"Woah, woah, woah," Hop said, he put his hands over Tori's shoulders, "Let's not go to those extremes just yet. Think about it, how would the annoying businessman know if someone helped you."
"No, I'm not going to ask your brother for help," Tori said stubbornly.
Hop shook Tori violently, attracting a few looks from people passing by "Why? He'd agree."
"Hop, this guy found out that we were brought here by Sycamore, don't you think that he would realize that I got the money from you?" Tori asked. Security had to escort the two of them out of the stadium for being too loud in the lobby, Tori was too embarrassed to continue his point, but Hop had already thought of a rebuttal.
"You're not willing to risk being caught but you're willing to risk your whole life on a journey across KALOS!" Hop shouted, he shook Tori so violently that when he released him, Tori spun around a few times.
"Yeah, but it's my life or the lives of my children and grandchildren," Tori said.
Hop shook his head, "You don't actually believe his threat."
"Of course, I do," Tori said, he already started to back away from Hop, "Tell Sycamore and my mom I went off onto an adventure to pay my debts."
Hop didn't even try to stop Tori from walking away, "Seriously, man. Trust it to you to use an insane person's threat as an excuse to join the Pokemon League."
Tori didn't respond, he walked toward the gates of the city that led to Route 4.
Hop shouted to him, "You'll regret this!"
Tori chuckled, what was there to regret?
Tori had run into route 4, trying to get to Santalune City, the city with the easiest gym. On his journey through route 4, he beat a few Pokemon trainers to gain some battle experience. Strangely, after he was halfway through the route there were seemingly no more trainers, like they had all evacuated and Tori soon knew why. A giant rainstorm was coming in and he had no time to prepare for it.
After it started to rain, Tori regretted all his life choices. He had also suddenly realized he hadn't packed anything, meaning that after he had eventually found shelter under a few trees his clothes were soaked. Even under the trees rain would drop through, assaulting his wet, cold body like icy attacks. He brought Lily out of her Pokeball to help him collect a few sticks to hopefully start a fire.
Tori rearranged the sticks that they had collected into a campfire structure, he tried to light a fire, but the wood was too damp from the rain. Shivering and disappointed he asked Lily, "Do you want to return to your Pokeball?" She shook her head, "You don't have to bear this out with me."
Lily put a wet leaf over Tori's shoulder in reassurance. She summoned a few large leaves and used them to cover Tori's head like a waterproof hat. Tori huffed air into his hands, wishing that they could be warmed. He thanked Lily and promised her that he wouldn't do anything stupid after that.
Tori was moving the leaves to fit over a low branch, giving him and Lily a roof to sleep over. His lack of sleep over the week was catching up to him and he couldn't wait to sleep. He lay down on the wet, cold grass, about to fall asleep, when something in the distance caught his eye.
Little flames were being lit, only to be snuffed out of the rain, like a flickering Volbeat holding onto his life. Tori couldn't tell what Pokemon was making the fire because of how thick the rain was, but he could tell that it was struggling to walk through. Tori jumped up, forgetting his exhaustion, and sending a few of the leaves flying. He stumbled over to the source of fire in the thick, blinding rain. Tori felt a small furry Pokemon and assuming that was where the embers came from, he picked it up. The Pokemon squirmed in his arms, like she wanted to escape but was also too weak to run.
When Lily saw the weak Pokemon in Tori's arms, she pushed Tori aside and grabbed the tiny thing. She laid it on the grass and allowed the tiny Pokemon to smell her flower. That's when Tori knew the situation was worse than he expected, Lily would never let anyone smell her flower unless they were overwhelmed by emotion. The Pokemon's weak and erratic breathing slowly turned steadier.
Tori looked over Lily's shoulder and saw the Pokemon clearly for the first time, it was Fennekin from Sycamore's lab. The moment Tori clearly saw Fennekin he was brought back to the first time they saw each other, except from her perspective. She saw a few of Tori's memories and then ran away, but she didn't run away because of fear, like he suspected, but confusion.
Fennekin opened her eyes hurriedly as if she were afraid, she would get caught at a crime scene. When she saw Tori, she looked equally relieved and disgusted.
"What are you doing here?" Tori asked, he knelt to try and touch Fennekin but she backed away, "Are you trying to follow me."
Tori was brought to another memory. He was under a large row of bushes, leaving the area dark and frightening, but Fennekin(He assumed) wasn't frightened, Tori could feel Fennekin's curiosity burrowing from this memory into his mind. One question circled her head: How did she get those memories from that human?
"You're here for that?" Tori asked, he remembered similar visions he had, not only from Fennekin but also Meowth. Fennekin nuzzled his leg as if to let him continue speaking, her eyes looking at him anticipating an answer she needed, "I have no idea why those happen."
Fennekin dropped her head disappointedly, she got up and walked away from the trees. Tori jumped ahead of her and said, "You can't leave in this weather. You were almost blown away when you got here." Fennekin turned around, angry that he cared so much.
Fennekin curled herself up, snorting fire to warm herself back up. Tori asked, "Hey can you help us light a fire?" Fennekin turned her head around, "Oh, come on. We helped you get out of the rain, and you won't even help us light a fire!"
In response to this, Fennekin lit a leaf in fire, and it crumbled into ashes. She looked at it as if to say, There's your fire. Tori barely restrained the urge to strangle her.
The rain wasn't only annoying Tori it was also annoying the Rocket trio. After their balloon exploded and they flew off, the three of them also landed on Route 4, only a mile or so from Tori. The rain had woken the three of them up and they ran under the cover of the trees, grumbling about how wet they were and how defeated they felt.
"I can't believe it, how did the Garchomp escape?" Jessie asked.
Meowth licked his wet fur, "Maybe you didn't tie his net properly."
Jessie replied angrily, "I made sure the net was secure, if you think you could've done better, you do it yourself next time."
James, sensing an argument coming, went between the both of them and said, "Guys, there's no point arguing."
Meowth slapped James, making him fall to the ground. He said, "There is a point, it'll make me feel better." Meowth then continued to argue angrily with Jessie, pushing blame onto one another.
Tired of listening to the two of them arguing, James went out to collect some wood to light a fire, hopefully, Meowth and Jessie would feel better if they weren't soaking wet. During his mindless search for dry wood something continued to linger in his mind, how was he still alive? The last thing he could remember before arriving at the forest was being blasted off the Rocket balloon and feeling sick from a lack of oxygen, but then how was he alive?
When he returned with a large pile of firewood Jessie and Meowth were still arguing but now it was about who would pay to fix their balloon. That was when the answer clicked into place and James dropped his wood in excitement, interrupting the nearby argument.
"Guys aren't you curious about what just happened," James said.
Jessie interrupted, angry that she wasn't arguing with Meowth at the moment, "How exciting could collecting firewood be?"
"No, not that," James said impatiently, "We were launched miles into the air and then we fell."
"Yeah?" Meowth asked, "What's so interesting about that?"
"How are we alive?" James said, he paused to wait for Jessie and Meowth to respond, realizing that he was losing their attention, so he continued, "Don't you remember the last time this happened, it was when we were chasing Ash!"
"Not you as well," Meowth sighed, he climbed up a tree to be level with James before saying, "We will never get another Ash because there was nobody like him," Meowth tried to disguise a crack in his voice as a cough, "And thinking there will be someone like him will just distract us from the things we should be focusing on."
"Well then how else will you explain us falling from space and surviving," James said, he stomped his foot, angry that Meowth didn't understand.
"I don't know, some science thing?"
James argued back, "Some science thing that only activates around Ash because I can't remember being able to survive getting thrown off a building when I was young."
"Well, that was because you could never get thrown off a building!" Meowth shouted, James could sense him avoiding the subject.
"Meowth, why aren't you happy?" James asked, "Fate has given us another Ash, another chance to live life like before. We can chase him without any stress in the world.
"Because that time has passed!" Meowth screeched, his voice becoming nearly unintelligible, like he was returning to his roots of Pokemon speech, "We can't chase a kid across Kalos, and waste this chance for a promotion that we've labored for years on. Happiness is a luxury we can't afford, not if we want to get promoted!"
James started to doubt his argument, was happiness the price he would pay for a promotion, he wished he could have both, "Jessie back me up."
Jessie's eyes widened; she didn't expect to be dragged into the conversation. She uncomfortably thought of a response under the gaze of Meowth, "James, Meowth's right. If we chase this kid then the reputation we built will be destroyed, we'll just be the idiots of Team Rocket, the ones that wasted time chasing a kid across 8 regions and used way too much money in the process. We'll be laughingstocks again and we may never get a promotion."
Admitting defeat, James picked up the firewood he had dropped while Meowth gloated about how right he was. Through Meowth's gloating, James couldn't shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe, he would be happier if he was the idiot of Team Rocket again.
The rain was still raging on, and the violent winds had blown away whatever shelter that Tori had. Tori had to fight his way through the winds just to find some trees that could shelter him, although their branches were being blown so much that they didn't block much rain. During the process of moving, Fennekin disappeared. Tori wanted to find her but thought better of trying to find a small fox in weather that made it hard to see his own feet. He hoped that she wasn't hurt
Fennekin had had enough.
She had trekked through all of Route 4 just to find Tori only to realize that he was about as knowledgeable as a Slowbro and then the idiot dared to ask her for help! Tori didn't give anything to her so why would she possibly want to help him? Guess he's just like every other lowly and arrogant human.
The shrubbery she was walking through was empty, as most of its inhabitants had already been blown away by the storm and the ones remaining could be easily scared by a bit of fire. However, the fire she could breathe didn't help her sight in the thick rain, and she made a few wrong turns.
She could see a dim light in the distance, she sighed. Did she just walk in a circle back to Tori, well at least he had got his fire going. Fennekin's exhaustion was getting to her, and she knew if she stayed longer in this storm she was going to be blown away as well. She reluctantly walked to the fire, planning to rest near Tori and then walk back to Lumiose City when she was better.
Unfortunately, the fire she was walking toward wasn't Tori's but Team Rocket's and Fennekin didn't realize that until she was right in the Pokemon thieves' arms.
Meowth grabbed her snout, his claws digging into her snout and preventing her from breathing any fire. Fennekin tried to run, scratching the legs of his captor, "James, get a net, she's a feisty one!"
Before Fennekin could react, a large net was placed over her, she breathed fire onto the ropes but all that did was heat them. James said to Meowth proudly, "I knew it was a good idea to bring a fire-proof net."
Fennekin squirmed inside her little prison, but she only got even more stuck, Jessie grabbed the net and looked at the fox Pokemon, "Fennekin's a rare Pokemon."
"You got that right," James said, he took out his deck of cards that gave information on certain Pokemon, "Supposedly only ten or so Fennekin are caught each year," His eyes lit up, "If Giovanni sees this, he'll be ecstatic!"
"Now you're in the right mindset," Meowth said, he eyed Fennekin like she was a ticket on to a luxury cruise.
Fennekin, not wanting to be owned by some rich snob, bit Jessie's hands. Jessie dropped her onto the ground but because of her limbs being trapped in the net she couldn't run very far. Jessie called out to the other two angrily, "Just leave her there, she hurts," she tenderly nursed her injured finger. Meowth ignored Jessie's warnings and dragged Fennekin back to the campfire. Truly afraid, Fennekin cried out into the woods hoping that someone would help her.
Tori couldn't fall asleep, not only because the rain was beating above him but because he felt a sense of unease like someone needed help. He covered his ears with a leaf he found on the ground, however, that only muffled the two things keeping him awake.
Eventually, his curiosity got the best of him, and he got up from the grass bed he made. He looked through the forest to make sure nothing was threatening, hopefully, that would make him sleep easier. In his overly thorough search of Route 4, he found a few bug types and was about to peacefully go back to bed, but he suddenly saw a light shrouded by rain. He followed the beacon of light, bumping into a few twigs on the way. When he was nearing the fire, he could hear a howling covering a few familiar voices. His vision was blocked by a few trees, but he could still make out the figures of the Rocket Trio, he scanned the grove for Fennekin.
"This Fennekin- shut up!" Meowth shouted over her constant cries for help.
Jessie replied at an ear-piercing volume, "I'm just going to knock it out," she unleashed a large Pokemon who shot something at Fennekin. The screeching stopped and the nearby forest's only sound was the heavy rain and the Rocket Trio's sighs of relief.
"Can you hear that?" James asked, he walked over to Tori, "I think someone's there." James squinted into the bushes, feeling into the thorny branches, his hand inches away from James.
Realizing that continuing to hide was pointless, Tori jumped out from behind the trees and instantly was blinded by the bright light of the fire.
"Twerp, what the hell are you doing here?" Jessie asked, she got up and put one of her hands cautiously around a Pokeball. The Pokemon she had released earlier, a Gourgeist hovered over her menacingly.
"This Fennekin's ours," Meowth said, making sure that Tori didn't move, "We stole it fair and square."
"No, it isn't," Tori said, he looked around to find who spoke to him, struggling to see Meowth while his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the fire, "That Pokemon's Sycamore's."
James opened his mouth to say something before he stopped himself, saying reassuringly, "Get used to the light before you make any declarations," After he thought Tori was fine, he said, in the same arrogance as his partners, "Really? And why should we give it back."
"She's not yours," Tori said angrily, "And even if she was you can't treat her like that."
"And what will you do about it? You'll get pummeled by Pokemon again?" Meowth asked mockingly, "You just love being hit by Pokemon attacks, don't you."
"Today's different," Tori said, he released Lily from her Pokeball. He scanned the area he was in. The rain was blocked by large trees, with a large area of grass in the center, creating a wide battlefield. If he could extinguish the fire the whole area would turn dark. Lily looked around and saw Tori angrily gazing at the Rocket Trio so she copied his angry expression, "I can fight back."
"Really," James smirked, he released his Inkay, "Let's see, Inkay uses psychic."
Lily pushed Tori behind the trees, she summoned a storm of leaves to block the pulse of energy.
"You can't hide there forever!" Jessie threatened, "Gourgeist, use vine whip, bring the two over," The vines came out from the ground wrapping around Lily and smacking her around. The leaves she summoned fell to the ground
"Lily push those leaves through the fire!" Tori said, avoiding the vines that were shooting upward like missiles. Lily moved the leaves through the fire, lighting them on fire, she threw those flaming leaves around. They randomly zoomed across the trees.
"Inkay use confusion on that Lili-" James stopped, he had to jump out of the way from a line of flaming leaves. The leaves ran around the area of trees, preoccupying the Rocket trio and their Pokemon. Tori jumped in and stomped on the campfire, extinguishing and plunging the area into pitch darkness, "I can't see anything, Inkay use Flash."
Assuming that Inkay was next to James, he ran over to the source of the voice and dived, he squished a small and wet Pokemon, and the light from the flash covered him.
"Where is he?" Jessie asked, she threw her arms around to find Tori.
Meowth's pupils dilated, his black eyes glowing like they were pearls, "He's right in front of you James."
James released another Pokemon, a bright flash appeared and revealed a Yanmask, then the grove turned dark again, "Yanmask shadow claw!" Tori rolled out of the way. He put the squirming Inkay under his wet jacket and the light it created was covered.
"Let me direct him," Meowth said angrily, "Yanmask use night shade around you!"
The dark night turned darker around Tori, frightening images came out from the woods, they all showed off their teeth, blood-soaked and dirty. Their eyes were bright red and filled with bloodlust.
"Yanmask use night pulse ahead of you!"
The command broke the illusion and Tori barely ducked in time; he could feel the energy hurtling above him. The blast of energy shot Meowth in the face, he yowled in pain and turned silent.
James asked, "Did you get him Meowth." Tori walked toward James' voice and closed his eyes. He brought the bright Inkay directly into James' eyes. "AH," James screamed, he covered his eyes and rolled on the ground, "They burn!" Tori dropped the Inkay on the ground, illuminating the grove with bright light.
"Lily, use Razor leaf," Tori said, with the help of Inkay's light he searched for Fennekin, "Cut through those vines."
"You're not getting away!" Jessie shouted, Lily broke free of the vines containing her and rushed over to Tori, who had found Fennekin trapped in a net, "Gourgeist, Inkay, Yanmask, use Shadow Ball on the Lilligant."
Both Pokemon obeyed and shot spheres of black matter at Lily. Lily turned around and summoned a storm of leaves to block the attacks but was too late and two balls of energy shot into her back. She fainted on the ground.
"Great work," Jessie said, "Now let's get that twerp," She looked around but couldn't find Tori, when she turned back, she saw a flash of bright light as Lily returned to her Pokeball. Tori could hear her curse on his way back to his campsite.
Tori breathed a large sigh of relief when he finally stumbled his way into his campsite, he untied the net Fennekin was trapped in. She looked at him, then waddled over to the sad pile of sticks on the ground. She breathed a small puff of fire, and a large flame burst out of the sticks. Tori was dragged to the warmth of it, he felt his wet clothes getting drier, and his cold body being warmed up. He felt safe around the fire, something that he needed after fighting a terrorist group.
"Thanks, Fennekin," Tori said, hesitantly patting Fennekin on the head. She recoiled but allowed Tori to continue petting her. She curled into a ball and snuggled around the fire, soon Fennekin was fast asleep. Tori looked into the woods to see if Jessie was coming, his exhaustion soon got the best of him, and he fell asleep on a small bush.
Something was nudging Tori, after it realized that he was still sleeping it pushed his head, making it fall off the bush he was sleeping on. Tori shot up, he looked around to try and find Lily (She usually wakes him up) before remembering that she had fainted last night. Lily needed to get to a Pokemon center soon, and the nearest one would probably be the one in Santalune City. Feeling guilty, Tori got up from the soft and comfortable grass.
"Fennekin, do you want to follow me?" Tori asked, Fennekin shook her head, "No, I mean to Santalune, then I could call Sycamore to bring you back to his lab," Fennekin tilted her head, she didn't expect to hear those words, "Look, I'm not pressuring you, it's your own choice." Tori didn't have to wait long for an answer as Fennekin walked out of the trees and she impatiently waited for Tori to follow her.
Fennekin and Tori walked over to Santalune city through rain, the rain may not have been as heavy as it was yesterday, but it was still pouring down. By the time they had arrived in the Santalune City Pokemon Center the two of them were soaking wet, attracting the attention of everyone inside the Pokemon Center.
"You walked through the storm, didn't you," Nurse Joy said, looking at the muddy footprints Tori brought in. She winced when Fennekin shook her fur, sending water across the room.
"Yeah, can you help me heal my Lilligant," Tori muttered, walking through such a heavy storm had taken a toll on him. After he handed Lily's Pokeball to an apprehensive Nurse Joy he collapsed on a nearby couch.
The Pokemon Center was so warm compared to the wild rain outside, and sitting down was extremely relaxing. Tori would've fallen asleep if someone hadn't tapped his shoulder. Tori turned back and saw Alexa awkwardly standing there, with Hop crouching behind Tori. Hop cursed when Tori saw him.
"What are you guys doing here?" Tori asked.
"After Hop told Sycamore that you ran off to Santalune he told me to come pick you up," Alexa said, "Guess I've become his mailman."
"Yeah, and then we went on this cool highspeed train like it went super-fast," Hop rambled excitedly, he was also making a bunch of exaggerated gestures to go with his words, "so much faster than those dumb ones we have in Galar. Man let me tell you those guys are slow- "Alexa coughed loudly, "Oh, right. Sorry, Alexa."
Alexa put her hands on her hips, Tori braced himself for a scolding, "You can't just run off like that. You should've considered the situation calmly. Maybe an internship at Sycamore's. That would count as a paycheck instead of help, and I'm sure Sycamore is willing to help you pay off that car."
"It isn't just about the money I have to pay back, Alexa," Tori said.
Alexa confusedly asked, "Then what is it about? What would prompt you to run away."
"I want to enter the Pokemon League," Tori said, "And I thought of collecting money as the perfect excuse."
Hop sighed, "I was right all along, Tori."
"Why though, why wouldn't you just tell us? Why the lie of collecting money for a car?" Alexa asked.
"Because I was afraid, you'd tell my mom," Tori said quietly, his head lowered in shame. he felt everyone in the Pokemon Center listen to him speak, "And then she'd ask me to come back, saying I'm too young to chase my dream," He slowly lifted his head and looked at Alexa, "Please don't tell her."
Alexa's tone softened, "There has to be a reason that your mom holds you back."
"But I think I'm ready."
There was a brief silence, it was like everyone in the Pokemon Center was holding their breath.
"Alright, I won't tell your mom," Alexa said, bells inside Tori's mind rang in celebration, "But she'll be confused when you aren't back home three days later, and after that, you're on your own."
"Thank you, Alexa," Tori said, he stood up, startling the sleeping Fennekin with his feet. He thought of shaking Alexa's hand but stopped himself. He turned to Hop, "You want to challenge Viola tomorrow?"
"Seriously?" Was the only response that Hop could think of.
"Well, I have three days to convince my mom that I'm ready and I think that winning a gym battle would do the trick," Tori said, confident that with some evidence he could easily convince his mom.