Luka hobbled forwards, clutching a gnarled stick like a cane covered in twigs and leaves and looking ready to pass out. "How long since we saw civilisation?" Luka croaked to his loyal companion.
Quill glanced behind him. "About fifteen minutes," he said, still able to see the buildings. He didn't believe Luka was tired for a second, he remembered how they met. He couldn't forget.
Luka groaned, looking ready to pass out and die on the ground. Before he could drop entirely a new voice interjected. "Is she okay?" Eyes were drawn to a venipede crawling up to them, concern in her voice.
Quill went to reassure her but Luka screamed, "OH MY GAWD, THAT BUG IS GIGANTIC!" And then bolted off as fast as he could into the trees.
Quill watched him go and sighed, "No," he answered the venipede before racing off after him.
"Luka? Luka? Luka?" Quill called, cursing how his 'trainer' could be so slow and ponderous one moment and then racing like a rapidash another moment.
He worried he might lose him and stopped to sniff the air.
"Aaaa!" He heard distant screaming.
"Or that," Quill said to himself and bolted off in the direction of the screams. He came across a sight that would never leave his mind.
Luka on his knees, getting the absolute stuffing being slapped out of him by a jigglypuff. The cracks of its little nub against Luka's face was inexplicably loud and sweat and fur were being pounded off the helpless audino.
"Hey!" Quill yelled, drawing its attention. Luka made a sound and collapsed onto his back. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" the jigglypuff snapped back.
"Well. Why?" He could think of several reasons why Luka might be getting beaten up by a jigglypuff but he didn't want to voice them just in case.
For a moment the jigglypuff stared at him and then rubbed its… chin? "Hm. I dunno. Seemed like a fun thing to do. It was a fun thing to do! You should do it too!"
"No!" Quill said, burying that urge before it could rise. "No," he said again. "Leave him alone."
"Why should I?"
"He's my-" Quill paused. Was this the first time he'd really said it to another pokemon? He knew the words, they felt strange on his tongue. "Trainer," he wobbled out, sounding deeply uncertain.
"Your trainers?" The jigglypuff asked, emphasising the s.
"Not trainers. Trainer."
It stared at him.
He stared back.
It slowly began to inflate. "I think you're making fun of me!" it squeaked in building fury. "You wanna know what I do to people who make FUN of me?"
"...leave alone and never bother?"
"I destroy."
Then, the jigglypuff was squealing, charging him. It had inflated so much he feared it'd explode on impact and he froze, part in horror, part in the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.
"Quill!" He heard a voice, but it sounded so far away. "DOOOODGE!"
He moved automatically, trusting the voice to lead him to safety. He dove to the left. The jigglypuff, like a crocodile, could not change directions so easily and thus collided with the tree he was standing in front of.
The tree trunk broke, a terrible snapping sound of splintering wood and bursting sap before the tree began to fall.
It began to fall towards Luka who scrambled out of the way, flailing his arms to block some of the branches that clipped him.
The jigglypuff, having totalled one tree, snorted and turned around, puffing up again.
"Burn it!" Luka yelled.
"That thing has got to be super damn strong!" Quill yelped back.
"Burn the tree!"
He wasn't sure what the logic was but he obeyed, sending a blast of flickering flames at the hanging branches all around. They ignited swiftly, crawling along the dried bark of the tree.
Luka grabbed a branch and tore it free, almost falling over as he found his strength a little more than he was anticipating, or perhaps the tree was very weak. He brandished the smoking branch, waving it back and forth until it properly ignited. "Aha!" he crowed. "I have a weapon now, the burning branch! This will give me enough power to smite you, foul jigglypuff. Surrender now or meet your fate!"
Quill stared at him in building confusion as Luka's tone began more and more grandiose until he sounded like some sort of stuffy old king declaring war upon a neighbouring country.
Jigglypuff looked to Quill. "Is he crazy?"
Quill nodded.
It took a step back. "I don't deal with crazy."
"That's right, fearmongerer," Luka continued. "Flee like the coward you are, your family legacy forever stained by your misdemeanours this day!"
Jigglypuff's eyes narrowed. "I changed my mind."
It began to inflate yet again, even more so this time. To the point, it could barely move without losing puffs of air, yet its body trembled like a volcano about to erupt. Quill tensed, stepping back but he saw Luka wink at him.
"You have chosen poorly this day," he said, still intoning grandly. "Quill. Annihilate it."
"How am I supposed to do that!"
"Do the thing."
"What thing?"
"You know."
"I really don't."
As they bickered, the wigglytuff began to roll towards Luka, taking its chance at the distracted sack of EXP.
"LOOK OUT!" Quill yelped.
Luka glanced back at the encroaching Double Edge and went, "Oh yeah."
The fire had burned the fluffy parts of the branch off before sputtering out against the healthier wood. Leaving Luka with a surprisingly sturdy club that he swung at the jigglypuff calling, "CATCH!"
He hit it like a softball.
At Quill.
He yelped and didn't move as the flying ball of doom flattened him and Jigglypuff bounced off, hitting several trees with several, "Ooofs!" Before deflating face-first against a tree trunk and sliding down.
Luka gasped in horror and raced to his starter's side. "Quill? Quill talk to me, buddy? Quill?"
Quill groaned in pain.
"Oh, Quill." Luka bent his head. "Why didn't you doooodge?"
Quill blew a spark at him.
"You're okay!" Luka hugged him.
"I guess," Quill groaned, leaning up. Luka steadied him with those healing paws of his and began to float some healing energy waves into him. It didn't help the headache much but the bruised ribs felt a little less bruised.
"Where are we?" Luka asked as he dug around for any berried he'd stolen on their way out of the city. He found a suspicious oran and handed it to Quill.
"Route 2," Quill said, chewing with his mouth open.
The jigglypuff was stirring.
"EXP stealing menace," Luka growled darkly. "Let's go, Quill. The path is this way!"
"Is it?"
"Yes," Luka said with ironclad conviction and began to lead him, seeming no worse the wear from his beating.
They walked a couple minutes, getting significantly more lost, until Quill asked, "What's wrong with bugs? They're fine people."
"Bugs are not-" Luka began before he froze, doing calculations in his head. He shuddered three times. "Oh no they are."
He shuddered again in the type of discomfort usually reserved for picking a cold wet towel up from the floor and wrapping it around you, drenching you in its stale musky liquid until you could not do anything but be united with your uncomfort.
Or bugs, lots of bugs crawling up and down your body getting into every crevice and orifice and laying eggs and-
"Uhghghgh," Luka shuddered again. "Bugs are the worst. And did you SEE the size of that monstrosity? It was bigger than my chest!"
"It was a venipede," Quill replied, highly thrown by this terribly disrespectful behaviour. "And she was concerned about you."
"About eating my eyes and laying eggs in the eyeholes," Luka growled.
Quill grimaced at him. "There is something new wrong with you every time you open your mouth."
"You didn't live where I lived," Luka replied heavily. "Spiders. Everywhere."
Quill blinked. "There's a galvantula right ove-"
"NOPE!" Luka immediately ran in the other direction and Quill snorted to himself.
"No, Luka, I was kidding, slow down!"
"I DO NOT TRUST!" Luka called back. "The woods are the domain of the bug and I will not STAND for this! BURN THE FOREST DOWN!"
Quill caught up to him, panting for breath as Luka's ears swivelled in every direction.
"Alright," Quill wheezed. "First of all. No. Second of all, no. Third of all, this isn't a forest, it's not really even woods it's just… plant."
"As if you would know," Luka retorted. "How old are you again?"
"Smarter than you it seems."
"Who had the great idea to club the jigglypuff with a stick?"
"Who had the great idea to run off into the woods!"
"Aha! You confirm it's woods! Checkmate."
Quill cocked his head. "What's a checkmate? I'm going to hope it's not what I think."
"What do you?" Luka stopped, his face pulling into a disgusted grimace. "Ugh. It's a chess term."
"A what term?"
"Chess term."
"A chess what?"
"Chess turn!"
"You just said Chess turn."
"Because I knew you were listening and were just needling me! Point two to Luka, you're lagging behind, two more points and I win the game."
"What game."
"Tennis," Luka sighed.
"When were we playing tennis?"
"We are always playing tennis!"
They continued to bicker as they walked on through the aggressive wilds of Unova Route Two.
"Why is real life so big!" Luka moaned loudly, trudging along the dirt trail. "Next order of business when I become Unova's godlike but merciful king is to invest in some public transport. Put it on the list, Quill."
"Okay."
Luka immediately looked to him with suspicion. "That's oddly agreeable for you."
"I think it's a good idea," Quill replied.
Luka's eyes narrowed further. "Who are you and what have you done with Quill?"
Quill blew a spark at him, igniting part of his fur and reassuring Luka it was still his best little buddy. "I'm debating if it's easier to go along with your insanity."
"Now-now," Luka tutted, patting his chest free of fire. "It's not right to feed into insanity. It's also not right to directly deny it, but going along with it doesn't make anything better for anyone."
Quill was staring at him then as if he had pie on his face or had grown a third arm out of his elbow. "...what?" he managed.
"I'm not saying I'm crazy," Luka swiftly said, leaving Quill relieved that he hadn't been replaced by an imposter. "Just in general, y'know?"
"I don't get it," Quill said. "You want me to argue?"
"I don't want a sycophant," Luka replied, patting him condescendingly on the head. "What I want is some damned public transport!" His eyes lit up and he gasped, "Idea!"
"I already don't like the sound of this."
"No, no, it's perfect. Genius even."
"Liking it even less…."
"Braviary! Let's copy Galar's thing. Wait, does Galar do this yet?"
Quill opened his mouth. "First. What thing? Two. What's Galar?"
"Does Galar exist?" Luka asked in horror. "I want to kick Leon in the shins so bad! When I'm Champion he'll have to talk to me too! And no one will believe Champion Luka could be violent, it'll make him look Crazy with a capital C!"
Quill rubbed his face. "Back to public transport please," he said weakly.
"Oh yeah. We'll stick people in horrible metal cages and braviary will fly them all around. They'll make a killing, you wouldn't believe how much people would pay to be flown around by braviary. It's like the national pokemon of Unova! Probably. And we can confirm it's a good and safe trip."
"It wasn't good or safe."
"He saved our lives, Quill. Don't be a contrarian for the sake of it. That's just as bad as a sycophant. Go back to agreeing with me."
Desperate for an out, Quill pointed. "Is that a travelling trainer?" he blurted out.
"WHERE!?" Luka screeched, spinning around eyes wide and scanning. Route 2 was a lot longer than the games, or even the anime, made it seem like it was. It was really boring too, a dirt road ringed by woods that basically went straight and nothing else.
Maybe it was the fact that Luka's legs made about the third the stride of a human at best and he had to slow down for Quill on top of it. Maybe he was just an impatient person.
Luka was on the hunt for an enemy to crush that wasn't a bug because he knew that was a fight he was not going to win.
"There's gotta be a local Youngster Joey somewhere around here," Luka had said proudly. "And you're way better than a top percentage rattata or patrat or whatever the hell crawls around in Unova.
"It's patrat."
"I knew it!"
Yet, not a trainer to be seen or a child to bully for their lunch money.
"Quill," Luka whined, slumping over him dramatically. "Why'd you lie to me?"
"Get off me," Quill grumbled, squished under pink and audino.
"Quillllll."
"Yes, Luka?"
Luka suddenly jolted off him. "I hear something," he said, his ears swivelling around, sharper than his eyes could be.
The mechanisms of a pokemon's body were fascinating to Luka. He could hear so much. Compared to what he was before, it was like he was deaf and now could hear. Not only could he hear so much more than before, but he could pick apart things by the sounds so much more finely.
A crackle of a stick could be triangulated in his head to give him a pretty clear idea of its position, how far it was from him. By listening to footsteps in the town they had come from, he could make a prediction of how fast it would take someone to reach them at the speed they were going.
He was eager to develop these skills more but there were too many things that needed to be addressed first and foremost. Thus, his hearing was left to simmer, slowly taking in things around him.
After travelling through the town, he guessed the sound of footsteps trampling through the woods to their left was a human. Two thumps alerted him to the bipedal nature of the stranger and the rougher, pounding, nature left him thinking of heavy boots.
His prediction was proven correct a few moments later when a nerd stumbled his way out of the trees.
"Wait a minute, that's not a nerd," Luka said to himself.
A vastly different feeling welled up in him than the emotion he had experienced upon seeing Ghetsis. Ghetsis had inspired rage and disgust and a vow in his heart to punch him in the dick.
Seeing Cheren however….
"That's a pokemon trainer alright," Luka said, soft in a way that drew Quill concern. He looked at his audino trainer, taking in the strange expression he wore. Rather than the eager bloodlust he was expecting, Luka looked reserved, thoughtful, like he was somewhere else at the moment.
Cheren wiped his face with a handkerchief, clearing sweat that had built by his off-track hiking endeavour before spotting them.
"An audino," he said, eyes lighting up behind his spectacles. He spotted Quill a moment later and his eyebrows rose. "Cyndaquil too? Here?"
He looked from Quill to Luka and found himself frozen when he met Luka's eyes. They weren't the innocent baby blue of a normal audino. Their irises were still blue but most of its eye was white, and a little crazy if he was being honest with himself.
Wearing a shaggy trainers bag as well.
Cheren blinked the moment off as the audino pointed a paw at him and began motor-mouthing something while pointing defiantly at him with its paw. The cyndaquil glanced at the audino with a long-suffering expression before sighing and shuffling forward.
"Quuuiiiil!" the cyndaquil cried, back blazing into fire. Cheren's heartbeat began to pound as he realised it was challenging him to a battle.
He hadn't found anything off-track that interested him, besides a purrloin a little earlier, but this was something else. He noticed how the audino didn't join its companion, lowering its arm and standing proudly, eyes firmly locked on him, however.
If he didn't know any better, it reminded him of how a trainer appeared when they were commanding their pokemon.
Cheren raised a pokeball containing his new partner. Type advantage or not, he knew he had the strategic mind to overturn that advantage. Either way, this would be great practice for the upcoming gym, he had done his research and knew he would be facing Chili anyway.
"Sven, it's time for battle!" He threw the pokeball and it activated, popping open to spill a wave of white energy that swiftly formed into his snivy partner.
Sven gave a wordless cry as he emerged and fell into a combat stance, eyeing up what was in front of him with an eye just as keen as Cheren's own.
He did glance back at Cheren though. "Two on one?" he asked, not that Cheren would understand that.
"Uh nuh-nuh-nuh." Sven glanced back at the voice, seeing the audino shaking his paw. "I'm not fighting. Quill is! You're going down. Who's called Sven anyway? Am I right, Quill?"
"I'm Sven," Sven replied.
"I'm, it's meant to, shut up." Luka breathed out a hot breath. "I'll work on the trash talk, okay?"
"Think about the battle not trash-talking please," Quill yelped as Cheren commanded his first attack.
"Leer!"
Sven the snivy pulled an expression so wretched that it sent a shiver up Luka's spine and he shook his head as Quill made a face, trying to blink the bizarre effect cascading over him off.
It was followed up immediately with a whip-like vine, striking Quill in the face.
"How dare you! Quill, attack back!"
"With what?"
Sven hit him again with a vine whip, knocking Quill off his feet and rolling around.
"Alright!" Cheren cheered privately to himself. He drew out a pokeball but then the cyndaquil was up.
"FIRE BLAST!" Luka declared dramatically.
Quill didn't move. "I don't know that attack," he said flatly.
A third vine whip struck him.
"Do you need to be TOLD to dodge!?" Luka barked as Quill yelped, cradling a leg now. "Ember!"
Quill breathed in and blew out a cloud of flames at the snivy. It too did not move away from the approaching fire and winced as embers popped against its body with a force that little flames should not have.
"Everything explodes doesn't it?" Luka mused to himself as the snivy went rolling.
Quill rubbed his leg as Cheren quickly returned Sven.
"Powerful," Cheren said, pushing his glasses back.
"We won! He has to give us money now!"
"Mya!" Cheren called, sending another pokemon out.
"Hey!" Luka called. "I only have one. Whatever, Quill-"
A purrloin manifested, licking her paw immediately. She didn't wait for an order, spotting weakness in the cyndaquil before her and lashing out faster than even those vines had whipped.
A nasty Scratch cutting fur off Quill as she slashed him but didn't stop, racing forwards as Luka realised what the problem with dodging was.
She was coming for him now and he could not think, could not move, he froze up as she struck his leg in kind, searing pain shooting up his leg as if he'd just gotten a serrated knife to the leg and he staggered.
The pain was strangely grounding, however, his heart rate skyrocketed and his breathing began to race, but his mind cleared and he looked around. There was no weapon but there was a cyndaquil turning.
"Flamethrower!" he called.
Quill took a heavy breath in, smoke pouring out his nose. Mya's eyes widened and she darted as Quill unleashed the fire.
It missed, unfortunately.
The heat curled Luka's fur and he recoiled, fire scorching the dirt in front of him
"Woah," Cheren murmured. "Mya, focus on Cyndaquil."
"Again!" Luka called but Quill needed to take a few breaths to regain himself, his fire being tapped for a few seconds as Mya leapt in again with the wrath of a cat denied wet food.
Fur was being scratched off but the slashes of whitened energy were not cutting into Quill's body thankfully, whatever pokemon magic was involved in the attacks it seemed to step back from doing genuine damage to Quill.
He was being overwhelmed and Luka spluttered out. "Headbutt!"
Quill's skull cracked off Mya's and they both recoiled with a cry of pain. Luka cringed, choosing an action that hurt Quill was maybe not the brightest move. Still, he had braced for it better and his eyes popped open, the smoke had built again and his burners were sparking.
"Flamethrower!" Luka called and Quill unleashed it point-blank.
Mya was blown back by the force of it, flying into the trees.
"Damn," Cheren murmured, swiftly returning her to the ball as well. "It's like the audino is directing it," he mused, fingers itching to start writing thoughts down.
He took Sven's ball back out and sent him out to keep him safe, the snivy shaking his head and frowning from the lingering sting of the Ember. Cheren pulled out a potion and began to apply it as Luka crossed his arms.
"Cheater," he said.
"I," Quill panted. "Don't. Think he. Realises this. Is a trainer. Battle."
Sven glanced over at them in confusion.
"I have the bag!" Luka replied. "And the trainer card. It has my photo! Look." He began to dig through his bag when Cheren primed a pokeball.
"Lu-" Quill yelped before a pokeball hit him on the side of the head.
It activated, snapping open and shone a pale red light across him. Quill grimaced, feeling a faint pull that then popped like a bubble around him. The ball fell inert and Cheren's face dropped.
"Damn," he cursed, Sven grabbing the ball with his vines and dropping it back in Cheren's hands. "You already have a trainer."
"Finally!" Luka cried. "He gets it. I win, fork over your money!"
"Is he crazy?" Sven asked Quill, motioning to Luka with a vine.
"Yeah," Quill sighed. "But he is my trainer."
"I should have guessed," Cheren continued musing quietly. "From the bag and all."
"Ah, validation is-"
"So, where's your trainer?" he asked Quill and Luka stopped cold.
"It's mean to set humans on fire," Luka said to himself. "Really mean. You're not mean. You're great. You're merciful. Show him the card and it'll all be understood. Cheren's smart, he's got glasses."
He found his trainer card and marched up to Cheren. Sven, standing guard, smacked him back with a vine.
"Oww!" Luka gasped, dropping the card. "Asshole."
"I heard you say something about setting him on fire," Sven said dangerously.
"If you really were listening you would have heard it was about NOT setting him on fire."
Cheren continued as he couldn't understand the chattering of the pokemon. "You must have a good one, picking up on orders that well."
"I need no trainer," Luka declared. "Now where is my card?" He spotted it and marched off, his fluffy tail twitching. He picked it up and thrust it up towards Cheren.
Frowning, Cheren didn't take the card as it was smeared with food product and dirt now. "Um."
Luka huffed and began wiping the muck off it. "Damn bugs," he said as if they were at fault. He jutted the card back at Cheren and raised his paw expecting payment for victory.
"Luka," Quill whined, being forgotten to the side.
"Yeah?" Luka asked absentmindedly.
"I'm hurt."
He dropped the card before Cheren could grasp it and rushed to Quill's side. "Oh, fuck," he said, voice sounding guilty. "I completely blanked out. Sorry, Quill." He pressed a careful paw against Quill and summoned that weird well of something in him to cascade him with a Heal Pulse.
As he did so, Cheren seemed to have gathered himself, saying, "Take care you two." He had picked up the card but gave it just a cursory glance.
"Yeah-yeah," Luka grumbled, rolling Quill over and around to get to all the vine-whipped parts and the scratched mess. Mya's attack hadn't drawn blood but there was a shagginess to Quill's fur in places and grazes in his skin underneath.
By the time he was done, he felt like he'd climbed a cliff and his muscles felt heavy. Quill looked right as rain though and that's what really mattered.
"Hang on," Luka groaned, as he looked around. "He ran off without paying!" he gasped, jolting up. "Quill! Get up, he can't get away with that!"
"He doesn't realise you're a trainer too," Quill pointed out.
"He took the card he totally-" Luka froze. "The card. Where is? Oh. Oh no. He took my trainer card! That's it, Cheren you are on my LIST!" He could still see Cheren in the distance and he pointed.
"After him, Quill!"
They had not been able to catch up with Cheren.
Heal Pulse or not, Quill was tired from fighting two pokemon back to back and Luka was puzzling over all the many little things one didn't always think of when playing the pokemon games.
"What's the difference between health, endurance, stamina, and energy?" he pondered out loud.
Quill was slow but didn't complain as they trudged through the streets of Striaton City looking for a place to stop.
"I'm surprised you're not freaking out," he said tiredly.
"I'm pretty sure I know where Cheren is," Luka chirped. "Now, I don't remember much of the game but I am pretty sure that Cheren goes to the trainer school. So, he'll be there. I bet five stupid-named money on it."
Quill was too tired to question this. He yawned frequently, shuffling along until Luka stopped with a sigh. "Quillll," he whined.
"Whaaaat?"
"If you're tired let me carry you," Luka said, offering his arms as if going for a hug.
"I'm okay."
"You look like you're going to drop dead any second now," Luka said, alarming Quill.
Quill looked horrified. "I'm not going to die!" he squeaked.
"I'm making a joke at your shabby physical appearance."
Quill relaxed, slumping a little. "Your jokes make no sense."
"It's alright." Although Luka looked disappointed in him. "You'll learn. Now. Where the hell are we?"
They were in Striaton City, that was about as much as either of them knew. The games for sure did not even come close to the stature of the city. It was a city after all.
The size of the place left Luka pondering the differences between the games he'd played and the anime he had watched. Cheren was there and Team Plasma was where the games placed them, which wasn't the case with the anime.
However, Quill was perfectly sapient as was every other pokemon they'd encountered and the world was far vaster than the games. He wondered if it was simply the needs of the game not reflecting in this reality or if there was something more going on.
"I don't know the manga well enough to make any guesses," he murmured out loud. Quill was the only one who might hear him and he already was not bothering to question it at this point.
Not even about how he knew this was Striaton City despite not being able to read.
Searching for a specific spot based on a game years after playing it while not being able to read the squiggles around him was quickly making Luka realise perhaps his genius had turned into folly.
Quill could see it on the audino's face. The slow dissolving of his naive excitement to darker and darker expressions until Luka whined, "WHERE IS THE TRAINER SCHOOL!?"
"That way."
Luka jumped when a pidove roosting on a lamppost said, gesturing with a wing. "You're really far away though."
"You know?" Luka asked, glancing to Quill. "I forget the local wildlife can talk sometimes." He beamed up at the pidov. "Would you show us where?"
"No."
"What if I said please?"
"What if you give me food?" Pidove replied.
"DEAL!"
"Food first."
"You're giving it our food?" Quill hissed.
Luka patted his bag knowingly, offering a snack. "I'll just us more."
"You do realise not every human city is so close together?" Quill pointed out as the pidove began to fly, circling them before gliding on back the way they came. "Are you sure we can trust them?"
"Do pokemon lie?" Luka asked.
"Of course! What?"
"Are you lying to me now?"
Quill's expression flattened. "No."
"Hmm." Luka rubbed his chin.
"Coo!" Pidove called. "Are you coming or not?"
As it turned out, the pidove lied to them.
"This is a cafe!" Luka shouted through cupped paws as the pidove flew off. "A CAFE IS NOT A PLACE OF LEARNING! IT'S THE PLACE YOU GO TO PRETEND TO STUDY BUT INSTEAD, YOU JUST JUDGE THE CLIENTELE FOR BUYING AVOCADO TOAST EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN NEVER AFFORD IT!"
Luka dropped his paws and shrugged. "If I know anything about linear progression this is probably the gym."
Quill was having difficulty computing what he just said and just nodded to get it over with. The door handle was almost out of reach for Luka but the door itself could be pushed open.
"I knew that," he said after struggling to reach the handle for a minute only to almost fall over when the door swung inwards. "I was just stretching. For the gym, eh?" He grinned as if he just made a joke.
"I don't get it."
And then sighed in sadness. "Gym. Stretching before a workout. It's. Forget it, I'm sad now."
His ears drooped as well. However, as he walked in and looked around he knew this was the place.
"Where are the twinks!?" he called to the cafe. "I will destroy them as they have earned!" He nudged Quill. "You'll probably be forced to fight the water one, but I believe in you. I have a plan."
The sight of the audino squeaking to the café drew smiles and coo's for how cute it was, even cuter with a shy little cyndaquil by its side.
"Naww, they're so cute!"
"I want one."
"Is that a cyndaquil? Woah. I wonder who owns it?"
Luka picked Quill up and held him against him with one arm, glaring at those who professed desire to own Quill. "He is mine. My friend. My loyal companion. Get your binocular eyes off him."
He was clearly getting better at scowling because a few people did look away.
"Eww, an audino."
"WHO said that?" Luka barked, looking around. He found the one who spoke, his ears were magic he could tell where all the noise was coming from. By one of the windows, a small group of humans with just drinks at the moment.
He would have charged after that large-nosed, small-eared, ponyta-face looking asshole had Cilan not stepped in his way.
Tragically, not for Cilan, the grassy-haired gym leader was balancing a few plates as he served. "Lunch!" he called with an extravagant flourish, setting the plates down. "Is served~! Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Remove that audino, please. I don't see a trainer with it."
Luka's glower would melt that human's buck-teethed face had Cilan not mistakenly blocked the path of his glare. He would have withered his grassy head, but Cilan did not deserve that. Yet.
"Why hello and welcome to the Striaton Gym. Would you like a table?"
"Ooh I do like Cilan," Luka said, perking up immediately as the complaining customer scowled back at him. Luka stuck his tongue out and then shook his head.
"Please don't attack him," Quill asked as he was set down.
"Ah, sadly enough I don't have my trainer card," Luka sighed. "I can't actually challenge him yet, so we'll need to go. Be nice and thank the nice waiter, Quill."
Stunned and confused at Luka being safe, sane, and reasonable he gave a worried half bow. Luka then made a long gesture. He raised both paws so Cilan saw, punched a fist into one. Gestured to Quill and himself, took a step back and pointed to Quill, then the rude customer, and then did some shadow boxing, then back to Cilan, but at his foot.
Cilan did not appear to understand but bowed back gracefully anyway. "Always wonderful to have an energetic customer around."
Proudly, Luka marched back out.
"Trainer school here we come! Follow me, Quill, I have figured out where it is."
"Don't get us lost please," Quill asked.
"Trust me. I know what I'm doing."
Dreams of yards….
Luka took a deep inhale as he and Quill stepped off the beaten track and into somewhere that felt… different. Quill swiftly began stepping closer to Luka until he was almost attached to his hip, Luka didn't voice any complaints, his large ears constantly twitching.
Luka had spotted a pidove after leaving the gym and decided it was either their enemy or would know them and they attempted to chase the pidove. But it just flew them out of the bounds of the town and left them lost.
Looking around for a path, Luka decided he knew where they were and began marching forth.
The woods had gone silent the moment they stepped over some hidden threshold. A tingle ran up Luka's spine as they had done so, gnawing at his stomach with a brief feeling he couldn't discern before it faded until he couldn't remember what the feeling felt like, chalking it up to queasiness.
Quill didn't seem to notice the silence, his nose twitching much more than the rest of his body. Luka, however.
"Nice day out," he said conversationally, his voice cutting through the silence like a whip. Quill jumped slightly as if he'd actually cracked one next to him.
"I guess," he said, mouth screwing up as their voices seemed to be lost in the leaves around them. Even the crunch of sticks and leaves underfoot felt vacant, drowned out by the dominant silence all around them.
"So… how's your day going?"
For once, Quill didn't look at him like he was insane. Luka's voice, however weak against the silence around them, was more comforting than listening to his own heart beating.
"Was going okay until now," Quill replied.
"I always appreciate the honesty," Luka chirped.
"Well, I know you're going to charge ahead anyway," Quill murmured. He looked down as Luka flashed a strange look at him, missing it entirely.
Luka clapped a paw over his back lightly, it was an odd motion as he left his paw there as if he was going to rub his back and then just didn't.
"Keep talking," Quill said. "I don't like it being silent."
"Oh! Well, let's start going over the plan I've got in my head about how to destroy every gym in the region. And then the elite four. You'll be amazing against Brycen Man, might need some help for Clay though."
"I can't be your only teammate," Quill said.
"We'll find worthy companions in time."
"Maybe here?"
"Does it sound like anyone is here?" Luka waggled his ears to emphasise and then froze. "Oh."
"What is i-" Quill was muffled by Luka's paw.
"Shh," Luka shushed. His eyes had narrowed and Quill had never seen him look genuinely serious before. The audino's eyes were focused and his ears twitched constantly. He picked Quill up and stuck him on his shoulders before making his way forwards swiftly.
It took a minute before Quill began to pick up on the distant sound that had alerted Luka. He couldn't make out much, just a shrill cry. As they got closer, it sounded pained and he frowned. "What is it?"
"Team Plasma," Luka replied, not bothering with stealth. He could move quickly for an audino and he had the bulk to charge through the undergrowth.
"Ookay?"
"We must be at the Dreamyards."
"There where? And what?"
The sound was getting clearer to Quill and he realised those questions could be saved for later. It wasn't just cries of pain that might come from a Pokemon Battle, but a repeated gasping shriek as if something was being beaten down after it had already been defeated.
What was worse was the scattering of words that Quill could make out. "Please! Stop! Someone! Help!"
"Someone needs our help!" Quill gasped. "Move faster, Luka!"
"Get off my back literally."
Quill leapt forwards, almost throwing Luka onto his back from the force of his jump. He fell into a spine and became a ball of fire scorching a path through the woods.
They emerged to a terrible sight.
The knightly Team Plasma grunts had a munna underfoot, bruised and bloody, tiny wisps of something very darkly purple floating out of the deeper pink patch on its nose along with blood staining its skin.
Tears tracked some hazy lines through the blood, besides a rattly whimper it didn't make any more cries for help.
The Dreamyards themselves were massive, an ancient laboratory lay through the trees. Windows long since shattered and surrendered to the woods, brick and metal lay in pieces being reclaimed by tree roots.
Deeper within, rising in the distance, was a curious dark purple smoke but it was far away and thin, fading to the wind as it rose too high.
Against a tree lay a young lady in an orange and white dress, hair as fine as gold spilling out over her shoulders. She was tied to the tree in vines and screaming at the Team Plasma grunts as tears spilled down her cheeks. An unconscious tepig laying a few feet from her.
"Quill!" Luka called as they leapt into the overgrown clearing. The cyndaquil's fiery entrance had startled the grunts, but one still had the munna underfoot and wasn't backing off. "ATTACK!"
Quill snarled, fire building and smoke pouring from his nose. He didn't attack.
"Quill!" Luka spluttered when his loyal partner didn't immediately rip and tear until it was done. "Attack them!"
Quill jolted. "Attack humans!?"
"Yes attack humans, they're attacking fir-LOOK OUT!"
Quill received a patrat to the nose. A patrat launched from a pokeball quite fast at that. While Quill was more than a match for a common grunt's patrat, he hadn't truly had a chance to rest after battling Cheren and a Heal Pulse wasn't much in the grand scheme of things.
He made an unpleasant sound that had Luka flinch from the crack and was knocked sprawling with the patrat rolling on top of him.
"Flamethrower!" Luka shouted. His order cleared Quill's mind and he unleashed the flames point blank, setting his assailant on fire and launching it into the air.
Neither of them noticed a fourth actor entering their game but Luka heard the sound of paws on earth. He turned just in time to see the purrloin pouncing for him, claws extended.
Just in time to see what clawed him in the face. Another sharp crack as it struck him on the temple, an extra flare of force discombobulating him as if his brain had just been hit like a punching bag.
Luka staggered, his balance deciding it was going on vacation and he tasted dirt and grass. Quill yelped as he spotted the attack. "What do I do?" he called.
"ATTACK IT!" Luka shouted, rolling onto his back. Quill unleashed another Flamethrower but a call to dodge from the grunt had it evading the fire. It smirked at Luka, paw digging into the earth.
It took a cheap shot and flung dirt into his eyes, blinding Luka. Luka yelled, "OOOW!" And staggered to his feet, trying to back away before it came for a third pound of flesh.
"Luka! Luka!"
"Flame Wheel it, Quill!"
"Right!" Quill spun into an unavoidable blaze of force and slammed into the purrloin, dragging a pained screech from it before driving it into the ground where it went limp.
The patrat had already landed, smoking and groaning pitifully.
"Woah!" one of the grunts yelled, sounding like the lady one. "These ones are strong!"
"Catch it quick!" the other shouted. They primed pokeball's. Quill growled, braced and ready. He'd let them hit him since he knew it'd have no effect.
One ball did indeed slam into his skull, leaving a ringing sound in his head from the way-too-hard throw. The capture beam failed to affect him as he knew it wouldn't.
But one didn't throw two balls at a pokemon.
Luka, back turned and trying to wipe the dirt out of his eyes received a Great Ball to the back of the head. "A-Did you jus-"
"LUKA!" Quill screamed as the ball's beam snared Luka and began to change his body from flesh and blood to code as red as blood. Luka had just enough time to fall on his chest and try and crawl out before it ripped him away and the ball snapped shut with a deadly click.
It didn't even hit the ground before Quill hit it.
Panic gripped him in that instant and he surged in a blazing show of fire, slamming into the pokeball at full force. The lock shattered under the force of his fire and the pokeball exploded with force.
Luka was flung with a yelp.
At the grunts, which was a nice change of pace.
They had not a moment to brace for a whole thirty kilograms of audino to crash into them. Flying into them sideways, he clipped both of them in the stomach and knocked them off their feet.
As Quill landed, a fire blazing around his paws and igniting the earth in a show of his power, he looked for Luka.
Over the two pokemon Quill had one-shot, he got a good look at his final KO.
Triple Knockout!
Luka and the two grunts lay in twitching piles and the ever-loyal Quill's first thought was a traitorous, 'This could be weaponised.'
He stamped that thought down immediately, it sounded suspiciously like Luka. Voice and all.
"Quill," Luka groaned, pushing himself up on shaky hands.
"Y-Y-You told me to attack them!" Quill blurted out in panic.
"Good job," Luka said gratefully and offered the prized thumb up.
It was a treasure unlike anything else, and would have moved Quill to tears if there was time to cry.
After pulling himself out of the pile of unconscious humans and rubbing the dirt out of his eyes, Luka took a moment to take in his kingdom.
It was sucky, overgrown, and filled with too many humans. A reflection of his future kingdom, he thought.
"Oh my gosh!" a youthful voice called out. "Uh, help! Help!" They turned to take in the sight of the blond girl tied to the tree.
"It's Bianca!" Luka exclaimed, his eyes lighting up in joy and then a plan. Quill could see the gears turning in his head.
"Are we naming them now?" Quill asked. "What's that one's name?" He nudged one of the grunts.
"Fernando," Luka answered. "But that's actually Bianca! She knows Cheren. I can work with this. Her mind is soft and thus easily malleable. Like dough I can shape it and turn her into bread!" He thought for a moment and then grimaced. "Ugh, I don't like the way that sounds. Quill, don't let me talk without thinking things through, okay?"
Quill's heart leapt. "Um, okay! I'll be vigilant."
"I've already changed my mind."
"TOO LATE!"
As Luka talked and regained his footing, he looked to Munna first. Thankfully it hadn't been hurt further in the battle. "Get Bianca out of the vines," he said. "And keep an eye out for anything that can make vines, because those two certainly couldn't." He nodded to the downed purrloin and patrat.
"I ought to grill them about what they were thinking, following humans that awful," Quill growled as he stomped off towards Bianca.
"Probably what you were thinking listening to Conner," Luka muttered.
"What was that?"
"It was nothing my loyal and brave partner who I cherish very much."
Quill squinted at him with suspicion and then continued on.
"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" Bianca babbled as Quill carefully burned the vines restraining her. She immediately rushed to the downed tepig. "Tepi, are you okay?" She picked him up, fresh tears lining her eyes as she cradled him. "I'm so sorry I wasn't strong enough."
Quill stared at her for a while as she fretted over him, searching around for her bag to get a potion for him. Conner certainly hadn't ever shown concern for them or blamed himself for losing. He wondered what Luka would do if, or when, they lost a battle.
He looked back towards the audino, spotting him laying gentle paws on the munna's battered body.
"I've got you," Luka said softly, paws lighting with that gentle pink light. Munna wasn't entirely unconscious, he could tell. It gave a pained whimper when he reached it, trying to squirm into more of a ball and flinching when he touched it. "You're safe now, they won't hurt you anymore."
His ears were stiff and raised, listening to everything around them. From the breathing of the four defeated Plasma pawns to anything else around them. The unnatural silence helped a lot, although Bianca was quite loud to his sensitive ears.
He was far from an expert on pokemon physiology so he couldn't exactly make any informed calls based on the munna's appearance, but its back legs looked broken and the number of darkening bruises made Luka's stomach clench with outrage.
Its eyes were tightly shut, still whimpering and quivering as he carefully rolled it over, having done what he could for the damage to that side of its body. As a small mercy, the other side was largely untouched. The grunts hadn't a chance to brutalise every inch just yet, he wondered if Bianca's appearance had anything to do with that.
He detected careful footsteps far heavier than Quill's approaching but didn't look away from what he was doing as Bianca asked, "Is she okay?"
Munna's eyes cracked open at the sound of her voice. Luka tensed, not sure how Munna would respond to another human even if Bianca was here to help she clearly wasn't able to be much of it.
"It's okay, she won't hurt you," Luka assured her.
"Sh-she tried to save me," Munna squeaked in a voice left soft and raw from crying and gasping. "She's a good human." She wriggled out of Luka's hold and began to float. She dipped a few times as she did so, akin to someone limping as they tried to walk.
Bianca's eyes were still shiny with tears, following Munna up as she floated. She managed a relieved smile when Munna made a positive sound. "Oh thank goodness," she said, wiping her face with the tail of her tepig. "I was so worried about you."
"Is she your trainer?" Luka asked, getting to his feet.
"No," Munna said. "Mother said humans were bad and to never meet them. I didn't think that was really true until they took her away. They got me when I tried to help her. But this one, she helped me even though she couldn't. The fact that she tried." She carefully floated in and tapped Bianca's forehead with her nose.
Bianca's eyes softened and then went wide in alarm when Munna made a pained sound and began to fall. She caught her, despite her arms being full of tepig already. "Oh no! Munna?"
She was struggling to hold both of them and sank to her knees. Luka got to his feet and maneuvered Tepi out of her arms, rolling him onto his side and beginning to magic up some more healing rays.
Quill found Bianca's bag and was walking over, dragging it behind him as it was bigger than he was.
"Thank you, you two," Bianca said, voice choked with emotion. She brought a potion out and glanced at Luka, deciding he had it in paw she began to spray it over Munna in wide, clumsy, arrays.
Once the immediate injuries were dealt with, Luka pondered the problem of Munna's legs. She had lost consciousness in Bianca's arms, clearly deeming it a safe enough place to stop holding on. Bianca placed Tepi in his pokeball and glared at the unconscious Team Plasma members.
"I cannot BELIEVE these two would do something like this!" Bianca said, fire coming back into her heart. "Team Plasma said they love pokemon! We shall find whoever is in charge of these two and let him know everything they did. This kind of behaviour will not be accepted." She looked ready to kick them, but she was far too polite too.
With her focus on them, she had no idea of what was coming behind her.
Luka, however, heard it in time. "Quill, protect her back!"
Quill burst into action at the word, even though he had no idea what was going on. He intervened just in time to block a vine strike. It smacked at him a few times, Quill bracing with paws over his head.
"Grab the vine!" Luka called. Quill had to take an extra blow over the chin but he successfully caught it and pulled a pansage out of the grass.
"Alrighty, buckerino!" Luka said chirpily as Bianca continued to politely insult the unconscious grunts. "You diddly darn goofed yourself." He was walking towards the struggling pansage. "Now. Do we want to join those two?" He thumbed at the downed patrat and purrloin. "On fire? Or are you going to run?"
"I-I-" the pansage stuttered. He glanced around before wilting. "Run."
"Attaboy. Quill? Set him running."
Sparks built within Quill's mouth as he let go. Pansage began to run. Quill gave him encouragement.
By the time Bianca was finished informing the duo their mothers would be ashamed of them, she hadn't noticed a thing. Turning back to her unlikely saviours, Bianca took on an amazed look. "I don't know what you are," she said to Quill. "You fought amazingly though! You could show Tepi a thing or two I bet, with those flame attacks."
Luka crossed his arm, he knew this would be a common thing to face in the early days until people realised he was serious and not just a delusional audino afraid to lend a paw in battle.
"And you!" Bianca said, turning to Luka to his surprise. "You were directing him! Just like a trainer! I've never imagined anything like that. I bet even Daddy would be amazed. Are you really training this cutie?" She would have clapped her hands together were she not holding Munna.
Luka was blinking a few times in shock. "Quill. I think I was wrong about Bianca. She is a genius, ahead of her peers by lightyears, her mind is a steel trap of logic."
Quill looked even more shocked at Luka admitting he could ever be wrong. "Quick, nod so she doesn't think she's wrong!"
Luka quickly nodded and then flashed the cute eyes he used to mind-control people. He wondered if it would even work on someone as galaxy-brained as Bianca though.
"Awww," Bianca cooed, confirming even the smartest people were not immune to his charms. "That's amazing. If a pokemon can train, maybe I can do this."
"Quill?"
"I think I know what you're going to say and it's a yes."
"Alright, we're adopting Bianca."
Luka extended a paw. "Follow me, Bianca. You shall become… well not Champion, that's what I'm going to do. But you will be an elite, of the four even. I am a kind ruler, I treat those who do right well. Will you follow me? Merely take my haauuh." He cleared his throat. "Paw."
"Naww, you want a handshake?" Bianca cooed again and gave it a vigorous shake. "I bet you saw trainers shaking hands after battles too! These two certainly don't deserve a handshake but you do!"
"The pact is sealed."
With Bianca's loyalty etched in stone Luka had just one last thing to figure out. "How the fuck do we get back to Striaton?"
"I KNEW YOU DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO GO!"
Luka made a few pointed gestures and Bianca nodded. "We should get her to a Pokémon Centre. Follow me, I know the way back."
"Genius," Luka whispered to Quill and off they went.