Chapter 1 - Heavens above and Seas below, I alone am the obnoxious tourist
Olivine City, 3pm.
By the stone piers, Clair watched the sailboats rock in the calm waves. How peaceful, she thought while skipping a flat stone across the water. I have enough to do already, and yet I'm out here, neglecting my training. I swear there'll be hell to pay if I have to wait any longer.
Today had been a different day for her, with a brand new schedule - go to the Olivine City harbor and wait, that was it. She had arrived at 10am and the first 2 hours had gone by quickly, spending time with her pokemon by the waterfront; it had been the other three hours that had gone unbearably slow. Indifference had given way to boredom, which quickly turned to annoyance and then to anger.
Clair had tried everything - spending time with her pokemon, enjoying the local cuisine, strategizing about new team compositions in her gym and even ways to add more flair to her gym leader ensemble. A strong gust of wind threatened to uplift Clair's sun hat, making her reflexively grip its brim.
She looked into the water, watching her team happily swim in the ocean, and sighed. Maybe something like this isn't so bad once in a while. Her hands idly fidgeted with her dark blue shawl, clutching it tightly over her dragonair-inspired sundress. Her white sandals lay beside her as she sat on the cool stone tiles, her legs dangling over the edge, and dipped her toes into the cool water.
.
A loud ringing broke the silence, scaring the perched wingulls into a frenzied flight. With a huff Clair dug into her handbag, pulling out her Rotom Phone and grimacing upon reading the caller ID. Really? It's been five hours, would it really hurt to have called a bit sooner? With a defeated sigh, she picked up the call.
Finding herself face-to-face with a man with sharp facial features and blazing red hair poring over a stack of documents, the only appropriate reaction in that moment was for Clair to sport a smug grin as she greeted her cousin.
"Lance, to what do I owe the honor? After all, it's not like I have waited over five hours."
"...I'm swamped with work, I haven't even had a chance to have lunch today."
"Boo-hoo, I'm gonna play you a song on the world's smallest violin."
"Very funny." Lance replied with a long sigh and downed a cup of coffee nearby. "...Has he arrived yet?"
"No, despite your promises it's already 2 hours past his ETA already and it doesn't seem like he's arriving any time soon."
"Well, stay on the lookout for him, it probably won't take much longer… I hope."
"Kick rocks."
With such a poignant remark Claire hung up the call, tossing the phone back into her handbag and resuming her laborious task of watching the horizon.
.
After another grueling hour of waiting the silhouette of a large ship came into view, the words S.S. Anne on its sides. Finally, can't wait to get this over with. With a flick of her wrist Clair called her pokemon back to their balls and pulled out a sheet of paper, unfolding it carefully. After another half an hour of waiting time the passengers of the cruise ship started disembarking one at a time. Clair held in her hands a sheet of paper with the words [Marshal Ynemol] on it and waited again. After a few catcalls and some cases of mistaken identity Clair sat back down on the pier, cursing herself. I shouldn't have accepted this request, it sounded too good to be true. She crumpled the paper in her hands and placed it beside her.
An unknown figure sat beside her, mimicking her movements by taking off his flip-flops and setting them aside. They stayed in relative silence for a while before Clair realized that the sun seemed to have dimmed considerably, turning her head around rapidly to face her newfound companion: Medium height with a fair complexion, short orange-brown locks sat atop his sturdy head in a relaxed side-part, sporting a striking handlebar mustache under a bulbous nose and paired with a pair of gold-rimmed aviators with black lenses. Hairy muscular forearms rested on a pair of khaki shorts with brass swirls and his broad chest could be seen peeking from behind an orange alola shirt with white Falinks patterns.
Clair had to do a double-take at the appearance of this man, could he look more like a tourist?
"Can I… help you?"
The man chuckled, lowering his sunglasses to look at her with his clear emerald eyes.
"Yes, you were looking for Marshal Ynemol, correct?"
"Yes…?"
"That's me."
Claire was taken aback by this statement, there was no way this… caricature was her VIP. A tentative question escaped her lips in a low whisper. "Do you have any proof that it might be you?"
"Of course, here's my passport. I also have my driver's license should it not suffice." He said with a bright grin, handing her a magenta and dark blue booklet with two half semicircles embossed on the leather cover. With shaky hands Clair opened the passport - even if the facial hair and the hairstyle were different there was no doubt this funny-looking man was her escortee.
.
"Excuse me for a second, please."
Clair hurriedly stood up and shuffled awkwardly a few steps away, frantically picking up her phone and dialing Lance once more.
"Hello, Lance speaking." A distracted voice on the other side rang out, unbothered.
Clair, however, was very much rattled and it could be heard in her hushed panic. "You didn't tell me that he was a walking stereotype!"
"Oh come on, he can't be that bad."
"Can't be that bad? Look!"
A quick covert picture sent Lance's way made him let out a low whistle in response.
"Okay, I don't remember Sir Ynemol looking like THAT."
"What did he look like then?"
"It's hard to describe but he looked… somber, very serious."
"Well he doesn't look like that now."
"I can see that, he looks good. Better than last time I saw him anyways."
"You're unbelievable." Clair hung up the call with a snarl on her face.
.
A quick stretch later and Clair returned to Marshal's side, looking down on him from above. Let's get this over with, this clown is getting on my nerves already.
"Let's go, we're wasting time here." she said with a huff, unclipping one of her pokeballs and tossing it towards the tiles. From within appeared a dragonite, yawning lazily while scratching its belly. "Do you have a pokemon with Fly?" Clair asked while hopping onto Dragonite's arms.
"No need to worry about that." Marshal said, tossing a pokeball of his own.
The pokemon that came out was, for a lack of a better word, imposing. Two thick talons landed on the floor with a loud thud, digging six deep grooves into the stone tiles with ease. Crimson piercing eyes stared at Clair and her Dragonite with an air of indifference, before preening its gray plumes with its sharp beak. Large silver plates swayed side to side with a reflective sheen, though the dull metal looked like it had seen better days. The Corviknight cawed, pressing the top of his head against Marshal's hand which garnered a hearty chuckle from the man.
"That's enough Roboute, we have to go." Marshal said, jumping onto the corviknight's back with ease. "Please lead the way, miss…"
"Clair. It'll be hard for someone of my caliber to slow down for someone like you, so try to keep up."
.
Taking to the skies with a gust of wind, Clair found herself surprised with how easily Marshal and his Corviknight cut through the clouds. I won't let myself get overshadowed by this clown! With a sharp right turn she led her Dragonite into a spiraling nosedive, prompting a smug grin.
"How's that? Only a dragon master can maneuver so accurately through-"
"This is fun, it reminds me of the thunderstorms and blizzards back home."
"How did you manage to keep up?!"
"Because it wasn't really hard? You've been keeping a rather slow pace, thank you very much for that."
How can this be? I'm a true dragon master, and yet this, this, this clown dares to…! Clair seethed, anger rolling across her face. An idea ran across her mind and she sped up, turning around to face Marshal.
"How about a sky battle?" She taunted, releasing her Salamence into the open sky. The large beast roared as it flapped its wings, blowing away nearby clouds. "My Crescent has been itching for a fight recently, and I'm sure someone as capable as you can give her the fight she wants."
"Sure, I'm down." A pokeball opened on Marshal's hand, unleashing a yellow critter with five blue rings on its body and a dotted X on its head. "Give them hell, Eeki!" Eeki buzzed and beeped, twitching in mid-air.
.
"Crescent, use Dragon Pulse!" Clair barked while dodging atop her dragonite. Marshal and Eeki effortlessly dodged the attack, positioning themselves above Clair's Salamence.
"Eeki, use Thunderbolt!"
"Crescent, dodge!"
But it was too late, the white puffy clouds around the battling pokemon had turned dark gray and crackled with electricity as the Regieleki bolted from cloud to cloud in leaps of blue lightning, its blurry form almost imperceptible. The thunderbolt came crashing from all sides, enveloping the Salamence with righteous fury as it roared in pain, its scales blackened char.
Clair sighed, recalling her Salamence into its pokeball. "I suppose an apology is in order."
"What for?"
"I looked down on you because of your… unique appearance."
Marshal recalled Regieleki, stowing the pokeball into his pocket. "I know."
"And because of that I-" Clair did a double-take, staring at Marshal while he approached on his Corviknight. "Wait, you knew? And went along with it?"
Marshal grinned, lowering his aviators slightly so he could stare at her with a playful wink. "Well of course, it was fun."
"Fun?!" Flabbergasted, Clair could only laugh in response, pulling down the brim of her sunhat, "I suppose it was."
.
The rest of the flight had a much lighter mood, with Clair and Marshal daring eachother to perform riskier aerial stunts.
"So, where are you taking me?" Marshal asked while upside down, flying in parallel with Clair's faster pace.
"New Bark Town, it's where the professor resides."
"The professor, huh? What's he like?"
"From what my cousin told me he's the authority when it comes to eggs and baby pokemon. He's a bit absentminded and hyper-focused though."
"I see. And your cousin, who is he?"
A long sigh escaped her lips, "My cousin's Lance, the oh-so great champion of the Indigo League." explained Clair with an exaggerated flourish and a bow, her sundress billowing against the wind currents.
A booming laughter erupted from Marshal's chest, clearly audible despite the howling gusts. "Wait, you're Lancy's cousin?"
"Lancy?"
"Yeah, Lancy. That's his nickname on the group chat."
Clair failed to suppress a snicker, followed by an airy giggle. "Someone like Lancy in a group chat might lead to some heated arguments. Despite being weaker than me he's still the champion, haha. There must be a lot of people trying to curry favor with him."
"Not really? There's Lancy, Stevy, Wally, Cynty, Aldy, Iry, Diany, Leony, Geety and me. 10 people in total."
"So many y's, who came up with the nicknames?"
"I was told it was Iris when she took the throne as the Unova Champion."
"So it's a group chat for Champions?"
"Pretty much, yeah. Although Leon normally asks for help with directions and Iris sends memes."
"And you? What are you doing in the group chat?"
"I'm a champion too." Marshal shrugged.
"...Words fail me."
"Hey, people are more than their titles."
New story with a sort of standard League Challenge. Have a good one.