Exiting Oldale Town with a bag full of medicines and pokeballs, Riven and his team walked along the main road on route 102. Looking at the metal sign that read "route 102", Riven still could not understand how the signs were cut so perfectly. They must have some serious artisans around. Turning away from the beautifully cut sign, he walked further ahead, black shoes stepping on the wet ground with an audible squelch.

There was an earthy scent in the air due to the rainy weather around Oldale for the past week. Tall grass and ferns grew around the main road, footprints marked the ground along the road, making it easily distinguishable with the surrounding greenery. Tiny footprints were everywhere. Riven could tell that young fledgling trainers passed through this area recently, some tracks were fresh.

This route was similar to route 101 with its abundance of trees and grass, but was traveled more often, judging by the multitude of tracks along the dirt road. Sweeping the area with his eyes, he looked for threats. No such thing as too careful. After what happened on route 101, Riven was taking zero chances.

That week in the hospital was hellish and painful, both on Riven and his absol. Going back there so soon was definitely not on their to-do lists.

Another surprising feature about this route was that the pokemon were surprisingly bolder. Some linoone and zigzagoon crossed the road, darting between both sides of the forest. It seems like they were playing a game of sorts. Aine looked rather excited, wanting to play tag with the wild pokemon. Bib and Haona are so lazy. All they do is sit around and rest under the shade. I want to play!

She was about to run after them until Riven called out to her. "Aine, I know you want to play but we need to get to Rustboro as fast as possible. Nights in the forest can be treacherous, dark types come out then. And they love ambushes." Well, White Queen was also a dark type and he preferred the darkness anyway. Dark types would not be able to sneak up on them so easily. However, that did not lessen their lethality. Mightyenas were common in these parts, according to Charles.

A few hours of walking later, his pokemons' feet started to ache and he could tell they were getting hungry. Hell, he was getting hungry. He had picked up a bag of pokemon formula mix from the clerk in the pokemart for free as well. Those townspeople were very generous. However, that only covered his pokemon, not him. Of course, he could just eat their formula too but that would be…uh, not pleasant. Granted, it wasn't something he hadn't done before, but he preferred real food any day.

Placing a hand on his chin, he thought of any wild pokemon he saw earlier that would make a good meal. "Linoone and Zigzagoon? Too bony and tasteless. Best find another." Sitting on a rock with a pensive stare, a pokemon came to mind. A furret. " Furret are rather tasty…."

Deciding that he would hunt himself a furret, he shot up from the rock, surprising his pokemon, who were currently devouring the formula. Apparently they liked the stuff. Aine was flat on her back, belly full of food, White Queen was still stuffing her face, and Mischief sat under a tree, telekinetically floating the food towards him.

"Lazy bastard."

Mischief only smirked, putting another puff into his mouth. Riven rolled his eyes and grinned slightly, walking over to a small stump. Arming himself with his blades and his trusty bow, he turned back towards the group. "Hey. I am going to go hunt a bit. Stay here. Do not move. Seriously. Stay." Taking one step, he turned around. "There." He then disappeared into the brush.

Aine let out a satisfied chirp while wiggling her feet."Wow, I'm so full. Pokefood isn't bad."

Haona gave her a dubious look. "What, didn't they feed you at the lab or something?"

"Well ,yeah. Sometimes. I was mostly stuck inside that pokeball. In there, I didn't feel hungry. I did feel it after I got out though. They fed me really dry food, it wasn't very good."

"Ah. I guess I didn't know that. Riven keeps us outside our pokeballs most of the time. He thinks it's good if we get some exercise, that's why he keeps you outside too, Aine."

"Well I'm glad! I like walking and running and playing! I think fighting will be fun too," the torchic chirped happily.

Bib and Haona nearly choked on their puffs. Fighting? Fun? What part of almost dying is fun? Both pokemon shot a questioning glare at the small orange colored chick.

"What? You've never battled before? It's really fun! It's like a game, and when you win, you feel really great,"Aine recalled, judging from her sparring matches with that dick mudkip and her friend Veer, the treecko. "Also like that scyther fight a couple days ago!"

Bib glanced at Haona, a glance that said , Should I tell her or should you? Pointing her head at the joyful chick, the absol gestured Bib to continue.

Clearing his throat, Bib spoke up. "Aine, that wasn't a regular fight like you're used to." His face turned serious. "That was a real life or death fight. It was us or them. That took Riven and Haona a week to recover from."So young and naïve, they were young too but they had been through some things. Besides, she was the baby of the group—it counted. "I know it's hard to tell the difference but since you're the newest member of the team, we need you to understand that there are things that want you dead out there. If a time comes when that happens again, don't wait. Just take them out."

Aine's eyes were now as wide as saucers, terrified. Bib scratched his green hair, "Listen, me and Haona, every battle we've been in has been… not friendly. We know how to kill, we've done it before. We've never had to hold back before. So ….. erm, about this battling business. How do you do it? Non-lethal I mean."

Aine, now slightly more calm, explained, "Well, I guess you try to hurt the other pokemon but not hard enough to seriously hurt them. Knock them out but not kill. Listen to your trainer, that way your instincts won't make you do something nasty. That's what Veer used to say."

"Whose Veer?" Haona asked, wondering which of the other two starters it was.

"Oh. He was a treecko in the lab were you guys found me. He was pretty strong. I never managed to beat him even though I had the advantage, and he was really wise too." The torchic saddened a little. "I still kinda miss him. He taught me a lot." Shaking her head, she suddenly brightened, "You two will do fine! I'm sure of it! You already have some experience so your first trainer battle shouldn't be too difficult!"

Haona and Bib smiled. The hyperactive and joyful little torchic's words sent relief down their shoulders. It couldn't be that bad right? That is until Aine gave Haona one final piece of advice.

"Oh, yeah. Miss Haona? You're going to have to dull your sharp thing."

Bib snickered slightly, which prompted Haona to kick some sand into his face. He sputtered trying to get the sand out of his mouth. The Torchic laughed softly.

"You can call me Haona, and it's called a horn. Can I ask why?"

"Well, Veer said that pokemon with blades or sharp…err…horns, need to dull them so they won't hurt the other pokemon too much. They have to be extra careful because if they cut an artery then there will be serious problems for them and their trainer. Or something like that."

"Or something like that?" Haona wasn't really sure if she could trust what the torchic had to say. After all, it was absurd to dull your horn just to fight in an official battle. She liked having it razor sharp. That was her pride as an absol. Absol's loved their horns. She wasn't going to dull it for some stupid non-lethal battle.

Hmph, as if.

The torchic looked at her elder and lazily replied, "What? I was eating at the time! I didn't pay attention toall of it." With that, she turned to the side, adjusted herself on the ground and went to sleep.

Bib, now having recovered from his spasm, momentarily gave Haona a glare before his face relaxed and he sighed. "Well, you're going to have to figure something out. You don't want to kill a pokemon on accident after all. Then you'd get put down," Bib reasoned. "Sucks to be you."

The female absol released an annoyed huff. "I can probably dull it, but it's annoying to do. I'd rather not."

The psychic shrugged. "Well it's a start."

Suddenly, Haona shot up, fully alert. Her horn was tingling. Trouble was coming. It happened before they got attacked by the mightyena, then the scyther, and now this. Except she knew it wasn't meant for her.

Bib noticed and asked, "Trouble?" Haona nodded.

She then snickered and gave a toothy grin,"Yep. But not the lethal kind, the annoying kind. And we aren't the ones that are getting it."

The kirlia fully understood and smirked. "Who's the poor bastard now?"

It had been about thirty minutes since he had left his pokemon at camp. In the time spent walking through the forest's thick brush, he had not so much as seen a single furret. Plenty of linoones, but no furrets.

This is frustrating. Damn it. The sun is going to set soon. Furrets are not nocturnal creatures. They would not be out during the night. He had to catch one quick as they went back to their nests. Otherwise it was an empty stomach for the night and part of the next day. And walking miles on an empty stomach made people straight up cranky.

A bushy tail whipped past his face, snapping him out of his thoughts. Focusing his eyes on the tail he realized what it belonged to. A furret! Mine, come here you furry little sh-

The furret, noticing the rather large weapon in the human's arms, turned away in terror, jumping from tree to tree to get away. The chase had begun.

Riven chased the furret through thickets of tall grass, dodging and weaving through trees in an attempt to get a shot at the furry animal. However, it was fast and adept at moving through the vegetation. His only strategy was to tire it out, it would eventually. Jumping was strenuous on the body's calves and legs, which required a lot of energy. It is only a matter of time, then you are mine.

The furret began to tire, its legs hurting from jumping so much. The human was relentless and pretty fast for something with two legs. It also wasn't tired at all. The furret then jumped to a high tree after losing the human in between two trees. It thought it was safe. Bad mistake. A whizzing sound was heard, almost like swooping swellow.

Thunk.

The arrow hit home and landed right between the furret's eyes, killing it instantly. It had been a pretty far shot, it was the only one he had. He needed to stay hidden so the pokemon could think it was safe. He knew it would stop if it thought it lost him. And it was about?...forty feet? Not bad.

Impressed with his shot, he walked over to his kill and was about to retrieve his arrow when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He saw a blonde girl with her hair tied in spiky ponytail. She was wearing…well, he didn't really know what she was wearing. People from the future wore strange clothing. But her face was the part that was the most noticeable. Her mouth was wide open, her jaw looked like it hit the floor, and her eyes were as wide as the moon itself. She looked horrified. The flashlight in her other hand wavered.

She had a pokeball in her right, a regular sized one, meaning that she was trying to catch it. Now it was well….kind of dead. Riven had to admit, the irony of the situation was pretty hilarious. Being a soldier for so long, his humor had grown quite dark. He felt like laughing hysterically but composed himself. Staring her down, they remained like that a couple seconds, motionless and silent. She wore that stupid face so it was pretty difficult for Riven to keep a straight face, until she suddenly screamed.

"WHAT THE FUCK? HOLY SHIT, YOU JUST KILLED THAT FURRET!"

Quite a mouth on her, Riven silently mused. Still staring at her, he gave her a confused look. "Yes, I did. Thank you for stating that. Is that wrong?"

"YOU JUST KILLED A POKEMON," she repeated. Was she mentally ill or something?

"And you just said that," Riven responded blankly. Why is she screaming?

"YOU CAN'T KILL POKEMON YOU DUMBASS!"

"Why the hell not? And can you stop screaming? Do you want the whole forest to hear you?"

"IT'S A FUCKING CRIME!"

Her screaming was getting a tad bit annoying. Usually loud noise in the middle of a now darkening forest was an indication that you really wanted to die. Noise attracted predators. Predators meant dead human. Dead was bad.

"That is absurd. What is the punishment? An arm or a leg?" He asked seriously. An arm was doable, a leg was pushing it.

The girl looked appalled and commenced her inane screaming once more. "AN ARM OR A LEG? IT'S JAIL YOU FUCKING SAVAGE! Oh god. You're a savage aren't you? Like those people on television."

Riven kneaded his temples, feeling a migraine build up. "No you stupid girl, I am not a savage. I am just trying to get something to eat. Trainers do that, right? They do consume things, correct? Berries can only go so far. Besides, that is my kill. Take it and you will regret it."

His threatening tone made the girl freeze, he was not just a savage. He was insane! Then her stomach betrayed her. It let out a very audible grumbling sound, signaling the savage boy that she was, in fact, as hungry as he was.

An indignant smirk then crept up the boy's face. Oh it pissed her off. He's acting like he just beat me! Furious, she took out a pokeball and yelled," BATLLE ASSHOLE!"

Riven scowled. "Are you stupid? It is almost dark, I just secured my dinner, we are both starving, and I have no pokemon with me."

The girl swallowed and contorted her face, trying to find a witty comeback but came back empty handed. She then got a devilish thought that would lead to some food. Hopefully. Raising her head and staring down at the crouched boy with a regal glare, she said, "Well I guess I'll just have to tell the authorities about this. Then they will lock you up for sure. Hmph!"

Riven stared, face blank. "Oh… I see. Are you trying to threaten me? Because if you are, you are going to be very disappointed."

Shit! He caught me. Quick! Bluff! Flipping open her pokenav, she showed it to him. "I can call the Petalburg City rangers that a man is hunting pokemon on route 102 right now. I can even tell them how you look like, you savage."

"Your pokenav contraption has no battery does it? If you wanted to threaten me, you would have done so." A lucky guess at best. Remembering a snippet of conversation with Charles during the hospital, he recalled that pokenavs had to be recharged at pokemon centers or held out in the open so they could charge via sun. Most trainers charged them at centers and kept them in their bags most of the time and between exploring caves and thick woods, trainers often wound up having dead batteries.

As if on cue, the girl paled. He had bested her twice, she had no more cards up her sleeve. Gulping down her pride, she looked away. "Fine, you win. Can I have some of that furret too? I know it's against the law but who cares I'm hungry!"

"Could you not have just said that? Now let me retrieve my arrow and pick this up before a mightyena pack gets a whiff of fresh blood. Things can get…dangerous." Removing his arrow out of the furry pokemon's skull, he slung its body over his shoulder and motioned the blonde girl to follow him.

The girl didn't move. Looking back, he called out, "Why are you still standing there? Get a move on."

"I can't see! It's pitch black," she squeaked. "My flashlight just died."

Poor flashlight. That was weird though. He could see perfectly well. It was a bit darker than usual but it was manageable. Did her eyes work? "Do you not see anything? At all? Wave a hand in front of your face." She did. "Can you see your hand? It is pale enough to see rather clearly, even in the dark."

Repeating herself once again, she yelled, "I CAN'T SEE A FUCKING THING!"

"Shut up with the screaming. Damn. You want something to come after us? If it does, I am not going to protect you." An exasperated sigh. "Walk forward until you reach me. Stay close and hold on."

He sighed, and nearly tripped over a root.

The walk back to camp was a complete disaster. This girl tripped and jumped at every single damned noise that could be heard. Step over a twig? Yelp. Brush past some grass? Stop and yelp. It was irritating. It was making Riven's headache worse.

Her shoulder touched a tree and she screamed. His eardrum nearly ruptured. At his wits end, he stopped and bellowed at her. "Can you shut up!?" She stopped screaming and looked at the floor, only to jump again as she heard a growling sound behind her.

Instantly regretting the outburst, Riven looked around him to see red eyes flashing in the darkness. Mightyena. Fuck. Wasting no time, he pulled the girl's hand, "Run!" He ran through the woods, girl clambering behind, red eyes hot on his trail. Smelled the food, most likely. Making the best tactical decision he could, he dropped the furret behind him, which the predators began to tear into. He kept running until he saw an orange glow. Camp.

Reaching the safety of the fire, he stopped and looked back. Good bye, sweet food. His pokemon were all safely asleep, bellies full of food while his was tying itself in knots. Fury building up in his head, he turned to the blonde girl who cowered slightly. "There goes our meal. Back where I started. Wonderful. Thank you for depriving me of what little happiness the world can provide."

The blonde, knowing that she was the reason he lost his dinner and hers, softly replied, "Sorry." He didn't look fazed however, refusing such a pointless apology. Biting her lower lip, she made a bolder apology, "Look, I'll buy you dinner at Petalburg for two days ok?"

Now she was talking. He instantly forgot the incident and whose fault it was. No sense fretting over something that trivial. That just made you age faster. "You got yourself a deal then. You better not be trying to throw me under the tauros though. If I find out, I will find you. Somehow."

"Ok, fine. You're scary, I get it." Sitting down near the fire, she rubbed her sleeves. "I'm Amy. What's your name?"

Great. She wants to befriends. Listening to his better judgement, he gave her an alias that sprang up in his mind. "Gray."

She scowled. What a generic name. It was more than a little lame. It had no vibe and no life. It was a bleak name, for dull people. Knowing this guy? It kinda fit. "Gray. Okay… These are your pokemon then?" She looked over the three sleeping figures.

"Torchic, Aine. My kirlia, Mischief. And finally, my absol, White Queen." He replied, nibbling on a blade of grass. Helped fight the hunger.

"Why did you call them Mischief and White Queen? Those are really weird names for pokemon."

"Because he's a mischievous little sod," he said, pointing to the sleeping kirlia. He then shifted his gaze to the absol,"And her because she has a regal attitude that irritates me. She gets a kick out of it too."

Looking at the absol, Amy couldn't help but gawk at the absol's sleeping face. "She's beautiful…."

"I guess? I had never encountered an absol before. I only found out what she was when Professor Birch informed me of her species. I saved her and Mischief from a mightyena pack a while ago. Started following me so I made them my pokemon. They did not seem to object so I presume they were fine with it." Taking out two sitrus berries, he tossed her one.

Catching the small berry, she bit into it, savoring its taste. " A sitrus berry! These are pretty good. They have a balanced flavor. Some berries are either too spicy or too dry. Or bitter. Bleh."

"So that is what they are called. I just thought they were yellow fruit." Riven said, looking at his half eaten berry. "Charles had no information on it so I just kept calling them yellow fruit. I was not aware they had a name."

A few minutes of silence went by. Wiping some juice off her mouth, she focused her eyes on the beautiful absol on the ground. "Female absol huh? Absol are pretty rare anywhere, people don't really like them much. Whenever they show up, disaster happens. People think they're the reason for them." Taking another bite of her berry, she added, "But it's a stupid accusation. They don't cause them. They just try to warn people." She frowned a little. "They hunt them sometimes you know. That's why you don't seem them much."

Riven looked at his absol. Placing a hand on one of his blades, "If anyone tries to hunt her, I will castrate them. I mean that. She nearly died once already. If it happened again, I would be a lousy trainer, right?"

Amy smiled warmly. "How did you find an absol anyway? I thought they were native to route 120. I heard there was also some in Forina."

"I have not been to either of those. I found her and Mischief on route 101 back when he was still a ralts."

Amy arched a brow. "Route 101? Near Littleroot? What would two pokemon like that be doing there?"

Riven shrugged. "No idea. All I know is they were being attacked by mightyena."

Amy gasped, "How did you fight them off? You didn't have any pokemon!" She then saw the two blades at his hips and her mouth turned upside down into a frown. "Oh."

The trainer caught her eye and plainly said, "Yes. I killed them. I had to."

She felt apprehensive, thinking that killing pokemon was wrong, but at the same time she couldn't really object.

Riven noticed her melancholy, probably thinking about the morality of killing a pokemon. He let it go. Not his problem. "Hey. We should go to sleep. We need to be up early tomorrow if we want to catch something more solid to eat. I still want some furret before we reach the next town. Petalburg was it?"

She nodded, her solemn mood now fading. She flipped open her sleeping bag and settled in. She stayed awake a bit before she finally began to drift off to sleep. "G'night, Gray."

He stayed silent, unsure if he should respond. Instead, he only watched her sleeping bag rise and fall with her breaths. Listening to Amy and his pokemon's exhales, he closed his eyes.

Feeling the early rays of dawn on his skin, Riven opened his eyes. He stretched his limbs, feeling slightly more energized. Looking at the fire, he noticed it had gone out. It was now just a pile of smoking wood pieces and ashes. He stood up looking around the small makeshift camp. His pokemon were still asleep. They must have eaten quite a bit.

He then turned to the left and saw blonde hair sticking out of a body length bag. I forgot she was here. The figure inside was a girl he had encountered last night while trying to hunt a furret, which he was forced to sacrifice to save their hides. It was unfortunate and slightly annoying but at least she would get him something to eat at the next city. Still wondered what the cities looked like.

Nudging his pokemon awake, he let them stretch out, shaking off the morning slowness that accompanied deep sleep. Aine recovered the fastest, being the most hyperactive of the group. White Queen was second to wake up, still rubbing her face with her paws. Mischief was last. He was the lazy one after all. Waking him had taken almost three pushes.

Aine exclaimed, "Ooooohh! Another trainer!"

Hearing this, Haona's fur stood on end and she growled, distrusting of the other human. She stopped after Riven made a stopping motion with his hand.

"She is a…friend, White Queen. She means no harm. I am only going to be traveling with her until we reach Petalburg. She promised to buy us food there." Although he hesitated a bit, the offer of free food sealed the deal for Haona. She stopped growling and simply turned away with a huff.

Bib stirred, now rubbing his eyes awake. "What did our trainer find a mate already or what? He works fast."

Haona hit him on the head with her paw. "No you dolt. It's just another trainer he found last night. She's going to give us free food when we get to the next human city."

"That's even better than a mate then!" Bib cheered.

Riven went to go wake the girl as his pokemon were bickering about something, probably his relation with the unfamiliar girl. He nudged her awake. "Wake up. We need to get moving. The sun is up and the furret should be rising in about an hour or two." The blonde yawned and straightened. Her green eyes opened and she squinted, adjusting to the light. She picked herself up and folded the sleeping bag back into her backpack.

"Good morning, Gray."

"Likewise." He replied, before stepping back. He held out his right hand towards his pokemon. "Amy, meet Aine, White Queen, and Mischief. Aine, White Queen, Mischief, meet Amy." The female trainer waved shyly, smiling slightly. His absol stepped forward, sniffing her. She smelled friendly enough. His torchic jumped in place, ecstatically chirping. His kirlia simply bowed respectfully.

"Umm….hi. Nice to meet you." Amy said, still waving her hand gently.

"Now that proper introductions are finished. We have a furret to track," Riven announced, adjusting his bow around his body.

Looking at him in the light, Amy noticed how strange he looked. His clothing was mostly leather, which was badly damaged and colored entirely black. He was wearing shoulder pads that had a strange symbol on them and one of his eyes didn't match the other. He looked scruffy and dangerous. Like a soldier…..

Dropping the thought, she caught up to him. They were now a little bit aways away from their resting spot. Gray crouched down and inspected the ground, noticing tiny footprints in the soil. "A furret passed through here. The tracks are fresh, it should still be around here somewhere." Apparently he was good at tracking too. Was he a survivalist? Amy knew that guys liked that existed, living in the wilds, becoming 'one' with nature. She always thought they were nuts.

Curious, she asked him a question. "Where did you learn to track? Your father?" Her parents were city dwellers, they couldn't track a stantler to save their lives. So naturally, she had zero experience when it came to the wilderness.

"No. I had to learn. Spent a lot of time in the wild." He gave her a vague answer, knowing that if he told her the truth then she would laugh and call him mad. Luckily, that satisfied the girl's curiosity, allowing the young man to focus on tracking the furret. Spotting a half eaten fern, he got an idea.

Cutting a couple of branches, then tying them together with some extra string in his pack, he placed his creation on the floor, adjacent to the half eaten fern. Taking out a sitrus berry from his bag, Riven placed the berry at the foot of his trap.

Amy looked confused. "What is that?"

"A snare. It will catch smaller ones that get too close. Makes them easy to kill. Using bait entices them to get close. Basic trap, but it works very well."

They hid in some bushes and waited about twenty minutes. Hunting took patience. Then they heard some twigs snap. The trap had triggered and a furret was now caught in it, squirming helplessly. Gray then took a small, wicked looking knife out a pocket in his pants and walked over to it.

"Sorry." He said as he silenced the furret with one quick thrust. Signaling her to get out of the bushes, Amy climbed out and met Gray as he slung the animal over his shoulder. "Gather some firewood while I skin him. Meet me back at camp." He then turned around and headed off back to camp. Gathering firewood was easy, she had done it when her parents had gone camping with her a couple times.

Returning to camp with some firewood, she saw that Gray had already skewered the furret. His hands were a bit bloody, and he was sweating from the heat. Replacing the charred logs from last night, he placed the new ones on top and ordered Aine to use ember on them. The logs caught fire and Gray made a stand out of some wood, where he placed the furret to roast.

The boy dug into his pack and took out a bag of formula. Serving his pokemon, he leaned back on a rock, waiting for the furret to be done. Remembering that her pokemon must also be hungry, Amy let hers out of their pokeballs.

"Alright guys! Come on out!"

Gray glanced at the three pokeballs in the air, which opened and shot three beams of white light onto the forest floor. The first light materialized, revealing a small sheep like pokemon with a blue face and blue feet. It had a black and yellow striped tail with a yellow orb at the end. The second light cleared to show a flying blue bird with wings that closely resembled clouds. The third and final light faded, leaving behind a green gecko pokemon with large yellow eyes. "Treecko," it said.

Flipping open Charles, he scanned over the sheep first. "Mareep, the Wool pokemon. Its wool, which grows continuously, stores electricity, rubbing together and building static charge." Turning his pokedex towards the blue bird creature, Charles stated, "Swablu, the cotton bird pokemon. Its wings are like cotton tufts. If it perches on someone's head, it looks like a cotton hat." Next was the green gecko. "Treecko, the wood gecko pokemon. It quickly scales even vertical walls. It sense humidity with its tail to predict the next day's weather."

"Mareep, Swablu, and Treecko huh. You got that Treecko at Birch's lab right? I remember seeing one there. One of the options, the other one was a blue fish with legs."

"Yeah. I picked him up about two weeks ago. My other two pokemon were sent over from my dad in Mauville City."

A high pitched 'Torrrrchic' was heard as Aine nearly tackled her treecko down. Guess she was friends with him back in the lab.

"Veer! I thought you left!" Aine chirped.

"Yeah. Amy took me. We were in Oldale for a while. She had to run some errands there. Looks like she made a friend." Veer replied coolly, moving a twig around in his mouth. "He looks a little dangerous."

"Yeah, that's my trainer! He looks a little scary but he's really awesome!"The torchic suddenly remembered, "OH! Say hi to Bib and Haona, they're his pokemon too."

Veer bowed to them, respectfully acknowledging them. Proper and honorable. Aine was right, Veer was pretty good.

The mareep and swablu then came over and mingled, talking to Haona, Bib, and Aine about their trainers.

Amy and Gray smiled, watching their pokemon interact with each other. Looking back at the furret, Gray took it out of the fire and took out his knife. Cutting away strips of its meat, he placed them on Amy's plate before serving himself.

Finally getting something solid to eat, the blonde haired trainer devoured the meat. So good, she thought, savoring the taste of food. She never knew furret tasted this good. Her face amused Riven, who only chuckled before sinking his teeth into his own food. I could get used to this, Amy confessed to herself.

Now full and ready to go, Amy and Riven packed up their belongings and started on the route to Petalburg again. The route was quiet and peaceful, unusual considering the amount of beginners that trekked through there all the time. Glancing up at Riven, who was a few inches taller than her, she couldn't help but stare at his right eye. It was the color of the ocean, a deep blue. And the other was a plain brown, generic as hell.

Riven then peered down at her as she watched him. Quickly correcting herself, she stared ahead in front of her, now feeling a little more than awkward. I was staring, he caught me staring. Urk.

Well, she couldn't really blame herself much, it wasn't everyday that you saw a person with differently colored eyes. It was weird.

Riven furrowed his brows, observing the blonde's strange behavior. He stopped thinking she was brain dead, now only convinced she was stranger than this world. She slapped herself for no reason. That was not weird enough? Shrugging, he stopped when he noticed Amy behind him. "Come on, we need to keep going."

Catching her annoyed look, he asked ,"What?"

"You think I'm going into Petalburg looking like this and smelling worse than tauros crap? You got another thing coming." Pulling him towards a river away from the main road, she stopped. " Besides, you need a bath too. You're filthy."

Riven scowled. She did have a point. He was sweaty and dirty. It also wouldn't hurt to get out of the heat for a bit and enjoy the water. "Alright. We will bathe in the stream and then head to Petalburg."

"Sounds good to me! Now turn around. I'm going to undress," she ordered.

Respecting a woman's privacy, Riven turned around and waited for her to enter the water. Hearing a sinking sound, he asked, "Can I turn around yet?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Turning around, he saw her submerged up to her collarbone. Moving his finger to the side, he motioned for her to turn around this time. She turned away, facing the other side of the small stream now. He removed his armor and undergarments, dropping into the water. "You can turn around now."

Now facing his direction, Amy's eyes widened. Holy shit. The male trainer was toned but she could see the beginnings malnutrition setting in. His body was covered in scars. A horizontal scar ran across his pectorals, running perpendicular to a large irregularly shaped scar that went from his collarbone down to nearly his hip. Numerous other cuts that were smaller in size lined his body and back. It didn't look good, it gave her chills just imagining what gave him that.

Riven simply busied himself with cleaning up, getting the dirt and sweat out of his hair. He caught a glimpse of Amy's body as she turned around and stood up slightly. Chastising himself for looking, he glanced away and finished cleaning up.

Both trainers, now clean and fresh, were back on the main road. Amy tugged at Riven's leather sleeve, grabbing his attention. "What?" He questioned, unaware of her intention.

Smiling widely, she took out a pokeball from her belt and enlarged it.

"Let's have a friendly battle! You owe me that much at least."

Riven looked at his pokemon, who all nodded in confirmation.

"I will not go easy on you though."

"That's alright! I wasn't planning to go easy on you either."

He snorted, and she flung the ball in the air.