AN: Here we are, on time. Time for Yun to move on from Eterna.
"Unbelievable!"
"Sko?"
Yun held up a white envelope between her two fingers as if the contents were able to jump out and bite her. As she had dropped off Akane at the bus station the evening before, she had nowhere else to direct her ire to except for the note that had been inside and was now left crinkled on her lap. Fuming, she read the words again.
'Just take it.'
It was even accompanied by a henohenomoheji that was rolling it's eyes. She knew, her former classmate knew, that Yun would never accept such a thing. The envelope was filled with money, victory money, the rest of the note had explained, it did not come from Akane's personal savings. As if that made a difference somehow.
It was bad enough when she had accepted the pity money from the older trainer that Tenno had harassed, or when Xavier Ikeda had given her everything from their double battle. No matter how uneasy both occasions had made her feel, she could sort of rationalize her objections away. Tenno had won that battle after all, and Xavier had really been cheating even if Yun had barely contributed. But this? She had admitted her parents weren't the wealthiest people around and suddenly Akane saw her as some sort of charity project.
Reign looked awfully confused at the sour mood his trainer had taken, but Yun ignored his inquisitive stare in favor of glaring at the envelope some more before she decided to go back to more productive ways of spending her time. She had been organizing her new inventory after all, the items carefully laid out over her bed.
It was a pity that Akane's bag turned out to be so damaged, it had a lot more storage capacity than her own. The girl had needed it too, with how many items she carried around. Yun wondered if Akane had had plans for a prolonged trip to Snowpoint city by the amount of ice heals the girl had owned. But it was that way with practically any common healing item on the market, she supposed her classmate liked to be prepared.
Eventually she managed to fit it all into her own bag, just barely, with the exception of Akane's many Pokéballs. Off all items she had received, those would be the least likely to come in handy for her. She had decided much earlier to keep her team limited to three members for a long while to come. While not perfect, she felt like her team was well balanced since the addition of Twinkle. But if she was entirely honest with herself, the primary reason for her choice was that she had her hands full right now. All three would need to grow and learn, and all three would need her time and dedication to do so.
She would see how far her current group would bring her and think about additions when she felt like she really needed them. It was a shame though, there were a thirty something Pokéballs in Akane's old bag that she could hardly justify throwing away. She also didn't really fancy carrying around two bags all the time, though. As an afterthought she crammed the envelope in her overstuffed bag, vowing to find some way to return it.
"Ru?"
She turned to Reign, who had been patiently observing his trainer organize her things while sitting on the other end of the bed.
Yun smiled while reaching out her hand. "Yeah, we're all set. Let's get out of here." He settled on her shoulder immediately.
Before leaving Eterna city to continue her journey, she made one last stop. The Pokémart was quiet this early in the morning and the cashier gave her a clearly annoyed look when Yun walked right up the counter.
"I'm looking to sell." She propped the damaged bag on the counter.
"Of course you are." The lady's expression only soured when she eyed the flaps of fabric hanging loose, one of it's strings having been cleanly cut through. "However we don't buy... waste."
Fighting to keep her cheeks from going red, Yun swiftly opened the tattered carrier to reveal the minimized Pokéballs she had kept unsealed within. "I'm looking to sell this, eh, with the bag."
The older woman riffled through the items, silently moving her lips as she counted them. "Hmm, fine. But I won't pay you for that bag."
"Okay." Yun agreed readily, just happy to be handing it over.
The cashier promptly gave her half the purchase price for the items and wished her a good day that sounded more like 'please leave'. She was happy to do so and crammed the bills in her pocket. While passing by the window she caught the cashier throwing Akane's bag in the bin.
A shame, Yun thought, it had surely been expensive when new and with some basic sewing skills, it could have been a bargain for someone less well off. But there was no use crying over it now. Akane had made it abundantly clear that she had wanted nothing to do with it any more, wanting to leave the whole ordeal behind her, or well... as much as possible, and Yun honestly felt the same way.
So she felt just a bit lighter when she left Eterna city behind and used the cycling road again, much to Reign's delight. This time she had Tenno soar overhead while she made a valiant attempt to keep up with him, 'attempt' being the keyword. She did feel a bit guilty about not being able to have Twinkle join in on the fun but made a point to call on her every time she took a break.
The few battles she agreed to all went well as most of the challengers had only one badge or none at all.
By nightfall she handed in the rented bike and walked the rest of the way to route 207. It was a pain to set up an unfamiliar tent in the dark but Yun managed somehow. Akane's tent, now hers, was larger than her previous one but also required a few extra steps to prop up. When she was finally happily curled up in her sleeping bag, she was so tired she fell asleep almost right away. Like the nights before dark feathers and bloodied skirts haunted her dreams, unlike before the images no longer made her startle awake, damp from her own sweat.
She woke up mildly disoriented, her lodgings still unfamiliar to her, but once she was out in the morning air strolling though the green countryside she felt right again. It was hard to explain, with everything that had happened while she was out there, but somewhere down the line she found comfort in trekking through and camping on the routes. She enjoyed the gently sounds of wild Pokémon rustling in the underbrush more than she did the frantic noise of the city. And while she had been both scared and scarred by wild Pokémon, it had also fortified her faith in her team. Having them out with her, Tenno gleefully chasing off younger birds, Reign keeping watch on her shoulder and Twinkle guarding her back, she felt... well not invincible but definitely secure.
Soon the grass and trees gave way to a more rugged terrain, Mt. coronet looming ahead, and the path started going uphill. Yun lingered a bit at the foot of the mountain, before the winding path. She knew where it would lead, the route designed to take the trainer through a cave network carved out by ancient Pokémon. Ages ago, before the league, people were send though it with their Pokémon as a rite of passage, often taking weeks to emerge on the other side and more than a few never did. Mt. Coronet was large enough to nearly split their country in two parts so going around it was nearly impossible.
Of course the current path through was just an abridged version of the one from ancient times, it was fairly straightforward and would take a few hours at most to travel though. The rest of the mountain path was only accessible for people looking to challenge Candice, a minimum of five badges was required to do so. However, Yun still felt nervous about travelling through a dark cave full of wild Pokémon. Theoretically it wasn't that different from traveling though a forest but still, the thought of being stuck in a cave made her feel claustrophobic somehow.
With a deep breath she pushed aside her reservations and started her ascent towards the tunnels. Tenno, while happy to fly up the mountain path, balked at the entrance of the cave and refused to enter so she had to recall him. It was a stark contrast to Twinkle whom, for the first time since Yun got her, seemed excited to get started. It made her a little more at ease, having at least one Pokémon that would feel right at home as they traveled though.
Reign stayed on her shoulder as she passed through the entrance, his species was mostly nocturnal in the wild so the dark shouldn't bother him as much. And boy, was it dark and damp... very damp. She lit her flashlight and caught the reflection of a body of water to her left, as well as a few more a bit further down. They were not barricaded and it would be all too easy to stumble in one with the lack of visibility. Despite the fact that it was summer, something told Yun the water would be cold as ice.
She turned to Twinkle and bend down. "Can you lead the way? We need to find the exit on the other side."
She didn't want to shine light into the steel type's eyes so she couldn't see her expression but Twinkle turned around and bounced off and Yun settled for following her. They ran into a several Pokémon on the way, the most annoying of them turned out to be Zubat. Too fast for Twinkle to target effectively and a poor type match up for Reign. It was very frustrating and it took forever for Reign's attacks to start taking a toll on the creature. After the third encounter with another one, her Pokémon surprised her once again by simply... working together.
It was hard to track with just her flashlight but she swore Reign herded the bat straight into Twinkle's super effective rock tomb, the fight was over pretty fast after that. Yun blinked. Why hadn't she thought of that? While feeling like a poor trainer for having her Pokémon figure it out without her help, she also couldn't deny the swell of pride in her chest. Were other teams this cohesive? It was a good thing too, she was like a cripple in the darkness of mt. Coronet, her beam of light always seconds behind the rapid movements of a battle, always only catching a glimpse of the action. It was hard to be competent in this environment but she made sure to shower both Pokémon in compliments, it was the only things she had to offer like this.
They continued forward in the dark, Twinkle leading them through a winding path, staying clear of any water. Yun had lost track of time entirely by the time she saw a light in the distance. Thinking it was the exit, she had to climb up a slope to reach it. Her Pokémon were following nearby, she could hear as much.
To her disappointment it wasn't the exit, instead it turned out to be another trainer with a helmet that had a light strung on. He or she, it was hard to tell without pointing her flashlight directly at them, appeared to be talking to their self.
Until a loud shout startled her.
"I've had it with you!"
His voice echoed through the cave, followed by a swinging motion and a soft splash. Yun's light barely caught onto something red hitting the water. When she realized what she just witnessed she responded with her own voice full of disbelief.
"What are you doing!?"
Startled, he turned the her, the light on top of his head blinding her, and hurriedly ran off.
"H-hey, HEY!" She called after his retreating form as he was swallowed up by darkness.
For a split second she hesitated between giving chase but decided on the more pressing issue, the Pokéball. While modern Pokéballs were waterproof and tended to float, that didn't mean the Pokémon inside was not in a poor situation, it could still starve after all. She couldn't just leave it like that, the chances of somebody else stumbling upon the thrown away Pokéball any time soon were slim.
That didn't mean she was happy about her oncoming task though. Taking of her shoes, she put the flashlight at the edge of the water to illuminate the area. The water looked pitch black and Yun's heart hammered in her throat as she sat down. Anything could be lurking under the surface, completely undetected. She would set out to find a ranger to do it, if she was in the least bit confident that she could pinpoint the location of the pond if she came back later. But she wasn't and leaving a helpless Pokémon to die was not something she could live with.
Twinkle and Reign were looking at their trainer expectantly so she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath before lowering herself into the water in one swift motion. She had been right in her previous assumption, the water was cold. So much so that the shock of it enveloping her body made her forget how to swim for a second. So she spluttered a bit before kicking off towards the tiny Pokéball.
It escaped her cold fingers a few times before she managed to get a proper hold on it. Then she struggled to make her way back with one hand closed into a tight fist.
Back on land and shivering violently, she allowed herself to be angry as she bend over the Pokéball she had rescued. Who on earth did something like that? If you wanted to get rid of a Pokémon it wasn't that hard to release it back into the wild, or sell it for all she cared. But this? This was practically murder.
"Sko?"
Reign gently poked her side, Twinkle right behind him.
"I'm o-okay, I'm okay." She said even if she was unable to stop shivering. With a shaking hand she pulled her flashlight closer and pointed it towards the Pokéball.
"Let's greet who we have here." She mumbled. It would be quite ironic if the Pokéball turned out to be empty now. However she doubted it, the boy wouldn't have turned and ran like he did if that was the case.
She was proven correct when she clicked the button and a bright flash lit up the cave. Her eyes had gotten to used to the lack of light so now Yun had to blink away stars before she could see the Pokémon flailing on the ground.
It was a fish. Her ire grew, it was easy and common to release fish, literally any water source would have been fine, but instead it's trainer settled on throwing it away while trapped. The fish was in a poor state too, most of the skin looked raw, scales hanging loose, and it's movement was weak.
"Okay," She whispered, "okay, I'll fix this, don't worry."
She pulled out a potion from her bag and sprayed the fish liberally with the concoction. To her disappointment it didn't seem to do much. This was likely a job for nurse Joy.
With that in mind she recalled the water type and put her shoes back on. Not feeling like stripping in a place where she couldn't even see her outstretched hand without a light, she continued her trek through the cave, cold and miserable, dreaming of a steaming drink and a hot bath.
AN: And so Fish enters the story for some drama xD I literally never liked having fish-like Pokémon on my team. Maybe because I couldn't rationalize them fighting out of the water... something the anime also didn't do. Oh well.