Chapter 13 – A Day on Route 503

As champion, Kirsten was used to getting less than average hours of sleep and being awake fairly early in the morning. Still, most nights previous were not spent trying to protect the lives of nearly her entire team, four other humans, plus all of their pokémon. She woke up three hours after settling down for a nap, her pokédex reading a late nine thirty-two in the morning, and she was more tired now than she remembered feeling before falling asleep. Still, after last night, she had a long day ahead of her, and forced herself to sit up.

She hadn't scheduled a time to meet Emily, only to meet her at the gym and tell Cory to be expecting her arrival. She hoped her best friend (and by an absolute coincidence, she forced herself to believe, her ride home) would be able to help her make some sense out of last night's excursion. Of course, this was assuming the boy would let her interrogate his ghost. She had assumed that wouldn't be an issue, as he himself had said he wanted answers.

What Kirsten hadn't counted on was he and his girlfriend planning to spend the entire day sleeping off the experience. Kirsten really didn't want to make Emily wait and come the next day instead – she wanted this over and done with now – but she also couldn't force him to get up and come with her. They were on their own journey; what right did she have to interfere with that? Sure, she might be able to come up with some excuse (this was a matter of region-wide safety, after all, and the sableye now looked like a rather large part of the problem, or at the very least, a clue), but was that the right thing to do? Her conscience told her no. And she'd learned from Arceus long ago to listen to that voice – which also ruled out simply sneaking in while he slept, taking the pokémon, and talking to him on her own. In fact, she wasn't sure that was even legal, even though she wasn't trying to steal him, only get some information from him. Still, her mind was torn on the idea, and that was enough for her to decide it wasn't the right solution.

So instead, she forced herself to accept that she and her team would just have to miss their beds for one more night. She wasn't sure how loud she would be, nor whether any of these trainers were light sleepers, so she pocketed her pokédex and left her tent to find a spot far enough away to call Emily.

She also hadn't counted on anyone else being awake, but there was Kimiko, sitting on that same rock in the same spot, her arms wrapped around her legs, except she was facing the path leading north, instead of the forest. The blonde barely lifted her head and turned at the sound as Kirsten pushed aside the flap of her tent.

"Good morning," she called halfheartedly. Kirsten couldn't tell if the blonde was tired or just unhappy to see her. She didn't wait for a reply, either, turning her head back around and resting her chin on her knees.

"I wasn't expecting anyone else to be awake so soon," Kirsten said, walking over and trying to spot what the other girl was staring at. If there was anything – she could see a faint building in the distance that was probably Neutron Town, but Kimiko might simply be staring off into space, eyes fixed on nothing in particular. She pulled her messy red hair into a ponytail (vaguely wondering how bad hers looked in comparison to the blonde's) and asked, "Mind if I join you?"

Kimiko turned to her again, one eyebrow raised in evident surprise, then shrugged. "If you'd like."

Kirsten sat down next to her on the rock and crossed her legs, staring ahead. "Want to talk about it?" she offered.

"No," Kimiko replied. Kirsten sighed, but was prepared to let it go. However, Kimiko continued talking. "But maybe I should. I can't talk to Alex. Not about this, anyway. He's been way too overprotective lately. He always has been, but this is… it's really kind of irritating lately, really. And I can't even blame him for it. If he were acting like me, I'd be the same way, always trying to help him and doing everything I can to cheer him up. I don't even know why it annoys me… I'm sorry. I'm ranting and already off on a tangent before I even started."

Kirsten gave her a small smile and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "At your own pace. Take your time to get your mind together, gather your thoughts."

Kimiko took a deep, calming breath. She said nothing for a minute or two, then spoke again. "I'm traveling for more than just to be with my boyfriend. I love him and all, but… really, I'm traveling to hopefully find clues about my father. He was killed, and I don't know how or why or anything, really. I know it's a really passive-aggressive way to go about it, but I don't know what else to do.

"I don't know what you know about our last visit to that forest – Alex and mine, I mean – but it… kinda scarred me pretty bad. I was almost kidnapped by a dusknoir. We were outnumbered, overpowered, I've never been so terrified. I don't know what it wanted, if it wanted to just scare us, or like, eat me or… worse. We got out, barely, mostly thanks to your beedrill and his swarm. I've had nightmares ever since. I…" She paused. Kirsten looked over at her; she was crying, and occasionally shaking. She seemed to be trying to force herself to stop, but unable to do so for more than a few seconds.

"I feel like something inside me broke that night," she continued. "I used to be so good at controlling my feelings, hiding them when I wanted to or needed to, feigning happiness when I needed to force myself past some disappointment… even when I heard about my father, I recovered. I moved on. But this… I've been so god damn moody since that night in the forest. I can't control myself anymore. And all this stress of traveling isn't really helping… camping sucks, and then there's my team… Radar's learning, he's slow but he's learning… but Fantomé won't listen to me, and Ariel won't even speak to me, I've been a trainer almost two months now and I've gotten nowhere, it's been two months since that night and I'm a train wreck, what is wrong with me?"

Kirsten put her arm around Kimiko's shoulder and the blonde instinctively leaned closer, resting her head on Kirsten's shoulder. "Nothing is wrong with you," the redhead insisted. "Your father's death was hard to hear, but you didn't witness it. You didn't experience it. In the forest, you experienced a terror greater than anything you probably ever imagined you'd have to face on a… simple training journey." She said the word 'simple' with a little bit more force; both trainers knew that even going on a badge quest like this could never be considered simple, despite how it might look before starting. "This level of trauma is actually pretty normal for something of that magnitude. And you seem to be handling it rather well, at least from what I saw during our first meeting. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not trying to downplay what happened to you or imply that it wasn't so bad. I can't even imagine what it was like – but that's exactly my point. I can't imagine it; I can't put a value on how extreme it was. It's kind of why I think your hearing about your father didn't affect you the way this did – this is something you yourself experienced. You know what I mean?" Kimiko nodded, Kirsten's shoulder a little wetter for the motion.

"As for the pokémon training thing… that will come with time. Not everyone is an expert right away. Training is easier for some than it is for others. Keep trying, battle with them more than you have been. Show them you're serious. But also, remember that they're more than just your partners in battle. Spend time with them doing other things. Just let them sit around and watch the clouds with them or something, you know? Get to know them. Take it at your own pace. However difficult things get, Arceus will steer you on the right path. All you can do is push through it. You're still standing, aren't you?"

It took a minute before Kimiko replied; Kirsten nudged her head into the blonde's lightly to encourage her. "I guess so."

"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for. Don't give up. You've got your team and your boyfriend supporting you. I think you can talk to him about this, also. Just be honest with him. If it annoys you, ask him to back off. He doesn't strike me as the type to judge you or anything over it." They sat in silence for a while after that, Kirsten giving Kimiko some time to reflect.

"You're not at all the way I imagined you," Kimiko said suddenly, straightening up again.

"How so?"

"You're so down-to-earth," the blonde replied. "Easy to talk to. Easy to get along with. From what I've seen on TV, it's not what I expected at all. That champion image you radiate, all serious and strong and strict… you're just so different than the impression of you I've been given."

"It's all just that champion image," Kirsten replied matter-of-factly. "Me, the elites, even the gym leaders… we're all still just trainers at the end of the day. Strong trainers, sure, but still just trainers. Just people. We have good days and bad days too. You just don't see the bad days. Usually. Besides, I have to be able to relate to my population, don't I? I'm not a Cynthia or a Diantha. I understand that the security of this entire region is largely my responsibility."

"I don't envy what you had to go through after the Champion's Tragedy," Kimiko said.

Kirsten deflated as the memories flooded back to her. She put her smile back on almost immediately, but judging by Kimiko's concerned expression, she didn't miss the redhead's temporary lapse. "You don't know the half of it," she said as casually as she could muster.

"For what it's worth, you did a really good job keeping Vidiva together," Kimiko noted, clearly trying to make amends.

"I was lucky," Kirsten corrected her. "It could have been a lot worse… it almost was a lot worse. More so than is publicly known, between you and me. But we're not really close enough to Sinnoh for the drama there to overflow here. Much. We had plenty of TV and web coverage, sure, but it also helped that I was fairly active in the community at large beforehand. People knew me for long enough, trusted me enough, so I was able to keep things pretty calm. Honestly, I don't really enjoy those public appearances, but it's all part of the job. I forced myself to do it. But I always think… if I did turn them down, well… actually, I don't like to think about it. Obviously. Would I have had enough influence, enough trust, to keep this region under control? It really was sheer luck, and maybe a bit of a gut instinct, that I had gained so much favor in the region before that."

She really hoped it wasn't obvious to Kimiko how uncomfortable the subject was to her. The blonde's expression was unreadable as she said, "I guess it's a lot more complicated to be a champion than I thought. It sounds like more politics than training."

"Hey, you have your nightmares, I have mine," Kirsten said with a humorless smile. "It does have its rewards, though. Have you ever had a group of five-year-old girls tell you you're their hero? I wouldn't give up this job for the world. You'd have to force me out – literally. But my team rather enjoys the perks they get too, so I wouldn't tell anyone to get their hopes up about that option, either." Suddenly the smile on her face was genuine.

Again, they sat in silence for a solid ten minutes or so. Kirsten thought back to her meeting with the elites and the Phantom gym leaders. Deimos had suggested this whole forest ghost conundrum could be the catalyst for a new Sayre-like incident. That alone would have been more than enough to spring her into action, even if she hadn't been prepared to take action before the meeting. Of course, it did make her rethink exactly how serious the situation was. All the more reason to get to the bottom of this damn puzzle quickly, she thought. She relaxed, only then realizing how tense her body had become. Relax, she told herself anyway. You are not like Cynthia. You are not like Diantha. You're doing your best, everyone is. There's no reason for anyone to say you're not trying. Things will work out. Arceus will guide you to the solution in the end.

"Do me a favor," Kirsten said suddenly, startling Kimiko; the blonde gasped and jumped at the sound, then turned to the redhead next to her. Kirsten stood up. "Make sure he talks to that sableye of his. I've got a friend waiting for me at the gym."

"I thought you were going to talk to him yourself?" Kimiko asked quizzically.

"I need to get to the bottom of this ghost mystery. Alex needs to sleep. And so do you."

"And so do you," Kimiko repeated. "Why don't you stick around?"

"As much as I'd like to, I do have other things that require my attention. Besides," she added, turning away to stare down the path into Neutron, "I've had my journey. This one is all yours. You don't need me to walk you through it."

"We'd love to have you along," Kimiko said with a grin. "But I suppose it wouldn't make much sense for the champion to be wandering the region with a few newbies." Kirsten turned and made to protest, but the other girl cut her off. "I know that's not why. You're the champion. You're dealing with your own things, and I have to deal with mine. I understand. Do you need any help packing up?"

"No, thanks. You go in there and get some sleep yourself." Kirsten turned and walked away with a wave.

"Hey," Kimiko called to her. Kirsten stopped and half turned back to find the blonde spun around on the rock to face her. "Thanks."

It was dark when Kimiko woke up again. Next to her, Alex hadn't moved, still asleep in exactly the same spot and position she had found him in when she returned to their tent after her conversation with Kirsten that morning. She wondered vaguely if Kari and Ana had stayed nearby but she knew that if she moved, she wouldn't want to lay back down, so she reluctantly rolled over and drifted back to sleep.

The next time she woke, she again found darkness. A quick check of her pokédex told her that it was exactly half passed five in the morning. She wondered what time it had been when she had woken earlier. Regardless, she and Alex had successfully slept through an entire day and (most of) the following night. She was rather awake now, however, but had no reason to actually get up and prepare for the day this early; Alex wouldn't be up until the sun was. So instead, she curled up next to her boyfriend and remained there for another hour, thinking back to her chat with Kirsten the previous morning.

As the sun began to rise and brighten the world outside their shared tent, Kimiko heard a sound outside that made her uneasy, followed by what was unmistakably the sound of footsteps passing her tent, and decided she may as well investigate. Quietly and carefully, she crawled over her sleeping boyfriend and slipped outside. She spotted Ana standing not far away, fully dressed now in an orange tank top and brown cowboy boots, with a pokéball in hand. She turned as she heard Kimiko come out.

"How are you feeling?" the blonde asked.

"A lot better," Ana replied, flexing her right arm. "Just about to go for a run. Wanna come?"

"No thanks," Kimiko responded, one hand up to stop her. "I've been pretty out of shape since I quit playing softball." Which is just another reason you probably should go for a run, idiot, she thought immediately afterwards. Not like you need to be physically fit to walk around the damn wilderness or anything.

"Suit yourself," Ana replied, turning again and releasing Thrasher. As she started sprinting away, she called over her shoulder, "By the way, thanks for the help la- uh, the other night."

Kimiko didn't have a chance to reply before Ana and Thrasher took off running.

The voices must have roused Kari, as she crawled out of her tent only moments later in a silky pale blue night shirt and matching bottoms. "Is she always so…" Kimiko asked, but trailed off.

"Yes," Kari answered anyway. "She's always been a morning person. She's gone for a run with her tauros every morning since I've known her, even before classes."

Suddenly Alex emerged from his slumber as well. "Still daylight? How much time do we have to travel?"

Kimiko looked down at her dex before answering him. "I'd say a good fifteen hours or so."

"Wha-? Oh, damn."

While Kari offered to prepare some breakfast for everyone, Kimiko informed Alex of Kirsten's departure and they decided to confront Diamond together.

The sableye emerged from his pokéball ready to fight, but relaxed after realizing there was no opponent. He turned back to the trainers curiously. "Sable?" he asked.

"Okay Diamond," Alex said, ignoring his pokémon's question. "We need to know what you were doing with those other ghosts."

"Sableye eye, sable, sableye!" Diamond replied, looking up at the pair with a toothy grin.

"…We probably should have seen that coming."

"Agreed…"

They heard a chuckle in the distance behind them, but neither of them looked back at Kari, who was no doubt watching their exchange. "Okay, Diamond. Like this. Nod for yes, shake for no." Alex performed once each as an example. "Now, were you assisting those ghosts in the forest?" The sableye flopped down on the ground and shook his head. "Were you trying to attack Ana?" A shake. "Do you know why those ghosts did not attack you?" Another shake. "Did you know they would obey your orders?"

"Eye, sable," Diamond replied, throwing his hands in the air.

"Diamond…" Alex warned. The sableye rolled his head in a way that Alex assumed was his equivalent of rolling his eyes, and then shook his head. "Are you being honest?" A nod. Well, at least he was paying attention. Alex glanced again at his girlfriend.

"I've got nothing," she said, shrugging. "I can't tell if he's being honest or hiding something or what."

"Sableye! Sable!" Diamond shouted, crossing his arms with a scowl.

"I think you might have offended him."

"Um, sorry," she replied, scratching her head.

"Well, I don't know what we can do now," Alex said, looking down at his pokémon again. "Kirsten shouldn't have left; I can't understand him at all. I don't know what she's expecting me to report on. She'd have gotten a lot more information out of this."

Kimiko shrugged again. "I don't know. You might as well just tell her his answers, at least. Maybe she'll be able to make something out of them anyway."

Kari released her team behind them, shouting over their assorted cries that breakfast was done. With one last glance at Diamond, Alex released both Thorn and Koyomi and headed over to see what Kari prepared. Diamond looked up at Kimiko and again smiled his razor-sharp smile before he stood up and followed his trainer. Kimiko frowned, but released her own team and followed the crowd.

As it turned out, Kari had a full team of six, which Alex quickly praised her for.

"I didn't realize you were already this accomplished," he said, biting into his pancake. "In either training or cooking."

Kari blushed and tried to hide it when she replied, "Ana and I each have six badges, but Ana… really hates camping. She's okay with traveling, but she gets grumpy if we don't camp in a pokémon center or something. I don't know how she convinced her team to carry these pots and pans, let alone the mini refrigerator..."

"Well, I don't know about hers, but yours seem really well behaved," Alex said, looking around at Kari's team interacting with both Kimiko's and his own. Radar still seemed insistent on shadowing Thorn, who was completely in awe over both Kari's lilligant, Carnation, and her paras, France ("A gift from Ana," Kari had explained, her face a deep red. "She thought it was funny…"). The paras was very young in comparison to the rest of Kari's team, and Carnation seemed to enjoy having the younger pokémon looking up at her as some sort of model. She even wagged her leafy arm at Thorn as though she were waving her finger and giving a lesson in manners and being a proper lady.

Kari's lumineon, Francis, had formed an aqua ring around himself and swam around inside it freely. Koyomi had floated over to him, almost shyly, and he beckoned the staryu to join him. At present, Grace the togetic, feeling much better after some rest and a little healing from one of Ana's pokémon the day before, was tossing pokémon food into the little water bubble with glee, and both water-types were more than happy to perform for her. At one point, Grace actually picked up Ariel and tossed her into the water as well, but as usual the clamperl refused to show any signs of life and simply sank straight to the bottom. Francis learned quickly to leave her alone after poking at her shell once and receiving a fierce clamp on his fin as payment.

Symphony the chimecho, meanwhile, was engaged in some sort of game with Fantomé, the pair of them speeding around in the air above little campsite while screeching with laughter. Diamond, sitting very quietly (to the point of suspicion, Alex had thought, then wondered if now he was just being paranoid about any behavior his sableye offered) next to his trainer, glared up with a hiss every time the floating pokémon got close, but otherwise politely sat and ate his food with the humans.

"Is he okay?" Kimiko asked, pointing above them with her fork to the ledian lounging on a tree branch with his legs up like a cowboy.

"He's fine," Kari assured her. "He's even more shy around others than me." The ledian in question snapped a small twig off his branch and tossed it at his trainer without looking. The twig tapped Kari on the head and got tangled in her hair. She looked up at him with a frown. "Oh, come on, it took you a month to be around Ana without my coaxing."

"Cosmo in a tree again?" a voice came from behind. Ana and Thrasher walked up at a leisurely pace; the girl had changed into her sports bra and sweatpants some time during her run, her clothes hanging around Thrasher's neck. She didn't even appear to be tired. "Sure is lively here for this time of the morning," she added, releasing her own team to the chaos.

Immediately, Ana's walrein, Aurora, tried to climb into Francis' water bubble, forcing Koyomi, Ariel, and Francis himself out of it. Seemingly disappointed that she was now alone, she flopped herself out of the bubble after them. Grace laughed as she picked up Francis and replaced him in the bubble, Koyomi diving in afterwards. No one dared touch Ariel to replace her, nor did she make any move to return to the bubble herself. Meanwhile, Ana's gyarados eyed the water bubble and the pokémon enjoying themselves inside it and made a whimper that caused Alex great alarm – had he to guess, he would have said the cry had come from an injured skitty.

Thrasher, Sarsen, and a camerupt introduced as Tremor all huddled together in their own spot a little way away from the group, though the camerupt did call out to Carnation, who grinned and waved in return. Ana's last pokémon, an audino named Pulsar, joined Diamond and the humans in their little circle.

"I apologize for my team," Ana said, sitting down with Pulsar and helping herself to the stack of pancakes Kari had set out. "They're not exactly the most social bunch, but they're tough as nails, the lot of 'em. Even Carnage, the big baby." Her gyarados whimpered again.

"Ana, you didn't really… run in that, did you?" Kari asked, pointedly looking anywhere but her girlfriend. Ana looked down at her outfit.

"Yeah, I did. Who cares? It's a lot hotter in the north part of the region."

"Where are you guys from, anyway?" Alex asked.

"Hoenn," Kari answered. "Lilycove City."

"Solaceon Town in Sinnoh, born an' raised," Ana followed. "What about you two?"

Kimiko glanced over at Alex. He wasn't sure whether she expected him to answer because he asked the question or because she literally just stuffed food into her mouth, but he laughed anyway. "Crescent Town, right here in Vidiva, both of us. So if you both are from different regions, how did you end up traveling together here?"

Kari cast a nervous look at Ana, who replied, "It's a long story. We met through a program in Kari's school, which sent her to Sinnoh. I'd be honestly surprised if you don't know what happened over there a few years back. This place seemed to be the closest region not affected by any kind of insanity, so we left together and came here. Though, now it seems clearly we were wrong."

No one was sure how to respond to that.

"So, uh…" Alex said, casting around for a change of subject. "If you were sent to Sinnoh, then moved out here, what happened with your class program thing?"

"I just changed my topic," Kari replied. "Researching Vidiva's culture rather than Sinnoh's. It's… a little more difficult, since Ana can't help me with it now, but it's fun in its own right."

Suddenly, Kimiko's pokédex went off. She recognized the tune so she excused herself to answer it, showing Alex who was calling as she passed him, while he continued to interrogate Kari about her research.

"Where are you guys?" came Lillia's voice by way of greeting, sounding panicked.

"We're about a day's walk away from Neutron, why?" Kimiko replied cautiously.

"Close enough! I'd have thought you would be here by now, since I knew you were coming and the gym leader hadn't seen you, but no matter. Get here tonight, I'll be at the pokémon center."

"Why? I don't know if we can make it… how did you know where we were going, anyway? And how would the gym leader know who we are?"

"You'll find out when you get here! You're close enough! Be here by nine so we have time to prepare. I'll be waiting!"

"Prepare for wha-" Lillia had already hung up. Kimiko sighed and returned to the group. She noted the odd silence, but had other things on her mind so she didn't question it. "Lillia wants us to meet her in Neutron tonight by nine. It sounded important."

"Is she okay?" Alex asked as his girlfriend sat down.

"It didn't sound like an emergency, just that she wanted us there. To prepare for something."

"I don't suppose she told you what we're preparing for?"

"Of course not," the blonde replied with a knowing grin. "It'll be good to see her, but I'm almost afraid of whatever she's plotting."

"Well, we'd better get moving if we're going to be there in time," Alex said, standing up and calling out to his team. "Time to say goodbye, guys."

"You guys headin' out?" Ana asked before stuffing more pancakes in her mouth.

"I guess so," Kimiko replied, standing up as well.

Kari and Ana decided to remain behind at their little campsite, with no explanation. Neither Alex nor Kimiko asked. Ana did, however, offer her tauros as transport as her way of saying thanks for their part in rescuing her. This surprised not only the young couple, but Kari as well.

Ever since the incidents in Sinnoh, trainers around the world had been much more cautious around each other. And while perhaps trainers in Vidiva were closer to how friendly trainers used to act beforehand, even then, allowing another trainer the use of your pokémon without your supervision was rather rare. She even gave them his pokéball, telling them to drop him off at the center when they arrived and she would pick him up when she and Kari got there.

Thrasher did not seem particularly pleased to be carrying two unusual humans on his back, but reluctantly agreed. Half an hour later, with Kimiko wrapping her arms around Alex's waist while he clutched the tauros' mane with clenched fists, Thrasher was off running and the humans were struggling to hold on. Ana waved them off, laughing at the sight.

"Maybe you should have shown them how to ride a pokémon, they don't… really seem to know how," Kari pointed out shyly.

"Probably not," Ana replied. "But I don't think they had the time for that."

A/N: Last update: July 21, 2015. This update: August 21, 2015.

So, Kari and Ana may show up later on because I love them, but for now their time in the spotlight is done. I didn't do as much pokémon interaction as I'd have liked in this chapter and I know it was mostly filler but I want to slow things down a little.

So next chapter, not gonna lie, I totally indulged myself on. Not that I haven't been doing that the entire story so far, but this next chapter is really obvious.