Author's Note: For returning readers, I made a slight ret-con last chapter; rather than the convoluted "junior nurse" crap I used before, I changed it so that Emily is taking a break from her education to travel instead. Why didn't I go with this before? Because at the time I didn't know gap years were a thing.
Also, I made some general improvements to the chapter as a whole, most notably the scene between Alex and Lucario towards the end. That part's probably worth a re-read if you've got the time.
Chapter 10: Adventure Awaits
The morning after his botched attempt to capture Rena Kuro at Pokestar Studios, Ringo found himself lying in the emergency ward of a hospital in Castelia City with broken ribs, a fractured jaw, and a minor concussion. Thankfully, he was of sound enough mind to give his equipment, spare pokemon, and anything else incriminating to his Aerodactyl and send it back to base. He claimed a mugger attacked him to explain his injuries, and there was no doubt the police would be called to investigate.
The police came and went, the doctors fixed him up as best they could and moved him into his own room, and then Ringo was left alone. Alone with his thoughts. Thoughts which currently fixated on that blonde-haired brat from last night. Even if he had a Lucario, it was obvious at a glance the boy was a rookie; to be thwarted by the likes of that was a disgrace.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone entering his room. Ringo gave a lazy glare at what he thought was just another nurse, but froze and quickly forsook the attitude.
The person was a man in his late forties with short, faded black hair, sharp steel-blue eyes and an even sharper goatee. His face wore mixed emotions: anger, annoyance, but, more than anything else, disappointment.
Ringo sat upright as best he could, and winced from the pain in his chest. "Darius? How…how did you find me so quickly?"
Darius folded his arms. "You should know by now that I'm well connected," the older man answered smoothly. "Although in this case, your Aerodactyl and the morning news did most of the work for me."
Ringo nodded. "So, is Silvia here too, or is she—?"
"Occupied with work at the moment," Darius interrupted. "Specifically, that special contract we were offered a few months ago. I discovered a potential lead and sent her to investigate." Darius sauntered further into the room and circled Ringo's bed in a decidedly predatory manner that kept the poacher's gaze fixed squarely on him. He looked at Ringo for a moment, then walked towards a window and stared out into the city below.
"Speaking of contracts, I spoke with the client who wanted that Zoroark this morning," Darius began without turning around. "Apparently rumors are already spreading, and he's convinced the truth will come out soon. For whatever reason, its identity remaining a secret was important to him and he consequently backed out. In short, Ringo…you've failed."
Ringo averted his gaze. It infuriated him to admit it, but he fucked up and Darius knew it.
It was uncomfortably quiet for several minutes, and then Darius turned to face him and said, "Do you remember what I was before I became a poacher Ringo?" The redhead gave him a questioning look. "You can speak freely; I've seen to it that we'll be left alone."
That raised a red flag in the back of his mind, but Ringo sat it aside for now. "Yeah, you used to be a member of Team Rocket, years ago before that kid trainer managed to take 'em out."
"Not just a member, but an executive," Darius corrected. "I was second only to Giovanni himself. Despite this, I craved more, believed that I deserved more, and staged a coup to take control of the organization for myself." Darius clenched his fist, then relaxed his grip and let out a heavy sigh. "My pride and arrogance cost me. Giovanni beat me, and my coup quickly fell apart. To save my life, I was forced to flee Kanto and start anew here in Unova."
Ringo started to speak, but something covered his mouth and pushed down. A similar force grabbed his arms, and suddenly he found himself pinned to the bed. Darius stared at him passively, and far too late the poacher worked out what was happening.
"Blind arrogance almost brought about my ruin," Darius began. "Last night, it almost brought about yours. When I found you on the streets all those years ago, I'd hoped that maybe you would learn from my example. Had you approached that contract with more tact, or even just forgone toying with that boy, you would have succeeded."
Darius snapped his fingers, and a large golden sarcophagus with teal stripes, sinister red eyes, and a malicious grin of razor sharp teeth materialized. Connected to it were four shadowy arms, three of which were the source of the phantom limbs restraining Ringo. The poacher squirmed in the Cofagrigus' grasp, but the ghost type held firm and giggled.
"I hope you understand that I take no pleasure in what I'm about to do," Darius said, "In some ways, you're almost like a son to me. And as such, I feel it's my duty to teach to you…"
Darius snapped his fingers. The floating sarcophagus cackled menacingly, and as it did its eyes began to glow.
"…that actions have consequences."
The Cofagrigus used Curse. Ringo felt a wave of energy wash over him, and then for the next thirty seconds all he could feel was pain. Despite his efforts not to, he screamed, and only the ghostly hands muffling him kept it from filling the entire hospital.
"Enough." Cofagrigus was recalled, and instantly the pain stopped. "I sincerely hope we never have this conversation again," Darius said. "Gather your things. I've arranged for you to be discharged early; we can't give the police the time to figure out that you're here. Once we're back at base, you're to remain in your quarters until you've recovered. Understood?" Ringo meekly nodded. The barest hints of a smile flashed across Darius' face, and then he left.
Ringo forced himself out of bed, stumbled a few steps, and then fell to the floor. With a grunt of effort, he got back to his feet and took a moment to orient himself. Once on steadier legs, he changed clothes, gathered his things, and left the hospital unopposed. Darius meet him at the door and gave him a pokeball, and then disappeared into the crowd.
Ringo walked a few blocks away, dove into one of the wider alleyways, and opened the pokeball given to him. It was his Aerodactyl, and the fossil pokemon let out something between a screech and a chirp, and then motioned for his master to climb on. Ringo did so, and together they took to the sky and disappeared into the horizon.
It was a bright, cloudless day—ideal weather for a day-long cruise to Castelia City. A flock of Wingull sailed overhead, cawing loudly and occasionally making a nosedive for the ocean's surface. Most of the passengers were spread across the deck of the ship, doing anything from playing volleyball to sunbathing.
Alex and Emily found a relatively secluded row of chairs near the ship's superstructure. They'd decided now was a good time to let their pokemon get to know each other and released them to do just that. Lucario and Purrloin started a conversation with Audrey, Emily's Audino, and moved over towards the ship's railing. Satisfied that the three of them were getting along, Alex turned his attention to Emily's Vaporeon.
"Wow, so this is a Vaporeon…"Alex carefully reached a hand out to the quadruped and stroked its short, blue fur. It felt slick and oily, and was surprisingly dense given its short length. Then again, Vaporeon were water types, and it showed in the ridged spine, cream-colored head-fins, split-fin tail, and white ruff around its neck.
The Bubble Jet pokemon tolerated the petting for a while, but then abruptly walked away and jumped into her trainer's lap, leaving Alex feeling a little dejected.
Emily gave a disapproving glare. "Vivian, that was rude!" she protested.
Her starter frowned and squeaked back indignantly, communicating with her trainer primarily through body language and tone of voice.
"I know you don't like strangers, but how else are you going to make friends? C'mon, give him a chance!"
The Vaporeon grumbled, jumped out of Emily's lap, started to walk back to Alex…and then changed her mind and walked away again. She squeaked something to the effect that she was bored and wandered off to explore the deck of the cruise ship.
Emily let out a heavy sigh. "Don't take it personally Alex, she's always been lukewarm to new people—even as an Eevee. I'd have thought she'd grown out of it by now though."
"Eh, it's no big deal. I'm just glad I can see that I've seen an Eeveelution." Alex leaned back into his deckchair and stole a glance at the retreating Vaporeon, noticing a slight limp in her step, specifically in her rear legs. "Hey, uh…is something wrong with her? She seems like she's having some trouble walking."
"Huh?" Emily turned with a start towards her pokemon, but relaxed when she realized what he meant. "Oh…that. When Vivian was still an Eevee, she got into an accident that basically shattered her spine and left her paralyzed from the waist down. Evolving into a Vaporeon helped, but she still has some spinal cord damage. Treatment and years of physical therapy has gotten her to where she can walk around, but she still has trouble sometimes."
Alex started to ask what happened, but noticed the utterly grim look on the nurse's face. Deciding that maybe this was something she'd rather not talk about, he switched to a different question. "So why did you decide to evolve her into a Vaporeon? Was it just personal preference?"
"Not entirely," Emily replied. "Vaporeon have the ability to modify their molecular structure and 'melt' into a liquid. She can't actually change the structure of her solid body, but she can selectively dissolve parts of it while moving to make things easier, or at the very least mitigate any pain."
"Huh…that's actually really cool." A moment later Alex added, "You said evolving helped her walk again. How does that work exactly?"
Emily surprised him by grinning. "How detailed do you want me to get? Just a warning, but the full explanation can get a little technical."
Alex considered for a moment. With that kind of enthusiasm, the "technical" explanation could take a while. "Eh, I think I'll go with the abridged version if you don't mind…"
Emily replied with a quick nod. "Okay, to make a long story short, pokemon evolution as a process works by converting energy into matter, like a pokeball does when releasing a pokemon, except the energy is used to alter the physical structure of the pokemon itself. Some pokemon experience more drastic transformations than others, but most of the time an evolution builds off what was already there—as if the base form was a template. In Vivian's case, because her spinal cord was so messed up—the template was 'corrupted' if you will—some of that damage carried over."
"…that was the abridged version?"
Emily chuckled. "I could go on about this all day if you let me. There are a lot of studies and theories out there about how pokemon biology works. It's…confusing, but really interesting!"
Alex shrugged, a sheepish smile spread across his face. "Eh, I guess that's why you're the med student and not me. Still, it's really cool that you know all of that." Before he could say anything else, something purple and cat-shaped flew into him and knocked him off his chair. As Alex and Purrloin recovered, a pink-and-cream colored biped with large ears and bright blue eyes stomped over and squeaked angrily at the Devious pokemon.
Lucario calmly walked over and projected to Alex, There was a misunderstanding between us about Audrey's sex; Purrloin and I assumed Audrey was a girl, and he corrected us. Purrloin decided to make a snide comment and Audrey took offense.
Alex gave a look to Purrloin. "Don't look at me like that, it's not my fault he has no sense of humor!" Purrloin meowed indignantly. "Besides, he's a freaking Audino named 'Audrey'— who wouldn't assume he's a chick?"
"There are plenty of men with that name you presumptuous upstart," Audrey said, arms folded and nose turned upright. "Besides, assuming I'm a woman because I'm an Audino? I can't decide if that's racist or sexist, but either way it's offensive!" With that, Audrey stomped back to his trainer, tapped his pokeball, and disappeared in a flash of red light.
The humans blinked. "That was…a thing," Alex said flatly.
Emily groaned. "Well, that's great; Audrey's going to be mad for days now..."
"Why'd you name him Audrey then?" Alex asked as he got back into his chair. "I mean, in Purrloin's defense it does sound like a girl's name."
"That was his nickname when the Pokemon Center gave him to me, and he didn't want to change it. I have no idea why…" Emily then said, "By the way, I've been meaning to ask—is there a reason your pokemon don't have nicknames?"
"Well…" Alex began sheepishly, "I tried to once, but they didn't like them and told me I was bad at making up nicknames…"
Emily raised an eyebrow. "I think they're being too hard on you. I mean, what's the worst you could have come up wi—?"
He wanted to name me 'Lulu' and Purrloin 'Purrly', Lucario interjected.
There was the sound of Wingull cawing and waves crashing against the hull of the ship. "…Oh," was Emily's reply.
"…they're not that bad…" Alex grumbled with crossed arms.
Emily thought for a moment. "Well, if they're interested in having nicknames, I could think of a few. In fact…yeah, I've just thought of one for Purrloin!" She turned to the purple cat and asked, "What do you think about the name 'Selina?'"
The Devious pokemon tilted her head sideways. After a moment's consideration, she said, "You know…I actually kind of like that name!"
Lucario translated, and Alex smiled. "Well, if you like it, then that's good enough for me. You are now officially 'Selina.'"
The newly christened Selina rubbed against her trainer and purred with satisfaction.
Emily smiled and then turned to look at Alex's other pokemon. "So Lucario, what about you? Do you want me to think up a nickname for you?"
Huh? Oh, um…no, actually, I'm fine with not having a nickname, Lucario said quickly. But thank you for your consideration.
Alex mulled over the pokemon's response, and then suddenly realized something. "Hey Lucario, random question, but…did Ricky ever nickname you or his other pokemon?" The blue jackal raised a brow and Alex explained, "You never told me if you had a name before, and now I'm kind of curious."
Alex, Emily, and Selina all looked at Lucario expectedly, who scratched behind his head nervously. Well…I did have a nickname, back when I was a Riolu. The same went for Ricky's other pokemon too. I'd imagine the same is true for whatever pokemon he's caught since then.
"Well…what was your name?" Selina asked. Alex and Emily asked the same.
There was a long pause, during which Lucario debated whether or not to answer. Feeling their curiosity would not be satisfied unless he did, Lucario sighed heavily and said, Lloyd…my name was Lloyd.
Alex considered that. It was a good enough name, and he saw no reason why Lucario would be reluctant to tell him. "Why don't you use it anymore?" he asked.
Lucario's ears drooped. It's…just not me anymore, he said. He thought for a moment and added, If I really had to explain it, I guess it's because it's the name I had when I was still Ricky's pokemon—when I was still a Riolu. And…well…I guess that…
Alex picked up on what he was struggling to say and knelt down in front of the shorter pokemon. "Hey, don't start with this again!" He put a hand on Lucario's shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "You have no reason to be ashamed of who you are, or who you used to be. Got it?"
Alex moved his hand to scratch Lucario behind the ears. The Aura pokemon leaned into the scratch and smiled. When Alex finished, Lucario looked at him and said, I really appreciate that, but if it's all the same I'd still prefer to be called 'Lucario.' I'm kind of used to it now.
"Fair enough." Alex gave him a final pat on the head and returned to his chair. "I still think 'Lulu' would be a good name for you though. Just saying…"
Lucario rolled his eyes. We were having a moment. Please don't ruin it by forcing me to throw you into the ocean.
"Oh, like you actually would," Alex said playfully. Lucario responded by walking over and casually lifting his trainer out of the chair. Ignoring the teenager's protests, he carried Alex over to the railings and held him up in the air. "Okay, okay, I get it! Put me down! Put me down!"
Lucario did so, looking rather smug about the affair. There, maybe now you'll take me a little more seriou—
Whatever he was about to say was lost to the ages when Alex tackled him. The two hit the deck and rolled around, practically a ball of paws and hands grabbing at each other. Emily and Selina watched them, simultaneously bemused and baffled.
Lucario finally found some leverage and put Alex into a headlock, and then proceeded to give him a noogie. Alex squirmed for a moment and then bit Lucario's arm—eliciting a surprised bark—and used the distraction to grab him and start tickling. The Aura pokemon wiggled out of Alex's grip and promptly returned the favor, before Alex too got loose and they resumed rolling across the floor.
They continued wrestling with each other for several minutes, neither able to keep an advantage for long, before Lucario suddenly…started laughing. Sitting upright, Alex joined in, followed shortly by Emily and Selina.
Vivian, who just came back from her walk around the ship, gave the laughing humans and pokemon a curious glance…and then walked away again. "I'll come back when they've gotten all the crazy out of their system," she said sagely.
Unova was said to have more infrastructure than other regions, and nowhere was that exemplified more than its center of trade and commerce, Castelia City. The streets were filled with impossibly huge crowds of people. Cars whizzed past everywhere. The buildings were so tall the very heavens seemed within their reach. For someone like Alex, who'd spent most of his life in one of the most rural towns in the region, it was like stumbling into a whole new world.
Alex stood just outside the entrance to the docks, watching the light of the setting sun peek from behind the skyscrapers. Emily was right behind him, and all of their pokemon save Lucario were in their pokeballs to make navigating the crowds easier.
"This city is huge…" Alex said in a hushed, awestruck tone. "I could spend years here and still not see everything."
You should be careful exploring, Lucario projected. I've been to Castelia several times, both alone and with Ricky, and I never did like it here. To be honest, I'd prefer to get the badge as soon as possible and leave.
Alex started to object, but then reminded himself that this was the city where Astra was murdered. "Fair enough. I promise we won't go anywhere too far away from the Pokemon Center or the gym. Speaking of which…" An eager grin stretched across his face and he said, "What do you guys say about heading there right now?"
Lucario started to speak, but was interrupted by the low growl of his empty stomach.
Emily snickered and said, "I say your pokemon sounds hungry. I am too to be honest, and besides, I think the gym's probably closed by now."
Alex took another look at the setting sun, by now only visible as rays of orange light stabbing into the violet twilight. Then, as if to drive the point home, his stomach started growling. With a nervous scratch of his head, Alex said, "Okay, food first, gym later."
After a quick trip to the Pokemon Center to reserve their rooms, the three travelers started looking for somewhere to eat. At Emily's insistence, they eventually settled on a small, unassuming restaurant at an intersection that supposedly served really good Kantoan food. The interior consisted of wooden flooring and plain walls decorated with the occasional painting of something related to Kanto-Johto mythology. The lighting was dim, but warm, and the air heavy with the smells of grilled meats and rice.
A bell chimed to announce their arrival, and the three travelers were promptly seated at the far end of the room at a table spacious enough to accommodate the humans and their partners. Alex and Emily placed their orders, and a short time thereafter the waitress returned with their food plus specially-prepared dishes for the pokemon.
After fumbling for a moment with a pair of chopsticks (and subsequently giving up on them and grabbing a fork instead), Alex took a bite of his Hibachi-grilled chicken and rice. "This is really good!" he said before gleefully shoveling more into his mouth.
"Told you so," Emily said smugly before taking a bite off her own plate. "Out of all the places we went to, Vivian and I spent the most time in Castelia. We found lots of good place to eat, but this was always our favorite."
I can see why, Lucario projected as he took a bite of what was effectively a rice ball. By chance, his eyes wandered to the sushi plate Alex and Emily were sharing and focused on a large glob of green stuff. Pardon me, but…what is that exactly?
Emily looked to where he was pointing and answered, "That's wasabi. It's a kind of a…spicy Kanto version of horseradish, although I'm probably making it sound grosser than it is. You can have some if you want."
Lucario looked at the blob of wasabi. Curiosity got the better of him, and with a spare fork he reached over and scooped up a large chunk.
Emily blanched when she realized what he was doing and yelled, "Lucario, wait, you're not supposed to—!"
Before she could finish, Lucario ate the entire glob of wasabi in one bite. There was an uncomfortable silence that served as prelude to the inevitable reaction. Lucario's ears shot straight up. His eyes widened and watered. Against all logic, even his very fur seemed to turn a red tint to match the inferno overtaking his sense of taste.
In short, Wasabi used Overheat. It was super effective.
With a startled yelp, Lucario reached for the nearest glass of water and chugged it, desperate to wash out the overwhelming combination of hot and dry. He finished his first glass, then a second, and by the time he'd downed a third the effects finally wore off.
Emily groaned. "…you're not supposed to eat a lot of it at once…" she finished futilely.
Alex snorted. "Wow Lucario, for a moment there it looked like you were ready to breath fire! I heard the gym leader here uses bug types; think we should take some with us when we challenge him?"
Lucario glared at his trainer. You're not near as funny as you think you are, he said irritably. He turned to Emily and added, As for you, I thought you said it was spicy. I know spicy, and whatever that was, it was not spicy!
Emily held out her hands and shrugged. "Well, to me it's spicy, but then again there's a reason I'm a nurse and not a gourmet."
Lucario elected to reply by grumbling. Selina reached over with a paw and offered a sympathetic, albeit mocking, pat on the back.
"Excuse me, but did I hear you mention you wanted to challenge the gym leader?" Everyone turned to face the speaker, a dark skinned woman with poofy teal hair and eyes of a lighter shade. She wore a white collared shirt with orange pockets, baggy teal pants, and a striped handkerchief on her head.
She looked familiar, but Alex couldn't quite place why. "Erm, yeah, I did—or, rather, I am." Coughing to clear his throat, he added, "Sorry if this sounds weird, but you look really familiar…"
The woman let out a good-natured laugh. "Well, I should hope so; I haven't been retired for that long." With a gentle smile, she said, "I'm Lenora, former gym leader of Nacrene City."
Alex's jaw dropped. She was the gym leader whose museum was robbed by Team Plasma six years ago, and then worked with Castelia's gym leader and a former Champion to catch the thieves. Thoroughly embarrassed for not recognizing her sooner, Alex shot up and blurted out a string of apologetic babble intermixed with praise and admiration.
Lucario swiftly smacked him upside the head. Am I going to have to do this every time you get star-struck? Lucario asked dully.
Lenora, for her part, took it in stride. "Well, you're easily excited," she observed with a bemused smile as Alex rubbed his now sore head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to start a ruckus; I just noticed you and your pokemon from my table and overheard your comment about challenging the gym."
"Is there something we should know?" Emily asked.
Lenora nodded. "Yeah, there is. I figured you just got into town—otherwise you'd already know—but the gym's going to be closed for the next few weeks."
Alex was crestfallen. "Really? Why?"
"Partly because Arty's been itching to rearrange his gym again, but mostly because of what's going on at Relic Castle," Lenora replied. "Apparently, there's a pair of Volcarona running about terrorizing the tourists. Given Arty's a bug-type specialist and my familiarity with the ruins, we've decided to look into it together."
Emily's mouth twitched into a frown. "I'm sorry, but…'Arty?'"
Lenora laughed. "Pardon me, that's just my nickname for him. His full name is 'Arthur Burgh,' but I just call him Arty for short. Pretty fitting I think, what with all the paintings and sculptures he makes." Emily nodded, her momentary confusion now abated.
Alex was disappointed that he'd have to wait to challenge the gym leader, but it was probably for the best as it meant he could train Lucario and Selina in the meantime. Suddenly, Alex had an idea and asked, "Hey, um, Lenora, if you don't mind me asking when are you going to Relic Castle?"
Lenora blinked. "Well…tomorrow, actually—first thing in the morning."
"Well I was wondering," Alex began, "if maybe—if it's not too much trouble—I could come with you? I've never been to Relic Castle or seen a Volcarona before, and I figure since I'm a trainer maybe I could help out if something goes screwy."
Emily rolled her eyes, as did her Vaporeon. "Alex…you realize you're volunteering to help two gym leaders fight off some wild pokemon—pokemon who happen to be a pair of angry Volcarona no less. I think they've got this."
Alex's face turned a deep shade of red. "Er…sorry, I didn't mean to…what I mean is…" With a groaning sigh, he said, "I'm just going to shut up now…"
Lenora started laughing. "Don't be so hard on yourself; I like seeing that kind of fire in a trainer!" After a moment of thought, she said, "Tell you what—meet us at the entrance to Route 4 tomorrow morning. I just know Arty'll get a kick out of you, and far be it for me to deny a chance for an up-and-coming trainer to get a good education."
Alex immediately brightened. "Really!? That's awes—!" Alex stopped himself when he saw Lucario raise a paw and cleared his throat, "I mean, thank you ma'am. I really appreciate it."
"Don't mention it!" Lenora replied genially. Pointing to Emily, she added, "Your friend's welcome to tag along if she wants. Like she said, with two gym leaders we ought to be able to handle whatever trouble comes our way so it's no big deal."
"Huh?" Now it was Emily's turn to look flustered. "Oh, um, thank you, that's really nice of you. I'll definitely consider it."
Lenora nodded, gave Alex more specific instructions on when and where to meet her, and then took her leave.
Lucario watched her go and said, So we're going to Relic Castle tomorrow. That'll be interesting.
Alex shrugged. "I know it's kind of spur-of-the-moment, but we've got to wait to fight the gym leader anyway and it sounds like it'll be fun." Feeling slightly guilty for jumping the gun, he said, "That's okay with you guys, right?"
Both of his pokemon nodded yes, with Selina jumping first into Alex's lap and then onto his head. "Wherever you go, we go," the Purrloin declared from atop her perch. "Besides, that Lenora-woman's head looks comfy, and it'll be fun to mess with the other gym leader before fighting him!"
Lucario dutifully translated, prompting a sigh from Alex. "Please try not to bother him too much," he said, knowing full well his plea would be dully ignored. He looked at Emily, who was amused by Selina's antics, and asked, "Hey, you'll come too right?"
Emily's eyes widened, and then she seemed unsure. "Well…" she began, but was cut off by Vivian jumping into her lap and chattering excitedly. Even without a translation, it was obvious the Vaporeon wanted to go. "Vivian, are you sure? There's going to be sandstorms and a lot of uneven terrain, not to mention the ruins themselves might be dangerous. I don't want you to hurt yourself…"
Vivian furrowed her brows and squeaked something indignantly at her trainer, making it clear she didn't share Emily's concerns. Audrey chimed in and volunteered to help keep an eye on his teammate, which Lucario translated for convenience's sake.
Emily leaned back into her chair and let out a low groan. "Alright, fine, but promise me you'll let me or Audrey know if you're hurting so I can put you back into your pokeball."
Vivian's face softened into a smile, and after a quick nod she nuzzled against her trainer, who stroked the Bubble Jet pokemon's backside affectionately.
Emily smiled and looked to Alex. "Well, I guess that answers that question then."
They paid their bills and left shortly after. They spent the rest of their evening at the Pokemon Center talking about the trip ahead and making a few last-minute preparations. Then, each teenager retired to a separate room and went to sleep.
On a whim, Selina had decided that she'd rather sleep at the foot of Alex's bed instead of her pokeball. Unfortunately for her, the Purrloin was a light sleeper and found herself constantly waking up. After doing so for what felt like the twelfth time that night, Selina sat up with a grumble, took a nice long stretch that raised her hindquarters in the air, and stole a tired glance at her teammate by the window.
…Except Lucario wasn't there. Considerably more alert, Selina padded over to his spot—still warm—and sniffed the air. Following his scent, she made her way out of the room, down the stairs, and towards the front door of the Pokemon Center. The scent dissipated once she stepped outside, but fortunately it wasn't needed. The Pokemon Center was just across the street from the oceanfront, and from the door Selina could just make out Lucario sitting on the edge of a pier and staring out into the ocean.
A few moments later and Selina was walking up behind him. She knew from the twitch of his ear that he was aware of her and got straight to the point. "Having trouble sleeping?"
Lucario nodded his head without turning around.
"Well, misery loves company I suppose," she quipped while walking around to sit beside him. "Maybe it's just me, but this place seems noisier than the other cities I've been to. Honestly, it's a wonder that anyone gets any sleep around here…" Selina watched the waves rise and fall for a moment and added, "Eh, at least this spot is quiet. Kind of pretty too."
"Yeah…it is…" Lucario replied absent mindedly.
Purrloin cocked her head to the side and realized something was eating at her friend. "Hey, Lucario…you okay?"
Lucario thought for a moment. "Promise you won't think I'm stupid?"
"A little late for that," Selina teased. "But I can promise not to give you any more crap than necessary."
Apparently that was good enough. "The past few days have been the happiest I've ever been in years, maybe even my whole life." Lucario put a paw to his chest and continued, "But then I think about Ricky, imagine something happening that takes this all away from me, and it feels like this clamp squeezing, tighter and tighter, until I'm ready to pop. It's stupid and it makes no sense, but I can't help it…"
Selina's ears flattened against her head. Suddenly, she wrapped a forepaw around Lucario's waist and hugged him, making the Aura pokemon flinch. "You're just full of all kinds of drama, aren't you?" the purple feline said playfully. "It'll be alright. If you're worried about being left alone, I think me and Alex made it clear back in Virbank how we feel about that. If you're worried about somebody else splitting us up, well…" Selina grinned devilishly and said, "Let's just say not even a resistance to Dark Pulse would save their ass."
Lucario pictured some poor helpless schmuck being mauled by Selina—a hurricane of claws and teeth and blasts of dark energy—and laughed. When he calmed down, Lucario smiled and returned her hug. "I really, really misjudged you before," Lucario admitted shamefacedly. Then, he added, "Thank you for everything you've done for me, and for being such a good friend."
"No problem," Selina replied. "If you need to talk, just tell me; it's got to be better than just bottling it up inside."
Lucairo nodded and turned back towards the ocean, as did Selina. Both pokemon sat that way for a while, bathed in the glow of a moon-lit sky, nothing but the crash of the tide to disturb the peace.
"…We should try to get some sleep," Selina said eventually. "We've got an entire day of keeping Alex out of trouble ahead of us."
"Assuming you aren't the cause of the trouble to begin with," Lucario quipped.
"Bite me," she replied before sticking out her tongue.
The two left the pier and walked back to the Pokemon Center. They were about to open the door when a shrill screech stopped them cold. They heard it a second time and realized it was coming from an alley a block away. Without a word, both pokemon took off running to help who or whatever was in trouble.
Lucario got there first and gasped at what he saw. A horde of living green trash bags with ovals eyes and glass teeth had surrounded what appeared to be a reddish-brown fox with six tails. The trash monsters—Trubbish, he recalled—were attacking the fox pokemon with long tendrils of trash and sprays of painful acid. Lucario felt that some of the Trubbish were angry, but most were amused and seemed to regard the abuse of the hapless pokemon as some kind of sick game.
Lucario roared and charged the nearest Trubbish, picking it up and using Force Palm to send it flying. The explosion of aura flung the trash bag forcefully into a few of his comrades, and before they could react Lucario had repeated his maneuver to knock down the rest of them. The Aura pokemon placed himself between the Trubbish and the fox—a Vulpix—and growled.
The Trubbish formed a line and readied globs of Sludge and Acid Spray, but two beams of pulsating darkness swept across their backsides. Selina took a moment to catch her breath from firing off the Dark Pulses and then yelled, "Alright you literal sacks of shit—let me explain how this is going to work. Either you leave now, or me and my friend here are going to beat the stuffing out of all of you! Anyone care to try us?"
Being wild pokemon, they didn't comprehend that greater numbers didn't trump the Lucario's type immunity to most of their attacks and the Purrloin's superior firepower. Half of the Trubbish started firing globs of toxic sludge at Selina while the other half rushed Lucario and tried to deliver full-body tackles or whip him with their tendrils. Selina disappeared behind a Substitute—avoiding their attacks entirely—while Lucario grabbed the tendrils reaching out at him and used them to swing his attackers into their comrades. Selina fired off Dark Pulse again, and the two groups of Trubbish landed in a heap on top of each other.
Lucario loomed over the Trubbish, his silhouette framed by the pale moonlight and red eyes smoldering with fury. The Trash Bag pokemon looked at each other, evaluated their performance thus far, and decided to cut their losses.
"Yeah, that's right, run away! And don't you ever let us catch you ganging up on someone again!" Firing off one more Dark Pulse for good measure, she looked to her teammate and grinned. "Well, that was fun! We should do that again some time."
Lucario didn't reply and instead turned to face the Vulpix they'd saved. "Are you alright?" he asked.
As the Fox pokemon started to answer, someone interrupted and yelled, "What is going on in here!?" Lucario and Selina turned around and saw it was Alex, dressed in nothing but a pair of shorts and a white T-shirt. His hair was messy and it was obvious he'd rushed out of bed.
Alex? What are you doing up? Lucario asked.
"That's what I should be asking you!" he snapped. "First there's this muffled explosion in the middle of the night, then I realize that the two of you aren't in the room before I hear another explosion, and finally I hear a third explosion before finding you two in an alley. What the hell are you two doing that could be causing explosions at four in the morning!?"
The young trainer was trying his best to look indignant, but came across worried more than anything else. Lucario felt momentarily guilty, but shook it off to explain what happened. Selina and I were having trouble sleeping and came outside to get some air when we heard a scream. We followed it over here and found a bunch of Trubbish attacking this Vulpix, so we fought them off.
Alex's expression switched from pseudo-indignation to confusion. "Um…what Vulpix?" he asked.
This one right he— he turned to face the Vulpix again, but found nothing. Lucario did a double-take. "Where'd he go?" he asked Selina, who shrugged helplessly and admitted she didn't notice him leave either.
Alex let out a heavy sigh. "Oh well, he probably ran off when he saw me coming. C'mon, let's get back to the Pokemon Center; the police are on their way, and we'll have to explain what happened. Then we need to try and get some rest; we're supposed to be up again in a few hours."
Alex turned and walked away grumbling about the lack of sleep, followed closely by Selina. Lucario followed too, but paused at the entrance to the alley and started to sweep the area with his aura vision. Alex called for him to hurry up, and the Aura pokemon took off after his trainer.
Once he was sure they were gone, the Vulpix emerged from his hiding place behind the trash cans. He sat there, six orange tails swishing lazily, contemplating his rescue form the Trubbish. He then scampered off, disappearing into the shadows of the night.
Author's Note: Remember what I said last chapter about Schedule Slip. I take it back: this is what Schedule Slip feels like.
I don't particularly like it.
To be a bit more serious, I really am sorry that this took me so long. I kept revising and editing my plans for the upcoming arc, bugged by little moments of Fridge Logic, until I could settle on something I think will work well. That, and college is a pain in the ass. I'd like to have chapter 11 out within the next two weeks, but if it doesn't happen don't worry—I haven't abandoned the story! It just means I'm busier than I thought I would be.
Also, I stole another name from CoffeeIncluded again, specifically "Arthur" as a first name for Burgh. It was actually an accident, and I didn't realize what I'd done until I started reviewing my chapter, but in my defense his Japanese name is "Arty" so that's probably where she got "Arthur" from to begin with.
Anyway, happy Halloween, and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter!
