Obviously, Riven was astounded by the bustling port city. This one looked even bigger than Rustboro, but had fewer towering buildings closer to the ocean. Ships were docked in the harbor and people and pokemon were everywhere. Some lined up for passage on the ships or simply leaned on the dock rails to look out towards the sea. Wingulls and pelliper flew overhead, squawking mixing in with the murmurs of the people and movement of the water. Definitely the telltale sounds of a busy port. The young man could see much taller buildings in the distance, and to the sides of the port, smaller warehouses by the looks of them. A beautiful building with silhouettes of water pokemon was directly adjacent to the SS Tidal—the Oceanic Museum.

Parents and their children entered in and out of the building constantly, smiles on their faces. Charles had suggested that he visit the museum but since it was an aquatic one, he figured he wouldn't be able to extract any relevant information there.

He ignored the place and ventured into the city. It was far less urban than Rustboro and lacked the bus routes too. There were more tourists and street vendors, as well as trainers on bikes. He needed a bike. It would be easier on his feet and the bloody nasty blisters that tended to plague trainers.

If only I could find a bike shop.

Ben had left him and told him that he would be staying in the pokemon center, there were three in the city so three weeks of free rent would be good for just about anyone. Riven explored the city until nightfall, dazzled the most by the central part of Slateport, which boasted an open air bazaar on both sides of a manmade canal which emptied out into the sea near the port. The bazaar smelled of spices, herbs, and food. Fish and berry vendors were everywhere, even TM shops and pokeball stores dotted the area. It was a wonderful gathering spot for small time merchants and a melting pot for people from different regions. Looking at the geography of the city, it wasn't hard to understand why that was.

It was a port city with a natural harbor and access to plenty of fish. Access to a water source must have definitely helped. Trade would be abundant here, causing a swelling in size and people. An ideal location. Having a beach and beautiful, crystal-clear water? Definite bonus. Riven spent some money on some food that was apparently from the Unova region. It was a plate of Pignite ribs with some cheri berry sauce on the top.

Riven salivated as the waitress set the food down on his table. He felt a tug by his feet and stared at a blue face and red eyes. White Queen looked curiously intrigued, whining for something other than formula or dead Taillow.

He placed a slice on a napkin and lowered it onto the floor. She sniffed it before recoiling in disgust. She turned to Mischief. "Absol! Sol-sol!" His face also had an expression of disgust and they distanced themselves from the food.

Like it was damned.

That was unusual. "Huh? What's the issue? It's food. I thought you liked food."

"SOL!"

"KIR!"

"Oh come on, it isn't that dreadful." The cook's face fell. Riven took another huge bite out of the juicy meat. "It's just a little spicy." Riven then drank an entire cup of water when his tongue felt like someone poured burning tar onto it. Both his Absol and Kirlia looked visibly annoyed. Mischief had his hands folded. "Alright, so it's really spicy." His mouth was open and he was fanning his tongue with his hand, also sweating and red in the face. "…I think I made a mistake eating this." His stomach lurched. "Definitely. Ugh."

Both pokemon rolled their eyes and snickered, making commentary between them he couldn't understand but most certainly assumed was them shitting on him both.

"I'll give it to Aine, I can't take this anymore." Oh man, the restroom would be hell later on. He let Aine out of her pokeball, who emerged looking lost.

"Aine, you want the rest of this? It's Pignite ribs with cheri sauce. It's gargh... really spicy." He hoped he wouldn't have to throw it away, it was perfectly good food, albeit spicy as unholy hell.

"BUSK! BUSKEN!" The fire type responded, looking…well, she always looked happy. Maybe she was happier? He moved the food to her side of the table and she began devouring it. White Queen and Mischief looked horrified as the fire type barely looked fazed by the spice.

I guess they don't do well with spicy food. Bad wild experience? Aine looks perfectly fine. Then again, she's a fire type. It only makes sense it wouldn't bother her. He smiled as she finished up the meal with some cheri sauce on her beak. He took a napkin and cleaned it off.

"BUSKEN BUSK BUSK! COMBUSKEN!" She blew out a happy breath of flame, startling the cook in the back. Which then set a table on fire. With the faintest of pained whispers, he swore he heard his wallet cry.

"Sorry!"

Riven left the bazaar and got directions to the nearest pokemon center from his pokenav, after an hour of fiddling with it to try and find the damn GPS function. He couldn't believe how easy it was to go around the city with it. All a person had to do was look at the screen and follow the line, it was amazing. He got to the pokemon center near the beach, the same one Ben was staying at. It was HUGE. It was bigger than one measly little house sized facility, this looked like a proper building. It had three floors of residency and four pokemon recovery facilities, and two dining areas.

He had never seen so much trainers in one place. There were four Nurse Joys around a circular reception desk in the middle of the center, attending to the needs of other trainers. It took some waiting but he was able to secure himself a room on the third floor. He rode in the elevator, next to a boy in nearly all black and was startled when he turned to him abruptly and said, "71568, 71568, 71568."

Riven was confused. "What?"

"He caused it."

"I don't get what you're saying."

"Wrong. Don't trust.71568." The boy's purple eyes bore into Riven's, scaring him a bit. The kid's eyes were lifeless and hollow, like staring into a pitch black hole. Creepy wasn't even the start. He inched away… slowly.

"And you're crazy. I'm going to step away now. Nice, uh, meeting you." It was ironic, considering that everyone thought he was the insane one. This was a real nut.

Okay… His eerie meter flew into the atmosphere and he started back towards his room. His gut was telling him to stay away, and he surely wasn't going to discard its advice.

Riven noted the appearance of the rental room. It was no different from other centers, so he just took care of the usual and headed off to bed. But not before visiting the restroom for explosive results. He was never going to eat spicy food again. Feeling spent, he flopped onto the bed, outstretching his arms and legs.

Maybe there'd be no nightmares tonight. Weird though. He hadn't had any recently. That was definitely a bad sign.

The other was strangely quiet. He knew it was going to hit him hard later on. Problem was that he didn't know when.

Amy stood proud on route 117, grinning down at the blue haired boy whom she had just beaten. Seab had put up quite a fight- his Lucario had managed to take down her Treecko but got taken out by an air slash from her Swablu. Mila and Seab's Staravia battled it out in the sky, exchanging air slashes and gusts, along with high speed tackles. His Staravia was faster and had more maneuverability though, it flipped backwards in the air and landed a nasty air slash on Mila, cutting her back open and limiting her ability to fly. Falling to the floor bleeding, Amy returned her to her ball before she could get hurt further.

After her Swablu fell, she brought out Jak. His wool crackled with electricity and caused Seab to flinch. He was afraid of electric pokemon. Amy smiled viciously and told Jak to use thunderbolt to finish the Sinnohan's Staravia off. He easily zapped the bird and it fell onto the ground, yellow sparks flowing across its feathers. Unable to take flight, it was down for the count.

Seab was out. He went up to Amy, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and forked over two thousand, while trying desperately to avoid her Flaffy. Jak only looked mildly confused, electric sheep weren't all that intimidating. He bleated in response, making the blue covered boy jump. The blonde took the cash and brightened, feeling redeemed after her loss to Gray. It didn't hurt that she showed a Sinnohan what Hoennites were made of also. Not all of us are pushovers or tree-huggers! She thought as she returned Jak.

"Great battle, Sinnoh dude!"

"My name's Seab…" He murmured back, too low to hear.

"Huh? I couldn't hear you."

"Seab. My name. Not Sinnoh dude."

"Right. Sorry." The blonde laughed as she waved her hands in dismissal. "Anyway, why are you so afraid of electric pokemon? A Luxray can't be that bad right?" She had seen a picture of one of them in her school, it looked like a blue lion thing-and kind of awesome. "Sure, they're pretty scary but-"

Seab winced. "Ah…my sister is kind of a bully. Her Luxray would shock me at random times for fun and step on my stomach when I slept as a Shinx. Not only is it really strong now, but it's still a bully. It's like they're the same person. And I hated the teasing, like I told you before." He kicked the dirt a bit with his blue shoes. "And Sinnoh has been dangerous. It was bad like one or two years ago, it isn't that bad now but a lot of trainers and families left for the other regions. Something terrible happened. So I thought I'd have a better shot in Hoenn. It isn't as cold either."

"Oh. That sucks. I heard something crazy went on there but I never paid much attention." She remembered hearing tidbits about some serial killers and something or other. "Luckily, that stuff hasn't happened here yet." Then Petalburg slammed into her mind again. Her mood sunk into the Earth's crust and a menacing scowl replaced her smile.

"Is something wrong, Amy?"

"Erm…no. It's nothing. Just something…no, someone….I'd like to forget."

"Oh…so…what now?" Seab asked awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Amy was older than him, which made him nervous because he felt like a little kid, even though they were the same height. Older people were just…more demanding. She also was a good trainer, which was a rare trait in most girls. He had heard that many female trainers in Hoenn actually became coordinators instead of trainers, that's why being a male coordinator was embarrassing. Gender disparity was nasty. At least that's what he heard back in Snowpoint. There were quite a few of them in Sinnoh too, but not nearly as much.

He started to walk away from her, towards the pokemon center. The boy was held back by a thin hand. Hers. He looked puzzled, tilting his head in curiosity. "Uh… do you need anything else?"

"You're heading up to Lavaridge?" The blonde girl wondered.

"Yeah, I guess, after I beat Wattson. Whenever it is I, uh…face him." Seab looked unsure of himself, desperately avoiding the girl's green eyes. She intimidated him slightly, and she looked like she was about to say something crazy. She stood there for a moment, thinking something over. Seab wasn't going to like it.

"Alright! I'll come with you!" The older girl smiled and grabbed the younger boy's arm, dragging him along into the main part of the city, passing through the route gate. "But first, you're gonna kick that old man's ass alright?" She giggled devilishly as he looked like someone had slapped him with an octillery.

"Wait, w-what? N-no!" The kid was flabbergasted. She's gonna make me fight Wattson? I…ugh… Seab went limp.

Amy stopped, noticing a sudden shift in weight, like dragging along a large stone. She looked back and saw a paler than normal Seab on the floor. Amy's eyes narrowed in annoyance and she pulled him to his feet. Then she shook him until the color returned to his face.

"Snap out of it. You are going to get that gym badge and that's that. We need to go before the desert storms get here, the desert is a nasty place to be during that time. And you can't fly over it while the storms are up." Her tone was direct and had no hint of nonsense in it. The desert sandstorms were no joke. Trainers often got lost in the blinding storms while attempting to cross the desert, losing their way and dying of dehydration or other things. Darker things.

Seab recovered and nodded tightly, accepting his fate. He also didn't want to get caught in the storms. The tales about the desert from some older trainers in Mauville sent shivers down his spine. Apparently the storms were strong enough to rip the flesh off of a grown man. He didn't want that to happen to him. Gulping, he was dragged along by Amy straight to the gym.

The battle against Wattson had been brutal. Seab only had two other pokemon, one of which had a severe type disadvantage to electric types. His Lucario wasn't as bad as his Staravia, but one against a team of four was a difficult task for any pokemon. Amy doubted he could do it and actually began to regret her impulsiveness to make him battle the gym leader, forgetting the fact that the younger trainer only had two pokemon.

Alas, his lucario managed an amazing save while on his last legs, paralyzed and barely conscious. He had knocked out all four of the gym leader's pokemon to secure the victory. Wattson began crying in admiration at the boy and his pokemon's valiant will to go on. Stuffing the boy with the classic Wattson pep talk, Seab left the gym feeling much better than he had gone in. The words the jolly old man had said to him made him feel empowered and…kind of awesome. His fear of electric pokemon had subsided a bit, a wince instead of a full on panic at this point. Amy congratulated him on his victory and showed him her own Dynamo Badge. She grinned and followed the boy to the pokemon center.

After his pokemon had recovered sufficiently, Amy took the boy back to her house, introducing him to her parents. Well, just her mom. Her dad was still at the daycare.

"Mom! This is Seab. He's a trainer from Sinnoh!"

Her mom wore a look of befuddlement. "Why would a Sinnohan trainer come to Hoenn? Oh and forgive my manners, hello Seab. I'm Amy's mom." The boy waved to her.

Amy spoke for the boy. "He came to Hoenn to get away from his sister and also because of the fact that Sinnoh isn't exactly the safest place to be at this point." She grimaced after she said that. Not that Hoenn has been any better recently.

"Oh. Well, I assume you brought him here to tell us that he's your travel companion?"

"Yep!" Amy replied, excited to continue her journey. It had been relaxing, staying with her parents, but she wanted to go adventure now. She had waited until she was eighteen to start training because of the insistence of her parents that ten year old girls wouldn't be safe by themselves.

"Great. You're the older one, Amy." The older woman gave her cheery daughter a stern glance. "Take care of him." Then she turned to the boy, "And you take care of her. My daughter can be a bit impulsive and prone to obnoxious behavior. Please keep her in check. She has a habit of running into unsavory characters."

Amy winced. Gray. Damn it. She didn't want to think she had traveled with a killer like that. He crushed a man's windpipe without thinking about it. Underneath that calm demeanor, Amy got the feeling that the guy had something pretty drastic happen to him, but she couldn't possibly imagine what a rookie trainer like him could have gotten himself into. The scars on his body suggested criminal past. If that was the case, it was best to stay far away from him. Besides, Seab didn't threaten to kill her.

Her mom smiled warmly, hugging Amy and Seab, before shooing them out the door. It was still only noon, the truck driver should still be near the entrance to the desert on route 111. He was a generous man that took young trainers from route 111 through the desert for a fee. It was a long drive-about a day or two to get through the desert going at ninety, three or four going any slower. They shouldn't have a problem.

The two trainers left the house. Her Swablu, Mila, was perched on her head. "Mila, we're going adventuring again!" Her pokemon enthusiastically chirped in response, eager to see new places as well.

"Swab- blu-blu!"

Amy laughed and stroked the blue bird's cottony wings while she got on her Mach bike. The bicycle was built for speed and tough roads, with gear shifts to accommodate for rough terrain. It had pegs on the back. Seab noticed the pegs and Amy's sly smirk.

"Oh no. You are not going to have me ride on the back of a mach bike right?" Seab gulped again, this time really fearful for his life. Mach bikes were incredibly fast and difficult to control, many a trainer broke an arm or leg because of carelessness and inability to make sharp turns easily. "I don't think that's a good idea, Amy…"

"Nonsense, Sinnoh Kid! We gotta go fast!" She grinned again before she took off.

They made it to the trucker alright. Seab nearly passed out and his heart almost exploded, but yeah…they made it. Amy looked refreshed and Mila was exactly the same. Meanwhile he was on the floor while his heart was beating at three hundred beats per minute. It's one thing being the cyclist, it's another thing placing your safety and well-being on another person while they go at an insane 40 mph while they hurrah. They were going so fast that some of the trainers on the route couldn't even ask for a battle. They zoomed past them all while Seab was screaming at the top of his lungs.

The man was a regular looking guy with a hat and faded blue jeans. The truck wasn't in amazing condition but it would do. He looked at them and said, "Get in the back and buckle up because we're gonna go straight to ninety. The fare is one thousand from both of ya. I expect payment by the end of the ride or you're gonna be having choice words with my Machamp? We clear?" Both trainers nodded furiously, a little scared by the Machamp threat. The trucker looked at Seab before chuckling loudly. "Yo kiddo, I hope you don't soil yourself. It's gonna go pretty fast." The boy shook his head, at least he was in a vehicle this time and not standing on a bike. "Good to go? Alright! Let's get this on!"

The vehicle accelerated and they were off.

Steven was relaxing on his couch, watching a crime drama on the flat screen in his office. He was drifting off to sleep when his holo caster rang. He stood up and went over to his Metagross, who was meditating in the air silently. Steven picked up the device from atop the giant psychic and set it on his coffee table.

"Swear to Arceus, if it's Riven I'm going to tear my face off…." He grumbled. That boy better not have disrupted his favorite show for something as stupid as 'DID YOU FIND ANYTHING? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU'. He saw the caller's identification and his brows climbed up to his hairline. It was a pleasant surprise. Depending on the message, at least. The caller identification read: Your Dazzling Champion, Wallace the Great. Steven snorted. Wallace had set that up as his ID on Steven's registry the last time the champion came to Rustboro a few months back. He didn't bother to change it since he found it amusing.

He clicked on the green call button. "Well, well, well… I didn't expect the champion of the Hoenn region to call me so suddenly. Did a trainer finally take you down a couple fabulous levels, Wallace?"

"No one is ever as grand as me Steven. Don't forget that your crassness." He flipped his curly bang. Steven stifled a snicker. "Jests aside, my dear Devonite, I'm afraid I just called you because I'm how do you say it…frustrated."

"Sexually?"

"That's your forte I'm afraid. Poor Flannery, such a shame." Wallace pretended to wipe fake tears from his eyes.

"Don't even start with that."

"Then don't try and get clever with me, Steve, I can embarrass you in more ways than one," The champion bragged, sure of his ability.

"Okay, what do you want?"

"I just want to vent…a bit."

"Wallace."

"Yes?"

"Whenever you vent, you turn into a monster."

"I do not."

"The last time you did that, you dropped enough truth bombs to level a mountain."

"I went a little overboard last gym leader meeting didn't I?" Wallace asked nervously, twirling his curls.

"Just a bit."

"ANYWAYS. Stop sidetracking me Steven. It isn't gentlemanly." He held his forehead with his right hand, rubbing a headache. "I met with the Hoenn regional council today."

Steven's face was no longer amused. It turned into one of utter annoyance. "Oh. Them."

"Yes. Them."

"What did they ask for this time?"

"Ugh. Mundane things and stupid property damage bills. Ever since the new house was elected, the new members have been on my case for a relentless three months. They keep trying to pass new bills that give them more power over trainers. It's annoying, considering they've been getting bigger and have access to more funding now."

"Property damage bills?"

"Yeah. Many of the complaints are from farmers on the routes and people who live outside of cities. It's not unlike the norm but the damage estimates are climbing. They're starting to get particularly nasty."

"What are you going to do then?"

"What can I do?" Wallace sighed in an exasperated tone. "My hands are tied. I've tried to get them to increase the age requirement for trainers but they just shut the bill down. Over and over and over. It's infuriating. It's like they oppose their own beliefs. Ugh. I wish I had more clout, that way I wouldn't have to deal with fools."

"But you don't. So what do they suggest to do then?"

"They want to ban destructive pokemon," the champion snarled, uncharacteristically vicious for someone like Wallace. He must have been really frustrated.

Steven frowned, "That's complete stupidity. All pokemon can be destructive." Every single pokemon was capable of immense damage. Just ask the poor stadium clean up crews.

"I know. And if we do that…then a trainer's freedom would be severely restricted, and the backlash we'd get from the people would tear us apart. But they don't understand that. They aren't pokemon trainers, they don't know what it's like. This society exists because of pokemon trainers. If it wasn't for them, we would still be at war with ourselves." Wallace slammed a fist down on a table below him. Ignorant bureaucrats. What did they understand? All they knew was how not to do anything and still get re-elected.

Steven thought about what Wallace had said. He's right. The pokeball did more than just allow us to bond with pokemon. It changed our entire existence. But…there's always a negative side to it. Steven knew it was the champion's responsibility to stabilize tensions with the non trainer population. That was partly the reason why the regional council was even founded. It gave the non trainers more of a voice in matters that concerned them and pokemon trainers. But now…it seems like all they're trying to do is undermine the league and take control. Politics has never been a bed of flowers. It's dirty and ugly. And the champion's responsibility too. That was partly why Steven quit. He had no time to pursue his passions with all the bickering and headaches of fighting the council and playing politician.

"I don't know what to tell you Wallace. You're going to have to compromise or pull out something reasonable and hope it sticks. Don't give in to them. That would doom trainers everywhere."

"You know I wouldn't do that Steven. I love pokemon. We all do. Every single trainer knows that. To segregate certain pokemon from battling would discourage generations of new trainers and piss off a stupendous amount of existing ones. Maybe even to the point of riot." He smiled sourly. "Heh, I can see why you quit."

Steven nodded. "It's a huge responsibility. Everyone thinks it's easy. It isn't. You spend more time playing the appeasement wagon than actually battling. Not many trainers make it past the elite four. Gets stale quick."

The flamboyant man chuckled. "Well, I'm not going to just let them waltz over me so easily. If push comes to shove, I'll blast them into the ground. If they want a fight, then they should be prepared to get a hydro pump to the face. Hmph!" He hair flipped again.

Steven smirked. "That's the spirit Wallace."

"Quiet, quitter!" Steven raised both hands, acknowledging it.

"Hey, at least I'm actually happy now."

"You find enjoyment in overworking yourself and living off two hours of sleep just to look at rocks under microscopes?"

"Well when you say it like that…" Steven scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. Wallace made it sound like the former champion was a hermit. He knew it was true of course, but he didn't like admitting it.

"I'm just teasing, Stevey." He clapped his hands together. "Anyway, thank you for being unhelpful. I'll make sure to tell Flannery that you're thinking about her every day and night. She turned redder than a Slugma the last time I told her you thought she was beautiful." He grinned from ear to ear.

"You bastard," Steven hissed.

"Hee hee." Wallace covered his mouth with his hand. "Later Steven!"

The hologram faded and Steven was left in his office thoroughly flustered. "That guy. Argh!" He threw himself on the couch again, tapping the table with his foot. The movement caused a small black stone to fall onto the ground. Steven picked it up and placed it back on the table. Steven fell asleep after a few minutes, turning off the TV.

In the dark room, the stone flashed blue.

Riven wanted to slam his head against the pavement. It had been two weeks of utter and complete garbage. The young man was embittered and resentful of the word 'job'. What was he doing now? Eating a snow cone. It was sweet. It was good. It was red. His brows were furrowed and his glare could kill a small child. Ben sat next to him eating a blue snow cone. He hit his forehead with his right hand hard enough that he left a red handprint on his face.

"Gray. You mean to tell me…that you got fired from FOUR JOBS? In two fucking weeks?"

The other trainer, whose hair was completely black again, bit into his red cone. He came to regret that. The cold stung his teeth and he held his mouth. "Ah, shit. Yes, Ben. I fucking did."

"How is that even possible? How did you get fired as a room service waiter? That's like the easiest job in the world. God!" Ben was incredulous. He had never encountered someone that inept. Pokemon trainers were often useless in a variety of domestic work but not to this degree of useless.

Riven groaned, reluctant to recount his room service disaster. "Look. First and foremost, my employer had a… not positive first impression of me."

"Understandable. You look like murder waiting to happen."

"Lies," Riven huffed in response. "False claims. All of them."

"Smells like bullshit. You almost never smile. And when you do, it's more of a I'm-picturing-you-dead-smile. Face it man. You're not a friendly guy." His serious face alone deterred most female trainers, much to Ben's chagrin. He wasn't an ugly guy but he could sure use some lessons in how to fake friendliness. It would help him keep a job at least. Maybe even find a date, the guy looked like he'd never even touched a girl before, much less gotten intimate with one.

"Argh. Fine. Will you let me inform you of my misadventures in the workforce or will you continue criticizing my normal expression?"

"That's your normal face?"

"Yes."

"Oh man. Your chances of getting a girl are dwindling fast."

Riven shot him a glare. Ben gestured him to continue. "Yes. Well… the woman who hired me. She kind of-"

Gray's description of bad first impression was grossly understated. The woman hated trainers . With a burning passion and heaps of verbal abuse along with it. Sure, his hair did make him look like a Skuntank cosplayer but that was harsh. "So you dyed your hair? That's why it isn't…you know." Ben waved a finger above his right eye, where the patch would be if he was Gray.

"Yes. I showed up and she threw me into the changing room then immediately got me started. I was drenched in sweat by noon, that lady was relentless. I had to run just to keep up with the demands." He hissed as his face twisted. "Then it was her."

Ben's interest peaked. "Her?"

"Yes. Her."

"Girlfriend? Old acquaintance? Sister? Ex-girlfriend?"

"No to all of those. She was just a random tenant that happened to be a picky dickwad."

"Did you pick up that word from the sailors?"

"Yes and I like it. It has a nice insulting feeling to it."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night."

"Moving along." Riven sighed. "She called me up seven times. Four of those were extra orders, and the other three were complaints about the food." He bit into the snow cone again, not giving a damn whether it stung his teeth or not, he was getting annoyed just thinking about the ordeal. "I had to go back to the cook, tell him what was going on, then go back up to the tenth fucking floor and knock on her door. She called me up for the seventh time and I was beyond simply aggravated." Ben swore he could see steam leaving Gray's nostrils.

"What did you do next?"

"I told her off and called her an entitled piece of shit that should get her own food. I also told her to burn in hell. She complained to the manager and she fired me."

Ben face-palmed again. "You're not supposed to do that! You need to be professional!"

"To hell with professional. That lady was being a cunt. I hate people like that."

"Gray. Working those kinds of jobs, you're going to be running into people like that all the time. You just need to deal with it. Or else you're going to be left penniless and just as frustrated."

"I'd rather smash trainers into the ground and take their money." He took another agonizing chomp of his red snow cone. Ben winced every time Gray did that. That couldn't be good for his teeth.

"There's that but you might challenge someone that can wipe the floor with you and then half of your money just went poof." The other guy was still recovering from the cold. "Alright, maybe room service wasn't for you. What else did you get fired from?"

Gray chucked the paper remains of the cold treat into the trash can. "Chef. I set the entire kitchen on fire. Maintenance. I couldn't tend a bed to save my life. And finally, cashier."

"How did you fail at cashier? Can't count or what?"

"The cash register was a fiend from hell."

Ben stayed silent for few seconds. Then slowly bit into his blue cone. After a minute of cold pain, he turned back to Gray. "How did you even get this far? It baffles me how retarded you are with technology. How can you even operate a pokeball?"

"Hey. A pokeball is simple, relatively speaking. It only has a button. A button, Ben. Push it, ball gets bigger. Throw it, pokemon comes out. Push button and hold for five seconds, pokemon returns with red light beam. Push button again and ball shrinks. Easy. Simple. I can do it." Riven scratched his head. "But cash registers…They have like fifty buttons! I don't even know what one does! They also did a terrible job of explaining everything."

"How long did it take you to open the register?"

"I didn't."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Good lord. You are screwed. You can't operate technology worth a damn, you can't cook in a proper kitchen, you can't fold a bed, you can't even talk to people without scaring them for Arceus' sake! Gray, what can you do?"

"I can fight. That's about it." Not a lie, really. He was a soldier that learned how to survive in the wild and kill other things that wanted him dead. And many things wanted his head on a pike.

He didn't need to learn how to cook a meal using a fancy kitchen and stove. He didn't learn how to be nice. He learned where the best places to stab someone were, how to read the hostility in someone's voice, and how to disarm someone before they left you on the ground as a lifeless corpse. To say he was a Magikarp out of water was an understatement.

"You're hopeless." Ben got an idea. "You know what? Let's forget about this. To the beach!" Skirt chasing was a relaxing activity, and it would probably keep Gray from murdering someone out of frustration. The younger man nodded, not wanting to dwell on his inability to do anything civil or—well, normal.

Slateport beach was found on route 109, chock full of tourists and swimmers who came to enjoy the sand and the sun. A lighthouse overlooked the beach and guided ships into the harbor further ahead while a lemonade shop served ice cold beverages to beachgoers. Children, adults, and trainers were scurrying around or relaxing in the sun. And of course, there were women in swimsuits that could hardly be considered anything greater than a few strips of fabric.

Ben was salivating at a group of female trainers a distance away, to which Riven rolled his eyes. But really, the guy might know more about the world than he did, but he had zero self control, especially when it came to women.

The beach was uninteresting; there wasn't really much of anything to do. Riven and his pokemon, excluding his Kirlia(he wasn't letting his perverted psychic out here), sat under an umbrella and stared at all the beachgoers. He couldn't properly enjoy himself in the sun because the Scyther near Littleroot had left him looking like an overused practice dummy. Scars were everywhere, and jagged, ugly ones too. Taking off his shirt probably was ill-advised.

After Ben had his fun and gathered a few numbers, they headed back to the pokemon center for some rest.

A couple of days later, after seeing the prices of the translators and getting fired two more times, Riven decided he just about had it with Slateport. He gathered his things and went off to Mauville to see if his fortunes would improve. He left Ben in Slateport with little concern for the womanizer, who wanted to stay a bit longer since he was dating a girl he met on the beach named Madelyne. What that guy wanted to do with his lower parts was his own damn business, Riven didn't want any part of it, and he really didn't want to take dead weight on the trip either.

After all, he figured he could handle himself. Or so he thought.

Everything seemed so easy at first, but it was after he found himself alone in the middle of the forest and trees that instincts and fears born of years of being chased down came full force.

Fueled by paranoia and danger that was hardly present, Riven grew extremely jumpy, nearly beating another trainer's face in when he jumped out of the bushes to battle, seeing an enemy rather than a trainer. Apologizing profusely, he swallowed and ran.

Without his blades, he felt exposed. Vulnerable. Anything could come out of the grass and maul him or worse. His fists wouldn't do anything to a Scyther if it came out and attacked him. Throughout the entire route he was in a panicked state of mind, feeling hunted, helpless. Didn't walk, only sprinted, an agitated and desperate run towards civilization.

Need… safety.

Now in Mauville, he rushed into the pokemon center and collapsed on the bench, sweating excessively and shaking. The Nurse Joy at the front desk came up to him and asked him what was wrong. A rattled wave of the hand answered her.

"Are you sure you're ok?" She asked again, concern coloring her face.

"I-I-I'm…I-I'm fine…" Riven picked himself up with difficulty and shakily asked for a rental room. A couple of trainers looked at him strangely, like he was something to be avoided. Taking the keys with shaky fingers, he stumbled into the room as breaths came shallow and never seemed to be able to fill his lungs. Everything spun and a light-headed feeling came over him, losing the strength in his arms and legs.

Pure anxiety.

He'd forgotten about the danger, and just then everything rushed back to him. Hours passed as he tossed and turned, trying to find some rest for his exhausted body. What little sleep he achieved was met with nightmares and memories, brought out by the sudden vulnerability. A small voice comforted him as he tried to drift off to rest again, exhaustion overpowering his frightened mind.

You can't escape Cerul. Shh…don't cry.

Everything will be just fine.

A/N

Something you don't see in the anime or games (manga might elaborate more on this with the gym leader meetings and all) is the role the champion has as a political figurehead. Since basically the entire world is based off pokemon, you would think that the champion is indeed the most powerful person in the region. And with that, he also has to deal with the very real issues of NON POKEMON TRAINERS whose lives do not revolve around pokemon. Naturally, these people wouldn't understand what it's like to actually be a trainer and how important a trainer's pokemon are to them. For a perfect example of this, see Max from the anime in the beginning of the Hoenn season. That kid just doesn't get it. I imagine many other people to be the exact same way.

Edited: 5/17/21