AN: Sorry I'm late. I had this chapter written already but couldn't find the time to post it.
The conversation effectively flatlined and Yun gripped Reign's Pokéball reassuringly. She had been so fortunate, with Pokémon as green as hers the creature probably hadn't needed ten minutes to... Shaking her head to dispel herself of the thoughts she asked the question she had been thinking about since the dark monster was mentioned.
"Where is it now?"
To her surprise Chihiro pulled up a map, a real one, and there were pencil markings all over it. Xavier and Yun rearranged their plates so she could lay it on the table.
"You were attacked here." She pointed at a spot of green that didn't look that far off from route 203. "Then our tracking rangers chased it south, in an almost straight line. This is where they lost sight of it and then here was the second attack." Recognizing the area Yun paled as the older girl continued. "We've got rangers stationed here and here, and we're hoping to chase it to-"
"Lake Verity." Xavier finished for her as he met Yun's eyes, who was starting to look rather green.
The interaction was missed by the ranger who nodded. "Yep, we already closed of the area and warned the locals. The thing has proven itself to be very elusive so we're planning to ambush it there."
Her fingers were starting to go numb from clenching her Pokéball so she released it in her lap. She had been planning to run straight into the claws of that thing again, and meeting Xavier... She hoped to think it was destiny that stopped her. That her bad luck was over indeed. But a part of her would not relax until she knew the rangers had captured it.
Sensing the down turned mood of the junior trainers Chihiro folded her map back up and said. "But enough of that, how's your scorpion? Fully healed, I bet."
Wanting to leave the subject behind her as well, Yun nodded vigorously. After looking around to find the waiter absent she released Reign, partially to show Chihiro but more to comfort her self.
"Skooo!" Reign greeted while wiggling his claws, seemingly recognizing the ranger.
"As I thought, bugs heal easily." The ranger nodded in approval. "You'll grow up fearsome, I'm sure." She stood up and curiously ran a finger over the light lines across his armor.
"The nurse told me it's only cosmetic and it will probably go away once he evolves."
Her starter sat still quite patiently as Chihiro examined him and the girl gave him a parting pat before she sat back down.
"You can tell he came from a good breeder." Xavier said with interest. "He's so mild tempered towards people, unlike most wild Skorupi." Reign, usually glad to receive compliments, eyed him almost warily and she wondered if he too remembered the trade offer.
"Unlike her bird." The ranger muttered. The comment broke through Yun's thoughts and she laughed.
"I'm sure Tenno would be happy to see you." But while she could keep Reign out in any situation without a problem, she would and could not unleash Tenno on the tea house without expecting trouble.
The older girl waved her off. "Anyway, I wasn't looking for you to have tea and biscuits, I mean business." Meaningfully, she leaned forward. "This week I'm free and that means that by the end of it... you'll have your first badge."
A badge? Training for a week was one thing but winning a badge. "Y-you needn't trouble yourself-" She spluttered weakly in protest.
"Nonsense." The girl interrupted. "It'll be fun."
Amused, Xavier didn't bother to cover his smile. "I'll leave you two to it then. I was going to explore the mines today."
Chihiro gave her just enough time to pay for their meal and say goodbye before dragging her off towards the edge of town. "I hope you're prepared for an excursion."
"Where are we going?" Mentally taking stock of her supplies, she figured if she was careful she might last the week with what she had.
"The red mines."
Her brows scrunched, trying to figure out if she knew the place. "Those are not the regular mines?"
Chihiro turned to her. "Oh yeah, you didn't grow up around here I guess?"
She shook her head.
"The red mines were used before the current ones, it was a regular coal mine. That was until somebody found ruby and apparently it was a lot." The girl sounded almost bored, as if telling it for the hundredth time. "The company in charge wanted to rush the extraction before anybody else could intervene and supposedly started digging irresponsibly. You can guess what happened next."
"It collapsed?" Yun suggested which earned her an approving grin from the ranger.
"Yep, not all of it but the deeper, newer parts of the mine did, killing hundreds of miners. It was quite the tragedy back then. The mine was permanently shut down, and the whole domain became a nature reserve."
Dreading the answer, Yun decided to ask the next question. "And we're going in there?"
With a light humorous laugh, the older girl slapped her shoulder. "Don't give me that look, I'm not suicidal. Like I said it's a nature reserve, we'll be staying well above ground."
She breathed a sight of relief as her new friend continued. "No mining for us but since it is a place undisturbed by people, it's ideal to find some of the more reclusive Pokémon. You'll be training against new and more varied opponents which will be a good experience, trust me. As you get further in your journey you'll face many opponents with Pokémon you've never seen before so facing new skill sets and abilities will help you learn to adapt quickly in these situations."
The light mood turned around and Yun could tell she was very serious about the matter. Again, she questioned why she was helping so much but her own speculations stopped her from voicing it. With Chihiro's own journey ending the way it did, she guessed the girl was somewhat reliving it through helping fledgling trainers. Yun could be wrong, of course, but either way she was too polite to bring it up.
Instead, she voiced another concern as they continued towards their destination. "If there are no people around, are we even supposed to be there?"
Chihiro smirked. "You certainly would never be allowed in, but I have clearance."
With a flick of her wrist, she pulled her ranger badge out of her pocket. "Perks of the job."
Now she was starting to get excited. It was not every day she would be given access to places she would never get to see on her own. They exited Oreburgh from the south, past the current mine, and ran into dense foliage. "Pokémon out." The ranger told her sternly.
Making a grab for Reigns ball, she changed her mind last minute and called out Tenno. He hadn't been out yet and she wanted to keep things fair now. Then after some debate she released Reign as well, figuring it couldn't hurt. Her starter stood at attention likely expecting a battle but she reassured him that for now they would just be travelling together.
Predictably, Tenno was already picking a fight with an opponent too big for him. Yun deadpanned when she noticed he had set his sights on Chihiro's Pokémon. It was not Desmond, like she had expected but the Rampardos.
"Unbelievable, that bird." The ranger chuckled. "Lucky that my Sentinel's temper has mellowed over the years." With an amiable pat to her Pokémon's side she smiled at Yun. The large beast simple snorted and Tenno decided to turn his attention elsewhere.
He squawked when his eye caught the familiar ranger and he promptly decided to harass her instead.
"Hey-ack, get off!" For a second Yun considered returning him but then the older girl was laughing and Tenno was simply pulling at her hair before settling on top of it, appearing to also remember their friend.
"Uhm... do you want me to get him off?"
Petting the top of his head, Chihiro shrugged. "Nah, it's fine. Anyway, it's this way."
They followed a rather overgrown path that the Rampardos, trailing behind them, barely fit through. Accompanied by the sounds of the beast snapping branches and trampling small foliage, Yun decided to start the conversation again.
"Is he your starter?"
"She," Chihiro corrected, "And yeah, she is. Not the easiest starter either, let me tell you."
A grumble from the Rampardos made her chuckle before she responded to Yun's unspoken question. "I wasn't sponsored like you and a Pokédex is dreadfully expensive, you know, so I didn't know she was a female when I named her. Most of the time, it's Nell or Nelly, unless we're being serious. Isn't that right Nell?"
"Ra."
"How do you know I'm sponsored?" If she remembered correctly, she hadn't used her Pokédex around the other girl. "Oh, the time of the year." She then provided herself.
The rest of her yearmates wouldn't receive their training license until January and she was likely too inexperienced to be a trainer from the previous year. Proving her correct, Chihiro nodded.
They continued in silence and midway Tenno decided to change perch. Settling on Reign's back instead, he started running his beak along the other Pokémon's shell like he did when rearranging his own feathers. Clearly annoyed, her started waved his claws around but kept his stinger, perfectly placed to strike anything on his back, neatly curled up.
The whole display made Yun smile fondly. Tenno was like the annoying little brother that Reign had never asked for. It made her wonder what dynamics a third team member would introduce.
Soon enough they reached a clearing that had a large fence running through it with several signs that clearly prohibited entrance. A lone ranger stood at the gate who's bored expression morphed into a warm grin when he saw who approached.
"If it isn't our Chihiro-kun. Already missing work?" Then he caught sight of Yun trailing behind her and his expression turned stern. "Or did you run into this little trouble maker on your time off?"
Yun paled and was grateful Chihiro humorously rose to her defense. "I'm the only trouble around here today." With a hand on her shoulder, she continued. "She's with me, we'll be here for a few days if that's okay."
The man shrugged. "Just don't go in the mines."
Pushing her bangs from her forehead, she grinned. "Do I have 'dumb' written on my forehead or something?"
Appalled by the other girls rudeness, Yun was quick to bow. "We won't be causing any problems Ranger-san."
Fortunately, he didn't seem to take offense and even laughed it off. "I see you were right, Chihiro-kun. I hope your bad manners aren't contagious."
As his colleague childishly stuck out her tongue, the man opened the gate for them and waved them off. Behind it, a stunning landscape was revealed.
"Oh wow." She whispered in awe as Tenno sung a high note behind her.
The older girl, familiar with the scene but still appreciative of it, put her hand on her hip. "Not bad, eh?"
Simply nodding, she took in the man-made crater surrounded by grasslands and a thin, clearly recent forest. The earth was dug out layer by layer, creating a pattern not unlike a giant stairs, that was slowly recovering from it's industrial treatment. Grass, small plants and wild flowers had overtaken most of the structure. Though she could see an old path spiraling down into the bottom of the crater where there was-
"Water!" A pleased smile came over her as she noticed the shimmering lake deep within the valley.
Chihiro tilted her head. "Where you hoping to swim or something? It's not that hot today?"
Not exactly an avid swimmer, Yun held up her hands. "No thanks."
She explained her want for a water type if she was going to take on Roark. Having no hope of winning against him without one. However Chihiro didn't seem to share Yun's concerns when it came to the rock gym.
"You're thinking about this all wrong it's not as if you're going to get a genuine victory out of Roark. That's for the later badges only."
Confused, she asked. "What do you mean?"
"They throw the matches, all you need to do is impress the gym leaders enough to give you a badge."
Because of Yun's completely flabbergasted expression, the ranger decided to elaborate.
"Think about it, you need eight badges to become a gym leader. All of them, including Roark have challenged the league. Even with the level restrictions, do you think you can honestly compete against that kind of experience?"
She mulled it over, still not really wanting to believe a gym battle was faked. "No." Reluctantly, she admitted. "But... I don't think I can leave an impression when both my Pokémon might go down in one hit, and none of their moves can even scratch his rock types. I need a type advantage"
The older girl shrugged. "It could help but not as much as you might think. I'm telling you, every kid that comes in with six poorly trained water and grass types, leaves with tears and an empty wallet. But come at him with well raised Pokémon and something resembling a strategy and you'll get that badge. It's only the first one after all."
Back in school they had seen statistics of the badge circuit. Only seventeen percent of the starting trainers got their first badge on their first try. The average trainer needed about three tries before they managed it. The numbers were only slightly better for sponsored trainers. So naturally, she was skeptical of the older girls optimism but before she could express her doubts further Chihiro pulled a shining disk out of her pocket.
"Here you go."
She pushed it in her hands and Yun's eyes went wide when she realized what is was.
"A TM!"
"For Reign," She nodded, "You are right about not having the right moves to handle Roark's Pokémon. Your bird can fly circles around them but Reign needs an edge."
Yun rushed to protest. "I can't possibly take this, t-this is way too expensive."
With a laugh, the girl patted her shoulder. "I happened to find it on the ground during one of my patrols, if that makes you feel better."
Wondering who would be so careless with such an item, she frowned down at the little disk. There was nothing to distinguish it aside from it's silvery grey color and she wasn't really sure how it worked.
"It's iron tail. Nelly already knows it." Chihiro said proudly.
"Iron tail." She mumbled while thinking that the move would indeed suit Reign, who's tail was already his best weapon. Realizing her silence might be seen as ungrateful, she thanked Chihiro for the gift.
"We'll still head over to the lake of course, though not with Nelly. But let's focus on training today."
Yun nodded vigorously in agreement. Behind her, Tenno decided that he was tired of his perch and promptly flew off with a parting chirp in her direction. For some reason, she didn't feel concerned, understanding his need to explore the new area. As the summer sun shone down on the lush green environment and a gentle breeze ruffled her hair, she wished she also had wings to soar through the skies and didn't feel like denying him the experience.
Tenno wasn't the only bird stretching his wings, a dozen or so were flying with him. Of course, it didn't take him two seconds to spot the largest one and an indignant squawk reached Yun's ears when the little bird latched himself onto a Fearow.
"Tenno! Oh no, TENNO!"
Yun rushed after him with Chihiro's laugh ringing in her ears.
AN: slice of Pokémon life chapter. We'll be getting back to action in a chapter or two.