Chapter Thirty-Seven:
As Certain as Stone
Disclaimer: I do not own the series Pokémon. Like, at all. It and all its respectable characters are © to Game Freak and Satoshi Tajiri. However, all writing contents and semi-plots here are © to me; unless it is stated otherwise. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.
Notes: I had way too much fun with this chapter, even if it did take me a while. Sorry about that! Please enjoy, and if you got something to say, say it! I would love to hear from y'all!
Current Team: Keno the Marshtomp, Sela the Mightyena, Ambrose the Kirlia, Faye the Swellow, Nux the Gyarados, Gunner the Aron
Badges Won: Stone Badge, Knuckle Badge, Dynamo Badge
"There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less."
- Kurt Hahn
The two preliminary days before the start of the training classes were given ample enough preparation time. Beyond gathering materials that the training center couldn't provide, Shay wandered the various shops that were clustered tightly together in Shardust. In the thrifty clothing shop, she lingered on and eventually purchased durable sand-coloured trousers, a pair of broken-in knee-high leather steel-enforced boots that were surprisingly light-weight, a dark red sash, and a faux corset that was both surprisingly flexible and sturdy in supporting her lower back. The coup de grâce that brought everything together, however, was the short capelet that draped over her shoulders, and little else. It too, was a deep and lovely red, with a hem decorated in golden accents. The metal brooch that held it together, however, was rather plain-looking.
Shay remarked on this, and the cashier mentioned a metalsmith in Lavaridge who could fashion any sigil she'd like into the plain and flat surface to give it a pop of character. Shay tucked away that information for later and brought her purchases back to her room at the Pokémon Center, but not before slipping into the more high-end boutique and snatching up a pokéball bandolier to pull her new outfit together.
She even took the time to change into it all after dinner and modeled it to her team, turning to and fro, feeling a bit giddy and silly all at once. It almost felt like a uniform and that gave her warm buzz that nestled in her chest.
"What do you guys think? Is it too much? Should I take something back? It's stupid, isn't it? Is it the cape-thing? Or the boots?"
"I think you look just fine," Ambrose piped up, which earned a few positive comments from the others before his words sank in. The rest of the team turned their attentions to the Kirlia, who merely flashed a very toothy grin and shrugged at the grumbles that cropped up in response.
"It looks great, Shay. It's…you," Keno said, trying to sound reassuring. Shay frowned and twirled a bit, letting the material flutter around her upper body. She stretched her legs and tested out the durability and limits of the boots. She was thoroughly surprised at the lack of resistance. The leather was supple and soft to the touch, but given their thickness, she doubted they would wear out or break down so easily. She was pleased at that, and hoped they would last her a while, especially if they had a mesh-lining of steel throughout.
I shouldn't have to worry about getting bit by something from the knees below, at least, she thought.
She undressed from the new outfit and put on more bed-friendly clothing, a buzz of nervousness making her nerves jittery. She pulled her laptop out and after presenting options to her team, they all settled on The Lion King. Dinner was delivered half-way through, and they all munched on it as they finished up the movie. The chatter about the movie were seemingly endless, and Shay answered everything as best she could, and even added in fun little factoids behind the making of the movie, which inevitably led to more questions she had to answer. She was more than happy to do so.
By the end of the film, everyone sans Ambrose were riled enough for another movie. Shay checked the time, wincing when she saw it was nearing ten. And yet, she still had the itch to watch something more too. Shay browsed through her digital library, even pulling up the game movie cutscenes she had saved in another folder on her desktop.
She hovered her cursor over a few of them, before settling on the Tomb Raider folder, and selected the first game movie.
"Okay, I have to preface this next movie with a PSA. This, uh, movie…it's not a traditional one, if that makes sense."
She glanced around at her team, seeing a few confused but open expressions. Keno gave her a nod of approval to keep going.
"This is from a video game. It has a story, like a movie, but you can play as a character and progress things at your own pace. But the person who cut this together took out most of the gameplay and stitched together all the cutscenes to make this into a movie. If…that makes sense."
"It doesn't, but sure." Sela said right before yawning.
Shay frowned, wracking her brain for a better explanation, and failing to find one, she decided to just hit play.
"It'll make more sense when I can show you what I mean."
Everyone quieted down as the music began playing, and Lara's voice began narrating.
The moment she was revealed on screen, Sela bolted upright into a sitting position, her lethargy dissipating. Keno made a spluttering noise of surprise, and Nux gave a quizzical growl and snort.
"She looks like you!" Keno finally managed to get out.
"What? No, she doesn't!" Shay protested, feeling heat rush into her cheeks.
"You could be her twin, that's how much you look alike," Ambrose piped in cheekily.
There was a brief round of consensus that went around the room, before anyone realized where the comment had come from.
"You can't say that, you can't even see!" Gunner remarked.
"Am I not entitled to an opinion? Seems a bit harsh," Ambrose tutted disappointedly with a shake of his head.
Nux dipped his head closer to the computer screen, tilting his head. "Is she supposed to be pretty or ugly? I can't tell with you humans."
Shay squawked back, nearly choking on her own spit in surprise. "Pretty! She's supposed to be pretty, by human standards!"
Nux blinked slowly back at her, then shifted his gaze back toward the computer screen.
"If you say so." Nux blinked at her, appearing unconvinced as he slid his gaze back to the computer screen. Shay rolled her eyes, trying and failing at hiding her grin as she too returned her attention to her computer.
Thank-whoever-the-fuck's-up-there that coffee exists.
Shay rubbed at the sleep still in her eyes with her free hand, while the other gripped her thermos tightly. Warmth seeped into her chilly fingers, and she stifled a yawn that had been building in the back of her throat. Almost two dozen others were gathered around her in loose groups of two or three, waiting like her for the Hoenn Survival Training Center doors to open up.
Sun's not even up. It should be illegal to be awake this early if it's not of my own accord. I should have brought a book, at least. I saw one, in that little used bookstore a few blocks from here, right next to the hair salon. I saw a book I wanted, and I didn't. Get. It. That's it. I'm getting it, once I'm out of here. That's final. I need it. I need something to read.
She checked the time on her x-transceiver and went straight back to shivering. It'll warm up. It'll warm up. It isn't always cold, the sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun…
Someone behind and off to her left cheered off. Shay whirled toward the source, and smiled tiredly as everyone else began shuffling toward the now-open doors. It was Deanna who was smiling and greeting everyone, thanking them for coming out so early, and of course there'll be something inside to eat and drink later!
Shay gave her a nod as she passed, and Deanna grinned even wider.
"Oh, hey, it's you! Glad to see you made it!"
Shay raised her coffee in salute and shuffled inside, following the others ahead of her toward the directed doorway. Deanna hurried in rushing everyone inside before skirting the crowd and unlocked the door they all eventually clustered at, sleepy talk growing more animated. It probably helped that it was warmer inside the building.
Oh, look at this. We're the Walking Dead…or something like that. I wonder if they'd get mad if I spray painted the doors and chained it up. Okay, wait, no that's stupid. Of course, they'd get mad and they wouldn't get the reference. Would they? Oh, my goodness, do they even have zombies in their media? Could I become the George A. Romero of this world if I did that?!
Questions of zombie media and the ethical dilemma of introducing an entire genre aside, Shay continued into the room that Deanna waved for everyone to go into. Upon entering the room, Shay was taken aback by the familiarity it presented. Huh. This looks like one of my college classrooms, with the tiered seating and folding desktops.
There was flat grey carpet lining the floors, with a speaker's podium toward the front wall that all the chairs faced, a table with a projector and two large stacks of papers, and a white sheet of clothe pulled down and ready to go. The projector hummed softly and was the only sound in the room aside from the scuffle of feet and hushed murmurs. The group scattered into their own little groups, barely leaving any empty seats left. Shay snagged an end seat closest to the aisle up front, and let Keno out into the seat beside her.
Keno blinked against the fluorescent lighting, shading his eyes with one of his broad hands. He looked around, seeing that he was the only pokémon around and turned to Shay.
"What's going on? Are we at that training center place?"
Shay nodded and sipped her coffee.
"I'm the only one out."
She grunted in return and nodded again. He smiled sympathetically and patted her on the shoulder.
"You'll be okay."
A morning person, his trainer was not. She claimed coffee made things better, but he wasn't too sure about that.
Keno was startled when something struck him on the back of his head and whipped around, tiger-orange eyes searching for the object before he found it. A piece of crumpled up paper was sitting on the ground, under the empty seat beside him. His attention was dragged away again at the sound of snickering, and he turned back toward the source.
Two girls were sitting in the back row, a few levels higher than him, a blonde and a brunette. The blonde pointed at him with a pink fingernail and flicked it at Shay.
"Tell your trainer to put you away. You don't need to be here right now."
She was smiling, a thin crescent of white against her pink lips, but it didn't seem all that friendly to him. Unease covered him like snowfall, quietly at first, but it grew heavier with every passing moment.
Shay stirred beside him, setting her thermos with a metallic clink on the armrest, fingers so tight they were turning bloodless and white. "Problem, Keno?"
"Um…" he said, looking down at the crumpled paper in his hand. He turned away from the women and back to the front. "Those two girls up there. They don't want me here and said they wanted you to put away."
A muscled twitched in Shay's jaw and that too grew taut. He could practically hear her grinding her teeth.
"Hey! Little girl! You, down there, with the little blue lizard pokémon. Put him away! He's not supposed to be in here. This is a training course for people, not pokémon!"
Keno reached over and pried Shay's hand apart from her thermos and pulled it to him, and not a moment too soon. Shay rocketed up out of her seat and whirled with surprising speed, stabbing a finger in the girls' direction.
"First off, he's a fucking amphibian, so get your goddamn classifications right or don't bother opening your mouth. And speaking of your mouth, keep it the fuck shut, or I'll shove my fist so far down your pretty little throat, the coroner will jot you down as a nosy cunt who got fist-fucked to death!"
If Keno's unease was light snowfall, then Shay's explosive outburst brought forth an avalanche. She seethed beside him as she glowered at the two girls, who just stared back, mouths agape in horror.
"Shay…c'mon, it's fine, I-I'll go back into my pokéball—"
Shay's gaze softened when she turned to him, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, as though in return to his from minutes earlier.
"No, Keno. You're not disturbing anyone or doing anything wrong. It's bitchy-bitch up there that's got her panties all twisted up over something that doesn't fucking concern her!"
Her last words were spat out with venom he's never heard from Shay before, aimed at the two girls in the back. The whole room, he realized moments later, was dead silent. All the murmurs had ceased entirely. It was a thunderous sound, piercing and painful.
The blonde girl finally scoffed, nose wrinkling in disgust. She flipped a lock of her hair back behind her shoulder, exchanging looks with her companion. The brunette girl took a hearty sip from a clear thermos filled with ice water, shaking it so the ice clinked noisily inside.
"How dare you talk down on me like that! Do you know who I am? Who my parents are?"
"No, and frankly, I don't give a Rattata's furry asshole who you or your friend or your families are. I'm here to learn and so is my team, honey, so please stop being a thorn in my side and mind your own fucking business. It literally costs you nothing to do just that."
Shay hunkered down as she turned back to the front of the room, sinking low in her seat. Keno offered Shay her coffee, and she gently took it back and took a long swig.
"Sorry about that, Keno. I have all the patience in the world for you and the rest of the team, but right now, I hate people. Except for the nice lady who got me coffee earlier, she's exempt." She paused to slug back another gulp. Shay added after licking her lips, "And, um…sorry if I embarrassed you—"
The two of them were interrupted by the pounding of feet barreling toward them, and the two girls seemed to materialize right next to Shay. His trainer jumped and scowled, shifting her grip on her thermos, almost as though she was about to wield it as a weapon.
The blonde was glowering down at Shay, who simply returned the angry energy with a snarl all her own. That was when Keno noticed that both girls had their hands clutching pokéballs. Shay rocketed up to her feet, looping her thumb around her belt, showing off her full team versus the two girls' lacking numbers. The brunette broke first, visibly nervous. Keno pressed closer to his trainer.
"You and your girlfriend and me. Outside, right now. I'll whip your asses and won't even break a sweat."
"Oh-ho, you're going to regret those words. Daddy gets me the best things in life, and that includes pokémon," the blonde retorted smugly. Shay snorted back.
"Yeah, but I doubt he can buy you skill or talent, and clearly, you have no common sense. Check yourself before you wreck yourself, sweetheart."
There was a round of 'ooh's' from the crowd around them. He heard a few whispering bets on who would win. Keno was pleased when he heard nearby trainers throwing their support for Shay. They called her a "firecracker". That was good, right?
The blonde girl opened her mouth, looking ready to snap right back, but the sharp crack of the door closing startled everyone into silence.
"Nobody is checking or wrecking themselves. Not while I'm here, at the very least. Ladies, please find your seats. You can battle to your hearts' content later on."
Keno and Shay looked at the same time toward the new voice that cut into the tense moment. He caught Shay's thermos before it could tumble to the ground when his trainer accidentally knocked a hand into it.
The reason for her startled response?
Steven Stone, the Champion of Hoenn, was standing in the room, a bristling metal-feathered Skarmory lurking at his side.
Shay's palms wouldn't stop building with sweat. The packets that had been waiting at the front table beside the projector had been passed out, and almost every page she touched had a smudge of sweat in one corner or another.
Steven Stone had made no indication that he knew Shay, in any capacity whatsoever. He did not reply to her as 'Ms. Courier' when she spoke up, if she spoke at all. Had she actually said anything after he came into the room? Her head was buzzing, the hours passing by in scraps. Or had it only been just one hour?
What is he even doing here?
Shay could hardly focus on the introductory class itself. The packet she had on her desk likely held a plethora of information, but the words on page danced and swam and skewed out of focus.
Is he spying on me? Keeping tabs? Trying to be less conspicuous than Norman or Birch are? Does he really know who I am? Did they tell him?
No. No, that wasn't fair. Professor Birch and Norman both had been more than fair with her. Norman had been protective of her, true, but he had also been protective of her as a whole. Despite his obligations to the League, to Steven, he didn't strike her as a snitch. He wanted to keep her safe. He wouldn't sell her out. Steven knew of her but knew next to nothing about her. And it had been foolish of her to assume Steven didn't know about her. Norman wouldn't have fought so hard against her travels if he hadn't known more about what was happening behind the scenes. But in the end…she felt that Norman, even in all his overprotectiveness, had always been an advocate for her, and Professor Birch was too. Steven knew she was factor, but that was it. The League was aware of her, and no doubt the Gym Leaders of Hoenn were too—although they had to treat every challenger with scrutiny now, not just her.
Christ, I'm getting paranoid as shit. Even Ambrose said he didn't know who I am.
But how could she not be paranoid? That was back in Granite Cave, weeks and weeks ago, and this was here, now. She didn't want to get caught and sent back to Norman to do nothing but sit on her hands all day, twiddling her thumbs. Or worse…end up somewhere else, separated from her team. Her friends. Her…family.
"Miss Courier. What a surprise."
Shay snapped her head up at the voice, her scattered thoughts and fragmented attention dissipating. Her focus returned, and she partly wished it hadn't. She blinked several times as it dawned on her that Steven freaking Stone was standing in front of her and Keno.
Panic clawed at her throat, but somehow, she managed to find her voice. It sounded distant and tinny compared to the thunder of her heartbeat crashing in her ears. Twenty seconds of insane courage, she told herself.
"Oh. It's you. I thought you looked familiar."
A smile curled his lips upward. Shay was briefly distracted by Steven's Skarmory skulking in closer. They eyed her with narrowed eyes. Keno shifted beside her.
"You wound me, Miss Courier. Am I really all that forgettable?"
"I think it'd be difficult to forget that you're the Champion of Hoenn. If anything, I'm surprised you recognized me, given the state of my face that last time we met," she admitted, biting her tongue before she could let anything more slip. Steven knew about her and what she was. He didn't know who she was. She kept telling herself that. Shay met his gaze again. "Although, I'm having difficulty finding reason as to why you'd be here, teaching classes."
"I did establish this facility. It would behoove me to check in and give a more…hands-on approach every once in a while, wouldn't it?"
That…made some modicum of sense. Shay busied herself with tidying her paper packets, ignoring how she saw her hands shaking. Did Steven notice? Was he watching her shake like a graceless leaf, on the cusp of being knocked asunder and to the ground by just one wrong move?
"There is that. But I'm assuming that this appearance is just for today? You can't possibly have three or four weeks' worth of free time to teach this or any of the other courses."
Steven raised a brow, tilting his head as though the new angle could give him more insight.
"You're rather astute. I honestly don't have that kind of time, you're right. But as I've said, it does give this facility the benefit of my coming by every once in a while, whenever my schedule can allow for it. I'm pleased to see that after making this mandatory for certain activities people want to pursue with pokemon, there's been less injuries and deaths, accidents all around. I want my people safe, above all else."
He paused, giving the room a glance. Shay realized that the class had emptied itself of its occupants, save two. The blonde and brunette from earlier were hovering just out of the doorway, intermittently glowering at Shay and swooning at Steven's backside.
She couldn't exactly fault them for the latter. She hated to admit it, but Steven was…rather attractive. Classically and unmistakably so.
Don't let a pretty face fool you. Don't do it, she said, mentally slapping herself. A pretty face isn't everything in life. They can hide some pretty damn ugly demons.
Shay jumped when a silvery beak butted its way into her face, as though forming a metallic shield between her and Steven. Red eyes glowered at her, a deep throaty hiss filling the air. Steven's Skarmory puffed up its wings as though to further the distance between them.
"All right, that's enough! Break it up! I've got enough on my plate keeping stupid, hungry human paws off my trainer, and I don't need to deal with that today!" The Skarmory snapped, the voice deep and distinctly male.
Shay bristled right back, offended at the assumption.
"Trust me, your trainer's safe. He's not my type and I have no interest in him."
The Skarmory's feathers gleamed in the lighting, eyes narrowing further.
Never trust the pretty ones, they're always hiding some fucked-up secret. I made that mistake once; I don't plan on making it again. Her ribs and throat ached at the distant memory threatening to bubble up, and she tamped down on it. Not today. Not here, not now.
When her attention returned to Steven, he had a bemused look painted on his face. A few moments passed before he seemed to collect himself. Int
"I don't believe I've met anyone who can speak to pokémon like that. It's a rather rare trait in human beings."
"So, I've been told," Shay drawled back, pulling herself to her feet, and drawing the packets to her chest. The Skarmory looked taken aback, swinging his head back and forth between Shay and Steven before settling on her. Curiousity broke his suspicion.
"Wait…you can understand me?"
Keno patted her arm and she nodded to him, and when he presented her thermos, she smiled and thanked him. She could still feel the warmth of her drink as it seeped into her hand. She turned back to the Skarmory, regarding him coolly. "Yes. I can understand you. So please, mind what you spout off at me. It's still too damn early for all the theatrics and I've already had enough for one day."
Past Steven's shoulder, she could still see the two girls loitering outside the classroom, watching the two of them with narrowed eyes and flared nostrils. The Skarmory remained still, staring down at Shay along the length of his beak. His feathers slowly settled, and he turned to Steven with a huff. "She gets it."
"She's not much of a morning person, honestly," Keno piped up with a chuckle. Shay made a soft noise in the back of her throat, rolling her eyes. She motioned toward the door.
"If we're done here, I think I'm supposed to be moving on to the next session…" Shay said, trailing her voice off in a kind of farewell to Steven.
She was hoping to excuse herself and scuttle off as quickly as she could to wherever everyone else had gone off to.
Steven either got the drift of her tone and chose to ignore, or he was completely oblivious to it. He strode after her, easily keeping pace as he settled on her empty side.
"I'm headed the same way, actually. I have most of the day booked with shadowing the rest of the training classes," he said in way of explanation. Shay's stomach sank, and she couldn't tell if it was in disappointment or discomfort. "You have an introductory course to camping, correct?"
Shay nodded stiffly. "Yes. Starting up fires in any conditions, building shelters out of localized materials, water purification. Things of that nature."
"Perfect. Those are rather valuable skills to have if you're ever caught in the wilds and with little gear."
They passed through the doorway and the two girls who had been waiting outside parted ways awkwardly. The blonde tried to wriggle her way between Shay and Steven, but was effectively unable to do so.
"Um! Mr. Stone! Champion Steven! C-Could I say something, please?"
He barely gave her a glance as he waved over his shoulder for them to follow.
"Come along, girls. You're going to be late if you keep standing about like that. Let's move."
The blonde girl gasped and huffed indignantly when she tried moving in again but was stonewalled by Steven's Skarmory. Keno tried and failed to stifle his laughter.
"Ugh! Ridiculous! I have every right to talk to him, too!"
Shay smirked a bit when she heard the Skarmory retort, "Get in line, welp. You and just about every female and the occasional male human keeps trying but he ain't buying!"
"Who can tell me what three things a fire needs to survive? Anyone?"
Shay's hand shot straight up. Their next session was outside of the training center, out in the back of the building. There were different stations already set up and waiting for people to come along and utilize them. Currently, they were at the first station, the fire-building one.
Their teacher was a wiry-thin man, his hairline receding atop his head but not his face. He nodded to her and brushed a hand over his buttoned-up plaid shirt, scuffed boots crunching underfoot.
"Fires need air, heat, and food. Food can be any organic matter that can burn, and if a fire gets hot enough and has all the air in the world to carry it along and spread it, just about anything can burn, even stone or metal or bones."
Appraisal flashed over the man's face, and he nodded. "This is very true. And there are many types of fires as well. Chemical, grease, electrical, even metallic. But for today, we'll be focusing on the ordinary type, the one that doesn't use anything beyond air, heat, and food. I want you to each man one of these piles and we'll take it from there."
Everyone broke off as he clapped his hands, encouraging everyone to hurry along. Shay and Keno settled on a site not far from where they were standing and he plopped down beside her.
Their spot had the same materials as everyone else's did: a pile of branches or broken logs, twigs, dead leaves and bark. He glanced around at the others as they all settled down. Shay was the only one who seemed to be organizing the wood the way she wanted; into a teepee fashion, allowing for enough space between the wood to allow her to insert pieces of twigs or bark. Keno noticed only one or two other people were already doing the same. The rest were simply waiting, staring at the teacher or their materials, clueless.
"Whoa now, ladies and gents! I see you already seem to have an idea of what to do, but let's take a minute and get everyone else caught up, shall we?"
Shay groaned softly, annoyance flashing across her face. She stymied it by sipping from her thermos.
"You've always had Sela help with making the fire. Do you want to bring her out?"
His trainer took time to answer. She did that more often when she was annoyed. It seemed as though she didn't want to snap at him and was quelling her own temper in her silence. Shay cleared her throat before answering.
"No. I can do it myself. I think that's the point of this exercise," she replied, her tone measured. She slugged back a long gulp of her coffee, eyes darting around to scan the crowd gathered around them in a loose circle. Most had stuck to sitting alone by their own starter fire stations, but there were a few that grouped together, like the blonde and brunette girls. They were whispering heatedly with one another, eyes darting from each other to him and Shay.
The teacher was demonstrating how to set up a proper fire, starting with the branches or logs provided. The teacher was expressing the importance of keeping the base open enough to put in kindling—dry grasses, bark, dead leaves, small twigs or branches for natural tinder. "You shouldn't use accelerant chemicals, if you can help it. Yes, it'll create a bigger fire quicker, but it also burns too hot, too quickly and it ends up burning itself out before it has a chance to properly catch. And there's a chance it can backfire and you'll end up catching fire yourself."
"They look really mad," he noted aloud. Shay glanced his way, brows drawn quizzically together. The wound from her head injury back in Roxanne's gym had healed up nicely, although she now carried a scar of the incident, and her right eyebrow had been split because of it. It was actually an endearing little quirk now.
"Those two idiots who tried to pick a fight with us earlier? They're idiots. 'Nuff said."
"They were mad you were speaking with Steven, too."
Shay set down her thermos and adjusted some of the larger pieces of wood, giving the base more openings and she stuffed in more materials for tinder. She picked up a small box he hadn't took notice of before, and she shook it. Something rattled inside, and she smiled.
"Oh, good. We have matchsticks." She said before covering her mouth to hide her yawn. "And don't worry about those girls. I'll fist fight them myself if they try going after you again like they did earlier."
Keno wasn't sure if he should have felt relieved, flattered, or upset. Before he could settle on one, Shay added, "They're mad because they couldn't get his attention or rattle me into submission. Honestly, I would have preferred it if he actually started talking to them instead."
"That pokémon he had with him wasn't letting anyone near him, though. Besides you, I mean," he replied glumly.
"He was a Skarmory, and you heard him clear as day about blocking people from getting too near to Steven. He was acting like a bodyguard of sorts. It makes sense. Steven's the Champion, but he's also…" Shay petered off, brows once again drawing in to beetle up. She looked at Keno, who was slowly smiling at her. "What?"
"You like him, don't you?"
Shay's face fell, lips pulled downwards into a frown. "Now who's being the idiot?"
"Hey, no need to be mean about it!"
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Keno, in case you forgot, he is literally the highest authority we have to worry about in Hoenn. If he finds out who I really am, you and the others might be taken away from me, and then…"
She trailed off, her voice failing her. Keno gathered the implications she alluded to, and his expression fell as well. "Right. We might never see you again," he finished. She nodded, paused to scan the teacher, the other students, then returned her attention back to their little "campsite".
"Plus, I don't trust someone prettier than me. Beauty's only skin-deep and I don't know him from the next stranger we meet on the road. I made that mistake once and it wasn't a pretty lesson to learn."
Keno opened his mouth, a follow-up question ready to fly but stopped when she looked away from him. A flash of silver moved along the periphery of the students and Shay craned her head to track Steven and his Skarmory. Steven had his hands placed loose behind his back as he walked, while the large metal-feathered bird at his side stalked along, eyes bright and sharp. Shay briefly turned her attention away from him and back to the teacher, half-heartedly listening to him as he demonstrated how to light a match and how to catch the kindling aflame.
Shay moved with familiar ease as she lit a match of her own and carefully, pinched between two fingers, she alit the kindling within the carefully piled wood. It didn't take long for it to catch, and she fed more kindling—dried pine needles, small delicate twigs, bits of bark and lichen moss—until it caught on the large pieces of wood. A merry little fire began burning before her and Keno, and she held her hands out to warm them. The comforting scent of wood smoke filled the air.
"Wow. I don't think I remember you making the fire yourself like that before."
"I used to do it all the time when I went camping. I was the resident firestarter before…here, I mean."
"O-oh. Before…?"
She nodded at the words unsaid. Her attention shifted once more, and she stiffened beside him. Keno soon realized why. Steven had made his way closer to them and was watching. The predatory stare his Skarmory partner was giving Keno and his trainer was unnerving. He started toward them again, his pace unhurried and relaxed.
"Miss Courier," he said in greeting when he neared, inclining his head to Shay. Keno bristled, miffed at being ignored. "I have a request."
"Is it another courier job?" Shay remarked flatly, brow arching upwards.
"No. A battle."
Keno's stomach dropped and he shot a worried look at the Skarmory at his side. They couldn't take on Steven, could they? Not now, not here! Steven seemed to pick up on their joined hesitancy. He chuckled and shook his head. "Not with me, you can breathe easy, the both of you. I was thinking more along the lines of…them."
He turned his head and nodded off toward the building they had left. Keno squinted, frowning when he saw something shiny glinting before he saw the people. A pair of them, a man and a woman, were making their way over with hurried, purposeful steps. Shay groaned beside him.
"What? What is it? Gym leaders?"
Shay shook her head in response, her face scrunched in annoyance.
"No. Worse," she said as she stood, dusting her hands off. She stooped just long enough to pick up her thermos, ignoring the crackling fire she'd just made. He stood alongside her, waiting. Shay sighed. "Reporters."
