There was something strangely hilarious about visiting a supposed crime scene. Even more so if you were the one that caused it. Good entertainment was hard to find.
Riven and Gale stood in the destroyed clearing of route 16, alongside several other trainers and onlookers, surveying the destruction. There were a few rangers there as well, taking notes and closing off some of the area to do whatever it was that investigators did—mostly stand around and pretend to do something, probably. It had been Gale's idea to go back and see how much of the forest she wrecked and wasn't surprised to find some sort of law enforcement. The incident had raised quite a bit of concern from the local trainer community as well as the side of Nimbasa closest to the route opening.
They prodded a couple of the rangers there by asking typical curious bystander questions—what happened, what is this, who do you think did it, should we be worried, and if the officials thought it was serious.
As expected, it turned out that they didn't know much at all, and with Gale and Riven-the supposed victim and murderer- standing right there, a considerable effort to not giggle maniacally was made. When the ranger noticed Gale's and Riven's less than suitable trainer attire, he figured they'd just left Nimbasa.
He asked a few questions about last week's events and immediately showed disdain when they told him that there'd just been loud booms and explosions with lots of commotion. Obviously they knew a shit ton more than that, but it was fairly odd that the broadcast of the Nimbasa attack wasn't on every news board in Unova. The UFOs must have locked it down fairly quickly, but they were sure a few people saw it, otherwise there wouldn't be rumors of Sinnoh spreading around. Everything could be dismissed as hearsay since no one really knew what happened apart from people who were present in Nimbasa when it happened, and due to the fact that nearly everyone got a dosage of surprise amnesia, hardly anyone present knew anything.
All of which meant that the truth would rear its ugly head soon enough and then the problems would start. You could block comms, radio, and television coverage, but the one thing Riven learned was that you couldn't block everything forever. Somehow, information would slip by and someone would find out.
Interestingly enough, they did find out that most of Nimbasa's infrastructure was constantly kept up to date; including plumbing, gas lines, and other forms of piping—more out of a need for tourists to see more good than bad, and as a result, keep coming back. Faulty piping and leaks were horrible on customer reviews.
What didn't work well with that was the conveniences that shitty infrastructure did provide. Things like excuses for collateral damage.
The thing about modern cities was that if there were supposed "gas leaks" and resulting explosions that destroyed a quarter of the city, nobody with half a brain cell thought they were accidents. Oh sure, the public might be fooled, but the Elite Four and just about every other law enforcement agency were not. Neither were the rangers, having been spread thin since most of the UFOs and police had been rerouted to the cities in anticipation of "anything".
They were taking this mighty seriously.
The trainers had been left in the dark and told not to worry, as per usual. Whether that was a knee jerk attempt to curb mass paranoia and prevent rioting like Yates said, no one—wait, yes they did. Of course it was, that's how everyone knows that something's up.
Riven scoffed. Like that ever worked.
It was still one week after so there were hardly any chances of something major happening, per say; even as things were though, it was far from convincing and the few trainers they did see wore an uneasy look as well. Then again, life had a way of screwing with you. As far as Riven was concerned, the domino was just starting to roll. It'd reach the high point sometime in the next coming months, which was daunting if people were starting to get antsy. Or not at all, if winter was as much of a bitch here in Unova as they made it out to be.
At the current moment, however, there was nothing to do and he had shit for money. Gale wasn't much better in that regard. She'd had the foresight to withdraw some money before the fiasco, but even that was a tiny sum which couldn't even feed one of Riven's fighters(or him), much less her entire team. As a result, they were in clothing poorly suited for a training environment, broke, and slightly lost from the foreign layout of the region.
Gale's map was great for cities, not so for routes. The thing only showed trees and a manmade road which led trainers to the Marvelous Bridge or back to Nimbasa. Not much for navigation or specificity but enough to be useful.
While they progressed through the route, they noticed there were more than a few trainers on the route, but a majority of them looked weary from travel and generally tended to rest more than battle. The ones that were up for bouts weren't very strong and not very rich either.
Which meant more scraps for money. Riven hadn't missed being broke. He also didn't miss smelling terrible.
That ultimately led to foraging for food and murdering cute pokemon for sustenance. Haona and Evie had no problems with this as they brought back several Minccinos from the forest to get promptly massacred. Riven ate mechanically as per usual but Gale seemed rather troubled that she was eating something that had been very cute and very alive approximately an hour ago. She even held back a wince when Haona's horn and Vizi's talons ended their lives in one swift motion.
Alas it came to pass. The effects of training, she surmised.
Then Riven decided to do something insane- well no, not insane. Just like him, in fact. While munching, he stopped mid chew and told her to punch a tree once the idea presumably popped into his mind, like a deranged scientist.
"I am not punching a tree," Gale replied flatly. "You're crazy. I'd break my wrist. Will's getting to you. You might come from dysfunction junction, but I'm not entirely off my rocker yet. I'm going to bed."
She groaned in irritation as Riven grabbed her by the shoulders as she turned to her sleeping bag, hoisted her up like a misbehaved Meowth, and redirected her back towards the large tree in front of them. The rest of their teams looked on with wry amusement as they saw the two humans interact. One in curiosity, the other in knowing glee. Even Evie cocked her head in mild concern but didn't press the matter.
"Look, I'm not saying you need to punch it hard enough to break your wrist, but just hard enough to do something. Anything."
"Okay. How about…no! This must be one of your dark humored jokes." He blinked twice and she threw up her arms, tried to leave, but was once again redirected back toward the infernal tree. Now she felt like blowing him away, but was frustrated to find that she didn't quite know how yet. "Come on, really? How much do you think this is going to hurt?"
He shrugged. "It won't. Pinky promise."
And it was almost convincing when he did hold out the pinky.
"Why do you sound like a doctor that's about to shove a needle in a toddler's arm?" She asked skeptically.
"Hah. Obvious nonsense, do I look like I have any medical experience?" He said with a wicked smile that for a second made her stomach do a flip in mortification."Now then. You. Tree. Fist. Fly."
Gale cringed at the bad joke and tried to reason with her team, but they seemed to be too intrigued by the situation to really care. Riven's team was a lost cause, they were as insane as he was. She'd seen their routines. For three damn years! Baron was smirking! Aine wore the same grin!
Why do I listen to this guy? I swear this is insane…
"Just a regular punch?" She asked with visible unease. The tree seemed a little sturdy.
"Yeah. Step into it, use your body for extra power like Baron showed you. Think you'll be surprised." He brought out a potion. "If the bark cuts you, I'll just have to show you how incredibly fucking great having access to instant healing is. These things are amazing."
"Why don't you punch a tree…"
"What's that? Do I hear attitude?"
Ugh. He probably already did. Idiot climbs spires that are hundreds of feet tall for small green rocks, she thought, frowning while she prepared herself.
Okay… breathe in, step back, rotate the torso, extend and expel-
A compressed pocket of air exploded between her fist and the tree as knuckles met bark and air, sending tremors reverberating back up along her bones, wrists and forearms, with the skin of her knuckles seemingly peeling off in bloody tears as friction and air currents worked against her. She recoiled her hand in stinging pain, both at the blood dripping off her knuckles and how much her entire arm seemed to throb. A stray piece of bark flew past her so quickly that it drew blood as it cut across her cheek and up to the hairline, embedding itself into a nearby branch like a wooden spear.
Ignoring the searing pain for a moment to look up, her jaw dropped. There was a solid crack going through the trunk of the tree past the blasted bits of the bark that her accidental wind powered punch had destroyed. Not terribly deep, but deep enough to clue anyone in that no human short of a professional boxer with a build like a Machoke could achieve. That a girl who scarcely weighed more than a hundred and fifty pounds would be able to deliver that equivalent was frankly impossible.
Gale knew that, everyone knew that. Only reality seemed to warp around her insane time traveling dark boy of a traveling partner. And here she was roped alongside him, having turned into pseudo bird.
She hissed and was brought out of her thoughts when Riven sprayed her arm and then her cheek, watching as her skin mended itself as if by magic. Wiping her face of blood with a cloth, he couldn't contain his grin.
"I was right. No wings, but your bones don't seem to be hollow like a bird's are. At least, they're sturdier than a bird's. You've seen them hit trees head on. Broken wings are the most common injuries in pokemon centers, I've heard. That means you can be more of a fighter, and aren't as fragile. Must be the human physiology…"
"Oh, how great," She managed, voice dripping pain-fueled sarcasm. My arm still hurts… I think I might have broken it. "Being able to fight is great and all, I guess… I'd still rather fly honestly."
"We don't always get what we want," Riven reasoned, turning his head to look at her team, "but you can provide their wind. Think about it. If you can call wind in a hospital room with no breeze in it whatsoever, imagine what you could do in the skies. Might even be able to fly faster against headwinds, and you know how much trouble they give birds. You can be a force in the sky no one can match."
Everyone always thought of the flying type as "something with wings or some kind of bird", but Gale didn't seem to exhibit those traits. In fact, it seemed this was a form of some kind of aerokinesis, or wind type as he'd gathered. Maybe it was just a human difference, and if by extension, something like dragon or bug was possible. How that'd work was anybody's guess, but he figured a bug type human would be fairly disgusting. Dragon type got scales and, uh, liked sunbathing?
Dragons seemed to like doing that.
In the same vein, Will also seemed to do some strange things with his fire. He was able to control the direction, shape, and intensity of the flames rather easily; that was something he hadn't seen pokemon too entirely capable of. Intensity perhaps, but being able to form rings of suspended fire or jet streams of it from his hands like a giant blowtorch? No. He doubted they weren't intelligent enough for it, since pokemon were highly intelligent, but maybe it was just the difference in typings for humans as opposed to pokemon? Or was it the creativity of the human mind? Dark type moves also behaved similarly, and he was able to use night slash in ways that Haona couldn't. Like forming a blade out of literal darkness or reforming Protect into a more condensed area, which maximized protection if aimed precisely and made the move less prone to failure.
That made him think. What if pokemon could be instructed to use them differently, but trainers just didn't know how? Of course during the Elite Four and Champion battles he had seen there were some interesting combinations and moves he'd never seen before, but nothing like this. He'd have to test it later, when he was less tired and his feet weren't dying.
"I guess I could," she muttered, holding her hand to her stomach as she tried her best not to gasp in pain. Riven noticed. That punch must have hurt more than he'd realized. Must have, from how that little air bubble exploded like a firework against her arm. He didn't think it did anything apart from theatrics, but it appeared to have caused some sort of shockwave that really did some damage. Looks like elemental types did have to watch their own attacks. Well, at least it was a good thing that his typing wasn't the only one with downsides apart from the usual.
Gale's literally could kill her. That seemed to kind of suck.
"Does it hurt? Let me see it." Riven said, gently grabbing her arm and giving it a prodding squeeze. She grit her teeth and whined loudly. "That punch shouldn't have hurt you that much. Shockwave from that air thing did it. Sure it's not broken?"
He gave it another squeeze and she swung at him with her other arm. A wave of air followed and nearly cleaved his head off. Riven remained nonplussed on the surface, despite feeling a little worried when he glanced at the poor tree branch above his head. It was sliced in half.
"I don't know," she growled. "You're the one that told me to do it! Aah! Stop moving it, it hurts!"
He pursed his lips and let go lest she take his head this time for sure. Unfortunately, potions didn't mend broken bones or stabs quite as well as cuts, scrapes, and bruises.
"Yeah, well I had no idea you'd form an air grenade before you did it. Now that I do, I'll think twice before asking you to do anything physical. Please don't try to cut my head off, I kind of need it."
"Fuck you." She bit out, voice dripping with contempt. She quickly deflated when Riven paused at the sudden outburst and she'd realized what exactly she said. "Crap. I-I'm sorry- I didn't-"
"You don't have to apologize," Riven dismissed, still a little astonished. "But damn… That was verbal acid, I'm just a little surprised you had that in you. Are you sure you're all right?"
He examined her with a tilt of his head, touching her forehead to see if she was delirious. Her skin was colder than normal from her sensitivity to the cold, but otherwise she was fine. Physically, at least. Mentally… well-
"No! I mean yes!" She laughed nervously, half in pain and the other half in disbelief. She ran a quaking hand through brown hair, slightly shivering from the cold of the night. She expected the motion to do something, but nothing happened. "No… not really. Riven, I've never felt like this before. I feel… more aggressive, somehow. It's not me."
"I noticed. Does it seem like Vizi's behavior after her evolution? Sudden aggression?"
That seemed to strike home as the girl went rigid. It scared her that it was changing her without even realizing that it was doing it. Riven also figured that evolving changed peoples' behaviors as well. Will had gotten more heated and energetic since evolving-not significantly, anyway-and although it was a subtle change, the fact remained that he seemed more animated than before, even allowing Quil to get more passes to burn things for satisfaction.
And there was that odd attraction to fire. For Riven himself… well, resisting the urge to tear idiots to pieces in the most savage way possible had increased two-fold. And when encountering a problem, there was a sadistic drive to murder first and ask questions later. It drove his stress levels through the roof, hence his white hair problem. Buying black hair dye had gotten exceedingly annoying.
Gale's mannerisms changing concerned him. Most bird pokemon did get considerably more aggressive when evolving, so if Gale was experiencing the same thing, then her entire personality was susceptible to change. Perhaps not a good change, either. Although, thinking about Gale trying to be threatening made him snicker. She didn't look nearly as amused though, quite the opposite, in fact, as she stood mortified.
" I-I have to get this under control. Fast. Or I'll kill me and someone else. I'm afraid if I try to train with Baron like usual, I'll kill him or something. He's a fighting type and I'm… you know. I have to calm down… just breathe…"
Riven wasn't really sure of what to do or say, instead opting to stay silent while she calmed herself. A small feeling of guilt came over him, but he washed it away with the logical reasoning that she'd get through this on her own. She wasn't weak. After a while, her quivering eased and she took on large breath, exhaling slowly.
"Now I have to go to the hospital to get this set, thanks."
She sat back down in front of the fire, bringing her arms to her knees and sulking. She was shaking too. Riven watched her huddle into herself and sat down beside her, beckoning Baron over with a finger. Healing the arm would make her feel better at least. The psychic knelt down, examining her arm. Giving it a twist, Gale let out a profoundly coarse expletive, to which the Gallade simply nodded in finality.
Green hands began to glow as pink light enveloped her arm, dulling the pain after ten minutes and diminishing it considerably.
"The pains gone…?" She breathed, flexing her fingers. "Ah, not quite but… that's… wow. Completely different from the other times…"
"Heal pulse works better on us too," Riven explained idly, "just not that well on me for obvious reasons. Healers are invaluable, although I advise not using that arm for a good week. Your bones are still going to be a bit weak afterwards, but it won't hurt at least. It's not a perfect system and Baron is better at breaking things rather than fixing them. Was her arm broken?"
"Yes, it was," Baron confirmed, clicking his tongue. "Not just her arm, but her knuckles and wrist too. Good job, stupid trainer. Injuring my student like that. No wonder you can't keep a woman."
"Pft, neither can you, apparently," Riven shot back, flipping him off. The Gallade smacked him. Boagrius floated over and bobbed in the air, rotating oddly on his side like a small, amorphous planet.
"Trainer! Please apologize! Gale human is angry with you!"
Haona and Aine joined in too, with the Absol urging him with a headbutt and a bite. Riven's eyes traced the small stone that hung around her neck but decided against touching it. Aine punched him in the shoulder hard enough to bruise.
Riven tried very hard not to meet Gale's expectant glare. With a petulant huff, he gave in. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pressured you into punching a tree. I'll think of something more sensible next time."
Maybe a steel door? He thought darkly.
She shook her head and sighed.
In contrast, Gale's own team was about ready to rip his face off. Especially Evie, who was snarling spit and abusing a poor patch of grass with her claws. Yukiko had turned a portion of the forest into an ice sculpture. Gale had to tiredly wave her arm to get the Mightyena to calm down.
"I'll forgive you right now since I'm too tired to scream at stupid boys doing stupid boy things. Going to bed now," she said. "Please don't stop me. And please don't suggest anything else that pops into your mind unless you've tested it on yourself first. Wait, no. You would test it on yourself. Don't do that either."
"What's the fun in th- Alright, I won't," he assured, having learned his lesson, albeit with a bit of disappointment at her last comment. "Don't want Evie to…uh, tear my face off."
She stopped mid rotation. "Riven? Sorry for earlier. I wasn't myself."
"I told you, don't be. Cursing is healthy for the soul. Haven't you ever put all the hatred and contempt you've ever felt into a single word? Feels good. Like biting into something crunchy."
Gale gave him a tired smile and disappeared into her sleeping bag afterwards, leaving Riven to deal with the multitude of glowers.
He reached for his own sleeping bag with a disdainful scowl, instructing Haona not to let Evie bite him while he was asleep or there were to be no battling privileges for the next few days.
When they awoke the next morning, they continued through the Marvelous Bridge with little difficulty, although the bridge itself was long as all shit. On the boat it appeared much smaller, and not nearly as long.
Well it was.
It took nearly two hours to walk across it and the route that followed was covered in mist so bad that visibility was virtually nonexistent, making traversing the route rather stressing. Gale kept going on about air sirens, for some reason.
The trainers found there were also strangely much stronger than those on the other side of the bridge, and gave Gale quite a bit of trouble. Riven less so, due to tertiary evolutions and his propensity for hellish and unusual training.
On the other hand, Boagrius using hail to set up for Yukiko was utter bullshit. Sort of cheating too, mainly because Riven lent her the Castform. The ghost was practically impossible to hit. It took them about three days to reach Black City's gates, and by that time the girl had single-handedly managed to piss off three fourths of the route's trainer population. She was known as the annoying Froslass girl and after some time, trainers had gotten wind of it and outright refused to battle her in the mist. Made for an amusing time because for once more trainers challenged him than they did Gale—apparently, fighting a frustrating opponent outweighed the need to flirt. Gale hardly complained.
Black City though… Wow.
Riven hadn't been this surprised by large cities in a while but Black City was a marvel.
They arrived at night and it could best be described as a bustling metropolis that had closely packed skyscrapers and residential buildings made of sleek designs of glass and metal, reflecting the light of the moon and stars. Fluorescent lights gleamed along the edges of the structures and streets—green and cyan illuminating the dark city with a futuristic glow that represented the cutting edge technology that it was known for. The floor wasn't cement, instead replaced by a thin but extremely hard glass that was black as the nighttime sky. It even made their shoes squeak slightly.
Whereas LaRousse was a technological city built upon the foundations of clean energy and a symbiotic relationship with nature, Black City was devoid of anything natural in favor of a design that was highly geometric and sophisticated; everything about the city seemed immaculate and modern, from the street signs to the cars that traveled its fluorescent streets.
It was like it was made from a computer simulation.
Gale and Riven took a moment to gawk, adjusting to the dark ambience of the streets. There were no light posts, since the entire city was illuminated by the buildings. Everything felt… dim, but not completely dark. Riven adjusted quickly, and if it weren't for the interesting effects of evolution on her eyes, Gale wouldn't have been able to make out a face from across the street.
Hell, even the pokemon center had fluorescent lighting, this time in red, allowing trainers to easily spot it from a few blocks away. Riven was confused, having not spotted a single degenerate since leaving the city outskirts. Usually they'd be in an alleyway, or congregated together in a little group having a therapy session. Not this time. Although that probably was due to the increased UFO presence from last week, and with the passing of police vehicles along the road, crime seemed to be rather diminished here.
Made sense why they transferred the wounded operatives here. Large movements would be noticed, given the subtle presence of cameras that blended in with the dark cityscape.
When they entered the pokemon center, they were a bit surprised to find that the inside was the same as other centers. Silly thought, of course it did. Why would it be different? The Joy in front welcomed them in with a smile. Trainers were lounging around the sofas and chairs, and they could hear the chatter from the common room and cafeteria.
Handing over their pokemon to get healed, Riven and Gale went straight to the showers, got rid of the characteristic smell of route sweat, and shoveled food into their mouths afterwards. Following the meal, they didn't even bother trying to converse, opting instead to hit their respective beds by falling on them from exhaustion.
Daytime arrived and the cityscape had changed, with beautiful streams of color spread throughout the city, advertisements running along the giant buildings that scraped the sky. The overall theme had also changed, shifting away from black and blue to a richer white, red, purple, and orange. The city would have been even more impressive if the sky hadn't been overcast. At least there wasn't any heat.
Riven had woken up earlier than Gale to run an errand of sorts and left her a message to meet up at the local trainer mall. When she arrived, she found him in the plaza staring profoundly in thought at something in his lap.
"Hey, Archimedes," she called, to which he lifted his head. When she got a better angle, Gale blinked in surprise. "I thought you said you couldn't hatch eggs at the moment. Is that Baron's egg? Doesn't look like it."
A yellow and black striped egg lay in his lap, protected by the glass of an incubator. So that's what he needed money for. Eggs usually hatched on their own if left outside a pokeball, given a month or two. Incubators sped up that process, turning two months or more into a few weeks.
Riven's fingers held it like he wasn't quite sure what to do with it, and judging from his utterly lost expression, he didn't. "No. It's Elesa's Zebstrika's egg. That one that-" He lowered his voice and whispered, "-died? Remember? I told her-no, promised… fuck- that I'd raise the baby to be on my team. I guess it hurt her too much to raise it herself. Reminds her of her pokemon. I can understand the sentiment and well… she looked about ready to lose it then and there if I didn't."
"And you couldn't say no?" She said with a raised brow and a small grin. "Soft spot for pretty girls? Elesa is gorgeous."
He let out an exasperated huff. "Someone told me not to make girls cry."
"Ah, Birch's words of wisdom?"
Riven bit his cheek as she laughed. "Okay. Not the best role model, I admit. But it's hard saying no, like telling a Poochyena to stop trying to use your stomach as a bed."
Okay, that one was pretty hard to say no to. Evie had been adorable as a puppy.
"You should know, since you're always pushing me into things. Like that photoshoot with Burgh. That was terrible."
"Not that terrible. Quit whining, you looked good in a suit." She grinned again when he grimaced in displeasure. "So, going to raise a kid, huh? That'll be fun to watch."
"Besides, seeing a gym leader cry… that isn't something you should ever see. This though—I have no idea how to handle baby pokemon," he said with the least amount of confidence she'd ever heard exit his mouth. He was starting to worry excessively, his over-prepared nature racing to try and tackle unforeseen circumstances long before they happened. "How do I… what do I feed it? What if I'm in the wild and-"
He suddenly blanched in despair, coming to a realization that could shake the fiber of the entire world.
"Zebstrika's and Blitzle's don't eat meat."
"Yeah," Gale reminded amusedly. He did consider meal times to be a team bonding exercise."They eat grass though. And berries. There's a ton of that everywhere, obviously. You don't have to quite feed them as much as you do Haona and the others, but if it's a baby Blitzle you shouldn't let it wander. Stop worrying! It's just a baby pokemon. They're not as troublesome as human ones. Those aren't too bad either."
"Have you ever taken care of a human baby to know that?"
"Nope!"
He facepalmed. "Hypocrite."
"Oho, I do wonder who taught me that giving lessons without following them is perfectly fine!"
"He must be quite the philosopher to make you an expert then. And quite handsome, and charismatic, and great."
Gale's grin grew into a sarcastic smile. "No, he's just good at shooting the Tauros and pulling things out of his ass."
Riven scoffed. "Aw, you're going to make him blush."
After their laugher died down, he frowned at the egg.
Incubated eggs couldn't be returned or confined in a pokeball, so he had to keep it out until it hatched. Most trainers didn't have a problem with this since they were pretty sturdy and could be held securely with an additional strap to the trainer bag, but normal trainers also didn't regularly fight with swords or get shot at.
Or, you know, have things try to routinely kill them. That might not work out too well for an egg.
"Going to hatch it since we theoretically should have some downtime?" Gale asked, swinging her legs back and forth below the bench. "Knowing you, it would have been a bad idea if you were planning on getting in trouble."
"That was the plan," Riven admitted, frowning again. "I'm just asking for it to stay this quiet for the entire time we're here—or at least, if worse comes to worse, after this hatches."
"Something tells me there's a but."
"There's always a but, Gale. Usually I'm it at the end of a joke from life."
It took Gale a moment to get it, but she rolled her eyes. "Come on then, you got your incubator if that's what the errand was. We need to get to the center on the other side of the city. No point in dallying around being a broody Riven." She brought up her map and pointed eastward. "That way. Large pokemon center in the middle of… Linuc Street. That's where Will is right now. I don't think you'd want to enter a UFO building right now, do you?"
Riven shook his head, settling the incubator in the specialized incubating strap that settled over his shoulder and clung to his side, leaving a large incubation capsule sticking out of his person awkwardly, but snuggly. He sighed again and hoped that he wouldn't have to wait too long for the egg to hatch.
Midway towards the pokemon center, Riven watched as another wide-eyed group of traveling trainers passed them, all young and smiles and awestruck glances. The two of them, however, had stopped smiling like that. At least, Gale did. She'd smiled even less-truthful smiles, anyway-than she had before he'd left. And as for him… well, smiling was never something he had a reason to do much, given the circumstances and his upbringing.
"Are you angry?" He asked quietly as they passed a signpost that read Iso Street. "That I turned you into an Origin? I mean, I did do it without your permission. Some people might not want it. I didn't give you that choice."
Gale continued walking, only glancing at him from the side. "I forgot you like to ask abstract questions on walks in cities. No, I don't. Because… I wouldn't know if you didn't. I'd still be stuck in a coma, or dead, by now. Right? If you hadn't, I wouldn't have known. That I'm having this conversation now is only because of what you did. Even if I didn't want it, I'm alive, and now I have to live with that. I admit that I don't think it's the most super cool blessing as of right now, but I have powers, Riven. That's something trainers only dream of… As Will puts it, it's freaking awesome."
She hesitated, her cheer falling apart.
"At least when it's not breaking my arms and almost killing my friends. Or that I can't use it in front of other people. Or anywhere that isn't the wild. This isn't as great as it's cranked up to be, is it? I expected a savior/messiah vibe but…"
"Welcome to the real world, adventure girl," Riven smirked wryly. "Where not everything works out like how you intended it to, regularly disappoints you, and sometimes, just sometimes, things go wrong. Just a simple security job… Oh, I'll just take a leisure stroll through Granite Cave, nothing will happen…"
A sardonic snort.
"Right."
"I'm not angry though," she said, offering him a small smile. "Why the concern?"
"You don't smile as much." He said evenly. You look like me. "I thought it was because of something I did. Frowns don't suit you. I don't need another me, I'll just get depressed."
"I'll try not to." Gale reddened a slight bit as she stared down at the floor, looking back at her reflection. "But with everything going on, and seeing how much goes on behind the scenes—scary things too—I'm not sure if I could continue to act like everything is fine. It's just- it's harder to smile and feel happy about things when someone nearly kills you." She traced the area where her scar was. "And what happened with Elesa… that was horrible. The worst part is that it isn't even over yet."
"I know," he said ruefully. "A lot of things happen that people don't know about. This world isn't as overt as mine was, but it has just the same potential to fall apart. In fact, there's a lot of it that's upheld by thin cables that can snap at anytime. Everything is secrets and smoke and mirrors; what you have and how it could be used to get your way. With all this technology, it's easy to get the wrong idea and undo years of work. It only took one video for Sayre to change the world. That's the reality now. Makes you wonder if ignorance really is bliss."
He adjusted the incubator again and grunted when it stuck out awkwardly and dug into his side. He opted instead to hold it in his hands.
A woman then all but crashed into him and immediately upon seeing his attire, called him human refuse and strutted off. She looked to be high class, from the way she was dressed, but an opinion like that shocked them both.
"Did she just call me trash? Did you fucking see that?" Riven gestured incredulously. He flashed a knife. "Yates did say I could kill people discreetly. I just need an alleyway and-"
"Not regular people! Put it away before someone notices you!"
Riven pocketed the knife with a snarl.
Gale exhaled in relief. "Do people not like trainers here or what?"
Come to think of it, a lot of the people on the streets tended to avoid trainers, and they'd gotten more nasty looks than Haona did just about anywhere. That was saying something. Many of the restaurants also maintained a no pokemon policy, even in the ones that weren't high class in the slightest. What was it with this city?
When they entered the larger pokemon center, they spotted Will chatting with Amy and Seab in the dining hall, his messy black hair giving him away. He had a black UFO trainee uniform on, something that didn't go unnoticed by the other trainers. Riven and Gale joined them at the table, greeting them all with a wave.
"Gale! You're okay!" Amy beamed, standing up to give Gale an Ursaring hug. "Hey, Riv. Looking as glum as ever."
He scowled. "And here I thought I was the symbol of happiness, thanks for pointing that out."
"What she was trying to say is that it's nice to see Nimbasa wasn't a total disaster," Seab put in. "You both look fine, and I'm glad Gale was able to recover. We were worried for a while but after Will told us you were both okay and that Gale had woken up, we finally got to breathe."
Gale smiled warmly. "Yeah, I got injured pretty badly, but I'm okay now. Thanks. How are your ribs, Seab?"
"I'm trying not to breathe too hard, or laugh. I'm on painkillers but it still hurts to do anything intensive. I can't even dress myself properly. Amy has to help me."
The blonde was incredibly pleased with it too, causing the Sinnohan to flush. "I don't mind that all," she purred.
"Err… Shouldn't you be in recovery too, Gale? You got operated recently from a pretty significant injury," Seab noticed, edging away from Amy, however useless it was being window side.
Before Gale could open her mouth, Will tapped on the table. "Yo, look at her eyes. Don't they seem a little different?"
Amy and Seab did, noting that they'd gotten lighter.
"Did Riv…?"
Riven's face remained impassive. "I had to, otherwise she'd have died."
The two trainers exchanged uneasy looks. "What type?"
"Flying, funnily enough," Gale answered. "I can't control it yet, though. I broke my hand trying to. Baron healed it faster than I thought, though it's a little sensitive still."
"How does it feel?" Amy inquired, green eyes wide. "All Will can say is that it's hot and feels awesome. That doesn't really help. I want to know just how cool it feels! I mean, look at what you can do! I wish I could shoot lightning, or ice, or fire. Anything really. Being normal doesn't seem as fun anymore. Imagine fighting with your pokemon!"
"It's not all fun and games," Riven cut in. "Trust me, I've fought enough pokemon myself to know that it sucks ass. They're still stronger than you in general. Anyway, that's why we came here. So Will can train Gale or at least somewhat help her try and figure out her abilities. She nearly took my head when she got annoyed. Wind is scary."
"Not as scary as yours," Amy pointed out, to which Riven frowned guiltily. "I don't think you realize just how bad that dark aura of yours makes… everything feel. The first time I saw that eye my instincts told me to get the hell out of dodge as fast as possible and I listened."
"Maybe it was for the best," Riven said soberly. "I did get into a disaster after, so you dodged a bullet. Several, in fact."
"I didn't," Will snorted. "Got firebe- I mean uh, got fire abilities so it's cool. How did you get a sphere though? There aren't any ruins in Nimbasa."
"Tesla gave one to me," Riven mentioned simply.
Will stopped talking. Amy and Seab followed suit.
"I must have misheard," Will laughed in fake amusement, "I thought you meant that the enemy gave you the key to saving the life of a person they almost killed. It's crazy, isn't it?"
He buried his face in his hands.
"You're a fucking idiot. You saved Gale so I can forgive it but fuck man. You did say he was kind of weird but I seriously wasn't expecting this. What did he want?"
Riven lowered his voice, checking to see if anyone was listening. No one seemed to be paying any mind, but he spoke in whispers to be sure. "Sayre followers are a problem, even for him. Mercs don't always agree with what their employers are doing, and his boss is using the Sayre followers to challenge the region's authorities and who knows what else. Tesla doesn't like it and since he can't do anything overtly, he asked me to help, giving me the sphere in exchange for being less hellbent on mucking up their operations during the interim of the region shutdown. That and the Plasmas were framed. We also got used like a wet dish rag to salvage the situation to work out in Tesla's favor. He went around spreading that rumor hoping that someone would pick it up. I took the bait. Had things gone differently, Unova would be a fucknest right now."
"Clever scum. So a ceasefire of sorts for six months?" Amy assessed. "That'll be hard to keep with… what's the word?"
"Lunatics?" Seab provided. "Idiots? Fanatics? Cultists? Murderers? Sociopaths? We have a lot of names for them back in Sinnoh, believe me."
"All of the above then. How do we know that the followers won't do something else? They already tried taking over Castelia. No joke, Riv, but their pokemon aren't pushovers. Neither are the operatives', and they took out a lot of them and us. We're not going to be able to steamroll them if they mobilize enough."
"We also heard some pretty outrageous things from the wounded UFOs that came later," Seab said. "About a woman whose skin bullets couldn't scratch. Know anything about something like that?"
"Probably from the steel clan," Riven figured. "Vacer clan. It was kind of like mine and the Rose clan in that it was a family name more so than the name of a place. They were smiths and provided a lot of the metalwork other clans needed. There was a reason that the Roses didn't kill them—too valuable. They also didn't aid us because doing so against their natural weakness was tantamount to suicide. Their skin was rumored to be impervious to blades. I never found out if it was true or not, but I assume they're as much of a bitch to deal with as other steel types I've encountered. Hitting them with special attacks is the only way of real damage, apart from fire moves. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them made it here and became a merc. If we encounter her, don't try and fight her head on. One hit will be like getting hit by a sledgehammer."
The blue-haired trainer thought about that. "So typings change even the composition of a person's skin? If that's the case, why didn't Gale grow feathers?"
"Not sure," Riven said truthfully. "Never met a wind clan or flying clan. This is entirely new for me too, although there are history books and folk tales that imply otherwise. I couldn't possibly verify their authenticity, so I wouldn't know if they were real. Gale calls wind with her mind, or by thinking about it. Something of the sort. Will, do you think about how you want the fire to act and how hot it is?"
Will rubbed his chin, finding it a bit difficult to recall without using it at the moment. "Kinda like that. I mostly think about what I want the fire to do and sometimes it's more difficult if I want to make the fire do more things, so I have to coax it. I tried making it hotter and brighter like a welder's torch, but that really takes it out of me. It's not really instincts either because when I first started out I burned myself quite a lot trying to get things right."
He showed them calloused hands that signified hours upon hours of training, with the burn scars to prove it too. Riven was surprised to see that Will had worked so hard while he was gone, especially with his typing. In contrast, he'd opted to forgo his as much as possible.
"You're going to have to practice a lot, Gale. Can't just pick it up and expect to get good at it. I couldn't shoot a flamethrower for months. And when I first did-" Will whistled loudly. "I blacked out for half a day. Since you're wind, I don't think you'll have to keep your clothes from catching fire, heh. Just don't slice your clothes up or I might see something that'll make Riven je-"
Riven slapped him with blinding speed.
"Well, I made a wind bomb that exploded and broke my entire arm if that helps," Gale replied in understanding. Bonding in painful experiences was always good for the soul. "So does that mean you can teach me?"
Will continued to rub his cheek. "Uhhhhh… it's going to be pretty hard teaching you here in Black City. I can't leave since I'm currently classified as a trainee, and the UFO division here doesn't really know about this so…"
Gale's face fell. "So that's a no?"
"I didn't say that for sure." Will paused to scratch his head. "We could always go to the routes outside after training?"
"There's a lot of grass and wooded areas," Amy interjected. "I don't know but fire and winds to spread it is a good way to get a forest fire started and trainers blamed, as if it wasn't bad enough already. Don't even think about releasing Quil when Gale's around throwing air."
Seab nodded in agreement.
"Amy has a point, you need a more discreet location. The city gets very dark and dim at night, so fire is going to be very noticeable. Wind on the other hand, isn't. There aren't many cameras on the rooftops, but there are delivery guys running the roofs."
"Delivery guys?" Riven asked.
"They traverse the buildings to get mail to people and deliver items discreetly. Black City isn't everything it seems, you know."
"Is that why those non trainers were leering at us? A woman on the street called me trash. I almost stabbed her there and then."
"The wealthy, probably," Amy sneered. "Black City is divided into social categories, like all places but worse. To a degree that makes Castelia look nice and equal. Those fancy snobs you see order people around are at the top. Trainers don't even classify, yet we can still walk around the city smelling like… well, you know how we smell after days of the wilderness."
Terrible was one word for it. Amy continued, her tone growing in irritation.
"They hate trainers 'dirtying' their beautiful city, up in their terraces and balconies. They're all located in the color district. The area of the city with all that purple neon crap? Screw those guys. It's not surprising they support the Plasmas. Idiots."
That instantly got Riven's attention. "They support the Plasmas?"
"Not openly, that'd look bad on their resumes. Oh no. They think training is a scourge, even when it does bring in money. Can't convince stupid people they're stupid anyway. Or bigots."
The blonde noted Riven's face as he seemed deep in thought, blankly staring at a section of the table with a slight curl of the lips.
"Uh oh. Gale, stop him before he gets an idea to go up there. They have armed guards, they'll tear your ass to pieces. You'll piss off the UFOs and the authorities too, which there are a lot of, if you hadn't noticed! Seab, help me here?"
The Sinnohan pretended to be concerned eating. "Huh?"
"Will?!"
"Hey, don't look at me. Once he gets an idea, there's no stopping him. He's every flavor of nuts. Watch him come up with something insane, like having Gale fly him up there so he can parachute in and-"
"Nothing. I'm not doing anything," Riven answered flatly, to the disappointment of everyone and himself.
While mowing through a bunch of hapless guards, fighting his way up through a building, and interrogating a high socialite with a pair of pliers like a badass was all fun and cool, it wasn't practical or made any logical sense-yet another reminder that reality was pretty disappointing. Connections were needed and if nobles and Dukes were anything like high caste socialites, then the best way to make those needed connections was through favors and casual conversation at a high class restaurant or social gathering.
Obviously, he couldn't prance in there, announce he was a merc and expect a civilian with little experience in dealing with dangerous men to comply. Socialites were snobby, not sinister. Some were, yes, but the majority weren't. Torture would work poorly also. Authorities would hunt him down in a day if he did. Criminals wouldn't be missed. An important shareholder or executive in a company?
Definitely.
If they knew anything about the Plasmas, then they were a valuable resource. Socialites did exactly what their name implied: socialize. Like it or not, rich people knew people. Important people. This time, however, he had no funds and no way of faking his way into a high class party. Not having access to Circuit and Nera's resources sucked.
So in a way he was back at square one, with nothing to do but wait.
"History repeats itself…" Riven muttered as Will thumped him on the chest. He looked up, still deep in thought.
"Well? What do you plan on doing this time? If Gale's going to be here with me, she can't travel with you. If you go out by yourself out there, there's a high chance trouble is going to find you and make you disappear for another three years. Lay low for once."
Riven tilted his head to stare at Will, like he'd just sprouted horns. "Did I just hear something sensible come out of your mouth, Will? Holy shit you can understand subtlety?"
"Know what? Fuck you. Go die then. I'll just focus on being an immense badass while you go get yourself thrown in a ditch. Have fun. Gale, why do you like this idiot?"
"Well, uh, he's… he's…hmmm." She trailed off with a finger. Think nice things, think nice things… Crazy? Violent? Possibly sociopathic-no! I can't say that! "Um, driven?"
The two boys frowned.
"And you said I suck at compliments. You're downright terrible. Regardless, I think I'll stay within the city limits for a while until I figure out what I'm going to do. It'll give me some time to hatch the egg, at least. I do have a question though. Actually, a bit of a request. Amy, Seab?"
Both of them gulped.
"Oh god," Seab whispered fearfully. "Save me…"
"Please tell me it isn't about defending another city because I don't think we'd like to visit the hospital again." Amy gestured to the slash running down her leg. It would scar over for sure. Fairly badly too. "There go my bikini days. Not that it matters anyway. Never liked them. Shorts though… I'll miss those."
"It's just a scar, Amy. I'm sure it won't diminish anything about you." Amy shot him a sly smirk as Seab shook his head. "I for one don't want to break my ribs again. It's difficult enough as it is."
"Not asking you to do any of that," Riven assured with a not very reassuring laugh. "Can you talk to the pokemon professor here? I read some articles she published back in Kalos, and I know she was based in Unova. Nuvo… Nuva something town?"
"Nuvema," Will corrected. "Nuvema town in southeast Unova. It's pretty damn far from here. It'll be a long trek, but with a Salamence it shouldn't take long. At least, if they let you ride a Salamence at all. Cross regional flights with dangerous pokemon are prohibited unless it's in a dangerous area like the desert. They told me that when they saw my Flygon, which by the way, still makes people shit a ton of bricks. Ban allows the Braviary service to stay in business and limits the regular people from having heart attacks."
The others were about to ask but quickly realized why that was. A dragon flying over a city was always a cause for concern or alarm, and given the circumstances… well. They figured some idiot must have been flying over a route and accidentally used draco meteor or something. Wouldn't be surprising, some trainers had lead for brains.
"Where is Nuvema To-Oh fuck all," Amy groaned, pulling up a map. "You want us to cross half of Unova to ask the professor a question? What the hell, Riv?"
"What I want you to ask her can't be discussed on the phone. I'd go myself but Will's right. If anything happens, I'll be able to see it from inside the city. Out on a route I'd be blind. I also really want to hatch this egg before I get caught in a proverbial mud pit." He looked at them both and rubbed his forehead. "I hate asking you to do this, and I wish I could be in more places at once, but-"
"No, you go. I'll lend you Emile," Gale cut in, stopping him mid sentence.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"I'll lend you Emile," Gale repeated. "Seab's ribs are still recovering and I don't want them getting into trouble either. Amy wouldn't be able to walk much on that leg." The blonde nodded. "They can't recover as fast as we can. You'd probably cross half of Unova on broken ribs if you had no choice, so we don't have to worry about stalling progress. You told me to punch a tree for god's sakes! You're crazy, they're not."
"You made her punch a tree?" The other three asked at once, wearing looks of befuddlement.
"Yes, yes he did," Gale confirmed bitterly. "That's how I broke my arm. Plus the wind bomb."
"Slight miscalculation," Riven deadpanned, the humor in his eyes betraying him.
"Anyway, as for the ban… using Emile to fly under the radar when routes are less policed can let you cover more ground faster. And you're a mercenary, there's the most leeway for you if you get into trouble."
Pragmatically, yes. No one would bat an eyelash if a merc casually beat up a few rangers. Relatively speaking, at least, since assaulting a ranger broke about fifteen different laws—all of which could throw an idiot in jail for life. It was dark, but what she said was undoubtedly true. As long as they weren't dead and their pokemon were just unconscious, there was little harm done. Again, theoretically speaking.
"If anything happens, I'll call you. Seab and Amy can hold down the fort, right?"
Riven blinked, puzzled. "Wait but-"
"A-a-a-a-a-ah! Not this time. You'd kill yourself out of boredom if you stayed here," Gale giggled wryly. "I saw how wound up you were before Nimbasa happened. Cities are bad for you, but idleness is worse. If you stayed here while Will teaches me, you'd drive me nuts and turn the rest of your hair white."
The older trainer tried to object but Gale wouldn't have it, shoving Emile's pokeball into his hand.
"Take care of him, okay? And try not to do anything outrageous, like challenge a dragon. He's not over it still."
Enclosing his hand around the minimized ball, Riven sighed miserably. "Emile's not going to like it."
"Emile's a big baby," Gale laughed loudly. "He'll just have to get used to it, like it or not. He always complains about not getting out enough and being used as a flight service instead of for battling, so I'm giving him his wish. Oh, and that goes for you too. Stock up on potions! I'm not going to be there to give you a hyper potion every time you decide to use them all up and test a theory of yours. And please, take care of yourself. Don't make me worried."
For such a tall guy, Riven looked incredibly small at the moment, as if being scolded like a child. Will, Amy, and Seab had to grin as the supposed "fearless mercenary" pitifully resigned himself to taking orders from a girl about five inches shorter than him.
"Alright," he said, straightening. "I'll be back in… weeks maybe? A month? If something happens, to hell with the rules, I'm flying back. I'm sure the UFOs wouldn't mind. I'm not leaving yet, I admit I'm a little curious about the rooftop runner scene, I'll check it out when it gets dark."
"Reminder of old days?" Will grinned.
"Yeah, gotta remember the classics," Riven nodded. "What path should I take to get to Nuvema?"
Gale pulled up her map, tracing a red path through the routes with a finger as the holograph solidified. Luckily, Black city and the southeastern part of Unova were separated by a range of tall mountains rumored to contain very strong wild pokemon and as such, remained largely uninhabited, with very few hikers attempting to traverse them. Naturally, this meant that most trainers would rather take the detour back around through Nimbasa and central Unova, then head east.
Riven was a simple man. He was also an idiot. Riven saw mountains and his days of scouting to conquer a difficult climb came rushing back like a drug—a worthy challenge.
If he crossed the mountain range, he'd end up on the Nacrene City side of the mountains. From there he'd only have to pass through Striaton, Accumula, then finally reach Nuvema near the ocean. The journey would probably take at least two weeks or more, even with periodic low-profile flights with Emile. Those routes had an increased ranger presence due to more beginner trainers, and made flying illegally pretty difficult.
Thinking about the journey, it probably was best that Gale had convinced him to go instead. It would have been damn harsh on Amy and Seab with their injuries.
When they'd finished their meals and wrapped up their talk, Gale and Riven explored a bit of the city to kill time. Will had gone back to meet up with his sister to learn about the importance of paperwork and reports(something he hated with burning passion), while Amy and Seab just preferred to rest in the center.
The rooftops really were a sight to behold at night. While everything was dark and Gale had a bit of a hard time seeing, Riven led her around, watching runners flip and run across the dark city's rooftops. She flew them up to one of Silph's corporate buildings, adorned with huge neon letters spelling out Silph. They sat in silence for an hour, enjoying the momentary peace before departure tomorrow.
It'd be strange traveling alone again, but he had his pokemon with him this time, and Gale wouldn't be what felt like a world away. He also had a flying pokemon and his holo caster. His thoughts turned to the egg as he brought it out and held the incubator in his arms, watching the soft glow that came from it as it heated the egg.
"I hope the baby doesn't give you too much trouble. It'll probably hatch while you're out there," Gale mentioned idly. In the dark he could see the melancholic dull in her eyes.
"You don't sound too happy about that."
"I've never seen a pokemon hatch before, so it'd be a cool experience for me. As much as I'd like to come with you, I can't. I need to get this under control." She felt the wind lick her hair, blowing locks of brown hair in every direction. "Seems like we can't travel together all the time, huh? Something separates us constantly."
"We all have our duties," Riven said soberly. "Paths don't always align, even if we wish they would. I'd say I'd miss your nagging, but that'd be corny. I'll be fine, Gale."
"Promise?"
Riven was quiet. Promises… he'd made so many of them already. To his fallen friends, Nemos, Sam, Sarim, Wattson, Roxanne, Elesa… Promises were easy to make, but difficult to keep. No, he wouldn't promise.
"No promises, Gale. I don't like lying to you. Things might happen, they might not. The one thing I can assure you is that I'm a bit hard to kill."
In the darkness, Gale smiled sadly, reality seeping in. She leaned her head against his shoulder, exhaling.
"Yeah. I'll hold you to that."
Life wasn't all adventures, or tragedy, or love, or humor. Sometimes, it was wishing for things to be different. A feeling that would only get stronger in the coming weeks.
Riven left Black City the next day stocked up on potions, peanut butter, non perishables, and a few pokeballs in case he saw a pokemon he liked. He'd also gotten sturdier clothing for the trek ahead of him. He looked like more of a hiker than a trainer at the current moment.
It took him several hours to even reach the dense part of the forest outside Black City, near the mountains. He considered using Emile, but the bird was beyond bitchy about the situation, pecked his head in annoyance, and stubbornly refused to fly while giving him his usual snippy attitude. Obviously the Pidgeot was going to be a gigantic cock on the journey, so he'd give him some time steaming in the pokeball to untangle his feathery panties.
Useless fucking bird. Why couldn't she give him Kyne instead? He was substantially less annoying.
When nightfall arrived after plenty of time using Efrain to slash through the denser foliage blocking his path, Riven was within eyesight of the mountain range. There were no lights at all, and even the minimal light pollution of Black City hadn't affected the sky above him. Unova was in the Northern Hemisphere so the North Star was fairly visible in the sky, so he went opposite its direction. The path to Nacrene should've been almost direct, so if he kept his position and kept heading south, he'd reach it.
After mountain climbing that is.
He saw a few wild pokemon scurrying about and had Baron teleport stab them since Haona was fairly restricted in the dense foliage. After the sun had come up, he reached the base of the mountain at midday, using Aine to hop him over to where the incline began.
Securing the incubator with an extra safety latch and putting on his gloves for vertical slopes if needed, he began trekking his way up the mountain.
It took a bloody fucking week to get up that mountain. He could have used Emile to fly over, or Aine to jump him over, but nooooooo. He was a stubborn, stupid man with too much pride and too big of a climber's ego to let a mountain conquer him. By the time he saw Nacrene over the edge, he was drenched in sweat, exhausted, and tired of sleeping sitting up on rocks.
"Well, we made it." He said to himself with a sharp, finalizing breath, placing his hands on his hips. The view was breathtaking from up here though. Back in the direction he came, he could clearly see Black City and the Marvelous Bridge. No one else but the incubator listened to him speak. Granted, it couldn't hear but it was the thought that counts. He made it a point of talking to the egg, which he named Omy to his own amusement, seeing as how the Blitzle patterns looked similar to an omelette.
He'd probably give the Blitzle a different name, but he kind of liked Omy. If the newborn was female, it'd be short for Omlynne. There was totally no way he'd name one of his pokemon after an omelette.
Riven then decided the unborn Blitzle would be Omy. Because he hatched it from an egg and since he was incredibly hungry, eggs would be the first thing he'd eat in Nacrene.
He'd gotten a bit curious and wandered into the gym to see what it was like, and upon seeing the library maze in there, Riven immediately turned back. He had fighters which could beat the absolute hell out of her pokemon, but that maze of hers… Lenora could keep that badge. The gym trainer in the front just laughed in pitiful understanding once she saw him scrunch his face in mortification and go in the opposite direction.
The trainer remained in Nacrene for a day, buying more non perishables and peanut butter for the trip ahead. It wasn't mountainous so there'd be an abundance of pokemon to hunt, and the path was generally straight forward. Luckily, no strong pokemon jumped out at him during his time in the mountain or the forests below, aside from the occasional Braviary nest, which he respectfully bowed away from.
Apparently Charles said that they were territorial and since the bird was protecting her chicks, Riven really didn't want to mess with her. Especially not on a steep mountain against a bird known for being able to lift and crush pick-up trucks. Human pincushion was not something he'd dreamt of becoming.
Uneventful was a double-edged sword, however.
The road to Nuvema was, simply put, extremely, extremely boring. None of the trainers were a challenge since they were all pretty young, and the ones that did seemed more interested in seeing his pokemon than actually battling. The few older trainers he saw were visiting family and thus had no desire to battle. Hunting didn't prove to be difficult either, given his pokemons' relative strengths compared to the weak wild creatures that roamed the route forests.
After the craziness of Nimbasa and just about everything else, as well as the planning and preparation the UFOs made, this seemed hair-raising in comparison.
He was more uncomfortable with nothing happening than with people trying to kill him.
At least Omy was doing fine in the incubator. He checked to see if the journey had damaged the capsule, and to his satisfaction, not a single scratch was on it. The thought that Omy was finding the journey unpleasant was rather amusing, and to find some form of entertainment Riven began to make conversations with himself and the egg, making up an epic tale of their conquering of the mountain.
There were messages in his holo caster from Gale, and he'd replied to some of them when he had reception in Striaton, Nacrene, and Accumula. Unova was far larger than he gave it credit for, or maybe it was because that mountain pass had stalled him, but the fact of the matter was that four weeks had passed.
He noticed that Omy had begun to move midway through route 1 and watched as the egg shook and wobbled. Riven immediately released his pokemon to watch the spectacle of new life with a sense of horror, fascination, and wonder. Removing the constraints of the incubator, the egg wobbled along the grass and soon enough, begun to crack.
The shell cracked as a tiny form of a Blitzle emerged, small enough to hold in his arms. It was covered in amniotic fluid and stretched its legs, not quite used to moving its body yet. Cries came from the baby Blitzle and when it opened its eyes, the first thing it saw was an Absol's face.
Riven felt strangely giddy and took a picture of it, sending it to Elesa and Gale with the heading: LOOK AT IT. They replied back quickly, with the gym leader expressing her utmost gratitude. Elesa gave him pointers on how to train it and how to act as a parent first.
Also, Omy was female. Made all the more hilarious was that once the Blitzle recognized the need for sustenance, viewed Haona as her mother and gave an… experimental nip below. What followed was an embarrassing explanation from the Absol to the newborn Blitzle that she wasn't, in fact, her mother. Omy replied by way of confused whinnies.
Of course, that didn't stop the oddly quiet, but obedient pokemon from following Haona around everywhere. Incredibly curious too, since she prodded and whinnied at everything Riven did. Elesa had advised him not to introduce Omy to the pokeball until she was a little older, so as not to scare her.
He'd dallied around the route to give Omy a chance to stretch her legs and get used to the world a bit. She grew used to things quickly, but still didn't listen much to what Riven or the rest of the team told her. Riven tried using Baron to translate, but apparently psychics couldn't understand baby either.
And so the little Blitzle followed him to Professor Juniper's lab. After four weeks, a lot of walking, a hatched egg, and steadily dropping temperatures, he'd arrived in Nuvema.
Tranquil place, as expected of a small town, which reminded him of Littleroot, minus the waterfront being so close. The smell of seawater was in the air as he made his way through the quaint little town until he spotted the large pokemon lab in a more secluded part of the town. A large ranch was connected to the facility, and in the middle, feeding a bunch of pokemon gathered around her, was a woman dressed in a white lab coat.
Riven directed his gaze down to the tiny Blitzle. "Omy, should we head over to the fence, or wait? Your call."
Blue eyes warily caught sight of the Emboar spitting flames into the air and she cried softly.
"Bliii."
"Are you scared? They're not that scary. Just an overgrown fire type with more ego than brains."
The Blitzle pranced in place, nudging his pant leg.
"Blii-bli. Bliiiiiiiii."
She then got distracted by a pebble on the ground. He didn't quite understand what she was saying, nor did the rest of his team, but they all agreed it was baby for 'I-don't-like-that.'
Upon seeing Juniper return to her lab, Riven walked up to the front door and knocked. There was silence until he heard a woman's voice approaching the door.
"I shouldn't have any starters coming in today, maybe it's the mail-" She opened the door, green eyes blinking in confusion at the young hiker in front of her. A very, very small Blitzle apprehensively glared at her, a soft cry coming from it behind the trainer's leg.
Riven, on the other hand, was surprised to find such an… attractive looking professor. He expected an older woman, like Birch, Oak, and the others. Not… this. Her blouse was a little disheveled from the feeding, revealing a little more than it would have normally. She didn't seem to notice even when he really, really did.
"A trainer?" She asked blinking. "I don't get those much, not with their own pokemon and almost a full team!" Juniper pointed at the pokeballs along his belt. "And that Blitzle, my, it's so small! Is it a newborn?"
She bent down to coo at Omy and doing so made Riven lose his train of thought instantly. He was far too quiet for a few moments too long.
Wait. Did she say something? Oh, right.
"Uhhhh, yeah. Just hatched over in route 1 and a friend of mine told me not to introduce her to the pokeball yet."
"Is that so?" Juniper smiled, holding a finger out so the fawn could inspect it. "That's good advice. Not many trainers know that and it drives breeders crazy!" She looked up at him with a tilt of the head. He tried not looking down her shirt, focusing on the lab instead. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"Accent?" Riven guessed.
"Yes, it sounds… very strange, like a mix from different places. What region are you from?"
"Hoenn, but I got my license in Kalos," he said, scratching the back of his head and laughing innocently. "That might explain it, heh."
"Wow! You must be pretty traveled then. I know the Blitzle is native but what about the rest? Come inside! My assistant is in Aspertia giving some rookie trainers their starters, so it's just me for now. Are your pokemon Hoenn based or Kalosian? Mr…?"
"Nathan," he said, extending a hand.
"Hello, Nathan!" She smiled brightly, shaking it with earnest. Again, he thought that no pokemon professor should be this damn attractive, it made him feel very awkward. "I'm Dr. Aurea Juniper, expert in pokemon origins. What brings you to Nuvema all the way from Hoenn?"
"Actually, I was in Unova already but I got a question that's been bugging me for a while. Couldn't take it anymore so I came out here looking for you. Said you're the person to go to."
"Oh, really? Where were you staying? Nuvema is far from most of the main cities. I assume you arrived in Castelia?"
Riven glanced at a sketching of the anatomy of a Haxorus. He laughed again. "Well, I came here from Black City."
"Black City?" She repeated, surprised. "That's incredibly far for just a question. Quite driven! I like it! How long did it take you?"
"Four weeks? Give or take."
"What speed… Four weeks to pass through Nimbasa, Castelia, the desert and all the way around? Either you move incredibly fast or you flew."
"I climbed the mountain range," Riven said breathlessly. "Figured why not. Shortcuts are cool."
"You… climbed the Nacrene mountain range?" Juniper's mouth hung open. "Hostile Braviary and Bisharp make their nests in those forests and mountains. Not just run of the mill, either! They'll kill if provoked, I'm glad nothing happened to you but that's not advisable at all! Tell me you won't do that again?"
Riven twitched. He remembered the last time he tried fighting a Bisharp, who had beaten his ass pretty soundly until he cut into its eye. At least he had Aine now. And Boagrius if he was desperate. Catching a Bisharp would be awesome, but then he remembered that in the wild they tended to lead entire packs of Pawniard, which were pretty much small, bladed monstrosities. Wild Bisharp strong enough to lead a Pawniard pack also would absolutely not listen to any trainer under any circumstance. "Yes, ma'am."
"Trainers worry me these days," she said with a sigh, ruffling Omy's tiny mane and standing up. "Care to come outside and show me your pokemon? We don't get many Hoenn pokemon here, and I haven't traveled to the region in some time."
They went outside and Riven released Aine first, who immediately caught the attention of the others in the ranch. The Emboar in particular eyed her warily, snorting flame from its nostrils.
Juniper was then stroking Aine's feathers, making several observations of her features, even crouching to squeeze her leg muscles. Aine didn't mind, in fact, she seemed rather pleased.
The professor stepped back in wonder. "Wow, a Blaziken. You know, I never get tired of seeing them. Or Sceptiles. They're fascinating. Yours in particular seems to have excellent leg strength, and is in tip top form. How often do they train?"
Riven had to snort sardonically. "I don't think they know the definition of stop."
He released Baron, who blinked at the sudden change of location. Upon seeing the professor, he waved. Hello.
Juniper turned into a whirlwind of geek as she examined Baron, growing more excited as he flicked his blades. He shot Riven a sly grin, causing his trainer to shake his head.
Bloody show off.
"Now I can see why they don't stop training," Juniper remarked, examining Baron's muscular arms. "Having multiple fighting pokemon can test a trainer's patience, I'm surprised you can manage them."
"Well, I am quite the special snowflake. Ain't that right, Baron?" Riven mused, which drew a mocking cough from the Gallade. "Want to see the rest?"
"Yes!"
He released Haona and Boagrius, to which Juniper responded with gushing. She thought Boagrius was adorable. If only she knew his voice could shatter windows. She was currently testing how squishy he was.
Riven kept Efrain in his pokeball for obvious reasons, keeping it inside his pocket rather than on his belt. That was one pokemon he definitely didn't like showing off. Emile wasn't his so he couldn't do that anyway. When the rest of Riven's team- sans Omy- went to interact with the pokemon in Juniper's ranch, she invited him inside again.
"Okay. So, what did you have in mind to ask me?"
Riven clenched his jaw, forming his thoughts. Omy remained motionless in his arms, eyeing the woman still.
He'd have to word it in a way that would make it seem like he was entirely clueless and just immensely curious. "Since you're the expert of pokemon origins, I just wanted to know about the origins of something."
"I see. About pokemon? Any specific pokemon or type? I've compiled a long list of recorded history and genealogies for multiple breeds and types if you're wondering. They've definitely served breeders in the past. I also have books if you want to look at those. Ask away!"
Dark brown looked straight into enthusiastic green.
"I want to know about the origins of humans."
Took four weeks to get out because I didn't like the original chapter I wrote and I was like 8k words in so that sucked.
I imagine Black City to be a mix between the Tron cityscape at night, and the city of Glass from Mirror's Edge during the daytime. Think of it as a cross between the two games, which have Black City in one version and White Forest in the other. This way it's still a city but fits the theme for both nonetheless.
Also, I like Tron. I really do. Fluorescent lights are great.
Also, in case you guys didn't notice, Omy is a reference to a certain web series about a boy named AJ who hears voices. Only mon indeed.