Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or its characters. But if I did, I probably would've made Espurr more cutesy and less...stoned-looking. Like what is up with that Pokemon? Did it inhale a quarter pound of catnip?
Hugh's POV:
"Hey, sleepyhead, wake up," Rosa's voice says, and I'm dragged from sleep. Groggily blinking away my sleepiness, I lift my head to find Rosa sitting at the edge of my bed. She's dressed like she usually is; she's swapped her leggings and weird ruffled shorts for worn jeans and her half-done buns for a single bun at the nape of her neck. She's wearing the same shirt as yesterday, though. Looking disinterested and annoyed by my presence, her Oshawott—Muse, I should say—is sitting on her lap.
I blink for a moment, remembering that she's a Trainer now, too. I sit up, rubbing my eyes, and I mutter, "Yeah. I'm awake. Hi."
She hops off the bed as Oshawott clambers off of her lap. Stretching, Rosa yawns loudly. Her shirt hitches, and I see the pale skin on her lower back that hasn't been touched by the sun. "I slept well. So did Muse," she says, and then asks, "Did you sleep well?"
"I guess so," I respond, sliding out of bed. "When are you headed out?"
"I'm going to explore the ranch soon and train, actually. Maybe catch a Pokémon. Then I'll go back into town during the afternoon to go train with Alder." She flips her ponytail over one shoulder and starts toward the door, apparently ready to leave this soon.
I sigh. "Rosa, why'd you wake me up if you were just going to leave?"
Scooping Muse into her arms, she thoughtfully replies, "I didn't want you to wake up and feel like I'd completely disregarded you." She leaves the guesthouse after saying this, the door clattering shut behind her.
I sigh and fall back onto my bed, sighing with some frustration. She thinks I'm upset with her for being a natural at Pokémon training. I doubt I'd even have started training at all if it weren't for what happened to my sister, I think, sighing sadly.
I quit sulking and get dressed. What is sulking going to do for me?
I exit the guesthouse, backpack and jacket slung over my shoulder. Whenever I get to the next large city, I need to invest in a change of clothes, or these ones will begin to smell ripe quickly. Heading to the main building, I dodge hoards of Mareep that mill about, calling to each other in soft voices. They're such inane little Pokémon, but I guess they're pretty cute.
Pushing open the back door of the main house, I hear the swell of piano music and laughter. This early? I think tetchily as I retrace my path from the night before to find the kitchen. Who could be laughing or playing music so early?
I cross through the old, too-warm kitchen and into a side room. An aged upright piano sits in the corner, with Rosa at the bench pounding out some complex, folksy melody. This piano sounds a little out-of-tune, but it gives the song even more character. The two ranchers and the Mareep girl from yesterday, plus a tiny Mareep that snoozes quietly at her feet, are laughing and chatting with Rosa as she plays. Muse sits beside her on the piano bench, swinging back and forth to the melody.
"…and, girly, you never would've guessed it, but I used to play that thing every night before I crushed my left hand in the accident," says the rancher, sitting in a rocking chair close to the dilapidated piano.
Rosa grimaces as she plays some complicated riff with her left hand, but it isn't about the piano playing. That's something that's completely second nature to her. Unless she is attempting to do something difficult for the first time, there isn't a damned thing in this world that can throw off her piano playing. I can't even begin to count the number of times I'd go over to her house and end up having a completely unrelated conversation with her while she played anything from intense classical pieces to little pop ballads. Presently, Rosa says, "I can't imagine losing that. May I ask what happened?"
"Back in the day, we had Bouffalant on this ranch, and I was herding them with my pair of Herdier when, one day, I tripped over my own feet and got my hand crushed by a Bouffalant I spooked by falling over. Doesn't matter, though, 'bout the piano playing. I was never as good as you, kid," he responds, shrugging. I notice that only one of the Herdiers sits at the feet of the ranchers. Where is the other one?
Suddenly, Rosa realizes I've appeared and cranes her neck to look at me. "Hugh!" she exclaims, smiling. Her fingers dance over the keys as though she isn't distracted by my presence. "Glad you're out of bed!"
"It's so early. Why are you all up?" I ask, rubbing at my eyes.
"I was about to start scrambling some eggs, but suddenly I hear Rosa riffing away on the piano out here and we had to come listen," says the rancher.
The Mareep girl scoops up her new Mareep and turns to Rosa. "Yeah, you're really good. Do you play anything else?"
"Bass and drums. I also do vocals," Rosa retorts. Focusing her attentions on the piano for a moment, she slows her playing down dramatically, falling into a slow, syncopated ballad that resonates in my gut strangely. A silence falls among everyone in the room as the music swells and crashes.
"Are you good at the others?" Mareep girl asks tactlessly.
Shrugging, Rosa simply responds, "Depends on what you're into."
"She doesn't do country," I say flatly, earning a startled glance from the girl. "So don't ask."
Mareep girl grumbles, "Well, I don't like country! That's my stupid cousin that does! Can you sing us something?" she asks Rosa, her eyes bright with anticipation. "I wanna hear what you can do."
Rosa gives a slight shrug and transitions into a fiery-sounding piano accompaniment with a bouncy beat to it with plenty of low notes spiking through it. I recognize this aggressive, upbeat jazz piece vaguely, but I'm not sure from where. Before I have a chance to think about it, Rosa opens her mouth and there's no more thought. In the two years I've known her, it's my first time hearing her singing voice, and it's absolutely jaw-dropping. It takes me a few moments to focus on the words of the warm melody:
"Sweet thing
That ain't my name
I ain't some game
Don't ya know?
Heartbreak king
You're such a tease
Smoke in the breeze
Oh don't ya know?"
Her fingers dart up the piano keys, the accompaniment becoming so complex that I don't know how she can sing in that dark, low, caramel-toned sort of voice and play piano so powerfully at the same time. She enters what I think is the chorus, swaying in time to the pulse.
"I was just a lonely little girl
Trapped in a toxic world
And you whispered me a promise
And then so quickly forgot us
Don't call me sweet thing
When you never ring…"
Without entering another verse, she coaxes a wild, energetic ending bit from the piano and quickly turns around. "Well?"
"Didn't know you could do that," I mutter to myself, wondering where the hell that astonishingly rich and powerful voice came from in that skinny body.
The rancher's wife whoops loudly, clapping her hands quickly before pressing her palms to her cheeks. "My, my, but aren't you just a talented young lady?" she breathed, gazing at Rosa with wide, adoring eyes. "I don't know anyone who can do Athena Frank songs as well as you just did! I'm not sure she did her own songs as well as you just did."
Ah. Athena Frank. She was a famous Unovan blues singer who died a year and a half ago or so from old age, and she was known for singing complex laments about lovers who had scorned her.
Rosa blushes, smiling shyly as she replied, "Ms. Frank would've taken some offense to that."
"If you hadn't noticed, she took offense to a lot of things, sweetheart," says the rancher, scoffing lightly.
Still shell-shocked by Rosa's voice, I almost remain rooted to the spot even as everyone else decides to go eat breakfast. Rosa, too, is still sitting at the piano. Turning around to face me, she smirks. "So, Hughie," she says, using my aggravating nickname obviously in an attempt to be condescending, "was I singing for my mom just now?"
"How many things do you want to prove me wrong on?" I ask with a heavy sigh.
With a smile that told me absolutely nothing, she gets up from the piano stool and slid it in. "Breakfast time," she comments lithely, "wouldn't want to miss out on some eggs and bacon, no?" She walks out of the room, leaving me to feel relatively stupid and to internally curse myself for not telling her how beautiful her voice is.
I enter the kitchen, where the ranchers, Mareep girl, and Rosa sit at the table, eating. Rosa, as a vegetarian, doesn't have a lot on her plate—the eggs, bacon, and sausage links that everyone else is eating don't appeal to her. She has a single piece of toast slathered in a weird orange jelly. Oddly, Herdier, with Mareep girl's newly obtained Mareep, stands at the door, looking uneasy. Where is that other Herdier? I sit down next to Rosa and load my plate with food. An excellent cook, my mother had made me jaded with food, but this breakfast put anything she ever made to shame.
The rancher, with a mouth filled with bacon, glances over at me. "Did you sleep well, son?" he asks.
"Not too bad," I respond. It had been my first night away from home in years, and I hadn't lost even a wink of sleep over it. My mother would've been offended to hear it.
"So…I'm curious here. You two are friends, right?" he questions, gesturing to Rosa and me with his fork.
I nod. "Yeah. We're both from Aspertia."
"That's a big town.," he comments, eyebrows raised. I want to comment that Aspertia City is absolutely nothing in comparison to some metropolis like Castelia City, but I don't have the heart to. Then, he asks, "How long have y'all known each other?"
"Two years," Rosa answers, glancing over at me. The glance says Hugh, I swear to Arceus that if you elaborate on that, I'll curb-stomp you in a Pokémon battle again. "I moved there was I was fourteen with my mom."
"You sound eastern," the rancher's wife interjects, eyebrows raised. Rosa does tend to speak in clipped, precise tones—an Eastern Unova thing. It isn't nearly as pronounced as the ranchers are making it out to be, but I doubt that many exciting things happen out here. They might as well make a big deal over her accent.
The rancher nods sagely. "Yes, like our son's fiancée. She's from Striaton City and sounds a lot like you."
"I lived in Accumula Town for a while," is all Rosa offers up, nibbling at her toast.
"I caught my Herdier 'round that town a few years back," the rancher says. Glancing at the door, he frowns. "Hey. Wait a second. Where is that little rascal?"
Mareep girl, who had been busy wolfing down sausage links, says, "I heard him barking this morning and looked out my window. He was running out toward the forest on your property, but I thought he was maybe going after some Mareep that ran off." Then, she sighs loudly, poking at a sausage link on her plate. "But I'm guessing he'd be back by now?"
The rancher's face contorts with worry. "Aw, hell," he mutters. Meanwhile, he dabs at his forehead with a napkin from the table. Suddenly, he turns to Rosa and me. "You two are pretty capable. I'm gonna ask you two to go look for him for me; I can't run around like I used to."
Rosa raises her eyebrows. She quietly says, "We don't know your property or your Herdier. As much as we'd love to help," she pauses to shoot me a look that tells me not to contradict her, "we wouldn't be of much help at all, I think."
"Our property isn't that big, and he wouldn't have left it," the rancher insists, gazing at us with pleading eyes.
I look at Rosa for a second before deciding to help this man, because I understand the panic of losing a Pokémon and not being able to do anything to get him back. "We'll do it. I mean, your Pokémon might be gone forever. Come on, Rosa," I command, earning a rather startled look from her.
She rises from her chair, leaving half of her piece of toast uneaten. As she follows me out the door, she calls for Muse to follow her. Darting out of the living room, her Pokémon follows her with a bright sense of duty written all over her features—why isn't my Snivy as active as Muse? When we step outside, Rosa turns to me, looking surprised. The morning breeze stirs her hair, but she is otherwise motionless. "I guess I didn't expect you to do that," she admits, pushing her bangs out of her face for a moment.
"It's not cool, not knowing where your Pokémon are," I say, crossing my arms. Glancing down at Muse, I decide to release my Snivy. He looks at Muse with obvious disinterest. I don't know the last time he looked interested in something.
Rosa greets Snivy, who merely nods in acknowledgement to her presence, and then asks, "So…should I check out the pastures? I mean, she said he ran toward the forest, but he could still be anywhere out here."
"Do a quick check," I decide aloud. All of our bases need to be covered, after all. "I'll go to the forest. Come find me if you don't have any luck. I have a feeling it'll take longer to check the forest than the pastures."
She gives a nod. "Fair enough. Come on, Muse. Let's go find that Herdier," she says, giving her Pokémon a bright smile. It's easy to see she already loves that little Pokémon, but it would be hard not to.
I gaze down at Snivy. I order, "We're going to look for Herdier. Try not to be as disinterested as usual." With that said, I jog toward the forest, with Snivy on my heels.
Rosa's POV:
"Herdier!" I call, my voice resounding across the pastures. "You out here, boy?"
The only response is the soft bleating of Mareep. I notice some Pidove, Patrat, and Lillipup interspersed among the Mareep further out in the pasture. Glancing at Muse, who seems to be conversing with a wild Patrat, I say, "Hey, you. We're looking for Herdier, not having social hour."
She kicks at the grass, looking mildly embarrassed, and mutters, "Osh, wott, osha."
"I'm not mad, Muse. It's just…the ranchers and Hugh seem really worried," I say. There's something that seems very unsettling about a worried Hugh. He isn't exactly blasé, but not a lot worries him. As a student, Hugh never studied or worried about his grades. When we hang out, he isn't bothered by the idea of accidentally staying out too late…but today, this business with Herdier is obviously scaring him.
What happened in his past?
With Muse at my side, I navigate the rest of the pastures. The morning breeze is a little chilly, and I sense that up here, on what is essentially a plateau in otherwise hilly region, there isn't really a wind block—aside from the glorified clump of trees they call a forest. I hum the bass line from a favorite Baroque piece as we walk. It's almost like a nervous habit, humming classical music, but I'm unsettled. I know that Muse can tell, as she attempts to catch the bass line and hum it, too, as if to help calm her Trainer. Chuckling, I crouch and pat her head. "I'm so happy that, even if we've hardly been together for twenty-four hours, that you're willing to put up with the weird musical part of me."
"Wott!" Muse retorts, as if to say, Quit insulting yourself, Rosa!
I scratch at her cheek affectionately and scoop her into my arms. "I just want to know something. How is it that you're so sweet and then you're so ruthless in a battle?"
She makes a weird chortling noise, and I know she will not reveal her secrets to me. Fair enough—I don't suppose I want to know where she draws her violence from.
The sun is higher in the sky and warmer when we near the forest. The trees here are young and grow close together; it's going to be a very ugly and twisted forest if these trees continue growing like this. It breeds an unnerving atmosphere. "Osh, osha," Oshawott whispers, acting as unnerved as I feel.
"It's all right," I say as I near the forest. "We'll find Hugh, Snivy, and that Herdier, and then we'll get out of here and go train with Alder, too." My words are almost more of a comfort to myself as a chilly weight seems to sink further and further into my stomach.
We enter the forest. Unexpectedly, the soft bleating and quiet woofs of Lillipup suddenly seem to be on an extended fermata, and not a fermata that extended a long, sinuous note—it was the sort that hung in a rest or a pause and seemed to extend for far longer than it had the right to.
"Hugh!" I call, startling some Pidove roosting in the trees. A few swoop at me, but Muse blasts them away with plugs of her Water Gun attack. "You in here?"
No more than five seconds later, I hear him faintly respond, "Yeah! Any luck?"
I presume that he hasn't found Herdier. Puffing out a sigh, I set Muse on my shoulder to retort, "Not a trace. How about you?"
"Uh…I got shocked by a Mareep. And attacked by some other Pokémon. That's about as much success I've had," he shouts back. "Come in a little further and help me out."
Not that I really want to, I think, unnerved by the trees that are beginning to contort and twist to reach the sunlight. But I respond, "Sure." With Muse on my shoulder, I delve deeper into the forest. Twice we have to stop to battle off hostile Pokémon. The first one is a Patrat with much crazier eyes than its brethren (which is saying something when they have the most psychedelic-looking red and yellow eyes I've ever seen), but Muse takes him down easily. She actually allows me to command her in this battle. The second one was a short one with an aggressive Pidove that felt we were disturbing her nest. With little command on my part, Muse downs her easily and we navigate our way toward Hugh.
Standing in a clearing with his back to me, Hugh has his arms crossed. The fabric of his customary red and white jacket is stretched tight across his back and shoulders like the hair on the bow I use to play upright bass. "Where the hell could he be?" he mutters to himself, sounding worried. Snivy sits at his feet, looking as bored as always. I have yet to see that Pokémon look even mildly enthused.
"Hugh," I say, startling my friend. "How much of the forest have you searched?" I ask, gesturing around.
"Not a lot. You wouldn't believe this, but I got attacked by a Riolu in here," he says, and he unzips his jacket and lifts the hem of his shirt to show a lovely violet bruise spreading across his midriff. "The little bastard jumped out of the underbrush punched me when I walked by an elm tree," he explains flatly as he releases the hem of his shirt.
I raise my eyebrows. Riolu? The pre-evolution of a Lucario? What would one be doing here? With the exception of Dad's Lucario, who had been given as a gift from a friend in Sinnoh, that evolutionary line isn't found in Unova. There used to be Riolu in Challenger's Cave up north, but the cave collapsed about nine months ago.
Hugh notices the rattled expression on my face and raises one eyebrow in questioning. "What? Do you want a Riolu?"
"I…" I pass a hand over my jaw. I haven't really told Hugh about Dad's Lucario, and how the sudden appearance of the Riolu are threatening to make me think of my old friend in depth. Deciding on a smile, I retort, "Maybe. Who knows? We need to find Herdier, remember?"
"Sorry. You looked a little lost there," Hugh says, throwing his hands up defensively. "I'm going to check this general area again with Snivy. If you could search a little further back, it'd be appreciated."
I give a nod. Muse and I continue on our way, leaving Hugh behind us. Now tangled among the thoughts of a worried Hugh, a lost Herdier and a seemingly displaced Riolu, I feel confusion seep into my skin like chlorine in a public pool. "Herdier!" I call, encouraging the Pokémon to come closer, but I'm a tangle of nerves. Suddenly I have a burning desire to see a Riolu, but I need to help the ranchers and Hugh with the Herdier problem. After we find Herdier, I have to find the Riolu, I decide.
Patting at my cheek, Muse knowingly murmurs, "Sha, osha," as if to encourage me to go forward with that plan.
"I really wish I could understand you," I grumble, making Muse chortle.
We roam through the forest, calling for Herdier (or, in Oshawott's language, it's more like screaming "WOTT!" at the top of her lungs) and also keeping an eye out for Riolu. We end up getting into a few more battles with territorial Pidove, wild-eyed Patrat, and even a particularly concussed-looking Psyduck. After Muse and I defeat him, I sigh loudly. "Where the heck could this Herdier have gone to, Muse?" I ask.
Suddenly, I hear a loud bark of anger. That isn't some little yip of a Lillipup; that's the harsher yap of a Herdier. It's a chilling sound. Either Herdier is cornered or he's gotten himself into quite the tussle. Muse leaps off my shoulder and gives me a certain look that says, "Let's go get him."
Nodding in agreement with her, we take off in the direction of the angry bark. Here the trees grow closer together, almost creating twisted and evil-looking walls in places. "Herdier, we're coming!" I shout. "Wait a second!"
I'd say it was a little longer than a second that Herdier has to wait. Because of the closely-growing, warped trees, we have to take a bit of a roundabout way through the trees to head in the direction of his barks. "This'd better be the right away," I breathe to myself after nearly tripping over a fallen tree in my haste to find the right way.
When I regain my balance once more, I find myself in a narrow grove, finding myself face-to-face with a rather menacing man in what looks like black special ops gear—beret, fatigues, and all. He faces away from me, and instead—much to my horror—he turns his attentions to a rather sore-looking Herdier. Without remorse he kicks the Pokémon in the side, hard. I barely have time to register the surge of rage inside of me before I snap, "Hey, asshole! Quit that!"
The man seems to jump out of his skin and looks at me with rather wide eyes. Blood boiling, I snarl, "You heard me! Buzz off!" Muse looks at me in mild horror, but I'm not about to stand down. Maybe I'm not some elite Trainer, but even I know that a person doesn't have the right to kick a Pokémon around like that! Nothing pisses me off more than a bully, anyway. I've spent too many years in school getting ordered around by people who think I'm silent and emotionless to not despise people like this man.
Surprise turning to anger, the man glowers at me and snaps, "Whatever, kid! Like this Pokémon is strong enough for my organization, anyway! Look at it!" he commands, gesturing at Herdier. "He's just cowering!"
"If I punched your lights out and kicked the shit out of you, I think you'd be cowering, too," I say coldly. "Go home to whatever your little 'organization' is and never come back."
Laughing oddly, the man reaches into his pocket and tosses something at me. I duck out of the way of it, and he declares, "Well, you'll certainly be seeing a lot more of Team Plasma again." He laughs and rushes away, leaving me to peak around and make sure nothing has exploded due to mysterious object tossing.
Upon realizing that I am relatively safe, I can't help but laugh at the thought of that bozo being in Team Plasma. Didn't he know how hardcore they were two years ago? Didn't he know that they wore medieval-looking uniforms? Plus, he was scared of a high school-aged girl yelling at him for kicking around a Herdier and ran off like a coward when he was caught. What a dweeb. Not much like the Team Plasma I knew, I think, sighing loudly.
Herdier uneasily totters over to me, his eyes filled with heavy dysphoria. Never in his life has he even been treated that badly—though his ranchers have a strict hierarchy going, it's obvious that Herdier is well-loved and spoiled. "It's all right," I breathe to him, beckoning him over with an extended hand. "Uh…I'm not a jerk like him."
Herdier pushes his wet little nose against my fingers, seeking reassurance. I pet him as Muse chatters at him happily. Once he's calm, I lift the Herdier into my arms and call, "Hugh! We have him!"
I hear him yell something back. Urging Muse to follow, I began to head in the direction of his voice when he suddenly bursts from the tangle of trees and nearly bowls me over, Snivy trotting in at his ankles. "Whoa! Sorry, Rosa!" he yelps, his voice hopping half an octave. When he sees Herdier in my arms, he frowns. It becomes clear to me that I need to explain this quickly in order to get the scrappy little Pokémon back to the ranchers.
Upon completing the story, Hugh's eyes are wide, mostly from the mention of Team Plasma. "But…you said he was wearing a beret and special ops-looking gear, right?" Hugh asks, shifting his weight nervously.
I nod. "Yeah. Team Plasma, in the year and a half that they were active, wore those stupid templar uniforms or whatever," I respond. Looking down at Herdier, I sigh heavily. "I'm just happy Herdier is all right. That man was really kicking him around."
Hugh doesn't respond for a moment and merely gazes past me. Then, his eyes focus and flit to my face. "But are you okay after all that?"
I shove my bangs out of my face, retorting, "Angry, but fine." I notice some concern leaves his eyes.
With an astute nod, he reaches his hands out. He says, "Let me take Herdier back. You have a look in your eye."
"A look?" I question.
"Like you need to get something done," Hugh says. "You want to find that Riolu, don't you." There isn't even a question in his voice when he states it.
I nod. "I do." Placing Herdier in his arms, I watch the Pokémon's face. He looks at me with trust before snuggling into Hugh's arms. He's so very trusting, and this incident with the mysterious man hasn't hurt his faith in humanity. My heart twinges at the thought. Reaching out, I ruffle his scruffy face. "I'm so sorry about what that man did. Make your ranchers spoil you rotten for the rest of the day, all right?"
I notice a smile twitching on Hugh's face. It disappears when I meet his eyes, though, and he gives a curt nod. "Best of luck." With Snivy at his heels, he weaves his way back through the forest. Eventually, I can no longer hear the sounds of Hugh's movements, and I was left alone in the forest with Muse.
"Osha?" she questions me, obviously waiting for my plan. What plan is there, though? Hugh encountered the Riolu in this forest; if I play my cards right and don't do anything to possibly spook the Pokémon, I should be able to find him.
I give her a tight smile. "Patience is a virtue," I say, and without much more thought, I head into the forest. Muse springs ahead of me, apparently haven't taking my sage words to mind, but that's all right.
Between thoughts of Lucario and the strange incident, I feel a strange, seething emotion that is not exactly negative, but it isn't quite making me feel any happier, either. There isn't a name for it that springs to my mind, but I try to stifle it. I'm off to find a Riolu, and I'll be damned if I let some mysterious emotion take over my head and contort the thrum of melody running through it.
A/N: Hello and welcome to "Sometimes I forget that there are people who find Hugh really hot and that there are people who find Rosa to be a cutesy little angel girl." But man, headcanons in Sequelshipping vary a lot. Unlike Soulsilvershipping (my OTP) or Ferriswheelshipping (my ex-OTP), it isn't a highly-analyzed ship, and so I'm kind of guessing and checking as I go.
So I guess this doesn't classify as a play-through, since I've elaborated a lot on the plot. (3 chapters in and Rosa doesn't even have her first badge yet? Whaaaaat?) My friend told me to classify this as a UA (yes, a UA, not an AU) and I guess I'm not fanfic-savvy enough to really want to do that. For those of you who read IBAW, you'd know this is my second published attempt at fanfiction, so don't bite too hard if I do really stupid things in my fics.
Right now, I'm just going to warn you that I'm coming up on finals week (plus a lot of extraneous rehearsals and commitments) and probably a few kill runs at the gym because I'm very stressed and WOW THERE'S SO MUCH GOING ON THIS WEEK. I apologize if I don't update for a while; this is the first time I've ever really published a chapter to a fic without having another one at least started. I'll try not to leave you guys hanging for too long!
Thanks for reading and reviewing Sonata in Gray so far! It means a lot!