Riven shot awake, yelping as he felt something push down into his stomach. He groaned groggily. He had slept like a damn baby. He blocked out the sun with his hand, which was shining right in his face. Early sunrise. Need to go exchange this thing. He glanced over to the right, identifying the culprit behind his rude awakening.

White Queen was staring back at him, pointing down at her food bowl. She was demanding to be fed. Riven frowned and sat up. She tapped her food bowl again. "Ab! Sol! SOL!"

"Ugh, fine. White Queen, you are really pushy. Stop clinking on the food bowl, let me-" She bit his finger. "ALRIGHT. I got it!" Riven turned to his pack and saw a fluffy ball of orange feathers rummaging through the bag. He sighed, pulling Aine out of the pack by her stubby legs. "Aine, did you eat my-" He saw a brown stain on her beak, and shook his head when she chirped cheerfully. "You did eat my snack." White Queen smirked while Aine wriggled out of his hold and cried happily, as he tried to get her back into his hands to wipe the chocolate off her beak.

Pulling out the bag of pokefood, he served the pompous one and the orange fluff of energy. He wondered where Mischief was. Knowing him, probably playing pranks on an unassuming victim. Riven stood up to go look for him while his pokemon were eating. The search was short-lived when he saw Mischief sitting on some stone steps a few feet around the corner. The Kirlia seemed to be meditating. Or so it seemed.

Riven grinned devilishly and got an idea. He crept up behind the focused psychic and pushed him gently. His pokemon stumbled forward, losing his balance and falling flat on his face. The psychic type stood up, fuming. He saw his trainer's sly smirk and huffed in defiance. His eyes glowed blue and with a cry, a soda can was lifted off the ground and sent into Riven's face. The trainer fell back, still laughing through it.

"Worth it!" He chuckled, rolling on the grass.

Riven watched his Kirlia walk back to go eat and noted that something was off. He could see from his right eye and his ribs were perfectly fine. The hell? I should be in pain. I felt my ribs crack when that bastard hit me with that metal baton. Cracked ribs usually went hand in hand with long periods of inactivity because of the fact moving around with injured ribs was extremely painful and slowed soldiers down considerably. They definitely should not be fine. Besides, he had never healed that quick before. He knew what broken ribs were like. The constant movement prevented them from healing too much, which resulted in pain, pain, and more pain. And in the middle of summer, it was absolutely agonizing.

That they were fine was certainly odd but there was no real use in complaining about it.

After his pokemon were fed and no longer grouchy, mostly White Queen , Riven walked with them to the Petalburg City Bank. All he could hear on the way there were people gossiping about yesterday's incident, one Riven would have liked to forget completely. Taking a life was not easy. He had killed three men yesterday, but they were all murderous pieces of Tauros dung so really it wasn't that much of an issue. People were just different compared to back then, perhaps. Adjusting a black cloth around his right eye, the trainer ignored the incessant chatter.

Riven made sure to keep his right eye covered with a cloth, he knew it might draw suspicions toward him. Being recognized could complicate things, especially with the police involved. Having different colored eyes was noticeable as shit too.

As the group walked towards the bank, he saw the nasty stares some of the people were giving White Queen. He knew why. She was an Absol, and judging by the fact that an assassination almost happened yesterday, they thought she was the cause of it. Superstitions. He stopped in front of two people who were sitting at an outside diner, giving White Queen dirty looks.

"Can you stop staring at her? She gets into a mood when people do that, bit of a warning. And I would not get on her bad side, she has a habit of hurting people." He walked away right after saying that, leaving them to their own devices as White Queen gave them a glare.

Ignoring the multitude of stares, he entered the bank. Riven waited in line for a few minutes while his pokemon waited outside for him. He got to the booth and a lady asked him, "Hello sir. I mean trainer! I can see the pokeballs on your belt. Have you come to open a bank account?"

Spot on. "Yes, I would like to open an account. How do I do that?"

"Since you're a trainer, all I need is your trainer's license! No other registration required!" He gave her the small card.

"Riven. No last name?" She looked confused. "I can't give you an account with just a first name."

"Oh, last name? Uh… Riven. Riven Cerul." He used his full real name, figuring that his account would be seen only by him. Besides, it was his own so he should not have to use an alias.

"Ok. Riven Cerul huh. Strange name." She typed furiously on the computer, then turned back to him. "All done! Is that all for today?"

"No. I also want to place this amount of money in my account and withdraw four thousand from it." He waved Van's check in the air, it had a flower logo on it and was ornately decorated.

"A check from the Office of Contests and Events? Boy, that terrible incident yesterday must have been scary." She replied sympathetically. "Were you there when it happened?"

"Yes. It was…jarring." He passed the check through the slit in the booth. She took it and began furiously typing away again. She had no idea he was the one at the center of it all. Those shades really did help. I might have to buy a pair. Besides, they have good protection against the sun and no one can see my eye. Less odd looks the better. His attention focused on the banker again.

"Alright, you now have sixteen thousand in your account and I will go fetch your remaining four thousand. Don't go anywhere!"

Riven waited a few minutes, looking around the interior of the bank. People stood lined up, waiting their turns to the booth. The floor was nice and tiled, having just been cleaned. The air was cool, probably from the 'air conditioning' that most buildings seemed to have built in. The desks were made of polished wood and bankers sat in front of the desks, talking to clients about financial advice. Deposits and checks were being exchanged everywhere, easily and efficiently. Since everything was done via computer, people did not necessarily need to go anywhere to receive their money. Futuristic monetary exchange was amazing.

The lady came back holding four bills with Corphishes on them. Riven still found that really pointless, but it made him snicker anyway. He took the bills, putting them in a pocket in his pants. That was another thing that was really convenient. Pockets in his pants were useful, he could place money and small objects in there without worrying about losing them. Out of the bank, his pokemon followed him.

"Now for pokefood because I apparently feed gluttons. You all eat too much."

They all complained loudly enough to make him chuckle.

"Oh, forgot about the shades!"

The pokemart was nothing like Oldale's. This one was enormous. At least to him. It was called a Mall, where they sold all things pokemon and human as well. There were food courts, clothing stores, and markets in which you could buy an assortment of pokemon related goods. Riven entered a section of the mall called, The Dunsparce Market. He picked up another bag of pokefood formula in there when another store caught his attention.

Its name was the Battle Emporium, and trainers flooded the place. It was a 'fast food' store combined with a store that sold TMs. "Technical machines" was still fairly advanced vocabulary for his poor brain, but he knew that they taught moves to pokemon. Charles had told him about them back in the hospital as well. Interested, he entered the store. Trainers were discussing battle moves and techniques while looking at various TMs on the shelves. Riven headed to the offensive TM category.

He picked up a red disk drive that had the label, TM # 35: Flamethrower. Figuring that Aine could use a powerful fire attack, he looked at the price tag. His eyes almost flew out of his skull.

FORTY? WHAT? How about no.

Setting the TM back in its place with his wallet having almost spontaneously combusted, he browsed some of the other TMs in the store. Hail, Toxic, Sunny Day, Shock Wave, Rain Dance, Protect, the list went on and on. However, all of them were above his four thousand, most even more expensive than what he had in his account. Flamethrower alone was a solid forty thousand. How could one stupid little disk cost so much?

Riven asked some trainers around him, who looked a little intimidated by his presence. "Excuse me. Do you know why the Technical Machines require an arm and a leg to buy?" The other trainers shrugged or looked equally as puzzled as him. A smaller one with spectacles weaved through the clump of trainers and adjusted them on his nose.

"I know the answer why." Light flashed across his glasses. "You see, a couple years back, TMs were single-use and easily producible, which meant that they had to be bought again and again to use on different pokemon. But now, you only need one disk drive and you can use it on all the pokemon you want. That's why they cost tons now. Efficient!" He had his arms on his hips, obviously very knowledgeable about the subject.

"Alright, thank you." Riven walked away abruptly. To hell with that. He thought. Then he turned in a half circle, asking the kid how the TMs worked. The boy was eager to flaunt his expertise and began a thorough explanation on technical machine functionality and usage.

"Alright. Listen up. Technical machines are amazing in the fact that when the disks are placed on a pokemon's head, the drive emits signals that reach the pokemon's brain. These signals carry information that is relayed directly to the pokemon's synapses, instantly forming memories in a pokemon's mind about how to perform a certain move. It's akin to repeating a move over and over again, without going through the tedious process of repetition. It's instant and quick!" The boy explained, marveled at the power of technology.

Riven was impressed. Actually more than impressed, he was amazed. Instantly perfecting a move that could require months if not weeks of training? Useful hardly began to describe it. Future technology just keeps on surprising me.

He wondered about something. Could pokemon learn a TM move just like a human learn could learn a skill with training and repetition? Like learning flamethrower like he had learned climbing and combat? Curious, he asked the boy. "Can a pokemon learn a TM move without using the actual TM? In a sense, you can teach it to them with training?"

The boy put a hand on his chin, thinking about it. He spoke up, voice a bit uncertain. "I'm guessing so. If a TM places knowledge in there instantly, I guess a human can do that too. But at a much slower pace of course. In theory, that is. Most trainer's don't bother with that though. I don't know how you'd teach a pokemon how to do ice beam as a trainer, if you know what I mean."

Riven recalled once seeing the pokemon instructors back in Altea. They would spend hours teaching combat bred pokemon techniques, running various drills and exercises. It would take days or weeks before the creatures were able to fully master the techniques, so they often trained schools of them at a time. It was like combat training, but for pokemon. Never taught Mightyena how to shoot ice out of their mouths, though. Just bites, crunches, leers, some dark pulses and night slashes. The basics. He figured he could do the same, teaching Aine how to control her fire and make it stronger.

The problem was that he never really had experience with fire pokemon before, so he was a tad bit clueless. That was the Rose clan's specialty. Deciding that he would undergo a fierce training session with his pokemon after he left Rustboro, he left for the food court.

What to eat? What to…..hmmmmm….that place looks promising. It was called Blaze Burgers. He had never tasted a burger before. Riven made up his mind and headed over to the counter. A man in his thirties welcomed him, asking the trainer what he was going to order. Riven looked around the menu before deciding on the first combination on the menu. "That one. Number one, it says."

"A number one? Ok, that will be $100." Riven handed him a bill. "Your meal will be ready in a moment."

He held the thin piece of paper with a number on it and waited until the number at the top was called, dumbly walking over to receive his food. How remarkably simple. Just like vending machines!

The burger was a piece of meat in between two bread slices with lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes in the middle. The meal also came with thinly cut potatos called 'fries' and a cup of Poke Cola. He stared at his food like it was some kind of alien creature, before biting into the sandwich.

His eyes widened, the flavor exploded in his mouth. This is amazing! Wow. Even their food is wonderful. It is perfectly seasoned, and the vegetables compliment the food perfectly. He dipped some of the fries in ketchup, a condiment that was made from tomatoes. Even this is good. Riven tried the drink next. Sweet… I like this. I believe burgers are my new favorite food. How did we not have this before? What were we, stupid? Just meat, bread, vegetable mashed together.

Content with his meal and gladly ordering seconds, he stood up and walked out of the mall. Damn, that was good. Regardless, he was done with Petalburg. His bag was restocked with pokemon food, his account had some money in it, and his stomach was full. It was time to move on.

Riven and his pokemon said a final farewell to the City of Flowers as they rode in a bus to the western side of the city. They got off near the gate, which displayed a sign that said: This way to Route 104.

Passing through the gate, he smelled something familiar. It was salty and wet. "Are we near the ocean?" Sniffing the air once more, the trainer's guess was confirmed. There was water near here. A sign of good fortune, surely.

And surely enough, reality disappointed him in record time.

Route 104 proved to be extensively annoying. Hordes of young Poochyena harassed them constantly, trying to get at the food in his bag. After the fifteenth pup tried chomping on it, Riven felt a strange urge to turn them into paste. At the same time, he didn't feel like skewering them all and risk drawing attention from any rangers, being so close to Petalburg and all. Another trip to the precinct building for something that was illegal was something to be avoided at all costs. That detective was an angry shit and Riven was put off by thinking of spending anymore time in that room with him. He finally reached the water, quite thankful for not having to walk through any more tall grass and hungry puppies.

The body of water a bit further into the route was connected to the ocean as far as Riven could tell. Some rocks were jutting out of the water, blocking any sort of passage to the ocean. It looked convenient and stopped unfortunate swimmers from being carried off by the waves. Some people were resting on the sandy shore. Where other people saw trainers, Riven saw money bags that produced money when you beat them with a stick. Said stick being his pokemon.

He challenged everyone on the route, all of which were fairly easy to beat. Aine had no problems dealing with the bug type trainers on the grassy part of the route and Riven let Mischief and White Queen handle some of the water type fishermen near the shore.

Unfortunately, most of the trainers were not wealthy, at times giving him just two hundred or less. The richest target proved to be a blonde young woman with a green hat, who handed over about one thousand. She gave him strange looks and even gave the clueless trainer a collection of numbers.

What the hell was that? What is this? He curiously examined the slip of paper which had ten digits on it. He had no clue what in this forsaken world he would use it for. Figuring it was useless, he shredded it to pieces. Strange woman. She also got a little too close for comfort, which was very awkward. Usually, trainers that got beat either congratulated him for a job well done, or stared daggers into him for winning. Needless to say, he bolted for the woods.

The woods were dark. Most of the trees grew in close proximity to one another, blocking out any light from the sun. The place looked like it was stuck in permanent night. It was perfect for bug pokemon, who disliked the light and hid in obscure corners. Especially spiders. Arceus, Riven avoided the thought of any spiders. Ariados did terrible things to people if given the chance.

Darkness was good though. Riven felt comfortable in it. He could see perfectly and his senses were keener during the night or in the dark. White Queen moved equally as well, which was strange since she was the lightest thing in the forest. Aine was safely tucked in his weapons case, her head poking outward, on overwatch behind him.

Riven had assembled his team in a formation in case anything happened. After that particularly nasty Scyther attack, he found that this formation worked rather splendidly. Aine would be in his case, looking out for any threats that would creep up behind him, White Queen walked ahead to spot any incoming targets, and Mischief would be by his side to stop any surprise close encounters. His blades and bow were on his person again, he would need them if any things came after him.

He spent most of the day wandering the woods, finding fallen items on the ground, probably left behind by careless trainers. White Queen eyed him suspiciously. "What? Another man's trash is another man's treasure. I am also poor. Feeding you is expensive." Once you go poor, you can become wealthy again, but you never lose the attitude. He picked up a fallen pokeball when a net came down on him.

Riven glanced up and saw a strange kid perched in a tree holding the net. "AHA! I caught you! Now let's battle!" The older trainer took out one of his blades and quickly slashed the net to pieces, looking a little bit more than annoyed.

"Really? Did you have to throw a net on me? Was it really necessary?"

"It was too! Everyone runs away from me!" The kid reasoned, more than a little frightened by the older boy's sharp things.

"Perhaps because you are perched up in a tree with a net and have hair so messy it can scare the pants off a grown adult?" Riven mentioned, pointing out the kid's less than civilized appearance. "I thought you were an overgrown pokemon!"

"YEAH? Well, you look like a damn psycho!" The wild haired boy screeched in response.

"I am aware. Yet here you are challenging me."

"That's because I'm not afraid of anyone. Even your scary ass! I'll be the greatest trainer ever and leave you in my dust of glory!"

Haona ice beamed his entire team in under three minutes. She volunteered for the fight, letting Aine rest after beating up other trainers in the area. That brat's attitude was so over the top and annoying. She felt like teaching him a lesson. So, she went in there and made his pokemon into nice little blocks of ice. The Absol enjoyed seeing his face fall at being swept so easily.

"Awwwww. No fair! You're pokemon are too strong! Go pick on trainers your own size!" He complained to Riven, whose face was completely expressionless.

"You challenged me, kid."

"Oh right. But still! What are you doing here!"

"Passing through." Her trainer said as he looked at his fingernails, bored out of his mind.

"Are you seriously that bored?!"

"Pretty much."

"Argh! One day I'll get strong enough to beat you! Just wait and see! My name is Elu and I'm going to kick you and your stupid Absol's ass and become champion!" He stormed off, carrying his net over his shoulder.

"Okay." Riven waved goodbye. "Good riddance. Are all pokemon trainers this cocky?" He turned to his Absol. "I can see why you wanted to fight his team. Because if we let him go, you would not have the biggest head in the forest, and what would that do to your ego?" Smirking widely, Riven gauged her reaction. Ego jabbing was entertaining after all.

Ego jabbing also hurt. She tackled him in the mid section.

"Why there?" He wheezed, falling to the floor.

Why, indeed.

The woods were shaped like a damned maze. They had spent nearly a week in the woods, trying to find the exit. They tried asking for directions, but most of the trainers in the woods couldn't navigate their way out of a paper bag either. Some of them were as lost as Riven was. The more experienced ones gave him some advice and warned him not to go to the western side of the forests. They failed to say why so Riven thought that the way out was over there, considering they had given him directions after Aine embered their bugs to hell and after he had taken half of their money. They could have been spiting him after all.

Deciding to head over to that side of the forest, he saw a sign that said: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. DANGEROUS POKEMON AHEAD.

Hah. Dangerous pokemon? You mean more Wurmples, Metapods, and Silcoons? Please.

That was all there was in the woods. Every single tree there was had a Wurmple crawling down its trunk, or a Silcoon resting in between its branches. He just ignored them, since they wouldn't prove to be of much use anyway, as pokemon or as cannon fodder for Aine.

Riven figured the deeper part of the woods wouldn't be all that different. Although… the entrance to the place was a bit deterring. It was even darker than the woods themselves, meaning that the trees were even more packed together than normal. He stepped inside and instantly felt watched, by hundreds of eyes. It was creepy but he could see well regardless, which meant he was not totally screwed.

Aine trilled warily. "Aine, calm down." His group walked further into the woods when he caught a glimpse of something small, round and bright green.

"What is that?" He squinted, trying to make out what it was. He looked at it for a few seconds, before realization sunk in. "That… is a Spinarak." Normally not something to fret over. However, in a thick and dark forest, a Spinarak meant one deadly thing was also in the area. Fucking Ariados.

White Queen's horn tingled, causing her to shoot straight up, sensing danger. Riven noticed her shift in behavior and cursed. It was happening again right?

"Ah, shit."

Should have listened to the sign.

Ariados crept out of the trees, resting their yellow legs on huge webs. How did I not see those webs before? Riven gulped, seeing noxious purple liquid drip from their fangs. They look ravenous. This is far from good. Bug pokemon have type advantages over White Queen and Mischief. If any of their bites connect, it might be bad. Bug moves combined with that poison can kill them, and there are no pokemon centers in the middle of the bloody woods.

Haona and Bib huddled close to their trainer, knowing full well how deadly Ariados could be be. There was a reason sane pokemon went around their forests. Aine looked determined to protect everyone, her fire typing gave her a great advantage over the bugs and could burn away their webs. Problem was she was a tiny Torchic.

They stood close to each other, not moving a muscle. The Ariados climbed around the trees, blocking the exit with webs before stopping right on them. The spiders obviously wanted to eat, letting their prey escape into the lighter side of the forest would be idiotic.

One of the Ariados hissed lowly, "Food. Finally something to eat. Psychic and dark. Tasty…"

Haona growled back, "come any closer and you're dead!"

Several other spiders started laughing, in the same hissing voice. "Prey speaks! It thinks it will survive. Enough games, die."

The spiders simultaneously used string shot, trapping Riven and his pokemon in place. The webs were incredibly strong and sticky, making any sort of physical movement useless. However, that meant they were highly flammable. "Aine! Use ember on the webs, burn them away!" The chick blasted forth embers from her beak, setting the webs on fire around them. Now free to move, Riven started to strategize.

I can use Aine's ember on the webs in the trees, causing a distraction, but first I need to get rid of any Ariados from the exit. Also, I do not want to set the whole forest on fire, as much as I would like to. So, I will use White Queen's ice beam to freeze the webs near the exit, I can cut through the ice with my blades easily. Mischief is useless here, actually. Aine could provide cover for us momentarily while we bolt for the exit.

Having no time to think of anything better, Riven sprang the plan into motion. "White Queen, use an ice beam on the webs near the entrance, freeze them solid! Mischief, teleport into the bag. Aine, use ember on the webs near us on my signal, got it?"

White Queen shot an ice beam at the webs, causing the Ariados to shriek out of the way. The beam hit the webs, freezing them solid.

Riven snapped his fingers, giving Aine permission to use ember on the webs covering the trees. The webs caught fire and illuminated the section of the forest in an orange glow as the fire spread throught the network of silk. The Ariados hissed, seeing their webs exploding into flames. Some of them headed deeper into the forest, while others dropped onto the grass, eyes murderous. They crawled over to Riven's position, baring fangs and dripping poison.

Shit, need to move. White Queen used another ice beam, this time behind him. The beam hit the floor, creating a partially raised wall of sparkling blue ice to bar the spiders passage. The Ariados went around and scuttled even faster towards the trainer and his pokemon, but were driven back by a wave of embers from Aine. Embers seared legs and arms, earning pained shrieks from the spiders. Some started spitting venom at the boy, knowing that if any of it landed on his skin, it would burn equally as bad as fire.

Luckily, Riven and his team managed to evade the poison, now nearing the exit. He was about to leave through the trees that marked the entrance when a web caught his foot and dragged him back. White Queen was left near the entrance, watching as a spider pulled him back in. He took out his blades, uselessly slashing at the bugs who were trying to come close. There were too many bugs. Why did spiders have to swarm? Bullshit.

Two bug swarms overcome me just weeks from one another? You would think this world is safer!

He saw an Ariados bare its fangs right above his leg, ready to bite down. He closed his eyes, ready for the immense pain that would follow. It never came.

Aine saw her trainer about to become bug food and her inner fire flared in fury. No one hurts my trainer. No one hurts my friends. She spoke this time, high pitched voice full of a certain resolve and strength, "AND IT DEFINITELY WON'T BE A SPIDER!"

A powerful blast of flames released from her mouth, igniting five Ariados and scaring the rest away. The five ariados were still burning, writhing on the floor in pain, hissing and cursing her for setting them on fire. Riven ran towards the exit and cut through the ice, scooping up Mischief while White Queen followed him through.

Riven then slashed through two thinner trees nearest to the entrance, ordering Mischief to telekinetically fell them. Finally, Haona shot an ice beam at the floor and at the trees, creating a wall of ice to block any of the Ariados from coming through.

Riven and his pokemon sat on the floor, panting and gasping. They nearly died. Again. He raised a finger, catching his breath. "Next time... read sign. Heed sign. No killer spiders. Alive trainer is happy trainer. That was close."

His pokemon agreed.

They walked back to the main area of the woods, where most of the rookie bug catchers congregated at. One of them noticed webbing on his foot and his extremely dirty clothes, along with his disheveled hair and his sullen face. "You went to the western side didn't you?"

Riven pointed a finger at him. "Shut up."

The little boy, whom had warned him earlier, simply laughed. "Told ya. Those Ariados have killed lots of stupid people just like you. OH I'M A BIG BAD TRAINER! Then they die." He continued searching for a Wurmple, "Oh, and you're still an idiot."

The older boy scowled and sucked his teeth, knowing he royally screwed up. He hated doing this but he hesitantly swallowed his pride and asked the little boy for directions on how to get out. Before, he had refused help from the boy because the bug trainer was being a little asshole and demanded money.

Naturally, Riven refused, thinking he could figure it out himself.

The little boy broke into a wide grin. "OH HO HO. Now you want my help. This time, it will be one thousand. Serves your stupid ass right."

Riven wanted to beat this kid on the head with a stick. Swallowing what remained of his dignity, he handed over a bill with a Corphish on it, grumbling to himself while doing it. He cursed him under his breath. "Stupid little extortionist…"

"What was that, stupid?" The kid asked, deciding whether he should screw the idiot over. But he did have weapons and strong pokemon, so he didn't feel like dying yet.

"Nothing." Brat.

"That's right. Well, to get out of here you need to walk north, take a right at some withering trees, then walk north again until you come to the Silcoon nests. When you're there, take a left and walk directly north. The exit should be there. I can't believe you couldn't find it. You're such a dumbass." The kid snorted. "OH, A WURMPLE!" He threw a pokeball at the unsuspecting bug.

Just as it left his hands, Riven spitefully sliced it in half and smirked like a bastard as the metal ball fell to the floor in two pieces. The kid's jaw hit the floor.

"And you are an asshole. Thank you for the advice, you little conniving son of a bitch. Go buy yourself some more pokeballs. Aine, ember."

Aine then threw fire at the bug.

"HEY, THAT WAS MY WURMPLE!"

Sunlight met Riven as he walked out of the woods, glad to finally be out of that bug infested forest. He never understood what it was with people and an overwhelming fear of spiders, but now he wholly understood. Plain and simple, spiders were assholes. They just… scuttled. Very unnerving. Granted, it probably also had to do with the fact that Ariados had fangs that could rip through a damn leg and inject poison.

The sign near the exit read: Congratulations! You made it out of the woods. You probably weren't stupid and headed into the western side right? Otherwise you wouldn't be alive to read this sign! So cheer up and continue your adventure!

Great. Even the signs were being assholes too. Riven glanced around the area, there were some trainers about and a peculiar shop a couple hundred feet away. There was even a small lake there. He could bathe and wash his clothes there too. But a proper bath or shower would be better. Pressurized water was wonderful. Another feature that made the future all that much better.

Stepping into the shop, he saw rows of plants, some large and multicolored, others plain and green. Was this a shop that sold flowers? For gardening? He looked around, seeing all plants and no people. That is until a lady with brown hair in a bun asked him what he was doing.

Riven straightened out, surprised by the woman's sudden appearance. "Erm, I was going to ask if you had a shower I can use. Just got out of the woods. Been about a week, I think. I can pay if necessary."

"Oh, that's not needed. A week? Wow. You must have no sense of direction." That drew a frown from Riven. "Besides, I can smell you from over here. Go wash up, you can clean your clothes in the lake next door. Bathroom is in the back to the right. You're the fourth today!"

After showering and extensive scrubbing, Riven felt refreshed. His clothes were a different matter entirely. He thanked the woman for her hospitality and went off to the lake to wash his clothes. The water was a clear and inviting blue, with several water pokemon swimming freely in the deeper parts of the lake. Mainly Magikarp.

He noticed other trainers doing something similar with their clothes on the other side of the stream. It was a trio of three older girls, wearing very revealing undergarments while they scrubbed their clothes. Considering the circumstances and how atrocious he smelled after leaving the forest, doing this was commonplace, correct? Riven stripped down into his underwear as well . He started to scrub his clothes and when they were scrubbed enough, he took them out of the water and extended them out on the grass.

The girls noticed him on the other side of the river and covered up in embarrassment. There were some indignant and nasty stares, but Riven ignored them and went about his business. There was a stream, might as well use it. It's not like he knew they were there, nor did he care.

Aine dried his clothes with a low powered ember, using more heat than fire. Once his clothes were sufficiently dried, he headed back to the main route.

After battling quite a few trainers and earning more money, Riven neared a wooden bridge that spanned the length of the entire lake. He crossed it, enjoying the walk along the water. Traversing the rest of route 104 with several battles spread out in between left him and his pokemon physically and mentally drained. He could not wait to get to Rustboro and slump into a nice bed in the pokemon center.

Of course, he hoped his room wouldn't explode like it did last time. If it did, he would punt a Marill. And possibly murder a baby Wurmple.

His thoughts turned to his last trainer battle, it was special. Double battle. He used two pokemon at once, instead of a single one, differing from the battles he had previously, which was nice. It was a good experience, he learned to work with two pokemon at the same time, which opened up possibilities for combinations and complex maneuvers. Riven was so intrigued in the tactical openings that double battles provided that he began to think about what types would complement each other well, but was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he failed to notice that he had arrived at the Rustboro Gate.

Mischief flicked a rock at his head to get his attention. Riven gave him a pointed look. The Kirlia raised his arm, pointing at the city ahead.

Riven glanced up, gawking at the sheer size of the city. It was twice as big as Petalburg, and the buildings were much more massive and much more impressive. He gaped like an idiot.

"I believe I need to sit down."

He practically fell down, trying to figure out how he would find anything in this damn place.