Episode 8: On the road again

The trip to Virbank City—where Niko would once again take on a Unova gym—would take several days, and ran through Floccessy Town. After spending some time relaxing, Niko and his friends went to a store in Aspertia City to grab supplies for their journey.

"I'm so excited, Niko." Charlotte confessed as they scoured the aisles for supplies they might need. "I haven't been in the countryside in a long time."

"Never went camping as a kid?" Niko inquired, finding carrot juice for Snivy. He was still unsure of what Rufflet liked, and so found a random drink for the Eaglet Pokémon.

"Nope, not really. I've driven through it before, but we never out of a city for long."

"Well, it's certainly fun, but there is an element of caution to it." Niko said without making eye contact with Charlotte. He had never had to find the supplies and food before—that was usually delegated to JJ and Brittany—and so it took him longer than he had imagined. When Charlotte asked what he meant, Niko smirked. "Wild creatures everywhere, Charlotte!"

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my?" She said, laughing a little. Niko nodded affirmatively.

"No, but seriously. It isn't too bad. Gives you a lot of time to think and reflect. Time to train your Pokémon. That sort of stuff. You really get to know the people you're travelling with."

"Well, that's a good thing, right? I don't really know you that well."

"And I you." Niko said. "Alright, I think that's everything. Where's Warren?" Niko asked, looking up and searching for their third companion. As it turned out, he was off with poliwag and sewaddle, looking at candy. "Didn't peg Warren as having a sweet tooth…" Niko muttered as he and Charlotte joined him.

"Got everything?" Warren asked upon their approach.

"Yep!" Niko held up a bag of food and other things. "Do we need anything else before we go?" When Warren and Charlotte jointly shook their heads, the trio began their journey to Virbank City.

Upon leaving Aspertia City, Niko wasn't quite sure how to feel. As usual, he was reluctant to continue travelling, but he felt that hesitancy slowly leaving him. He was happy that his Pokémon were happy, and he was happy that his friends were happy, even if he wasn't. His conversation with Charlotte certainly helped.

The path to Floccessy Town ran through route 19, which rested on the edge of a mountain range that gradually led into a valley on the outskirts of Aspertia City. Niko appreciated the cool, fresh air lightly bumping against his face as he and his friends walked through the valley. Charlotte continued to look around at the world around her in awe, watching pigeons and other birds flying through the air; Patrats running through the grass, either to flee the trio of travelers or to chase one another; the occasionally sewaddle hanging in a tree observing the world around it.

They eventually settled down at sunset on the edge of the mountain range after a few hours of travelling. Creating a fire was harder than it should have been until Warren remembered he had a lighter, which made the whole process a little easier. After lighting a small campfire, the trio sat around and ate while making light conversation with one another.

"So…Charlotte…" Warren began. "How old are you? I mean…if that's an alright question to ask."

"Oh, it is!" Charlotte replied politely. "I'm 23. What about you two?"

"I'm 22." Warren said. "Almost 23." They both then turned to Niko, who was silent the entire time.

"I'm 21." Niko said, which surprised him. He was 17 when he began his journey. How time was flying…

"Wow, you're young." Charlotte said with a wink.

"Only two years young than you!" Niko replied. "I'm not that young."

"No, you're not." She said. "I thought it was funny, though. You came off as older." She said with a bright smile. When Niko looked at her bemusedly, she elaborated. "You just seemed put together. Like, you knew what you were doing and where you were going."

"I have no idea what I'm doing or where I'm going, though." Niko said, raising an eyebrow.

"It was just a sense I got. That's all." She said before continuing to eat. Niko turned to look at Snivy and Rufflet, who were peacefully eating. They hadn't gotten a chance to train that day. Hopefully the following day they would.

"This place is really nice looking." Warren said, looking up at the night sky, which was littered with stars glimmering across the dark sky. "I mean, it's cool how the valley just turns into a mountain range."

"How much longer until we get to Floccessy Town?" Charlotte asked. "And I agree—this is a lovely sight."

"I think we'll reach it tomorrow in the evening." Niko said. "At least, that's what it looked like." He pulled out a map of Unova that he found in the Aspertia City Pokémon Center. "Yep, probably another day."

"How do you determine that?" Charlotte asked. Niko looked up at her with astonishment. He wasn't quite sure how he determined it. Usually it was JJ who did, and Niko never knew how he figured it out. But generally speaking, he was correct most of the time.

"Err…it's just a good guess, I suppose. I'm not quite sure myself."

"Hmm. Okay, I was just curious." She said absentmindedly. "It seemed out of place to me, that's all."

Niko nodded, put his map away, and laid down on the grass behind him. Eventually, both Warren and Charlotte went to bed alongside their Pokémon. Niko watched as Rufflet perched himself on a branch in a nearby tree to rest, while Snivy laid next to him. He was tired, not just physically, but also of thinking about the past. It had gotten to the point where it exhausted him just thinking about his life before coming to Castelia City.

But it was hard not to. That was his life. All of those times, those years, that he spent running around the world, collecting gym badges and meeting new friends, foes, and Pokémon. It was difficult to abandon those thoughts now, especially since he was back on the road again. Slapping his head lightly, he tried to forget it momentarily, but he couldn't. It was a few hours before he actually fell asleep.

The following day, the group continued on. Niko looked—and felt—tired due to the lack of sleep he got the night before, which briefly made Charlotte and Warren wonder what caused it. Most of the day was spent with them walking along the mountain range on route 19. It wasn't terribly steep, unlike most of the other mountain ranges that he had travelled before. At one point, Charlotte nearly slipped, but was caught by Warren quickly grabbing her wrist.

"Thanks." She said politely as Warren pulled her back.

They stopped around midday to rest in a clearing far away from the edge of the mountains. Niko took the opportunity to train with Snivy and Rufflet. The Grass Snake Pokémon worked on the evasion technique Niko taught her, while with Rufflet Niko wanted to focus purely on speed, as he usually did with the bird Pokémon that he caught. The Eaglet Pokémon didn't seem to enjoy this, and quickly crashed into the ground, using fury attack on the grass in a way that looked like it was having a temper tantrum.

"Rufflet, calm down." Niko said, trying to take hold of the little bird. "This is how you get stronger. It's not just all about attacking. To do well in a battle, you need to be faster than your opponent, or have better defenses. You're more suited to speed, not defense." He said calmly. Rufflet turned to him, looked him in the eye, and then made an attempt to peck him in the face. Fortunately for Niko, his reflexes were just fast enough for him to evade the peck. He let go of Rufflet and stood back up. "Alright, fine then. Do what you want, then."

Rufflet scowled at his trainer and took flight again, using the opportunity to practice dive-bombing into a fury attack of peck. Niko sighed, turning to Snivy, who was carefully jumping left and right, dodging imaginary attacks. This cheered him up; seeing at least one of his Pokémon caring about getting better.

Meanwhile, Warren and Charlotte watched with interest. They didn't hear Niko trying to calm Rufflet down, but they saw that he said something to the Eaglet Pokémon. Eventually, Warren got up and approached his friend.

"How's Rufflet doing?" He asked.

"Fine, I suppose. He's just stubborn."

"Sort of like his trainer." Warren said with a slap to the back.

"What? I'm not stubborn!" Niko protested, which elicited a hearty laugh from his roommate.

"You can be sometimes, just like Rufflet." Warren said with a smirk. They both turned to Charlotte, who nodded absentmindedly. Smeargle was sitting by her side, pretending to paint in the air with its tail.

Niko then turned to Snivy and worked with her on her vine whip release. After practicing that for half of an hour, they went down to rest, watching Rufflet continue to fly around, attacking the air randomly. He shook his head, both amused and concerned. Snivy, on the other hand, ate her carrots ravenously, as she hadn't eaten much that day in addition to being tired from the training.

After finishing eating, the trio returned their Pokémon and continued on towards Floccessy Town. During that time they continued to make idle conversation. Warren and Charlotte talked extensively about their individual times at Castelia University while Niko quietly listened and occasionally piped in. However, he had difficulty doing so, as he never went to a university. His father had…but he went on a journey through Kanto instead.

He then thought of his father. Would he approve of what Niko did? Would he understand Niko having to leave their family? He thought not, but tried to convince himself otherwise, and didn't make him feel any better.

The trio made it to Floccessy Town around sunset. It was small community of people with few houses and other sorts of buildings. A large, beaten-down clock tower was located in the center of the town. It had a purple roof and a bell hanging directly under it. It rang just as the trio entered the town, emitting a loud, rhythmic tone that likely indicated the start of another hour.

They proceeded to the Pokémon Center to heal up their exhausted Pokémon and rest themselves. As he sat in a booth, Warren slouched into the seat and let out a breath of exhausted air. "What a day." He finally said. "Niko, I think this was the most exhausting day of our journey."

"It was also the only day." He replied.

"No, I mean including the one we took to Nuvema Town."

"Oh, right. That's probably because the land there was relatively flat. We didn't have to walk up a mountain, or large hills." Niko explained. He then turned to Charlotte. "What did you think?"

Charlotte perked up, not expecting to be including in the conversation. "I thought it was great. I'm tired, that's for sure, but I enjoyed it!" She smiled politely, looking back down at her dinner. The trio continued to talk—mainly Niko and Warren this time—before the three of them retired for the evening. Unlike the previous night, Niko fell asleep more easily.

This time, he awoke in the middle of the night from a dream involving his family. He saw his mother, Jake, and his friends all scowling at him, haranguing him for leaving them in their time of need. He tried to defend himself in the dream, protesting that he needed some time alone, but it didn't help his case. They wouldn't listen, and continued to shout and yell at him while his mother sat in the background, looking hurt…

He woke up in a cold sweat, looking around at Warren and Charlotte, both of whom were still asleep. The sun was rising outside of his window, peering in through the blinds of the room. Instead of trying to go back to bed, Niko got out of bed, got dressed, and left their room for the lobby. Only a half-asleep Snivy noticed him leave.

Niko took a walk through Floccessy Town, ultimately walking the full circumference of the town in a mere half-hour. Along the way, he saw a battlefield unlike the one at the Pokémon Center. This was one positioned outside of an old-style wooden house resting at the top of a short hill. At the top—near the entrance—stood a man of average height and long, fiery red and orange hair. He wore a loose tunic that hung loosely over his shoulders, with white pants cut third-quarters of the way down his leg. Lastly, and most noticeably, he wore six pokéballs around his neck.

Niko stopped to look at him, sensing the power emanating from him. This person—whoever he was—was a strong trainer. Just as he turned to continue back to the Pokémon Center, the man turned to see him, glaring down at Niko from the top of the hill.

When Niko returned to the Pokémon Center, he found Warren and Charlotte sitting at a booth eating. As he sat down, the other two turned to him with curious looks. "What?" He asked.

"Did you have trouble sleeping again?" Charlotte asked.

"Again? I—no. I just woke up early and figured a walk would help me start the day. I went around the town. It's small, but quaint."

"You had trouble sleeping a couple nights ago, too." Warren added. Niko just shook his head.

"No, it was just an issue of waking up too early. No big deal!" He said. "I did see this trainer on the way. There's another battlefield nearby here, and some guy—I think he was a trainer, at least—was standing outside, just staring off into the distance."

"Really now?" Charlotte asked. When Niko responded, she wanted to ask more questions, but decided that her friend probably didn't know the answers to any of them, and kept quiet. "Oh…how long will it take to get to Virbank City?"

"Possibly…a couple days?" Niko said, a little unsure of his answer. "It isn't too far from here, though." He looked up to see some sort of reaction from Charlotte, only to see a cordial smile etched on her face.

"Well, then let's get going!" Warren said, standing out of the booth. He looked down at poliwag and sewaddle, both of whom stared up at him with determination. "To Virbank City!"

"Poli!"

"Waddle!"

Niko and Charlotte also got out of the booth and, after Niko grabbed his bags, they left the Pokémon Center. However, as they did so, Niko noticed the fiery-haired man approaching them.

"Excuse me." He said kindly. Niko and Charlotte moved out of the way to allow the man to walk past them. As he disappeared into the lobby of the Pokémon Center, the two friends exchanged glances.

"Niko…is that the person you saw earlier?" Charlotte said with awe.

"Yeah…why?"

"Well…that's the former Champion of the Unova League—Alder." She said, still in shock.