The apartment was trashed; the couch had been tilted on the arm rather the back as expected, glass littered the floor around the entry to the bathroom and the few chairs that existed in the building were strewn about haphazardly. As Ryan finished the two bowls of porridge, spiced with whiskey as little other food was present in the place, the young woman with brown and green hair picked herself up from the windowsill. With a towel wrapped around her, the woman staggered into the kitchen, leaning over the counter to begin on her bowl of breakfast. Ryan's grin would not be hidden as he looked the woman over. "That's probably going to scar you know." he chuckled, the woman's face reddened in response.
"Good" She grinned back, eyes locking with his. Her spoon traced small circles through the thick alcoholic broth. "Oh" She smirked, Ryan's eyebrows raising in response "You still owe me for that mirror." the woman, Chuey, pointed over her shoulder with the spoon at the fragments of glass littering the floor.
Ryan chuckled, looking past the lady's towel covered rump to the shards in the doorway behind her. The black serpent slithering half confused through the fragments making him chuckle even more. "Well" Ryan ate a bit more of his odd porridge before properly responding, pointing with his spoon. "Your ass, not mine." The two smiled, looking away from each other for the remainder of the meal. With two fingers, Ryan pointed to the small ape and little red robin, then to the glass fragments, which the two Pokemon set about shuffling into a small pile.
A small wooden stick poked Ryan's hip, prompting him to look down. The first thing he noticed though was that one of Annwn's paws was on the counter beside him. The canine beside him was standing on it's rear legs, wobbling slightly as it looked up at him. The creature's fur was just as matted as always, jutting out at bizarre points and creating the illusion of a grand Dracula-esc collar or electric parachute pants. The fiery fur spouting from the creatures ears seemed alight despite it's darker shade. The Pokemon barked twice, happily grumbling as it's masters hand came down to playfully ruffle the fur atop it's head. But when Ryan's hand pulled back, the Pokemon pointed its stick at the ground behind him and barked again. Looking around, all he could see was his shadow, stretching long for the low angled light through the window. The vagrant shrugged, watching his shade turn back to the dark shape of the bowl before he did so himself. Eyes furrowing a moment as he looked at the bowl of whiskey and oats.
Ryan blinked dismissively, certain he hadn't just seen what he was sure he'd just seen. Chuey was too busy leaning forward to try and see Annwn by the man's side to care what was confusing him. However, both became quiet confused at the sudden darkness they found themselves in. The intense light that always streamed in from outside her window had suddenly shut off, not even sunlight was shining into the room. By the light of small flames leaping from the Braixen's mouth, the two staggered to the window. An enormous storm had rolled over Lumiose city, many rapid bolts of current jumping from the sky to the rooftops lighting the city for the briefest of moments. For perhaps a second or less between two flashes, the window was lit solely by the fires behind them, turning the glass into a mirror. For the instant between strikes, Chuey stood beside a tall gold and brown creature, four wicked horns jutting from it's head and strange brown shapes across it's torso. This peculiar image never again appeared when the sky was dark again. Without wanting to wear out his welcome, Ryan smiled and thanked the viper lady for the shower and meals, before leading his small band of Pokemon out of the apartment. Neither he nor his hostess could remember where the spoon he'd eaten with had gone. Indeed, even the spoon was not use to these strange fabric surroundings it bounced around in.
Stepping from the apartment building, Ryan looked left and right down the bizarrely dark city streets. The faces in the windows had a strange expression, as if some of them had never seen the shade before. The silence of the city was soothing, broken only by the occasional rumbling of thunder. But it wouldn't be so peaceful for long, either the storm would leave or the power would return, in either case people would swarm the streets of light once again. Following the street to the large central tower, Ryan circled it looking for light in any of the exit gates from the city. Of course the gates were quite a distance from the tower, but any light would be a beacon in this storm. All the gates had their own light source, and only one of them was not on. The alley that led to the gate was among the narrowest in the city, but brought him out directly opposite the large entryway, where the young lady he'd been traveling with was talking with a friend of hers. Spotting him, Shauna waved Ryan over. She gave her friend a goodbye hug before skipping over to the tall vagrant. Seeing her there confused him, prompting Ryan to ask how she knew he would come to this gate. Shauna laughed before replying "The powers out! Any trainers entering or leaving the city would prefer a gate with a little light" He nodded affirmation, still not sure how she knew he would come to the light-less one. "You don't like crowds. You'd want to leave the city to avoid the crowd, while avoiding crowds. See, I do pay attention!" He didn't argue, she certainly knew him better than he expected for only two days outside of school. "Oh. The professor gaveme a new Pokemon" The small bipedal lizard poked its head out from behind her leg. The large man did his best to ignore the little creature as it was nervously ducking its head back behind the young girls leg, doing a terrible job of hiding itself. Annwn too hid himself behind Ryan's leg, either mimicking or teasing the young Charmander by copying it's nervous peeking, Ryan was unsure exactly which.
Once Shauna had finished fawning over Annwn, the small group passed through the only dark passage into Lumiose city. Well, the only public one at least. On the other side of the great wall, Shauna and Ryan were stopped in their tracks by a pair of large cyan wolves. The wolves stood upon their rear paws, with a large spike jutting from their forepaws. "Today the day of two feet or something?" Ryan grumbled, the little red ape beside him leaning forward with it's hands on the ground in response. The wolves only stood about four feet off the ground, though still they towered over many of the other Pokemon around them. As the two wolves approached the small group, a woman's call stopped them in their tracks.
"Wait! Lucario!" She shouted, a woman of average build and height. She had long blonde hair leaking out of a horned white riding helmet. One of the two wolves stepped closer, it's head lowering and sliding forward as it sniffed loudly. Annwn stepping out from behind the vagrant's recently cleaned legs. "Sorry about that! Are you OK?" the woman in white brushed her hair out of her face. "I was doing some special training with my Lucario when all of a sudden they dashed off." Ryan nodded, explaining that it wasn't a problem. The one wolf stepped closer, eying the Braixen moving from behind the large man to behind the young lady. "Hey, Lucario!" The woman became distracted, looking at the cyan canine's intense stare. "What's going on with you? Did you get drawn in by this girl's aura or something?" The simple act of Ryan looking down at the wolf seemed to startle it. The creature snarled as viciously as it could, though something about the man's glare simply cut the snarl short. "Huh. Well, it seems Lucario likes you!" The woman commented, Shauna asking if she was really sure. "See, Lucario can read people's auras. I guess something in your aura has made this one take a liking to a stranger!" She smiled, though the tall man didn't appreciate her tone, she had this strange condescension. "Oops! I was on such a roll, I forgot to even introduce myself! I'm Korrina, the Shalour City Gym Leader." Shauna laughed commenting that they may see each other again, not noticing how close the canine's snout was getting to Annwn, its stare intense. As Annwn lent away, the creature leaned in closer. The cyan head flew back however after being wholloped on the snout by a fire hardened stick.