xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Oreburgh City, Sinnoh Region, 1:56 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Entering the airport in the mining town of Oreburgh City in the Sinnoh Region was the group of Keats, Anik, Tamara and Ambrose, all carrying different travel bags for their journey as they had arrived by plane. Walking into the main hub, Tamara shifted her body in different directions with a wide smile on her face.
"Haaaaa..." Tamara muttered in a delighted tone.
"Someone's happy." Anik commented as she, Keats and Ambrose looked at Tamara as she paced around, tracing her cane along the floor of the airport.
"Kinda surprised, actually." Ambrose said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"How can I not be overjoyed?" Tamara said as she stopped, her trio of older companions looking at her. "I'm finally in a different location than just Kanto and Johto." She said with a smile on her face and not facing the others.
"Trust me, travel is overrated." Keats said as Anik and Ambrose looked at him. "Wait until the day comes you go on a boat and then start unleashing copious amounts of food from your stomach because of the shaking and twisting and... And... Excuse me." He said, talking about his issues with sailing before beginning to feel sick and walking away towards a garbage can near the airport bathroom.
"I've been on boats before, that's never happened to me." Tamara said.
"Guess you have a stronger constitution than him." Anik said with an earnest expression as Keats walked away from next to the toiletries and back over to his companions.
"False alarm... I remembered I wasn't actually on a boat." Keats groaned with his hand on his stomach area.
"You know, a boat would have been cheaper than a plane ride to Sinnoh, yeah?" Ambrose said with a critical tone towards Keats.
"If I had the option to take a bus to Sinnoh, I would have taken that." Keats replied as he turned towards Anik.
"I was on a bus for a while when I got into Johto, I'm good." Anik said as she looked at Keats.
"Oh, by the way, sorry for earlier on the plane." Keats said with a casual tone as Anik blushed and turned away from him.
"It's-it's nothing..." Anik said with an embarrassed tone as Ambrose raised an eyebrow and Tamara turned in the direction of where she heard Keats and Anik speak.
"Well, I figured I should apologize anyway and-" Keats said until Anik spoke up to cut him off.
"Stop talking!" Anik said loudly with a red face, causing some people in the airport to turn and look at the group.
"Hey, you're drawing attention to us!" Ambrose exclaimed as Anik covered her mouth, Keats looked around at everyone as Tamara walked away while tracing her cane along the ground.
"Table? Table? Ah, hey guys! Found a table." Tamara said as she felt her cane touch against a stool and then against the stand underneath the table she discovered.
"Good, let's take a breather." Ambrose said as he walked away from Keats and Anik with a headshake.
"...Mind I ask you something?" Keats questioned as Anik made a bothered face.
"If it's about the drooling on my shoulder while you fell asleep on the plane, then no." Anik said as she turned her eyes towards him.
"Why did you come all the way to Ecruteak City?" Keats asked as Anik's expression softened.
"Well... Like I told your sister, I owe you quite a bit, so I figured I'd help you with this Snagem Family thing." Anik said as she scratched the back of her head.
"How'd you get time off from your internship?" Keats asked.
"Had to take some convincing for Molayne to let me do this but Sophocles was on board with it when I asked; I requested to do some "field work."' Anik said while making air quotes with her fingers before taking out a small pair of binoculars. "I told them that I wanted to go out to other regions and look at the constellations that can't be seen from the Hokulani Observatory, so Molayne was nice enough to give me these nice portable scopes to see the stars at night and Sophocles was okay with it because it would get me out of the building for a good while." She said with an embarrassed face.
"Binocular size telescopes, science is insane." Keats said as he grabbed the binoculars and looked at them for a moment.
"All I have to do is send a report every few days via my phone and the rest of the time, I can help you out." Anik said with a small smile as Keats looked at her.
"How?" Keats questioned as he handed her back the binocular telescopes, putting them back in her bag.
"Eh-uh... Well, maybe we can train our Pokémon together and pl-plan some ideas of how to find the guy..." Anik said with a blush forming on her face once again while twiddling her thumbs.
"Well, if you have any ideas on how to find a guy who won't stop ranting about silver, I'm all ears." Keats said with an annoyed look in his eyes as he remembered the disturbing note he received as Anik reached into her bag and pulled out the aforementioned paper.
"So, the guy's name is "Birdclaw," from what I tried to piece together." Anik said as she opened the letter, prompting Keats to get closer to her and look over her shoulder. "And it's definitely a challenge letter but I don't get why it's so over-the-top." She continued.
"Well, his name is super specific..." Keats commented.
"I don't think we can just walk up to random people and ask them if they met a guy named "Birdclaw" in the past few weeks without coming off as weirdos ourselves." Anik said as she turned towards Keats, suddenly noticing how close he was to her and causing her to blush once more. "Do-do you mind not getting so close to me, please?" She said with an anxious tone.
"If it's about the drool, I promise not to do it again if I use your shoulder as a pillow." Keats said in an extremely casual manner.
"...Are you planning to use my shoulder as a pillow again?" Anik thought, growing more perplexed by Keats' shamelessness.
"Hey, you guys coming or what?" Ambrose said from the table with Tamara, both sitting on stools as he caught Keats and Anik's attention.
"Le-let's talk about it later..." Anik said as she walked away from Keats as he looked at her before looking down at her clothes.
"Huh, she looks cute in that outfit. Wonder if she's trying to impress someone." Keats thought with a dumb smile forming on his face as he looked at the astronomy enthusiast before walking over to the table.
"Keats is thinking something about the smart girl." Tamara said as Anik and Ambrose turned towards Keats as they all sat down.
"N-no, I wasn't!" Keats said with a defensive tone.
"What was he thinking?" Anik asked as she leaned towards the blind mind reader.
"He thinks your outfit's nice." Tamara said with a mischievous smirk forming on her face as Anik turned towards Keats.
"I was not thinking that!" Keats said as he turned towards Anik as Ambrose rolled his eyes.
"I did accept his date offer back in Alola but... Is everything we do just going to be awkward?" Anik thought as Tamara turned her head.
"Anik wants a date with you." Tamara said whilst still smirking as Anik dropped her jaw.
"Oooooohhhh." Keats muttered with a smug look on his face as Anik turned towards Keats and then back at Tamara.
"What the heck, why would you say that out loud?!" Anik said with an agitated tone. "And you, stop looking at me like that!" She said towards Keats, pointing at him.
"You haven't denied it, hehehe." Keats said with a smirk on his face as Anik's face turned bright red from embarrassment.
"Please, shut up! Just shut up!" Anik said as she put her hands on her face. "Whose side are you on!?" She said whilst peeking an eye through her fingers at Tamara.
"Whatever gives me the most joy, hehehe." Tamara said whilst not facing anybody.
'"No one is safe around her."' Keats and Anik thought, simultaneously.
"Are we done goofing around!?" Ambrose said, standing up from his chair and causing everyone to be quiet. "I want to discuss some things and I can't do it if you are mind reading, you are being awkward and you are just being strange!" He exclaimed in annoyance as he pointed at Tamara, Anik and then Keats in that order.
Sitting back down, Ambrose reached into one of his black duffel bags and pulled out a map of the Sinnoh region with Keats and Anik bending forward to look at it.
"Oooohh, nicely laminated." Keats said as he noticed the map was covered in a protective layer. "I had one of those of the Unova region at one point, but Rotom told me it could just look up the map on its phone screen." He continued.
"Well, that phone isn't here so we're doing things the old-fashioned way." Ambrose said with a serious expression on his face.
"I have a phone with GPS in it, you know?" Anik said as she took out her phone with a Porygon case.
"So do I, but mine and yours doesn't have a Ghost type Pokémon possessing it." Ambrose commented as Anik made a skeptical expression.
"Ah yes, the prejudiced "ghost hunter" and his immense dislike of an entire type of Pokémon." Anik said with a critical voice.
"It's not a prejudice, it's a logically sound concern!" Ambrose said, defending his opinion.
"I left the phone at home so I'm without the internet and Rotom's opinions this whole trip." Keats said.
"That was part of the deal if you wanted me to pay for your tickets." Ambrose said towards Keats.
"Also, why did you want us making sure we had Normal or Dark types on us?" Anik questioned.
"I brought Stunky and Porygon with me and I know Anik has a Vigoroth." Keats said.
"Normal types are unaffected by Ghost type moves and Dark types are super effective against them. If I'm going to let anyone travel with me and Tamara, they'd have to have Pokémon capable of defeating Ghost types." Ambrose explained. "Okay, so we have a map of the region in front of us." He said as everyone stopped talking to listen to him. "We are here in Oreburgh City." Ambrose said as he pointed at the map.
"What's this place like?" Keats asked.
"Judging by the things I've been sensing, there's loads of noises happening underneath us and I can sense stuff like drills and Pokémon of a similar affinity." Tamara said as she darted her head in different locations.
"Oreburgh City is a mining town, it's also known as the "City of Energy." Ambrose said. "It's known for its bevy of fossils and coal and its gym leader specializes in Rock types." He continued.
"...You ever notice that there seems to be a lot of Rock type gym leaders in the different regions?" Keats asked.
"Shhh." Anik muttered to keep Keats quiet before Ambrose continued.
"Our path is from here and then we have to go over Mt. Coronet to my and Tamara's destination." Ambrose said as Anik and Keats raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, we have to cross a mountain?" Anik questioned.
"Part of the reason I paid for the tickets for you to chaperone us. Aside from the obvious fact we're minors and still need an adult along for us to take a plane." Ambrose said as he looked at Tamara.
"I still feel like we should be good..." Tamara said with a disgruntled tone.
"I don't follow." Keats said.
"Ambrose doesn't think it's safe enough for just me and him to cross a mountain by ourselves." Tamara said while clutching her cane. "I disagree with that. I can sense the presence of things in my way." She said with a furrowed brow behind her sunglasses.
Upon hearing that, Keats proceeded to raise his hand in front of Tamara's face to see if she would react. With no reaction from the young psychic, Keats snapped his fingers close to her face as Tamara jittered in surprise.
"Hey!? What was that for?!" Tamara said whilst facing Anik.
"Wrong side, sweetie." Anik said with a wry smile as Tamara shifted to the other direction to face Keats with an agitated look on her face, the husky framed trainer smirking in response.
"Everyone, pay attention!" Ambrose shouted as everyone turned back towards the teenage ghost hunter. "As I was saying... Once we cross the mountain to our destination, we'll part ways so you guys can go do... Whatever it is you're planning on doing." He said as Anik turned towards Keats.
"You want to tell him what we're doing?" Anik said towards Keats as Tamara turned her head, reading Keats' mind.
"What's his mind telling you?" Ambrose questioned.
'"Soup, soup, a tasty soup. A spicy carrot and coriander."' Tamara said with a singing tone.
"Chili chowder!" Keats said with a similar singing voice as Anik and Ambrose made confused expressions.
'"Crouton, crouton!"' Tamara and Keats sang simultaneously as they swayed back and forth in their seats. '"Crunchy friends in a liquid broth!"' They continued.
"What are you doing?" Anik asked as Keats and Tamara stopped singing.
"Oh, I was just mentally singing a song I thought of about soup." Keats said with a casual tone.
"Now I would like some soup." Tamara said with a smile.
"Didn't you eat on the plane?" Ambrose said.
"The stewardess had a thought in their head about how the food wouldn't have been worth serving to a Grimer... So, no." Tamara commented.
"Well." Anik said as she stood up. "Can't start a journey on an empty stomach. Let's head to the Pokémon Center." She suggested as Ambrose and Tamara grabbed their bags off the floor as Keats started to scratch his beard.
'"Pokémon Center," huh...?"' Keats thought.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Oreburgh Pokémon Center, 3:26 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
At the front desk of the local Pokémon Center, Anik, Ambrose and Tamara were talking to Nurse Joy, standing alongside her Chansey. As Anik chatted with Nurse Joy, Ambrose looked around for the other member of their travelling party.
"The big guy isn't here." Ambrose said, noticing the lack of Keats.
"He's not with us? Darn, I wanted to hear more songs from his head." Tamara said with slight disappointment.
"...Is he part radio?" Ambrose thought, bewildered.
"Your room is the third door on the left down the hall." Nurse Joy said as she pointed in the direction of the rooms.
"Chansey!" Chansey with a bright smile.
"Thank you." Anik said.
"Will you be joining us for the festivities?" Nurse Joy asked.
'"Festivities?" Anik questioned.
"Tomorrow is our annual Oreburgh's City's "Fossil Festival."' Nurse Joy said as she reached down behind the counter and pulled out a flyer. "There'll be games, vendors and a special exhibition between the Oreburgh gym leader, Roark and his father, Byron, from the Canalave City gym." She said as Anik looked at the flyer, Tamara making a face of interest upon hearing Nurse Joy explain the event.
"Huh, that sounds like fun." Anik said as she turned around towards Tamara and Ambrose. "Hmmm?" She muttered as she noticed Keats wasn't there. "Where's Keats?" Anik asked towards Ambrose as he shrugged.
Shifting her eyes towards the front door of the Pokémon Center, Anik's eyes widened as she noticed a familiar looking figure hanging around outside. Dressed in the same clothes he wore when they arrived in the region but now sporting a black balaclava over his head to hide his face was Keats, peeking from the side of the glass automatic door but not triggering the automatic opening mechanism. As he looked at the astronomy enthusiast and flashed her a thumbs up, Keats tiptoed until the mechanism for the automatic door activated and quickly ran out of sight.
"What the hell is he doing?" Anik thought with disbelief as she turned back towards Nurse Joy. "Thanks again for the key, we're just going to go..." She said with an embarrassed expression on her face as Ambrose and Tamara followed after her to the room they'll be staying in for the evening.
Stepping inside, the trio saw a window, a nightstand with a lamp and a pair of bunk beds on both sides of the room. Placing his hand on Tamara's shoulder, Ambrose helped lead her to one of the bottom bunks.
"Course I get the bottom bunk." Tamara whined as she took off her backpack and placed it on the floor.
"What? Are you expecting me to help you onto the top bunk so you can fall and hurt yourself? Not a chance." Ambrose said with a concerned tone as he put his bags on the floor. "Any idea where what's-his-name is?" He asked as Anik turned her attention towards the window.
"Yeah... Unfortunately, I can't read his mind to figure out what the hell is going through his head." Anik said. "Least it looks like he should be able to fit through this window." She thought with an annoyed expression on her face.
Approaching from outside was the balaclava wearing Keats as he opened up the window and tried to climb into the room.
"Urgh! Okay- ow!" Keats muttered as he pulled himself halfway through the opening as he knocked over the lamp on the nightstand. "Give me a sec- almost. Ah!" He muttered as he fell onto the floor as Anik walked towards the window and closed it before he stood up, clutching at his back in pain.
"The heck?" Ambrose said in confusion from watching Keats acting strangely.
"Okay, I'll bite... What's with the sneaking around?" Anik said with her arms folded as Keats took off the mask.
"I had a feeling that the Nurse Joy in there might be close with the Nurse Joys in Alola and knows about what I did over there to one of the centers so I decided it might be safer if I did things in a more "espionage" kind of way." Keats said as Anik raised an eyebrow.
"...What did you do at a Pokémon Center in Alola?" Anik questioned as Tamara tilted her head.
"...Nothing serious..." Keats replied. "Besides setting a wastepaper basket on fire that may have destroyed some curtains." He thought, nervously.
"Pfffft! Hahaha!" Tamara sputtered as she begun to laugh, catching everyone's attention.
"What did he do?" Anik asked towards Tamara.
"Please... Don't say a thing..." Keats thought, knowing Tamara could hear what he was thinking.
"He clogged a toilet. It was a real big one." Tamara lied, covering for Keats as Ambrose rolled his eyes and Anik made a grossed-out expression.
"Yuck, Keats..." Anik said towards the husky framed trainer as Keats scratched his face with a sheepish face.
"Better than the truth but come on, couldn't you have thought of something less embarrassing?!" Keats thought as Tamara stuck her tongue out at him in a comical manner. "So... Did I happen to miss anything?" He asked, trying to change the subject.
"There's a festival going on tomorrow." Tamara said with an interested tone.
"Oh?" Keats muttered.
"As much fun as it sounds, we're not going to go." Ambrose said as he jumped up to his top bunk.
"Awwww!" Tamara whined. "Why not?!" She exclaimed as Anik and Keats made surprised expressions as she stood up from her bed.
"The sooner we get moving tomorrow, the sooner we get to where we need to be so we can't make time for a festival." Ambrose said as he looked at the ceiling.
"You are no fun!" Tamara complained as she lifted her cane and started to angrily swing it against the top bunk as Keats quickly moved forward to stop her.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Keats said as he grabbed Tamara's cane from her hand. "You need this, don't break it." He continued.
"I don't see why we can't take a slight detour." Anik commented as Ambrose turned his head towards the adult trainers.
"Aren't you guys here for something important too? Do you really have time to waste?" Ambrose said as Anik and Keats looked at each other, unable to come up with a counter.
"He makes a point..." Anik thought as Tamara read her mind.
"Ugh..." Tamara grunted with a pout as she jumped on her bunk bed and placed her face in the pillow.
"...I'll take the bottom bunk." Anik commented towards Keats as she sat on the bed as Keats rubbed the back of his neck.
"Uh huh..." Keats muttered. "Well... Now what am I supposed to do?" He thought, unsure of his next steps.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Oreburgh Pokémon Center, 10:36 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In the dead of night, Anik, Tamara and Ambrose were sleeping in their beds in their room until Anik started to stir.
"Haaaa..." Anik yawned as she sat up. "Damn it, I can't sleep..." She thought as she got out of her bed.
Standing up, Anik looked down and noticed a pillow and blanket on the floor with a mild confusion on her face before shifting her attention to something more personally important to her. Reaching into her bag, Anik pulled out her small binocular-like telescopes and started to look up at the sky, examining the stars.
"Ooooohhh! I don't recognize those pairs of constellations!" Anik thought with excitement as she put down her binocular-scopes and took out a notepad. "That one looked a bit like a Heracross next to the Slowking constellation and that one is either a Braviary or a Pidgeot! Goodness, I need a better view!" She thought as she grabbed her binoculars and quietly left the room.
Walking down the hall on the way outside, Anik passed by a room with the lights on as she stopped for a brief moment and turned around to see the lit room, revealed to be the kitchen of the Pokémon Center. Peeking through the doorway, Anik noticed an extremely unusual sight as she spotted Keats' Porygon, Stunky and Pineco on a center island, surrounded by copious amounts of flour and butter.
"Huh?" Anik muttered as she walked into the room as all three of Keats' Pokémon turned to meet their trainer's companion.
"Pineco!" Pineco said with a cheerful tone.
"Poooor!" Porygon muttered.
"Stunktunk!" Stunky said as he waved his claw in Anik's direction.
"What are you all-" Anik said before turning her head to the right and spotted Keats approaching, sporting an apron and a hairnet on his head and beard and carrying an anatomically correct skeleton.
"Okay guys! Almost done- oh hey Anik." Keats said with a smile as Anik's eyes widened from the sight of the skeleton.
"What the!?" Anik muttered in shock as she backed away in horror.
"Something wrong?" Keats said with a nonchalant tone as he walked over to where his Pokémon were and dropped the skeleton, a squishing noise occurring upon landing on the center island.
"...Was that a squish?" Anik thought in confusion as she approached Keats. "Keats, what the heck are you doing? What's with the skeleton?" She questioned.
"Oh this? It's a skeleton made of flour and butter." Keats said with a casual tone as he poked the skull of the skeleton, his finger sinking into it.
"Wha-what?" Anik said as she stretched her hand over and proceeded to grab one of its ribs, the fake rib ripping off in her hand. "It's... Really soft... And it looks so real..." She thought, acknowledging the material and the design to be incredibly accurate to that of a real skeleton.
"Cool, right?" Keats asked with a dumb smile on his face as Anik looked at him.
"I mean, it's impressive but... Why were you making a skeleton out of flour and butter?" Anik questioned.
"I was bored." Keats said with a shrug as his Pokémon looked on, Anik making a bewildered expression in response to Keats' incredibly random activity.
"And why are they out of their balls?" Anik questioned further as she pointed at Keats' Pokémon.
"Figured they wanted to watch or help." Keats said as he walked away towards a stove and grabbed a cloth to wipe his hands as Porygon stuck its head in one of the bags of flour.
"Poor?" Porygon muttered as its entire head was now white from the powder.
"Pinecococo!" Pineco laughed in response.
"Stunktunktunk!" Stunky muttered, joining in as Porygon shook its head to try and get rid of the flour.
"The usual nuttiness aside... I should ask." Anik thought. "Hey... You weren't sleeping on the floor in the room again, were you?" She asked.
"Yeah, I didn't trust taking the top bunk with you underneath." Keats said as he put down the cloth. "Thing looked flimsy and I wouldn't want to break the bed and land on top of you. That'd be awkward." He said as he removed his hair nets.
"And painful..." Anik thought as she looked at how large Keats was by comparison to her. "So, mind if I gauge something from you?" She said as Keats looked at her before reaching into her pocket.
"Shoot." Keats said as he pulled out his Pokéballs, recalling his Pokémon back inside of them.
"When do you want to turn Rotom back on?" Anik asked as she pulled out Rotom, the phone Pokémon currently offline.
"...Can't I enjoy the peace, quiet and the lack of judgmentalism? Besides, the guy is safer in your hands, so you mind holding onto Rotom for me for a while longer?" Keats said with a tired tone as Anik put Rotom away.
"Sure, I don't mind." Anik said as she placed Rotom's phone body back in her pocket. "Gonna be your job to fill Rotom in on everything that happens whenever you do turn it on." She thought.
"Last thing I need is more of Rotom's opinions affecting my decision-making skills. I already got reamed out by Marie for whatever before we came here. Telling me to "not be too much of myself in front of that Anik girl," whatever that meant." He thought with exhaustion.
"That ghost hunting kid is going to be pissed to know we brought Rotom along with us... But he also made some derogatory comments about my life's work, so I don't mind seeing him get "pissy."' Anik said before smirking over the possibility of Ambrose getting annoyed. "But other than that, what's the plan about "Birdclaw?" Once we part ways from Tamara and Ambrose?" She said as Keats bit his lip.
"...I'll be honest, I've still not thought that far ahead..." Keats thought as he wiped his face with his hand. "Well... For starters, how do you find a person with a weird name like "Birdclaw?"' He questioned.
"Someone probably in the region has to have heard of him." Anik said in response. "The letter said something about "the path of champions."' She continued.
"My sister mentioned something about that." Keats commented. "She thinks it's something related to the gyms." He said as Anik rubbed her chin in a contemplative manner.
"So, you think he might be after badges? Probably one of the leagues as well..." Anik said. "Then our best bet would probably be to consult one of the gym leaders in town." She thought as Keats walked over to the fridge.
"Wonder what they got in here..." Keats whispered to himself as Anik continued to ponder their next steps.
"Hey, are you paying attention at all to anything I said?" Anik asked as she noticed Keats wasn't facing her. "Great, now's he is acting like an ass..." She thought with frustration.
"You like baked potatoes?" Keats said as he grabbed a pair of potatoes from the fridge.
"I-... Actually, yes." Anik said until she stopped for a moment to process what he said.
"I'm going to make us some baked taters with... A bit of coleslaw." Keats said with a smile as he turned back towards the fridge and spotted a jar of mayonnaise, a cabbage and some carrots.
"...It's kind of late to be having a meal, don't you think?" Anik said in response. "Granted, I do appreciate the gesture." She thought.
"It's never too late to have good food!" Keats said as he walked over to the stove and dropped the potatoes on top of the oven.
"Well... I didn't really eat much for dinner earlier. Since he offered; we could chat over a meal." Anik thought as she walked over to the kitchen island and sat in a stool as Keats started cooking.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Oreburgh Pokémon Center, 11:15 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Damn it, I overcooked them..." Keats complained with his head slumped over as he sat in a stool opposite of Anik with a pair of plates of baked potatoes and coleslaw in front of them.
"It's not that bad honestly... The coleslaw came out pretty good." Anik said with a voice that was trying to lift her friend's spirits.
"Good sides do not make up for bad mains..." Keats said with a bothered expression.
"Hehe..." Anik chuckled with an embarrassed laugh. "Well, it also certainly doesn't help we're eating inches from a weird and goopy skeleton." She said as she and Keats turned towards the oddity he made earlier.
"I can't make a damn thing without it being undercooked or overcooked or whatever, but damn am I good at arts and crafts." Keats said as he admired his work.
"Not sure how that helps you in a real-world sense but whatever makes you happy." Anik said with a wry smile. "But anyway, back to what we were talking about." She said.
"Oh yeah, so you think we could ask the gym leader in town?" Keats said as he started eating. "The amount of saltiness I have over this failure of a tater isn't enough to make it taste better..." He thought, mentally groaning over his lackluster cooking performance.
"Our best bet for right now." Anik said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the flyer she received from earlier that day for the Fossil Festival. "He'll definitely be in town for this." She said as she passed the flyer over to Keats.
'"Fossil Festival: an all-day event featuring games, vendors and a special exhibition between the Oreburgh gym leader and the Canalave gym leader."' Keats said, reading what was on the paper.
"Maybe we can find one of them to see if they've encountered anyone "eccentric" recently in the gym challenge." Anik suggested.
"Baby steps..." Keats said with a shrug as he took his fork and ate a bit of the overcooked potato. "Butter isn't as good as sour cream either... Stupid nurse didn't have any in her fridge." He mentally complained further. "Mind if I ask you something now?" Keats asked as Anik raised an eyebrow.
"Go ahead." Anik replied.
"How long were you in Ecruteak City?" Keats questioned.
"I got into Johto a few days before I got into Ecruteak City. After I got off the bus, I was in town for only a day." Anik explained as Keats listened.
"Ahh... You... Uhhh... Meet anyone?" Keats said as Anik raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I met this guy in a purple suit and cloak named Eusine near one of the town landmarks and then I met the local gym leader, Morty." Anik said as Keats made a face of growing concern.
"...God damn it, why did she have to run into him...?" Keats thought as he put one of his hands on his face.
"Didn't have a lot of positive words to describe you..." Anik thought with an embarrassed expression. "Af-after that, I got directions to your sister's place, and I chatted with her for a while we waited for you to come from... Blowing up a house." She said as Keats' eyes widened.
"Shhhh! Don't say that out loud!" Keats muttered as Anik covered her mouth.
"Sorry..." Anik said.
"Okay... What did you think of my family?" Keats said as Anik ate a bit of the coleslaw and then wiped her face.
"Your brother-in-law seemed nice, and your sister had all of these interesting stories." Anik said with a casual face.
"...Were said "stories" having anything to do with me?" Keats said with a hesitant tone. "I am really hoping Marie didn't bring up that time I went to jury duty..." He thought with dread.
"Well, she brought up this kind of hilarious tale about you going to jury duty- oh my." Anik said before Keats suddenly slammed his head against his plate of food. "Don't mind me asking, but why did want to wear the hat that was logged into evidence for the case?" She said with curiosity as Keats pulled his head up, his face now covered in potato and coleslaw.
"I thought it was important that I try on the hat because-" Keats said until he was suddenly cut off by the sound of someone unable to control their laughter.
"Wahaahaha!" A familiar voice of a young female child laughed vigorously as Keats looked behind Anik and she turned around to look at where the chuckling was coming from.
"Tamara?" Anik said as the laughter stopped.
"Uh!" Tamara muttered from behind the corner, trying to hide and keep quiet. "No-no! It's not me, you're talking to a ghost!... Oooooohhhh." She said, trying to hide and pretending to be someone else by making a weakly sounding wail.
"You better have a sheet over you with holes where your eyes go because you're doing it wrong if you don't." Keats said as Anik turned around and looked at him with an unimpressed look in her eyes.
"Would I need to cut holes in it if I can't even see through them?" Tamara said as she walked into sight.
"Did we wake you?" Anik said as she got up from her seat and walked over to the psychic girl.
"Somewhat. I have a very strong sense of smell so once I smelled the food, I got out of bed." Tamara said as she tapped her cane along the ground and passed by Anik, approaching the kitchen island she and Keats were eating on. "What did you make?" She said as she lifted her cane overhead and placed it on the table, the end of it poking into the nearby flour and butter skeleton.
"Hey!" Keats said in a bothered tone. "Don't poke the skeleton!" He complained.
"What?" Tamara said with confusion as she darted her head around as she lifted her cane up, Anik and Keats spotting the goop dripping from the end of it.
"He-here, let me help." Anik said as she grabbed Tamara's cane and assisted the blind psychic onto the stool she was sitting on prior.
"Can I have some of the food?" Tamara questioned as Anik grabbed a cloth to clean off the bottom of Tamara's cane.
"If you like overcooked baked potato and decent quality coleslaw, go for it." Keats said as he passed his plate over to Tamara and placed the fork into her hand before grabbing Anik's plate. "I'll save this for you, if you want." He said as he walked towards Anik.
"...Sure, I didn't mind it." Anik said as she looked at Keats. "You did a decent job, don't worry." She thought with a reassuring look in her eyes.
"I have some plastic containers in my bags in case of leftovers." Keats said. "Losing streak against trainers and she's definitely not eating this a second time... Woooo..." He thought with disappointment in himself as he walked out of the room.
"The potatoes are okay." Tamara said as Anik walked over to the blind psychic. "He seemed bummed out." She thought upon hearing Keats' thoughts.
"Yeah, he did as best he could." Anik replied.
"What were you guys talking about?" Tamara said out of curiosity.
"Just some business for what happens after we split after crossing Mt. Coronet." Anik said as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"Which is?" Tamara asked.
"We're looking for someone, that much I can tell you." Anik said. "And don't think about reading my mind now that I know what you can do, please." She said with a slightly stern tone.
"Hmph!" Tamara pouted as Anik made a face of realization.
"However, I think you can help me and Keats with something, if you want." Anik thought, knowing Tamara can hear what she was thinking.
"I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not up for doing favors at the moment." Tamara said as she ate some of the coleslaw. "Ambrose never letting me have any fun." She thought with a disgruntled attitude.
"Would you change your mind if I told you that said help would allow you to go to the Fossil Festival tomorrow?" Anik thought with a smile forming on her face.
Upon hearing what Anik said in her head, Tamara turned her head in where she was roughly hearing her thoughts. As she processed what Anik was thinking, Tamara's faced lit up with joy as a wide, open-mouthed smile was appearing on her face.
Rock and stone! To the bone!... If you know, you know. Arriving in Oreburgh City in the Sinnoh region (finally), our squad of the tubby and eccentric Pokémon thief hunter Keats, the astronomy enthusiast Anik, the teenage ghost hunter Ambrose and the young blind psychic Tamara have begun their journey as a group. Preparing for their trek to cross Mt. Coronet, the group, minus one stick in the mud, have decided to make one pit stop: The Oreburgh Fossil Festival! Will there be fun? Will there be games? Will there be an exhibition between the Oreburgh gym leader and the Canalave gym leader? I hope so or else that's some false advertisement. See you next time on Wannabe!
Keats' Pokémon:
1. Pineco.
2. Stunky.
3. Porygon.
4. Venonat.
5. Dragalge.
6. Cloyster.
In rotation:
1. Raichu - Alolan Form.
2. Druddigon.
3. Sizzlipede.
4. Gurdurr.
5. Swalot.
Released/Traded away:
1. Diglett - Alolan Form.
2. Surskit.
Anik's Pokémon:
1. Kingler.
2. Cleffa.
3. Oricorio - Baile Style.
4. Minior - Green Core.
5. Vigoroth.
Ambrose's/Tamara's Pokémon:
1. Furret.
2. Crawdaunt.
3. Dodrio.
4. Helioptile.
