The following morning, after Seth had cleaned up from the previous night's events, he gathered up his equipment and headed into the outpost. He visited the various shops and restocked on all the travel essentials, consisting of nonperishable food for both him and his pokémon and plenty of water. He didn't like Anya very much, but he knew better than to ignore her advice.
Seth decided to purchase a new set of clothes for the coming trip. The first thing he noticed upon walking into the only clothing store in the outpost was that there wasn't much of a selection. Despite this, he was confident he could find what he needed; something breathable that covered as little skin as possible.
"These are very...um, short." Seth gazed at the only selection of shorts in the store with some discomfort. Pressing a pair of them against his waist, he noticed they didn't even come close to reaching his knees. Kyra stood beside him, eyeing the shorts with an unreadable expression. "I've never worn anything this short before, but it's all that's here."
"Guess I'll try them on," Seth sighed and took down a blue-colored pair of them. He retreated to a fitting room and dropped his travel pants to his ankles. He stepped out of them and slid into the shorts, pulling them up to his waist. They were elastic, so they fit snugly around his waist without the need for zippers or buttons. "Wow, these are comfortable, but..."
He glanced in the mirror behind him. Not only were they as short as he expected, but they also hugged his butt snugly, going so far as to outline the crease between his cheeks. He felt uncomfortable at the idea of wearing something so tight and revealing, but…
"A lot of men go for the femboy look."
Seth flushed, remembering what May had told him. Between May, Tera, Jack, and even random strangers, it seemed like everyone seemed to view him as pretty, often throwing that word around: femboy. He recalled his early life: he'd always struggled against being labeled as a girl, which led him to some unfavorable situations during school. Yet no matter what he did, he never gained facial hair or anything that would label him as manly.
"I say take the look and own it."
Jack had told him to embrace the look. Seth supposed that that was good advice; at the least, it sounded easier than running from something he couldn't change. Seth took another look in the mirror and couldn't help but think that if he looked at it from that angle, he looked good.
"Hm, I don't know," Seth mused aloud. He glanced down at Kyra, who was looking up at his shorts with shining eyes and a pleased smile. He gave a chuckle despite himself. At least she seemed to really like how he looked. "Alright, I'll buy this. Booty shorts or not, they're better than wearing long pants into a volcano."
With that, Seth bought a few pairs along with some breathable sports tops, such as tank tops and sleeveless shirts. Dressed in his new blue shorts and a similarly colored tank top, he stepped out of the store and made for the cliffside, intending to follow Anya's directions. Yet the moment he neared the edge of town, a familiar buzzing sound filled the air, a yellowish silhouette flying down from the mountainside to alight upon a nearby rooftop.
"Is that pokémon still following us?" Seth asked in disbelief. He turned and gazed up at the rooftop to see the same insect-like pokémon from the desert watching him quietly, its green rhombus-shaped wings flickering gently. "It's come too far for it to just be begging for food like a Wingull."
Kyra's eyes glowed as she lifted up a rock the size of a watermelon from the side of the road. "Hold on, Kyra. There's no reason to hurt it. It hasn't actually done anything other than watching us," Seth gently tapped on her arm. Kyra obediently let the rock drop, but she looked at him in confusion. "I guess it's a little annoying, but that's no reason to get violent. Just let it be."
Kyra nodded, giving the pokémon one last pointed stare. The insect gave a slow blink in response.
Putting their insectoid stalker out of his mind, Seth left the town behind and headed west, following the cliffside as Anya had instructed. The ground was rugged and devoid of vegetation, forcing him to choose his steps carefully. He didn't want to twist his ankle and lose valuable time when the fate of Summer's family was riding in the balance.
"Whoa!" Seth stumbled and clung to the cliffside as the earth suddenly shook beneath him. A dull rumble filtered its way up from the depths of the earth, sounding as though it came from everywhere at once. There was a crack from above him. Seth looked up to see the rocky edge of the cliff high above crumbling apart, sending a shower of dust and rubble hailing down upon him. His eyes bugged out and he threw himself aside to avoid the shower of deadly debris. "Kyra, get clear!"
Kyra hunkered down in a ditch beside him, using her telekinesis to redirect any falling debris that threatened them. Seth covered his head with his hands and waited for the quake to subside, each second feeling like an eternity.
The quake lasted for less than a minute before fading away, leaving the landscape as quiet as before. Seth climbed out of the ditch and gazed up at the summit of Mt. Chimney far above him, from which a red glow could be seen, along with the ever-present stack of smoke that drifted to the north.
"That was scary. If Jack hadn't said that happens all the time, I'd be running to the hills right about now," Seth admitted. He took a moment to catch his breath. "Alright, come on, Kyra. Time's wasting."
After several miles of following the cliffside, Seth came upon the cleft in the rock Anya mentioned. It was tall and narrow with just enough space for him to fit inside. He took off his pack and squeezed into the gap sideways, the rock scraping against his bare legs and lower back. He progressed one step at a time until the darkness overtook him. He heard Kyra call out from the other end.
"Follow me carefully, Kyra. Bring the pack too." Seth called back, his voice sounding strange in such a narrow space. Thankfully, it was only a few minutes before he felt his foot leave the cleft into an open space. He grunted and stepped out of the cleft, and then as soon as Kyra made it through with the pack, he retrieved a flashlight from the bag and then equipped himself with the rest of the caving equipment he'd bought back in Dewford. He flicked on the flashlight and shined the light to get a look at the cave proper.
"This is very different from Granite Cave," Seth observed. Despite being cracked and weathered, the walls were smooth and formed a roughly circular shape. It looked almost as though a giant snake had tunneled its way through the rock here, turning to the right just where Seth was standing. "I've heard about this. If an underground lava flow ceases, sometimes it leaves a tube like this behind."
Seth shined the light to his left, where the tunnel curved deeper underground. There were two ways to go here, so he fished out his compass. The path forward led due north, so he began his trek through the volcano in that direction.
Several hours later, he became very grateful for his choice of wardrobe. As he progressed, the temperature was gradually growing hotter, causing him to break a sweat. Furthermore, the need for the flashlight was diminishing as an orangish glow became apparent in the distance.
The tunnel soon opened up into a wider cavern. Seth slowed to a halt, his eyes widening with awe at what he saw. The wide chamber had a mostly walkable path to the north that wound through breathtaking flowstone formations, where pokémon he'd never seen before crawled or lurked. At the far left end of the cavern was a slowly flowing stream of lava that radiated heat so intense he could feel it from here. He made a mental note to stay as far away from it as possible—he simply didn't have the equipment.
Seth brought out his Pokédex as he strode through the cavern, scanning every pokémon he could see. The most common he could see were Numel, a yellow turtle-like pokémon who barely registered his presence. On the other hand, the most prominent source of light apart from the lava stream were the various Slugma, pokémon literally made out of lava that slowly oozed across the cavern floors and formations in search of food. One time, Seth even saw a large dark Torkoal tucked into a cleft in the rock by the stream of lava, unbothered by the hellish heat emanating from the molten rock. Along with scanning them, Seth made sure to take several pictures as well so that he could admire the scenery later.
As he progressed, the heat grew so intense that Seth could feel rivers of sweat trickling down his temples and soaking his clothes. He pulled out his PokéNav and checked the thermometer. He blanched as he watched the meter easily shoot past a hundred degrees. "I knew it'd be hot…" Seth panted as he returned the PokéNav to his bag. He wanted to speed up, but he risked heat exhaustion if he moved too quickly. "...but this is...this is hell."
It wasn't like being outside in the summer. Not only was it far hotter, but there was also no shade in which to take shelter. No means of gaining a respite from the heat. There was nothing except the rumbling of the lava pools and the heat distortions in the air.
The cavern stretched on for well over a mile, Seth's suffering increasing by the minute. He went through his stores of water alarmingly fast; he'd packed extra on purpose, but he was anxious that he might not have enough to last.
"I can't…" After what seemed like an eternity later, Seth grew too exhausted to continue. The heat was unbearable—his clothes were drenched, his hair felt like pieces of damp straw, and his skin was covered with sweat. He collapsed against a wall...but then immediately regretted it as the stone's heat burned his skin. Kyra did her best to support him, but she wasn't faring much better than he was, her body heaving and coated with sweat. "This was...a terrible idea..."
Kyra sluggishly lifted an arm and telekinetically pulled a pokéball off of Seth's belt and pressed the button on it, releasing Princess into the hellish cave along with them. Princess let out a surprised sound and squirmed in the cave until she could lie comfortably...and then she noticed the heat. Princess's body shuddered as she quickly coated herself with a thin sheen of cool water to keep herself cool.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Seth realized how foolish he had been to forget the advantage of having Princess along. "Please...can you help keep us cool?"
Princess trilled softly in response. She tapped her nose to Seth's head and conjured a stream of cool water there, the liquid cascading down his head and over his shoulders. Seth shuddered, the water feeling like heaven to his tortured body. After she moved on to help Kyra, Seth hugged her, feeling the water around her body course over him.
"Thank you so much. I was woefully unprepared for this," Seth said to her. The heat was still present, but with her close by, he wouldn't risk overheating again. He stepped back. "Now I just have to worry about drinking water…"
Princess leaned back after tending to Kyra and kissed him without warning. Seth blinked and blushed at the sudden affection. To his surprise, he felt cool water trickling into his mouth. He instinctively swallowed, the water tasting slightly like Princess, but otherwise just like normal drinking water. As more flowed into his mouth, he recognized what she was trying to do, and he drank his fill from her.
"I didn't know we could do that," Seth marveled after he'd finished. Princess moved on to Kyra, kissing the smaller Kirlia as well. He realized he no longer needed to buy water if he could just drink from her. He then caught himself. "Hold on a minute, there's got to be a limit to how much water you can produce. Please don't tire yourself out."
Princess gazed at him soulfully, not looking tired in the least. Seth remembered with a start that he'd never seen her exhausted like Kyra. Anytime she'd ever been defeated was due to injuries, not exhaustion. He wondered just how deep her strength ran.
Once they were refreshed, Seth continued his journey through the volcanic cave. It continued onward for many more miles until finally, Seth entered another lava tube, which extended for the remainder of his time in the volcano. Despite multiple other tubes intersecting with this one to form a labyrinth of tunnels, Seth kept his compass out and continued north. He went through his stores of water alarmingly quickly due to the heat, making him glad he'd packed so much of it.
Camping in the tubes was sheer hell as well. He wisely chose not to pitch a tent, as that would be akin to sleeping in an oven. The rocky ground was uncomfortable and the heat was ever-present, making it very difficult for him to get much sleep. He was lucky to catch even four hours a night. The times he couldn't sleep, he spent it with his pokémon; Summer above all was completely at home in the hellish environment.
When the heat began to recede during his travel, Seth found himself relieved beyond measure. "I'm never walking through the volcano again. To hell with this," Seth complained one evening as he attempted to get some sleep.
At long last, Seth spotted a ray of evening light shining in through a hole in the tunnel walls ahead. He quickened his pace until he stepped out into the freedom of the outside world, the fresh air filling his lungs. He took a look around to find himself in a grassy path heading to the northeast, where it looked like there'd once been a traveler's way station.
The building was long since out of business, but it looked as though a group of three trainers was making camp there, the smell of cooking sausage filling the air. Seth made his way towards them, wondering if he could get in on their meal if he beat one of them in a battle.
"Hey over there!" A rather portly man with scruffy brown hair and a boxed beard called out to him amicably as he approached. The other two trainers didn't pay him any mind, considering they were locked in a battle, a Machop squaring off against a tough-looking Geodude. "My name's Nick! Feel free to join us if you'd like."
"Thanks," Seth answered breathlessly and he walked up to Nick. Once he came to a halt, Seth knelt down, resting his hands on his knees. "Sorry. I'm exhausted."
Nick noted Seth's state—his exhaustion, his scraggly hair, and his drenched clothes— and gaped. "Hold on now, you didn't come through the volcano, did you?" He asked incredulously. Seth nodded wordlessly, wiping the grime from his forehead. "You're insane. Why didn't you take the cable car or pass through the desert?"
"The cable car is closed, and the desert had a sandstorm I couldn't get through," Seth answered. Once he caught his breath, he straightened up and greeted Nick properly. "I'm Seth. I'd shake your hand, but I'm gross. I feel like I've sweated out my entire body's worth of water twenty times over."
"That sounds about right. You're crazy, man," Nick gave a hearty laugh and clapped Seth on the back. "So, I see by your Kirlia that you're a trainer. You up for a quick battle, or do you want to rest first?"
"I don't mind...as long as I can sit down. I'm not using Kyra though. She's as exhausted as I am, the poor thing," Seth pet Kyra's hair gently, the Kirlia panting as well.
"I figured as much. Why don't you use your Vibrava then?" Nick asked with a grin.
Seth blinked. "My what?"
"Your Vibrava. You know, the one that's hovering over in that tree, watching you like a mother hen," Nick repeated, Seth's seeming ignorance causing him to wrinkle his brow in confusion.
"Huh?" Seth turned around to see that same insect pokémon from before, sitting atop a tree branch. "Wh—I can't believe it. It followed me through the volcano."
"It's not yours? I thought it must be—you don't see Vibrava up this far north," Nick reasoned. "You say it followed you?"
"It has been ever since I decided not to go to the desert," Seth answered. "So it's called a Vibrava?"
"That's right. It's no surprise it went through the volcano; Vibrava are resistant to the heat. It's the cold they don't like," Nick explained. "Say, if it's not yours, why don't you catch it? It's clearly interested in you. Considering it followed you for...how long?"
"Over a week at this point," Seth admitted. He glanced up at the Vibrava. He never even thought about catching it, but he supposed it wouldn't be a bad idea. Once he found Summer's family, he'd be down a pokémon. Furthermore, if he was to continue with his league challenge, he was certain he'd need more than two pokémon. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."
"Go for it, man. I'll even let you test it out against me in battle," Nick encouraged him with a gracious dip of his head.
"Thanks," Seth reached down to his bag and retrieved one of the few empty pokéballs he owned that had been gathering dust ever since he bought them. However, before he tried to throw it, he glanced at Kyra. "What do you think?"
Kyra gave him a smug smile at first, the meaning of which he couldn't determine. However, she eventually shrugged, ambivalence flowing through their link. That settled it; she didn't care one way or the other.
"Okay, let's give this my best throw!" Seth brought his arm back, planted his dominant foot forward, and threw with all his might. The pokéball soared through the air in an arc, the evening sun glinting off of its glossy surface.
The Vibrava spotted the ball coming and leaped just to the side before conjuring up a small cloud of sand that slowed the ball's approach. Just as Seth thought he was going to have to try again, the Vibrava tapped the button on the ball with a claw and allowed itself to be captured by the ensuing flash of light. Seth watched the ball fall to the ground, perplexed.
"You weren't kidding. It really was interested in me," Seth commented while retrieving the pokéball from where it fell. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Doesn't it? Some wild pokémon actively seek out bonds with people for company or friendship," Nick explained. He reached for his belt and withdrew his own pokéball. He tapped the button and released a large Graveler, the living boulder clutching hefty rocks in each of its four hands. "You said it followed you. Maybe it liked what it saw from you."
"Maybe," Seth wouldn't know one way or the other. He'd have to rely on Kyra to get any idea of what his new pokémon was thinking. He released his newly captured Vibrava into the air, where it hovered a few feet away from him. It turned to look at him, gazing at him wordlessly. Seeing it up close, it was larger than he'd expected—it was as long as his torso, and it actually appeared to be more reptilian than insectoid. "Uh. Hey there. I'm Seth, and this is Kyra."
The Vibrava tilted its head, giving no response to his introduction.
"Right, okay." Seth trailed off awkwardly. Kyra closed her eyes, and through her, Seth felt the Vibrava's emotions. The pokémon seemed happy and excited, though it was unclear as to why that was. "Well, welcome to the team. We can talk further in a bit—first, could you show me what you can do against that Graveler?"
The Vibrava emitted a low rumble from its throat, and then it turned around to face its opponent. As it did so, Seth took a glance beneath its tail, noticing a small hole there: a cloaca. The Vibrava was a female. Seth sat down upon the ground a good distance away and let Kyra rest in his lap, the two of them taking this chance to rest.
"Alright, let's do this. Rock throw, Grav!" Nick called out. Grav roared out a challenge and hurled all four of its rocks one after the other at the Vibrava.
The Vibrava lazily flew around each rock without expending much effort at all in a display of speed and agility, and then to Seth's surprise, it dove straight down to the ground and then burrowed through it with ease, its legs and mouth moving in a blur of yellow.
"Uh oh," Nick emitted with alarm. Grav slammed the ground beneath its feet, anticipating that the Vibrava would emerge from directly beneath it. Instead, the earth cracked a few feet away from Grav, the Vibrava poking her head above the ground. She chittered loudly, getting Grav's attention.
Just as Grav turned around in alarm, the Vibrava lifted its head slightly, and the earth erupted in a blast of sand and rock from beneath it, knocking it off its feet and into the air. The Vibrava then followed up by summoning streams of sand from the ground and manipulating them like whips, the sand slapping Grav over and over, leaving abrasions upon the rocky pokémon's surface.
"Don't underestimate my Graveler!" Nick called out. Grav let out a grunt of exertion and released a shockwave from its body, blowing the sand away. As it fell to the ground, Graav conjured up six glowing rocks and sent them at the Vibrava all at once with a simple gesture.
The Vibrava leaped out of the ground and into the air to avoid the rocks, but they changed trajectory on the spot to follow her. Yet even despite this, she didn't seem perturbed; she executed a swift U-turn in midair and zoomed directly at Grav, the rocks following her closely behind.
The Vibrava rotated its body upwards and slashed downward against Grav with both legs. While the legs themselves simply bounced harmlessly off of the rocky skin, the claws of sand that were left behind by that action sliced into Grav painfully and knocked it off balance just long enough for Vibrava to dive beneath its legs. The rocks then crashed into Grav all at once, shattering upon impact.
Even as Grav struggled to recover, the Vibrava rose into the air, the reptile appearing to concentrate. Streams of sand rose from the ground and converged together around Grav, forming a dense sphere of sand that gradually shrunk in diameter around it, ripping and stripping away at its rocky exterior.
The Vibrava clenched its talons, and the sphere shrunk until it became a solid ball of sand. There was the sound of a crunch, and then the sand fell away to reveal a thoroughly defeated Grav, the pokémon completely knocked out cold. The Vibrava alighted upon its surface and proceeded to clean the dirt out of her wings nonchalantly.
"That—" Seth began.
"—was hardly fair," Nick finished for him. He whistled appreciatively and recalled Grav. The Vibrava, deprived of her resting place, fluttered its wings and flew down to Seth's side. "I've never been so thoroughly trounced. Type-advantages aside, you've got yourself a gifted pokémon. You didn't even have to give it any orders. I'm actually jealous."
"I don't typically give orders in battle. I like to prepare beforehand and then let my pokémon call the shots," Seth explained to him. He glanced at the Vibrava. "You're right though. A pokémon with control over the sand like that...that's really cool."
"For real," Nick shook his head with a smile. "Are you going to name it?"
"Of course. I can't just call it by its species name all the time," Seth responded. He gazed at the Vibrava pensively for several minutes. In the end, no matter how hard he thought, his mind always went back to the image of her control over the sand. "I think I'll call her Cairo."
"After the desert city? That seems appropriate," Nick clicked his tongue approvingly, even as the Vibrava blinked slowly in acknowledgment. "Anyway, let's go get some food. I'm sure the other two are done battling by now."
"Do you happen to have some spare water I can use as well? I hate to impose, but I'm running low and I want to clean off," Seth asked. He didn't want to abuse Princess more than he had to.
"Yeah, sure. No wonder you're low. You did come through the volcano. I'm honestly shocked you made it through." Nick remarked. "Come on, I'll show you."
Seth nodded gratefully and followed the man back to where his tents were pitched.
After spending the night at the campsite with them, Seth returned to the road, deep in thought about how to train his new pokémon. There was so much to think about when trying to integrate a new pokémon into his team: the pokémon's personality, its abilities, its likes and dislikes, and so on and so forth.
Thus, after a night traveling uphill over grassy and wooded ridges, Seth decided to rest in the middle of a forested clearing set on a small incline. Then, he released his pokémon out one at a time until all four of them were present.
"Hey, all of you. I just wanted to introduce you to the new member of the team," Seth addressed his pokémon. He indicated Cairo, the flying reptile looking between them with curiosity. "This is Cairo; she's been following us since the desert, so I figured I might as well make it official."
Summer promptly hid behind Princess's sizable coils, while the latter leaned down until her nose was level with Cairo's face. Cairo simply blinked slowly, a motion that Princess reciprocated. Seth didn't quite understand what that meant, but it didn't seem as though they were antagonized by each other.
"Cairo, I think I should be honest with you as well," Seth began, but then he had a thought. "Hold on—Kyra, can she understand me?"
Kyra paused for a moment, her fins briefly glowing. She was quiet for a moment, and then she nodded, emitting a small coo.
"Okay. That's good, at least. It's hard to tell because she doesn't really have a way to show emotion," Seth replied. He turned his attention back to Cairo. "We're taking the Pokémon League Challenge, which involves a lot of battles like the one you just engaged in. There's no real threat of permanent injury there, but I also know it's not fun for pokémon who don't like to battle."
Cairo blinked, seeming unperturbed. Or at least Seth thought she was unperturbed. All she could do was blink, so he didn't know what to take from that.
"More importantly...we're about to tangle with a group of criminals. It could get dangerous. Kyra, Princess, and I only made it out from our last encounter with a similar group thanks to the whims of their leader. I don't know if Team Magma will be as merciful if we fail." Seth had to suppress a shudder at the memory. He still had nightmares about how close they'd been to being seriously hurt, or even killed. "My point is, you don't have to stay if you don't want to take the risk. I completely understand."
Cairo blinked and emitted a small chitter, but otherwise didn't move.
"I—I don't know what that means. Kyra, help?" Seth turned to his partner, who just rolled her eyes with a smile. Her fins glowed, and a sense of excitement and a budding desire to stay with him flowed through to him. "Wow, that's not as vague as I'm used to. Is your ability to read emotions getting stronger?"
Kyra shrugged, still smiling.
"Either way, thanks, Cairo. In return for staying with me, I'll make sure to take care of you," Seth promised. "For now, I need to know what you can do…but we can do that after we set camp. Kyra, can you handle the tent? I'm off to go gather firewood."
From there, the team of five worked together to set up camp. In the process, Seth learned that Cairo possessed powerful wings and a strong grip, the reptile proving able to lift logs as large as itself with only a slight reduction in speed.
Once they were set up, Seth had Cairo train with Princess, the latter being his usual choice for training due to her resilience. Then, he instructed Cairo to do whatever she could to take Princess down.
"Wow, she's fast," Seth observed as he lay upon a makeshift chair of crushed branches and leaves. Cairo wove circles around Princess, weaving in and out of the streams of water the latter sent her way. Her greatest advantage was her flight, proving to be as agile as the insect Seth originally thought her to be. However, he quickly discovered that she couldn't fly for very long. After a short time, she'd have to land and rest.
Her control over the earth was equally impressive. Cairo could reduce the earth around her to fine sand and manipulate it at will, which she used for both offense and defense. Granted, its defensive capabilities were limited against Princess's water due to type advantage, but Seth could see that sort of tactic proving very useful against normal opponents.
Furthermore, when she was on the ground, she could cause it to quake to a minor degree, which while useless against Princess, could probably slow down any other opponents she faced, as they'd be forced to adjust their footing.
While Cairo practiced with his other pokémon, Seth pondered over his team composition. Despite Summer's eventual departure, Seth knew he'd need her should the worst case occur and he was forced into battle with Team Magma, who likely wouldn't play fair. Seth mulled over various potential strategies and tactics to use with all of his pokémon out at once.
He couldn't risk being caught unprepared again.
A day later, the first strands of ash began to fall in Seth's path. It was subtle at first. He felt a pattering on his hair and clothes, prompting him to reach up with a hand. When he felt a scattering of tiny rough objects between his fingertips, he withdrew his hand with a few of them and inspected them. In his palm were tiny pieces of rock, sand, and what looked to be glass, each piece no larger than two millimeters.
The further Seth walked, the more the ash rained down upon him. Seth looked up into the sky to see the massive plume of smoke that rose from the volcano on a daily basis. It soon blocked the sun, dropping the temperature drastically and prompting him to change into long pants and a long-sleeved shirt that had the benefit of protecting his fair skin from the rough ash.
Before long, the falling ash became constant, looking almost like grey snow as it rained from the sky and piled up in the grass or in small drifts. Everywhere he walked, a puff of loose ash rose from his surroundings, irritating Seth's nose and eyes.
"I've decided I hate volcanoes," Seth grumbled to himself as he climbed over an ash-ridden ridge with his climbing gear. He immediately regretted complaining as some ash got in his mouth. "Blech!"
"You know, I used to be obsessed with them," Seth shared as he helped Kyra up onto the ridge. He took a moment to dust his clothes free of excess ash and then continued his trek. "Volcanoes were fascinating to me as a kid. I remember I got in trouble a lot with the librarian because I kept checking out that one book about disasters week after week. She said I never let anyone else have it."
"I don't know what it was about them. Perhaps it was how dangerous they were. Or maybe it was because I was fascinated in nature as a whole; how it could wipe out all humans have built just like that." Kyra listened to Seth with interest as he kept talking. He wrinkled his nose and sneezed. "That said, I think I prefer looking at them from behind the pages of a book. How the heck can anything live out here!?"
Despite his irritation, many pokémon did in fact live out here, some of whom he'd never seen before. Shielding his Pokédex, he managed to scan a group of odd rabbit-like pokémon that moved around in such an erratic manner that he couldn't predict their movements. It was called Spinda, and it disoriented Seth just by looking at its silly movements.
His most exciting encounter occurred not long after seeing the group of Spinda. Seth had just passed out of a particularly ashy patch of grass when a shadow passed overhead. The sheer size of the shadow caused his eyes to bug out. Seth leaped for the safety of a nearby tree and hid behind it just as a magnificent Skarmory swooped down from the skies and alighted upon a branch of a tree several meters away.
Seth knew what it was of course—sometimes on the off chance he'd watch the trainer channel in Olivine, he'd spot Falkner of Violet City using his to great effect. The bird was gigantic, standing nearly two meters tall. Light glinted off of its silvery sharp wings and its metallic armor as it surveyed the surrounding land.
The Skarmory suddenly pounced upon one of the surrounding Spinda, grabbing it in its talons and taking to the skies with its prey with a triumphant screech. Once it was gone, Seth stepped out from his hiding place and whistled.
"Some pokémon are just scary. I wouldn't want to tangle with something like that if I didn't have to," Seth admitted, watching the Skarmory fly away. He turned back towards the path. "Come on, Kyra. We can't be too much further from town."
Seth breathed a sigh of relief as he finally reached the other end of the rain of ash, the town of Fallarbor looming in the distance. His body and clothes were thoroughly coated with the irritating substance. He bent over and ran his hands through his hair, dislodging a veritable shower of ash. He groaned in misery, recognizing that there was no way he'd get all of it out like this.
"That's it. The first thing I'm doing when we get there is taking a long shower!" Seth complained loudly.
Fallarbor Town was significantly smaller compared to the other locations he'd visited. It was a sleepy farming community with buildings that barely rose above six stories at most, with most of its structures built around its large swaths of farmland, in which hardy fruit trees and legumes were planted, benefiting from the fertile soil caused by the nearby volcano.
"Let's see," Seth picked up a brochure from an informational center and thumbed through it with interest. "Mostly farming sites here, but there are some old shrines to Groudon here. Might be worth visiting just for the cultural benefit. Then, further north we can see the Homeward Bay—ooh there's an art museum and a contest hall."
"Here we go. Earth First Geological Studies," Seth pointed his finger to the relevant description on the brochure. "Owned by Professor Takao Cozmo. Hm...it's a private business. It doesn't seem like he takes visitors, either. It might be difficult to meet with him."
Seth spotted a nearby hotel and closed the brochure. "However, that's tomorrow's problem. For now, it's late and I'm covered in ash." He glanced down at Kyra, noticing the ash coating her skirt and tangled hair. "Hah, and so are you. Come on, let's get some rest."
When he stepped into the hotel and made his way to the lobby, the receptionist glanced at him just long enough to see the ash covering him. She smiled sympathetically. "Came from Mauville City, did you?"
"That hard to tell?" Seth returned, matching her smile. "A room for one, please. Preferably a suite if you have one. I get the feeling I'll be spending a lot of time in the bathroom tonight."
The receptionist giggled at that and pressed a few buttons on a tablet. "I'm sure. I'll drum up a suite for you then. You're in luck; usually, those are taken first thing, but with all the rockslides and sandstorms, traffic from Mauville has dried up."
"That isn't normal?" Seth questioned curiously."
"Not at all. It's gotten worse lately, though no one really knows why. Our town hall is keeping an eye on Mt. Chimney. If the quakes get worse, they say they might start considering an evacuation," she explained. "There, you're all set. Here's your room key."
"Thanks for the information. Please excuse me, I'm going to get clean now," Seth said to her.
"Go ahead. Maybe then I'll get to see the boy underneath all that ash!" She called after him with a hint of playfulness in her voice. Seth glanced back at her just in time to see her wink.
"Not this time," Seth said both to himself and to Kyra as he stepped into the bathroom of his suite and began to undress, doing his best not to imagine what the receptionist would have been like in bed. "I need as much rest as I can get, and I don't have time in the morning for any...erm...sex."
"The only thing I have time for is getting clean." Seth stepped into the shower and stepped beneath the running water, sighing in relief. The water falling from his body turned a sickly shade of grey from the ash coating his body. After the initial rinse, he stepped aside to allow Kyra to rinse the ash off as well. "I just don't understand how it gets everywhere so easily."
He glanced down at Kyra, noticing how she gazed up at him happily as the water rolled down her face. He sighed and bent down long enough to pick her up and lift her to eye level. Seth caved in and kissed her on the lips, holding her small body close to his in the warmth of the shower.
"Maybe I have time for a little affection."
Author's Note:
This one is a little shorter than normal, but I don't want to get into what happens next just yet. After all, up next is Meteor Falls and Mt. Chimney. I'm so hyped to introduce Maxie, and bring back Archie! I also get to show some new characters and explore Magma's philosophy. I hope you'll enjoy all the changes to the story's flow that I have planned as well!
And now we have pokemon number four of Seth's team! Cairo the Vibrava! I just cannot wait until it inevitably involves, then that tail is 100% going to get plowed. Flygon is the cutest and most precious lizard girl. Though speaking of tails getting plowed, just wait until Seth meets this next character...uwu.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment if you made it this far! Tell me all your naughty fantasies for the future!