A/N: Hey guys, nice long chapter this time, with a few different viewpoints. I'm noticing I'm getting a lot of story follows, which is awesome, but I wouldn't mind a few reviews. Hell, if not reviews, message me. I don't care. I doubt I'm pleasing all of you all the time. And well, if I am, I should start running for leader of the world or something.
Just give a quickie, tell me what you think. Anything I do that you hate or like? Longer or shorter chapters? Want to see flying pigs and alien cows doing a dance? Let me know! I'm /very/ open to ideas.
(...Okay, reasonable ideas. No alien cows please.)
~Vivi
x—x—x—x—x—x
The group of trainer and Pokémon wandered through the forest path for a few hours, encountering lots of different Bug and Grass types along the way. Most just went on with what they were doing while others scuttled away, some having playful battles with her partners. For a while a Sewaddle followed them and chatted with Heather's Pokémon, helping the group set up their tent before being called away by a Leavanny as the sun began to set.
Heather took out a lantern and made some Pokéfood for her team before making food for herself, the group eating dinner then going to sleep. They'd made good time through the forest, another two or three hours walk left for them in the morning, which Heather's alarm woke them for.
It was another early day for the three, six-thirty in the morning. They ate leftover food from the night before and packed up the tent, the girl unbelieving how much could fit in her storage device. After they were packed up they cleaned up and left to finish making their way through the forest, doing some training while they walked.
A few hours later they made it to the main path past the bridge that was down, walking along to try a double battle against two young girls. Although Heather's Pokémon were trained better, having no practice commanding them both at once left her struggling to pick up slack, which ended up making her lose. The girls let her off without paying no matter how much she tried to push even a few dollars on them, explaining that they were just having fun.
The three stood around and chatted while they all healed their Pokémon, Heather saying goodbye when she was finished to walk out of the forest, coming to the door platform to Skyarrow Bridge around ten-thirty. Still outside, Heather recalled her Pokémon after reading a sign that recommended it, stepping in to the terminal to spot a boy around her age with straight shoulder length jet black hair looking at her, one eye a striking blue while the other was an almost amber brown.
Recoiling slightly in surprise she blinked, giving the boy a warm smile afterwards. He returned it and stood up stretching, towering over her by a good foot, foot and a half. His eyes narrowed in his stretch before brightening, holding out his hand to her.
"Heya, I'm Vincent. On your way to Castelia City?"
Heather nodded and took his hand in hers, shaking briefly before answering. She let her eyes scan over him quickly as he did to her, the two meeting each others eyes after.
"Yeah, I'm going to be challenging the gym there, and I have a few things planned, what about you?" She asked casually, lost in his different coloured eyes. He shrugged and flushed a bit, looking away which made her feel awkward.
"Never see anyone with two-toned eyes huh?"
"I-I'm sorry!" She started, blushing darkly herself. "I didn't mean to stare! They're very unique... I've never seen that before." She said honestly, feeling embarrassed that she'd made him uncomfortable.
"Ah, I should be used to it, but I'm not... I'm headed to Castelia to explore, I'm not a trainer like most. Instead I like to sketch Pokémon, explore new places. Would you mind if I accompanied you to the city?" He asked like an excited child, picking a black sling bag from the ground a and slipping it onto his shoulder after she agreed.
The two walked and talked about Pokémon as they made their way across the bridge, Heather taking in the sights when she wasn't browsing through sketchbooks of his. She was amazed at how well someone could draw different Pokémon, feeling like they would jump right out of the page. He beamed at her praise and pointed out different things as they walked along, talking the whole time.
Nearly a half-hour later the city skyline came into view, Heather breathless as the water from the ocean made the many buildings seem to sparkle. Vincent smiled and took her hand, tugging her along down the stairs to show her the city.
x—x—x—x—x—x
"Hold on, hold on!" She giggled at her impatient new friend and pulled her hand away, walking back over through the terminal to the information screen. She checked the weather and events while Vincent came to stand beside her, looking as well.
"Ah, rain after tomorrow, that's when you planned to leave, right?"
"Yeah, that's going to be no fun walking through. I have today to train, a cruise tomorrow, and then I planned to leave the day after." She frowned as she thought about her plan, Vincent starting to walk slowly toward the door. Heather blinked and followed him, walking along beside him as they entered the city.
The ocean breeze ruffled her hair as soon as they stepped out, the salt assaulting her nose much more then it had on the bridge. She looked out at the docks in wonder, having never seen anything like it. Her blue eyes sparkled and the man she was with stopped to wait for her, amused by her reaction.
Heather walked over to a rail and leaned against it staring out at the water and the docks, large boats ferrying people out to other regions and places. She gawked for a bit longer before slowly leaving the rail, walking over to a grinning Vincent.
"It's like you've never seen this place, or anything like it, before." He teased her warmly, leading the way through the bustle of people toward the center. "Also, rain might not be so bad to travel in... Route Four is basically a desert path. Rain would cool it off, keep the sand down." The man explained, brushing his raven hair from his eyes.
She gave a thoughtful hum and nodded, watching the buildings and ally ways they passed. Now she faced a new dilemma, to deal with the rain, or suffer through the sand. Sand was fine at the beach and ocean, but it wasn't any fun to walk through when it pelted you in the face. Rain was easier to handle, but would no doubt have lightening and thunder, she'd have to be careful.
They stopped outside the center and Vincent looked away, his attention distracted by some silver coated men and woman hauling a crate toward a dock with a large black boat stopped there. He shrugged it off and looked back to find Heather already inside, quickly walking after her after giving one more look at the shady crate group.
"You seem to know the place pretty good, any places to train alone?" Heather asked when he caught up, the man giving an awkward sort of look. She quickly caught on and rose her hands, waving them in front of her.
"No, I didn't mean it that way, you can come! I just mean where trainers wouldn't bug us. I like to work on techniques with my Pokémon alone, not in battles."
Vincent nodded and smiled, giving a slight chuckle and rubbing at the back of his neck while he thought of the city. Several places where she could battle trainers came to mind, less where she could train alone however.
"Well... Most of this place are businesses, art galleries, shops... There isn't really a place to get away from it unless you go to Route Four. There's the fountain on the other side of the city, but people might bug you there."
She took back her Pokémon from Nurse Joy and placed the balls on her belt, following the taller man outside and through one of the main streets. He pointed to a building and made his way through the busy people with Heather in hand, stopping outside.
"This is the Castelia City gym, Burgh is probably here since the doors are open. Sometimes trainers have to wait to face him because he leaves often. A lot of people in this city are artists, including him, and they like to get away sometimes for inspiration." Vincent explained while they continued to walk, avoiding most of the city rush.
"He might not be here when you want to challenge him though, so you might have to come back another time. A lot of trainers seem to challenge him last, and since he has to use a certain set of Pokémon, they take him out easily."
"Are you from here? You know a lot about the city, and your art work is amazing. I'd rather battle him in a few days, I like the challenge. My Pokémon need the training, too." Heather replied as they reached the fountain, putting taking her Pokéballs off her belt. He laughed and shrugged his shoulders, dodging her question for the most part.
"You could say that. I know a lot about most of Unova though, and I'm glad you like my sketches so well. Could I maybe sketch yours when we find a spot you like?"
"Sounds like a friend of mine... He's a nut about learning things, could probably navigate the forest blindfolded..." She smiled at the man as she released her two Pokémon by the fountain, having them warm up in a play battle with each other. Vincent looked surprised to see she had a Servine, taking out his supplies and sitting on one of the benches to start.
"Alright! Lets start guys, Lark, give me your best Vine Whip! Claire, we're going to work on powering up your Swift."
*—*—*—*—*—*
Light green hair fluttered about in the cool night breeze while he stood on one of the Castelia docks, overseeing the Team Plasma grunts activities. The silver coated men and women were busy loading several large crates onto their dark black boat, N looking on tiredly.
Ever since he'd met that girl in Accumula Town and told his father about her, he'd been worked a lot harder and couldn't decide why. Was it simply because his father knew that trainers like her would resist worse the longer they took, or did his father think he liked the girl given the fact that he'd talked about her? Either idea didn't really matter to N, all he cared about was the fact that he was exhausted.
Between extra work, challenging gyms with his Pokémon friend's help and lots of nights laying in bed wide awake stressed, he needed a break.
His attention was stolen by his shoulder being tapped, the blue eyed man turning his head to see a grunt standing there looking terrified.
"I-I'm sorry sir... You weren't answering to your name. We finished loading the boat..." The male grunt spoke in a nervous voice to the young man, frightened eyes downcast to shuffling feet. N merely nodded and walked away, leaving the grunt confused, but extremely glad he wasn't in trouble for interrupting their King's thoughts.
The green haired man walked down the main street to an apartment they had used to get everything sorted, crawling into bed on the top floor after getting changed and ready. He lay awake for a while before sleep finally took him, unaware of how soon morning would creep up.
x—x—x—x—x—x
Ring ring...
"Uuurgh..."
Ring ring...
"Nngh. Hello...?"
"Heather, good morning."
"Agh, Neil, do you know what time it is!?"
"Yup, bright and early."
"Gah. What do you want?"
"I won't be making the cruise, I got a little side-tracked. I'm, uh... Also sorry for how I acted to you. I'm glad you've moved on so far though. You are at Castelia, right?"
"Yes, I am. What held you back?"
"There was some trouble with Plasma. Nothing I couldn't handle. I'm going to be moving on today, so maybe I'll catch up to you in a few days. You're going to leave by tomorrow right?" He explained to her briefly, wanting to know how much time he had to make it to Castelia before she left.
"That's only if I beat the gym. I'm down a Pokémon, Panpour's with my mom, and I don't think Claire and Lark can handle it alone. This gym is Bug Pokémon, I'm at a disadvantage. Going to be training a lot. The gym leader also takes vacations... He might not be here when I want to challenge him."
"Oh, that's... With your mom? Wait. She doesn't like Pokémon right..? Alright, you have some explaining to do."
"Can it wait until later? It's six in the morning and I don't have to be up until nine..." She grumbled, giving an apologetic look to Lark who was trying to fall back asleep through the talking where as Claire was still dead asleep beside her head.
"Yeah, alright. I'll call you later if you don't call me first. Have fun, hope you find someone to bring. Goodnight sleepyhead."
"Be safe Neil, bye."
Click
No matter how annoyed she was at him for acting how he did, she was happy that he had called. Fights between the two didn't last too long, and there were very few that weren't playful. She checked the time as she dropped her X-transceiver on the table and groaned, moving the pillow over her eyes, quickly falling back to sleep until her alarm went off a few hours later.
Showered, dressed, and ready to face the day, she grabbed what she needed and went to get breakfast in the center with her partners. Once they were done she returned them to their balls and headed down to the dock she needed, finding Vincent sitting on a bench along the way, sketching a Woobat that someone was playing with.
"Hey, didn't think I'd see you here." She greeted happily, standing beside the drawing man. His bi-coloured eyes shifted up to her, smiling with a laugh. Thought I'd see you off?" He joked lightly, patting the bench for her to sit.
"Ah, I can't stay long, gotta go get a good spot on deck." Heather explained, looking longingly to the large white boat a few docks over. Vincent nodded in understanding, smiling.
"Well, I hope you have fun, it would be awesome going on something like that. Bet there are lots of Pokémon there you'll get to battle. Might get you ready for Burgh." He smiled to the blonde and looked off to the large ship, not noticing Heather's amused look.
"Well, now that you mention it, I have an extra ticket, I forgot about it actually. Would you... Like to come?"
"Really?" He asked surprised, looking back up to her to see her nod.
"Yeah, I'd rather not waste it, you're welcome to have it. Maybe I'll see you there." She dug out the second ticket and handed it to the man who took it, smiling happily.
"Thanks, Heather. I'll be sure to find you, go get your good spot, I have to put all this away then I'll join you." He motioned toward a few dozen pencils papers and other drawing equipment and Heather laughed, nodding and waving before walking away.
"Catch you later!"