Archie - Pokémon: 7 Deaths: 1
Blue - Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 0
{Monua 30th, 4:08PM}
{Route 208}
"Hey. Hey you."
Blue and Archie both froze in their tracks and turned to face the man that had spoken to them. The first thing that sprang to Blue's eyes was that the man looked like he'd just barely escaped a cyclone. His face was unshaven, his hair was a mess, he had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he hadn't properly slept in weeks.
After just about two days of walking from Coronet to Hearthome while trying to avoid any and all sort of human interaction, being addressed out of the blue by some guy that looked like he'd been drinking non-stop despite a seriously bad hangover made Archie a little jumpy.
"...You mean us?" Archie asked, edging closer to Blue nervously.
"You. You look like a good fellow," the man chuckled, grinning oddly. He quickly grabbed Archie by the wrist and tugged him closer. "Here. Take this," he continued, pressing something into the Aqua Leader's hand. "You should have it. I want you to have it."
Archie frowned, confused. "Wait, what is-"
"Don't ask!" the man interrupted quickly with an angry hiss, before grinning again. "You're a good fellow. Just take it. Don't ask. You'll keep it, right? Good. Very good." The man gave another strange chuckle, patting Archie on the shoulder a few times, before turning around and leaving just as quickly as he had appeared.
Archie stared for a moment before turning to Blue. "...What the bloody fuck was that?"
"Incredibly freaky," Blue replied instantly. "Whatever it is he gave you, it's bound to be suspicious."
Archie looked down at the item in his hand. "...It's a rock."
Blue narrowed his eyes at the rock. "...Suspicious," he repeated insistently. "We're gonna keep walking, make sure that weirdo hasn't followed us, and then ditch that rock in about ten minutes. It's just a rock, nobody's gonna notice it."
"It looks like it was struck by lightning or something," Archie noted, running a finger over the cracks curiously.
"You're just making it sound even more suspicious."
"Never said it was any less suspicious, I just think the pattern on it looks cool."
"Can we just keep moving?" Star pressed. "I know we wanna be in Hearthome when it's dark and it's harder to recognise Archie from a distance, but we still wanna buy color and get it in before we march into the Center, don't we?"
"Y'know, I think I might keep it after all," Archie mused, holding the stone up. "Don't give me that look, Blue, I'll let you shove it at Adam first to see if he can sense anything. He's a psychic type, I'm almost sure that kind of shit is in his range of abilities. If he sees anything wrong with it, I promise I'll ditch it first chance we get."
{Monua 30th, 7:15PM}
{Hearthome}
{Pokémon Center}
"I think Sebastian is pretty satisfied with the new color," Warin said, perched on the Aqua Leader's bag. The two humans had gone off for showers and apparently it was a good test on how well the purple hair color would stick. Rapier was sitting on Warin's back, Star was occupying the bed, and Prince and Basil were huddled together on the floor in the middle of the room.
"Sebastian?" Star repeated, tilting her head.
"That's his new name, right?" Warin said, shrugging. "Might as well start calling him that."
"I still kinda like his normal name better," Basil said timidly. "Or maybe I'm just used to 'Archie' a bit too much."
"Regardless of our personal preferences, it is in his best interests that we call him by whichever name he requests," Prince said. "He has offered us all nothing but kindness and opportunities, but there are humans who would separate us the moment he is found. We must all do our best to aid him in his journey, and be at our strongest to defend him when he needs us."
"I'm not strong enough for that..." Basil mumbled.
"I am certain that you have beaucoup de talent," Rapier tried to convince Basil. "It's a shame to let that talent go to waste. You, too, the spirit of the warrior- you only need the courage to accept it."
"But I don't like fighting," Basil replied dejectedly. "It doesn't matter what talents I have if I'm not gonna use them. I don't want to fight."
Rapier hopped off the Beautifly's back and scurried over to Basil. "Le vrai problème, Basil, is not that you do not want to fight- it is that you are afraid to respond to that desire. You want to fight, but you are afraid of being too slow, too weak to help in battle. Tu as peur d'être un fardeau!"
"Look, pumpkin," Star sighed, "I know you mean well, but you can't just force others to fight if they don't want to. And I think it's a little rude to tell him that he's a-"
"It's okay, Star," Basil interrupted quietly. "He's right. I...I don't want to be the one that's constantly sitting back, but...even when I was sparring with my brothers and sisters, I've always been the slowest, the weakest, the clumsiest, the burden. I'm the second-eldest, but Brian and Flynn already evolved and left, and I'm still the one that amounts to nothing."
"And you have never thought to seek advice from our humans?" Prince asked. Basil looked up at him, and Prince stuck his chest out smugly. "How else do you believe we would have become this strong in such a short amount of time? We were nothing but the feeblest of Piplups when we first met at the lake of Verity, betrothed to Princess Caelin of Coronet by arrangement merely due to the two of us being the youngest, the ones least expected to succeed in attaining greater power. And yet here we are now, a strong Prinplup that can feel the time of becoming an Empoleon drawing closer. We could have never reached this power so quickly without the valuable advice of our human friend, and for that we are eternally grateful to him."
"Prince is correct," Rapier continued. "Without his help, none of us would be as strong as we are now. Prince is almost an Empoleon, Star and Warin have already become Luxray and Beautifly, and les roses on my head are the approaching sign of becoming a Roselia." Rapier split the two entwined vines on his head as evidence, showing a blue and red rose budding on each of the halves. "Dis-moi, Basil- do you still believe that you will remain weak and burdening despite being with us?"
The young Buizel looked back down toward the ground. "...I don't know," he whispered.
"Mais voyons!" Rapier huffed. "Of course you are not un fardeau to us- you are a valued friend, and we all believe in you."
Basil didn't say anything. Star sighed and slid off the bed. "Don't worry sweetie, you have plenty of time to figure it out," the Luxray reassured him, nudging his cheek gently with her nose. "As long as we all support each other, we can stay together and all keep on growing at our own pace."
"Absolument. There is no rush," Rapier said. "I'm certain you will embrace the warrior's spirit within you in due time, and pick up your own épée when the time is right. Just know that it is there, and that there is no need to be afraid of it."
Basil ducked his head timidly. "...Thank you, everyone."
{Monua 30th, 7:41PM}
{Hearthome}
{Pokémon Center}
"So...our next destination is Pastoria, right?" Archie- or 'Sebastian', as he now called himself- asked in his best Kanto accent. Oh Kyogre, this is gonna take a while to get used to...just when I was getting used to responding to 'Arthur Douglas'...
Blue nodded. "You promised Basil you'd take him there, so we might as well. We'll head out tomorrow morning."
"You're not stayin' in Hearthome tomorrow? Are you two crazy?" one of the other Trainers walking through the main hall gasped, not even pretending he hadn't overheard them. Archie did his best to keep a straight face and not look anxious about being talked to.
"Is there something going on tomorrow?" Blue asked.
"Oh, nah, nothin' much, just one of the biggest festivals in all of Sinnoh," the boy snorted. "You're lucky the Pokémon Centers are keepin' their dorms reserved to travellin' Trainers around this time of year, or you'd be stuck campin' outside. Hotels've been fully booked for over a week now! Guess the two of you are in Sinnoh for the first time, huh? I'm tellin' ya, at least hang around until the day after tomorrow and take advantage of bein' here to check things out! The best bit starts at night, so don't get discouraged by how quiet daytime can be!"
The kid gave them a thumbs-up and winked before turning around and jogging towards the dorms.
Archie and Blue exchanged glances.
Looked like plans were going to have a slight change.
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So I've got a meeting with a couple higher-ups this Friday so we can talk about what I've done the past four months at work and maybe potentially discuss future/extended employment after I finish in December so wish me luck!
Also it's been pointed out to me that 'Arthur Douglas' sounds like a Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy reference and I swear to Arceus that it wasn't intentional XD "Arthur" was what I originally intended for Archie's cover-name to be because it's the french name used for him in-game, and "Douglas" was just a random surname I picked from a site called 'behindthename' and that had a meaning about water or something. So 'Arthur Douglas' is an accident XD The reason I switched from Arthur to Sebastian is because I few weeks ago I was digital-doodling Sinnoh!Archie and my boyfriend looked at my screen and insisted he was a Sebastian with a Spanish accent so I couldn't do the Spanish accent but I did him a favor and kept the Sebastian aspect at least.
ARCHIE
Shanks the Sharpedo, Prince the Prinplup, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Basil the Buizel, Rapier the Budew
BLUE
Sam the Blastoise, Pete the Pidgeot, Adam the Alakazam, Gary the Arcanine, Girish the Gabite