily startled," her Pokémon sighed, rolling its eyes before taking off after its trainer.
"Star, was that really necessary?" Archie asked, frowning at his Luxio.
"She needed to back off," Star said huffily.
"I'm pretty sure she wasn't challenging you over anything or threatening to claim me as being under her rule," Archie said.
"She looked pretty damn excited about inviting you to her gym, at least," Star snapped. "Actually, you know what? Let's go. I'll tear through whatever Pokemon she's got."
"I hope you don't mean that literally," Blue said flatly.
Archie sighed. "Star..." He crouched down and cupped the Luxio's face to make her look at him. "Look...I know you're upset, but-"
"Upset doesn't cover it," Star growled. "Mark is gone. Dead. He was such a kind and gentle soul, and he hated himself and sincerely believed he was worthless and he was so lonely and when you were finally getting somewhere in fixing that for him and making him genuinely happy those fucking bitches killed him! Now you're telling me that we're right in front of their stupid hiding spot and we can't actually rip them to shreds for what they did?! And then that other bitch just struts up to us and has the fucking gall to imply that we might be a part of Galactic's group! I'm not upset- I'm fucking livid and she can damn well get a small taste of what happens when I'm pissed off," she finished with a hiss before stalking away in the direction Gardenia had run off.
Archie pressed his lips, adjusting his wig. "...Can't say I don't understand how she feels..." he mumbled.
"I get it too, but we should probably follow her and make sure she doesn't take it too far when fighting Gardenia and her team," Blue said seriously. "Star told us yesterday that she doesn't believe in killing others over pack leader positions, but I wanna be sure she's extending that belief to everything else as well. Lives aren't something you can give back."
Archie didn't say anything, but he still gave a small nod.
{Monua 26th, 8:59PM}
{Eterna}
{Pokémon Center}
Star handled the entire gym on her own fairly easily. Archie wasn't sure if it was because Star was just that strong or if it was because the Luxio's attitude had unsettled Gardenia and her team. The Aqua Leader figured it was probably a bit of both. He'd ended up apologizing for Star's behavior after the battle and thanking her for the challenge (Not that I was much of a challenge, visibly, Gardenia had sighed) as the battle had helped distract him a little from the not-so-pleasant events earlier that day.
"Here you go," Blue said, handing one of the key cards to Archie. "Managed to get neighboring rooms for us again."
"Thanks," Archie said, taking the card. "I might just conk out on the bed."
"As long as you don't run off, what you do in your room has nothing to do with me," Blue said. The gym leader held his hand out. "So, you gonna hand over Shanks again?"
"You gonna hand over Sam?" Archie asked. Blue didn't move. Archie held the gym leader's gaze for a long, silent minute before sighing. "What do you want him for, anyway?"
"Making sure you don't run off, same as before," Blue replied. "I could also just threaten to sic Adam on you if you try anything funny."
"Not like I'm really planning on it anymore," Archie grumbled. Blue raised an eyebrow. "Don't give me that look, you probably damn well noticed that I kept wanting to leave and then hesitated on acting on it for ages. Not that we were on great terms to begin with, but you swiping Shanks while I was in the shower of all places was pretty much what pissed me off the most and made me consider it a lot more actively. Figured that if I happened to find any Galactic creeps I could just kick their asses myself. Wasn't even sure if you had Pokémon with you and were just using me as your dumb puppet." Archie pulled a Pokéball out of his pocket, staring at it. Mark's. "But that's all different now, isn't it?" he continued with a bitter snort. "Yesterday I met your team, and I don't have to be an expert in anything to know that they can take on Shanks easily, or catch up with me if I tried to run. Today, Galactic outright murdered one of my partners, and I will godsdamned rip into them if it's the last thing I do. Why d'you think I was still sitting around waiting for you and your stupid ass to wake up instead of taking off while I had the chance? I'm not gonna run from you. I'm gonna haul you around as much as you're hauling me and Galactic will definitely wish they'd stayed out of that forest."
Archie pocketed the now-empty Pokéball again and instead plucked a different, much older and worn-looking Pokéball off his belt. "Well, since you made something that vaguely resembles an effort to ask politely, I'll go ahead and reward you for it," the Aqua Leader said, placing the Sharpedo's Pokéball in Blue's hand. "Just...hand him back over in the morning." Deciding he was done with the conversation, Archie waved vaguely and walked away, not staying for any of Blue's comments or reactions.
Once they were in the room, Archie didn't bother changing and simply tossed his wig to the side before he let himself drop over the mattress. Star hopped up and laid down beside him. The bed creaked louder than back in Floaroma, the Luxio having gained in size and weight again.
It was hard not to replay the events that happened in the forest in his head. The large, purple Pokémon had darted in from the side, leapt up at just the right angle and with a single slash… Star's screech of fury had just barely registered with the image of red pouring down and splattering onto the grass and soil, followed by the crash of the large Gyarados' body against the ground. It was still all so clear in his head, like watching a recording and picking up new details with every time it was replayed-
"You alright, hon?" Star asked, nudging his head gently.
"...I will be," Archie promised quietly, reached a hand out to touch her fur. She'd gained new patches of dark fur since the forest. Probably a sign she was getting closer to evolution again.
He closed his eyes and sighed, doing his best to set the forest aside and pick out some better memories to replay.
Star eventually beginning to carefully groom his hair made it just that tiny bit easier to fall asleep in the end.
{Monua 27th, 8:36AM}
{Eterna}
{Pokémon Center}
"So, where are we headed next?" Archie yawned, carefully scratching at the back of his neck and trying not to accidentally move the blond mess of a wig on his head.
"Ideally, Veilstone," Blue replied, scrolling across the map displayed in front of him and zooming into a specific town. "I did some research quick while you were sleeping and found another Galactic building there. In fact, it might even be their HQ."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go and get 'em!" Star pressed.
"Well, just going there would be easier if Sinnoh's teleporters were up," Blue reminded her. "And we still don't have permits for the Underground tunnels. The two fastest routes to take would've been either south toward Oreburgh or east through Celestic, but the route to Oreburgh is non-pedestrian, and the cave passage leading to Celestic was blocked off by a landslide recently."
"A landslide?" Archie repeated.
"Apparently there's been a couple of minor earthquakes around here the past few days," Blue explained, snapping the device in his hands shut and the hologram of Sinnoh's map vanishing in the process. "There's another cave right under Eterna and it sounds like there's some kind of feud going on down there among Pokémon. Apparently it's nothing new." The gym leader shrugged. "Anyway, since all our routes south and east are blocked off, it basically means that if we plan to reach Veilstone, we're gonna have to trek back all the way through the forest, Floaroma, and Jubilife again."
"I don't wanna go through the forest," Star mumbled. Archie gave her a gentle scratch behind the ears. "After what happened yesterday...I'm just really not up for it. Is there honestly no other way around?"
"Depends. Do you have enough money for a bicycle?" Blue asked sarcastically, looking pointedly at the Luxio. Star leaned closer to Archie and started sulking.
"Well, what about getting an Underground permit? Is that possible?" Archie wondered.
"You need to show your ID to have one made," Blue said. Archie pressed his lips. "The only other option I can think of is to fly over, but-"
"No flying," Archie said immediately.
"You afraid or something?" Blue snorted.
"I get airsick really fast, so unless you want nosebleeds and vomit all over Pete's feathers I wouldn't recommend flying anywhere with me," Archie grumbled.
"So it's really back through the forest, huh…?" Star muttered dejectedly.
"Looks like it," Blue said with a nod. "I'm not seeing any other-"
The gym leader stopped and all of them glanced around the cafeteria when the ground rumbled.
{}
{}
Okay so you know how sometimes girls will just go on spontaneous shopping sprees with friends and come back with 200$ worth of clothes each? Well I did the same yesterday except instead of clothes I came back with a new copy of Fire Emblem Awakening to replace my lost one, english copies of Leaf Green and the original Gold versions (which, yknow, is kinda hard to find in France), a couple of Pokemon plushies, and a fully functional GameCube with controller and six month warranty. My goal is to go back and pick up the NES and SNES that were on display as well and buy as many of the games for them as possible. That game shop is just so amazing (I've been looking for a Platinum cartridge since forever and they had one but it was in French and even though I can definitely speak French I really wanted it in English TTATT)
ARCHIE
Shanks the Sharpedo, Prince the Prinplup, Star the Luxio, Warin the Beautifly, Basil the Buizel, Rapier the Budew
BLUE
Sam the Blastoise, Pete the Pidgeot, Adam the Alakazam, Gary the Arcanine