[PKMN FULL] TRAINERS (IC)

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No wonder the battle had gone horribly. In the midst of all the upset feelings this morning, Ralph had completely forgotten about breakfast.

Stomach practically screaming, she stepped into the Pokémon Center again with quite little awareness of anything other than the tummy ache. As such, she practically walked into her uncle before she noticed him. For a few awkward moments, none of the two said anything. Then, Ralph's belly decided to break the silence quite aggressively.

Joseph chuckled his chuckle - how had Ralph never noticed how similar he sounded to her dad when he did that? - and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hungry, girl?"

There were about a million things Ralph still wanted to say, or shout, or be really rude about towards him (and her dad for that matter), but the ache was just too strong right now; it took utter priority.

"Very," she said, and even decided to show her resignation with a sigh and slacking shoulders.

"I know a place," her uncle said and ushered her outside. "Bring your pokémon too!"

The place was a ramen bar a few streets away. It wasn't fancy at all, but it was clearly well beloved by the locals, and Ralph could have sworn the man serving them looked at Joseph as if he recognized him well. They ate for a few minutes in silence on one of the benches that made up the 'outdoor seating' of the bar. Ralph took out Sandsy, Coldy, Softy, Edgy and Greeny from their pokéballs and the owner of the bar heartily served them their own helpings in special pokémon bowls.

Ralph felt strange. There wasn't actually rage within her anymore. It was as if she had let it go - partly at least - in the gym battle. She mostly felt really tired now. The lack of good sleep and breakfast had done a number on her, and her body was still quite sore from the cavern trek yesterday as well.

She dared a glance up at Joseph... Her uncle. He didn't look like he was feeling awkward. And he treated her just like he had done before. He noticed her glancing over from across the table, of course. He put down his ramen bowl. Uh-oh, he was gonna talk wasn't he? Ralph kept slurping.

"I can't believe Charles never told you about his family," Joseph started. "Your family."

"I mean, I knew you existed," Ralph mumbled through the ramen.

"Yeah, but he said he never told you anything about what happened. Why he doesn't talk to the others anymore."

Ralph kept slurping and didn't look up.

"Do you really not want to know?"

"Am I really allowed to have lunch with you, uncle Jo-Jo?"

Joseph's expression became slightly shocked, but then soft. "You remember calling me that?"

"I honestly didn't know your real name was Joseph, and you didn't look the same back then," she said, not able to keep an urgent tone out of her voice, and finally putting the bowl down. "Like. What? You were... You were just a kid too..."

"Hah! And I don't recall having a Ralph for a tiny little niece. But here we are."

Ralph shrugged again and turned to pet Greeny who had been eating out of her tiny bowl right next to Ralph on the bench. The rat looked affectionately up at her, and then turned to grin lovingly at Joseph too. Stupid rat. Stupid, cute rat.

"I'm sure you're allowed to have lunch with family members. I just won't be allowed to travel with you like we planned. That's a shame." He genuinely looked sad now, and it tugged at Ralph's heartstrings a bit. She could tell he really meant it when he said it. "I was so excited to be on the road again."

"It's a stupid rule," Ralph scoffed. "Why do they have it?"

"Because otherwise, it can really become an unfair graduation journey. Not everyone has the money to pay for a guide, or has supportive siblings or uncles who can coach them to beat every gym or capture the best pokémon."

He looked at her with a serious stare when he said the last sentence.

"Did... Your family not support you?"

"Oh, they supported me alright! The Accoras are all trainers. All of them having been taught at the fancy Safari Academy. Well, all but two."

"You and dad!" Ralph deduced with almost a gasp, forgetting the tough facade completely now. "Did he go to Cape College? And he never told me?!"

"No, no. See, back then, you were... Five, I believe? Charles - your dad - he had somehow managed to avoid going to trainer school. Our grandpa and mom really pushed for all of us siblings to do it, and they both have rigorous background as trainers themselves. It's in the Acorra blood. Being a pokémon trainer! But your dad, he didn't want it. He made up excuses and, well, I honestly am not even now sure what he said to manage to avoid getting drafted for Safari Academy. It's not like we didn't have the money."

Even Ralph's pokémon had drawn close and started listening intently now; perhaps they sensed how important this seemed to be for their trainer. She was leaning in over the table, clutching it with her hands without noticing. Sandsy was a bit on edge. His trainer was usually very cool, even if she wasn't always calm and collected. But now her aura was quite different.

"And he didn't go to Cape College either. But at this time, mom - your grandma - had really been pushing for your older siblings to get licenses."

"But they've never said they wanted to be trainers either," Ralph said with a puzzled look.

"No. They were of the same mindset as Charles. The trainer life wasn't for them. But your brother was still young and impressionable. And, well... Your grandma..."

Joseph clasped his hands and leaned on the table, brows furrowed. Ralph was at the edge of her seat, Greeny and Softy practically in her lap, Sandsy and Edgy hovering near her and even Coldy peering in from behind her now.

"One day, it was revealed that she had managed to get your brother accepted into Safari Academy, against your parents' wishes," Joseph said with a slow nod. "She had convinced him that he wanted it, although I'm sure he didn't actually. It was a real mess. I didn't hear all of it, of course. Me and your siblings were shoo'd away when they had the big fight."

Ralph nodded very slowly too, trying to take it all in. "So... You're saying that it's grandma's fault?"

"They think it's Charles' fault, for breaking family tradition. Quite dishonorable." He said the last part in mock voice, and Ralph wondered if her great grandpa sounded like that. "Anyways, they managed to explain to the school that it was a mistake, and then you all packed up and left only weeks after."

"But then my siblings always knew. They just never talked about it. At all," Ralph said blankly.

"I bet Charles told them that the Acorras were a taboo topic in the Gonder household," Joseph shrugged.

"But, hang on here," Ralph said and put a finger in the air, thinking hard. "Why did dad let me become a trainer? If he hates it so much?"

"That's not the case at all," Joseph said with a raised eyebrow. "Haven't you been listening?"

"What?"

"He didn't want to be a trainer. Neither did your siblings, really. Others tried to decide for them. But you? You came to him one day and told him that you wanted to be a trainer, didn't you?"

"No... It was my brother's idea."

Joseph raised both eyebrows now. "Oh was it really? That's a bit surprising. But you didn't object?"

"Clearly not," Ralph said, gesturing to the creatures flocking her personal space and gently pushing Softy's big body back down onto the bench.

"Haha, I'm glad! That's why your dad let you. See? You wanted it. He wouldn't let someone else decide for you. He told me he's extremely proud of you."

Ralph felt a strange sting of guilt at that. He was proud? And she wasn't even trying her best... Maybe it showed on her face, because Joseph suddenly looked concerned. She decided to change topic, fast.

"But what about you? What happened with you then?"

He crossed his arms with a smile. "Charles was always my favorite sibling. I thought he was really cool for going his own way, and I had so far made up excuses for not starting Safari Academy yet even though I was already fourteen, because I kind of wanted to be cool like him even if I actually did want to be a trainer. I was devastated when he left the city. I sent him letters, but any replies, I saw our mum throw in the trash. It wasn't nice. But one day, there came a different letter. From a Professor Palm, who had accepted me into Cape College after a thorough meeting with a Charles Gonder." Joseph lit up even more at the memory. "Mum didn't object - it was gonna be hard for me to get into Safari at this age anyways. So there I went, being a trainer up in the north. Finishing the journey faster than anyone else. Made them all real proud. And I kept in contact with your dad every now and then. Without your grandma knowing, of course.

Ralph watched him speak and felt many things at once. Admiration for her dad's strong belief in doing what you felt was right, not what others told you, was one thing. A new, strange anger directed towards the Accoras was another. Not towards Joseph Accora, of course. There was really nothing to hate there, in his whole being.

"Hold up though," she said after another thought struck her and raised a finger again. "You were fourteen when I was five? What? But dad was at least thirty! Or more?"

Joseph let out his chuckle. "Well, there's more things you don't know about the Accoras yet, I guess. More people."

Ralph shook her head and just decided to pat Greeny without asking anything else. This was almost too much to take in already. But still...

"Hey," she said, and Sandsy noticed that her usual Ralph-esque aura was back again. "Thanks for telling me all this. At long last."

"Only the truth is good enough, is what I believe," her uncle replied. "More ramen?"

Just then, someone else slammed his hands down on their table, making everybody present jump.

"Hi Ralph! Hi Sandshrews!" Aberdeen Montany said cheerfully. "Great! I was just going to look for some wild pokémon. Wanna come with?"

He turned to Joseph then as if he just realized the man was there too. "Oh, hi, who are you?"

"I'm kind of in the middle of a conversation, Montany," Ralph sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Go on, you two," Joseph urged though. "I know there are some exciting species around the Power Plant in the west, for example."

"Oh really! What kinds?" Aberdeen asked him, excitedly.

"But..." Ralph looked from one of the guys to the other. She didn't feel finished here yet. Food-wise, she was satisified, but family-wise? There were even more questions to be asked now that she knew more.

Joseph leaned back with a content look though. "I promise to stay in touch. Now, off you go!"

"Don't tell me what to do," Ralph snapped, but there was a glimmer in her eye, and she could tell that he could tell.

She stood up, recalling most of her pokémon entourage to their balls, but then hesitated, despite Montany's excitedness, and turned back to her uncle. "Come with us? Just one more adventure."

"Rules, Ralph," Joseph said, so low that Aberdeen couldn't hear it.

"You can really just be there, no coaching needed, it'll be more like a show, to show you what I've learned," she urged. She really wasn't ready to let go yet. "Don't you want to see me catch a pokémon?"

"Ralph, I've seen you outsmart Lycanrocs, hold your own against cave monsters, brave through hordes of toxic wild pokemon and battle a gym before breakfast. I know your capture will be fantastic."

She slumped, and turned to follow Montany at last, who had already started bounding down the street.

"One more thing," Joseph said and made her glance back over her shoulder at his face - which, now that she really thought about it, wasn't too dissimilar from her dad's after all. "I'm really proud of you, girl."

The power plant towered in the distance.

"It looks so dirty somehow," Montany said unhappily where they were hiding in one of the many shrubberies on the gently rolling hills. "Unnatural."

"Of course it is, it's human made," Ralph retorted.

"But I mean, it makes me feel much worse than the Pokémon Tower, and that place was freaky."

"You've been to the tower? Visited the, uh, Jarmie Katalan?"

"Yeah! This morning! She completely smashed me in a battle. I guess I've been training too many pokémon instead of focusing on making those I've already had strong."

"And now we're catching more pokémon," Ralph said, eyebrows pointedly underlining the statement.

"Gotta do what feels right!" Aberdeen said with his trademark wink.

That was true, of course, Ralph had to agree.

"So what was it like, the tower battle?"

"Told you, she obliterated me! Lavender has a good gym."

"That wasn't the gym though. The gym is down that way." She cocks her head. "And the leader is called Beaumont."

"Really? Two gyms in this small town?"

"One gym and one conservative entitled brat from what I heard," Ralph muttered, thinking back on what Marcus The Oddball had painted up Jarmie to be like.

"That's not the story I was told! See- OH LOOK!"

They both sharpened their eyes forwards and noticed a small yellow and black pokémon quickly making its way across the hill they were hiding next to. Ralph had her pokédex ready to scan.

Elekid.

"Aw, an electric type. I think I probably shouldn't capture any more of those right now. Focus on the Pikachu I have, you know? I wish your dad had told us what kind of pokémon are here."

"He's not my dad!" Ralph grunted, but calmed rapidly. The Elekid looked pretty interesting. And it could evolve several times. "The actual gym uses electric types. I don't have one yet."

"Then you should catch it!" Montany said encouragingly. "Go on, battle it!"

"Don't tell me what do to," Ralph said as she stepped out of the brush, but she didn't really sound annoyed. Her focus was forwards, and she was clutching two pokéballs in her hands.

"Sandsy, go!"

The timing was perfect. Elekid was just about to stroll past them, when Sandsy appeared right in its way. It reacted with a battle stance, electricity crackling between its small horns.

She had battled an electric gym leader and not done too shabbily. This wild little pokémon would be a piece of cake.

"Bring it," Ralph said from the side of the scene. Montany cheered on from the shrubberies.


Elekid immediately fired off a Thundershock. It merely bounced off Sandsy, who blinked but wasn't hurt at all. Elekid looked surprised.

"Never met a ground type pokémon before?" Ralph smirked. "Sandsy, Swift!"

She assumed the Elekid would be speedy. But the energy bolts of Swift could not be escaped, no matter how fast it could run or jump. Unexpectedly though, the Elekid didn't even try to run. Instead, it fired off its own Swift attack! The energy bolts met in between the pokémon over the battlefield, slightly closer to the Elekid, and most of them collided with small sonic booms that made the grass straws bend and flutter.

"He's quick thinking!" Montany commented behind Ralph.

"Or just lucky," Ralph said. "Sandsy, Magnitude! It can't escape this one."

"Uh, do you really want to be using Magnitude this close to the Power Plant? What if you ruin something!"

"It worked fine inside the gym!"

"Yeah but like... don't you think the gym is meant for that? An electric gym for sure has been built to withstand ground attacks, right?"

Ralph groaned. "Fiiiiine. Sandsy, abort! Instead, use, uh..."

But Elekid took the opportunity to attack when they were distracted. It closed the distance to Sandsy with what must have been Agility or Quick Attack, and tackled him hard. Without giving him the chance to counter-attack, it then delivered a devastating Low Kick that made Sandsy fall over.

"OUCH! Very quck thinking!" Aberdeen commended with an applause.

"Hey, who are you cheering for?" Ralph grunted. "Sandsy, are you okay?"

A quite annoyed Sandshrew jumped back up on his feet, but didn't immediately attack. He was too well trained (or not trained enough) to act on his own in a controlled fight. Elekid took that opportunity to come in for another Low Kick. But Ralph could think quickly too.

"Rapid Spin!"

Sandsy listened and reacted in time, and the Low Kick was repelled and Elekid pushed back by the spinning impact.

"Keep spinning, tackle it!"

Sandsy kept the momentum up and chased after the Elekid. Unfortunately, it seemed to use Quick Attack again to escape the initial assualt, then changed direction and came back around. Elekid's tackle and Sandsy's Rapid Spin collided with strong force, and both battlers were pushed back. Ralph could tell the impact had done a number on Sandsy.

"Let's try something else. Rock Slide!"

Sandsy still had some fight in him. He got up and materialized huge chunks of rocks. The boulders flew towards the Elekid, but the wild pokémon once again used its speed to avoid most of them, and when one boulder got too close, a Low Kick made short work of it.

"How can a wild pokémon be this good?" Montany exclaimed.

But Ralph was smiling. "It probably loves battling and has trained a lot on its own. But now it will train with me. Sandsy, Sand Attack!"

The scoop of dust hit Elekid right in the face after it dodged the last boulder, and it took it by surprise and made it stumble backwards. No longer so fast.

"Fury Cutter!" Ralph called out.

Sandsy closed the last distance and dished out cut after cut with his claws, faster and stronger for each slash. Without much direction and maybe panicking now, Elekid resorted to using a Thundershock as defense. It crackled and made Sandsy back off, but didn't hurt him. The Elekid was strong and quick, but not always focused. She could work with that.

"Sand attack again!" Ralph said, when she noticed the Elekid had stopped blinking as much.

A new scoop of dust wasn't dodged either, and Elekid was thrown off its game once again.

"Use Rapid Spin to bounce up high!"

Sandsy, as usual, followed Ralph's commands even without knowing the full plan. He started spinning and used that to propel himself up high above his opponent. Elekid stumbled but tried to get away with Quick Attack.

"Swift! Keep it in place!"

Sandsy fired off the energy bolts in Elekid's path, hitting it and stopping it dead in the spot. The force of the fired up energy launch combined with the spin also kept Sandsy afloat just for a little while longer.

"Now, Rock Slide from above! Bury it!"

The boulders materialized anew and rained down on the electric pokémon from above, effectively caging it in. A crackling was heard from beneath the pile, but then only silence.

"Wow, Ralph! What was that?" Montany said, walking up to her exictedly.

"Something I saw a pokémon do in the wild," she mused proudly and walked up to Sandsy to give him a pat on the head. "Well, that pokémon in particular isn't wild anymore." It was being trained by her uncle.

"Did you use such strategy in the gym too? I gotta try stuff like that. Combining moves to make new effects. I wonder what Grimer and Pikachu could do together... Electrified goo?"

Ralph approached the pile of shimmering boulders and mentally blamed herself once again for having rushed off in anger to the gym without a plan. Maybe she could have won if she had been thinking more clearly. Ramen and an honest family sure helped with that.

"Are you alright under there?" she asked the rock pile.

A growl came back at her, but it turned into a whining noise after a little while.

"I'll let you out on one condition. Let me capture you! I'll train you to not be confused and lost when somebody throws sand in your face. You've got a lot of cool skills. I think we'll work well together," she told the wild pokémon, almost nonchalantly.

Silence met her, but she wasn't patient enough to wait for longer. Sandsy helped her get the rocks away, and Elekid emerged. Tattered and weak, but not entirely fallen yet. It sure had fight in it.

It didn't flee however. Instead, it limped over to Sandsy and reached out its hand. Sandsy looked surprised, but happily took it. A crackling sound was heard as a spark was let loose from Elekid's fingers. Sandsy jumped in fright, and Ralph instinctively entered a fighting stance. But Elekid just giggled. It was just joking. Sandsy was skeptical, but seemed to forgive it, as it turned to Ralph and nodded.

"That is so cute! It agrees!" Montany said in awe.

Ralph grinned and finally raised the hand that was holding the second pokéball. It captured Elekid without any fuss.

Aberdeen didn't capture any new pokémon this time. The two trainers spotted several more electric types living in the hills though, and at some point they wandered so close to the Power Plant that some guards spotted them and started moving towards them with a Houndour and Manectric menacingly growling. Ralph and Aberdeen rather quickly removed themselves from the area.

Eventually, they were back at the pokémon center, healing Elekid and Sandsy up. Ralph had taken out Greeny for some company while they waited, and she seemed to enjoy playing with Aberdeen's Pikachu. Ralph tried to focus on watching the pokémon, and not glance around for her uncle every minute. He maybe wasn't even around anymore. Maybe he had gone back to Cerulean already. By flight, perhaps - Marcus and his Dragonair flashed in her mind. Or perhaps he had started traveling to Fuchsia even…

"Hey, Ralph?" Aberdeen snapped her back to reality. "How strong is your Rattata?"

"Uh."

She thought about it as she watched the rat and the mouse chat happily. She wasn't the one to rely on the pokédex' measured energy levels much. Instead, she typically just looked at the pokémon of others and made her own instinctive estimation of their power level. As for her own, she usually had a pretty good idea of where they were in relation to each other and others since she knew them well. Greeny? She was a natural talented fighter - she had shown that ever since they first met and battled Lycanroc, and then Coldy. But she hadn't really shown much interest in battling unless she had to. And although she was probably crafty and independent, she certainly wasn't as high in pure power level as Sandsy, Coldy or Edgy. Ralph hadn't trained her much at all, she realized slightly embarrassedly.

"Not very strong, I guess. But she can hold her own when she needs to!"

"When she becomes a Raticate she will be pretty strong, I think!"

"Oh, right. Yeah." When would that happen? She'd have to grow a lot for that, probably.

"Or maybe she will stay a Rattata. Some pokémon don't want to evolve. I'm not sure my Onix should, haha. Imagine that temper with a Steelix... And Pikachu might be happy as he is."

Ralph furrowed her brows. "But she won't become as strong if she's just a Rattata, right?"

"Well, you clearly keep catching many pokémon too," Aberdeen said with a shrug. "Maybe you don't have to battle with all of them? Some do keep pokémon as pets, you know."

Ralph blinked at him. "Not trainers though."

"Sure they do! Haven't you seen some of the high profile trainers in the tournaments, with small unevolved pokémon sitting on their shoulders or being carried in their arms before and after they start the battles? They're like mascots! Pets. I wonder if my Grimer could be my pet... Nah, she'd want to become a huge Muk and keep slamming everybody, honestly. I couldn't take away battling from her!"

Ralph leaned forward, studying Greeny more closely. The pokémon noticed, and left the Pikachu to tip-tap up to her trainer happily. The rat was a bit of an oddball. Joseph had seen her pack in the wild, and told Ralph that Greeny had never really fit in. Maybe it was just her peculiar eye color, but it could also have been her personality. She was very kind and generous, and even intelligent, but a bit oblivious and foolhardy too. Not like Edgy, who definitely was foolhardy, but also quite aware.

Perhaps a battling life wasn't what Greeny needed? She would make for a fantastic mascot though. Adorable, and matching Ralph's hair and eye colors perfectly. They were meant to be, honestly.

She picked her rat up with a smirk. "I'll think about it. Thanks for the idea, dork."

Aberdeen first looked a bit taken aback by being called dork, but then just laughed.

"Where did you even find an Onix anyways?"

"In Rock Tunnel, of course! You should have seen Arianne's face when she met it for the first time! Well, I didn't see if fully because me and Wartortle were deep in the underground lake at the time but-"

"Youuu hung out with Ari in the tunnel?" Ralph asked, very bad at hiding her sudden tension. "And Eric evolved?"

Aberdeen nodded and stared into the distance as if he was mentally reliving the memory of whatever adventure they had had. "Yeah, man, it was intense. Cave monsters! Sunken ancient treasure! Several Onix! This dude Niels had one too-"

"You met Niels too?"

"You met Niels too?"

They stared at each other for a second, before Aberdeen burst into laughter agian. "Wish you could have been there! It'd have helped against all those wild pokémon."

"Mhm," Ralph muttered, folding her arms without thinking about it.

"What, jealous? Did you have a boring tunnel trip?" Aberdeen said with a wink.

Ralph just rolled her eyes. "So how was Ari doing? Did she get here okay, or...?"

"Haven't you talked to her since? She's here too now, yeah. In Lavender. You got her number in Cerulean, I thought?"

Ralph shrugged and retreated further into the cushions of the couch where they both were sitting.

Aberdeen suddenly seemed flustered. "Ooookay, I don't know what this is about but sorry that I asked. She, uh, seemed happy! She didn't mention you."

"She wouldn't," Ralph grunted.

"Why not?"

"Weren't you sorry you asked?"

The boy blushed now and looked away before he stood up. "Um. Whatever. Sorry. I'll go check if the pokémon are healthy now."

Ralph immediately felt like the biggest jerk in the universe. Aberdeen was literally always a package of positivity, and she was just being mean. In school, she literally wouldn't have paid any attention to Montany or cared about how he felt. But now? She was alone on the journey, except for the people she survived adventures with. Aberdeen had been one of them. She forced herself to dump her negativity in the tunnels of Rock, all in one microsecond.

"Wait, sorry. Fuck. Sorry."

"Whoa, language, Ralph!" Aberdeen said, but he seemed to feel more at ease already.

Ralph sighed very loudly and demonstratively. "I was a dick to Ari too, and then just left her without saying anything. She probably hates me."

Aberdeen leaned his head to the side, as if thinking hard. "I doubt it. She hated being in the tunnels, but I don't think she was, like... Upset. Maybe you should just talk to her? Say you're sorry?"

Now it was Ralph's turn to blush. "Just like that?" she spat.

The boy shrugged. "Why not?"

As he went up to the pokémon center counter, Ralph pulled out her pokégear and stared at Ari's contact. But she put it away again when Aberdeen waved her to come. She couldn't really bring herself to call or text Ari. It felt silly. Cringy.

But she had survived and dealt with Rock Tunnel, family drama, and lost a gym battle without losing her soul. Facing Ari was probably the next thing she needed to sort out. At some point.

Richard Wolstenholme​

Lavender Town, May 24^th, Afternoon

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Chapter 5 - 5
Battle at the Haunted Tower - Finale​

"Well, it's now one on one, your luck has ran out and I don't have any intent to let you win. Smog won't work to deal damage this time, but I still have a ton of arsenal that's super-effective against your Bronzor."

Richard only put up a serious face as Jarmie declared her confidence.

"Fire Spin!"

"Confusion, rubble shield now!"

The spiral of flames coming out from the Lamp Pokemon failed to make contact as it was immediately intercepted by the debris surrounding the battlefield. The debris itself consolidated in front of the Iron Mirror Pokemon who used its psychic power to manipulate its surrounding to its advantage.

"Smart, but let's see how long you can withstand this, Smog!"

Richard gazed in horror as he finally realized how bad the air condition had become. The dark purple smoke already spread towards outside of the battlefield, worsening the sight and breathing condition of everyone inside, even Laura who stood far away from the center of the conflict was not safe from the poisonous gas.

But even with the horrible condition, Richard saw Jarmie's determination painted ever strongly on her face. He deduced that whatever it is between her and Laura, it's also the reason why she dares to bet her own safety as long as she wins. Even so, he wouldn't surrender nor pull his punches as doing so is a huge disrespect to both Eileen and Victor's who tried their best to deliver their trainer a worthy victory.

Argh... I need to finish this as fast as I can. Richard covered his mouth and nose as much as he could with his left arm.

"Confusion!"

Victor emits another psychic energy around it to clear the fog and repel whatever Lampent tries to throw against it, but to its surprise the poisonous fog around it disappears without any signs of Lampent.

"Will-o-Wisp!"

"Confusion!"

Another makeshift wall made of stone and whatever rubble available was erected once more, this time Victor treads more carefully as it creates a wall around it. It was almost a surefire defense mechanism… Almost...

"Got you!"

Instead of appearing behind the Iron Mirror Pokemon like before, Lampent emerged above Victor leading the Iron Mirror Pokemon to be trapped inside it's own defense, leading it to be easily doused by the blue flames turning its body bright red in the process.

"Smog!"

"Jarmie! It's enough!" Laura screamed from the control panel.

"Shut up!" *Cough!* *Cough!*

"Urgh… The air…" Richard wheezed as he tried his best to not choke on the fumes.

The smoke was already too dense for the health of the participants, not even Jarmie's Lampent was free from the gruelling effect it inflicted.

Thankfully Laura already started to run towards the door, realizing it's the right time to intervene as both Jarmie and Richard's safety in stake she opened the entrance door as wide as possible, causing the Smog to disperse slowly and returning the visibility of both Pokemon and their trainers.

Jarmie gathered her breath as much as she could before ordering her Lampent to strike once more. "Ember!"

"Confusion!"

Trying their best to ignore the effect of the Smog that was already affecting them, both Jarmie and Richard continued the battle with all their remaining concentration. Not willing to give up the victory for their own reasons.

Victor and Lampent both valiantly fought against one another even if both of them already suffered from status conditions, both of them traded several attacks without backing down at all.

"I have enough of this, time to end this! Minimize!"

"Confusion!"

Victor released a powerful blast of psychic energy much to the Lampent's shock. The Lamp Pokemon was already used to the debris usage that it didn't expect a psychic energy blast. The blast caused him to be staggered, opening it to another attack opportunity.

"Hypnosis!"

Victor's eyes turned bright blue as a wave of energy with the same colour bursted out from his eyes, putting its opponent into a deep slumber.

"Lampent, wake up!"

"Payback!"

Unable to respond to it's trainer's call, the Lamp Pokemon was on the receiving end of a harsh strike from the Bronzor launching it to the wall which cracked upon impact.

"Again, Pay—"

Just as Richard was about to wrap the battle, the Iron Mirror Pokemon eventually fell. Unable to soldier on due to the damage it sustained. All while the Lamp Pokemon, slowly but surely levitated out from the corner.

The battle was a victory for Jarmie, but instead of a celebration there was only dead silence between both participants. Jarmie hung her head down due to how she won while Richard was unable to find the right words to say.

He knew it was wrong for her to endanger both of them, but… For someone who didn't know anything about what happened between Jarmie and Laura, he didn't think that it should be him who should speak to Jarmie regarding this. And just as he was about to turn his head to call Laura.

"What hell are you thinking huh!? You're trying to get the three of us killed!?" Laura shouted as she pinched Jarmie's right ear, twisting it as hard as she could.

"Ouch! Stop it!"

"I will when you stop endangering yourself trying to impress me! I-I… Why!? Why do you have to…" Laura struggled to talk as tears started to flow from her face.

"Laura, I—"

Richard stood while lowering his head, he was not sure what to say to help Laura who was hugged by Jarmie to pacify her cry. He didn't know anything about her problem to say something constructive, yet at the same time he didn't feel like it's the right thing to just leave them alone like that.

"If I may… I know I'm probably overstepping my boundaries here, I don't even know why you guys are like this... But, I think you guys should… Talk it out, it's just that I... Don't want you guys to regret it if you don't… Uh, you know… Talk... Because I've been there before and yeah, it's I… Yeah, well… You get the point." Richard rubbed his head as he looked away to hide his awkwardness.

"Pfft… You're a really kind person aren't you, Richard?" Laura giggled happily as she wiped her tears from her face.

After a bit of conversation, Richard decided to leave Jarmie and Laura alone to sort out their issue with each other. Even if he wasn't sure that the dialogue would result in a proper conclusion, he was content enough that both of them have good intentions, even if they couldn't express them properly.

Just as the young man was about to leave the two girls behind, he turned his back to see the two of them bicker once more causing an old memory to resurface...

"We'll be friends forever, won't we?"

Richard closed his eyes as he remembered the words that once gave him comfort, he walked as fast as he could without arousing suspicion towards the exit door to avoid Laura and Jarmie from realizing the tears that were slowly rolling down his face.

I guess no matter how much you try… Trying to escape your own past is futile indeed...
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Richard Wolstenholme​

Lavender Town, May 24^th, Afternoon

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Chapter 5 - 6
A Start of an Unexpected Adventure?
Ft. Courtney Nair and Sarah Sherwood​

"Come on Sarah! We can't pass this up. That Rotom is ours!"

An unassuming brunette girl took another bite of her dessert. "I don't buy it. It's not worth it to break rules like that…"

"That's the second time you tell me no, I expected better of you!" the redhead in front of her complained.

"So what, I have my reasons. I don't do it to be mean and you know that, Courtney."

"And I have my reasons to go anyways! But still… just a little help, how hard can it be?"

Most people had already got their lunch and left the restaurant, but among those who were still there, these two girls were definitely the loudest. Luckily, they were sitting at a small table near the corner of the room, away from the other trainers.

Darn, this is awkward… I should focus on my lunch, but yet... Richard tried his best to avoid their suspicion that he eavesdropped on them, to help support his ruse he aimlessly tinkered with his phone app while his ears were fully focused on skimming important information he could scavenge.

He wasn't too keen on the idea of listening through someone else's conversation that didn't involve him especially since the reason he came to the restaurant was purely because he needed some food, but rumors regarding an elusive Pokemon like Rotom? It wasn't something he could pass up that easily. He had no intention to catch the Rotom, but he wasn't going to let the chance to see one slip by.

Actually eavesdropping from Courtney wasn't even that fruitful, the boy had to go through many complaints before getting much information. Not like she seemed to care at first: she was just too busy trying to get Sarah on board.

It was only when she started to lose hope on her friend actually tagging along that she decided to look around the room… and was given an opportunity to get someone else - anyone, really - involved. That's all that mattered to her in the end.

"You there!" Courtney got up from her seat and walked towards Richard. "You heard it all didn't you? Do you know what that means?"

In the meantime, Sarah facepalmed, but went unnoticed by both.

"Uh, excuse me?" Richard was utterly confused, this time he wasn't even playing dumb at all.

"Oh please, don't act so innocent! Since you overheard me, now you're in the mission! You're coming with me tonight!" Courtney proclaimed, winking at Richard.

Richard tilted his head, confused with Courtney's logic. "Okay… I'll admit that I'm actually eavesdropping to your conversation, but um... I don't think it's a good idea to invite me."

"Hahaha, so I was right!" Courtney laughed, victorious. "Now, if you've eavesdropped you've also heard that I need some help, right? Sigh…" she paused. "How dare you not to help a girl in need!"

Sarah, in the meantime, was herself trying to eavesdrop her friend from her seat, hoping that she'd just come back and stop bothering strangers. But… she already knew, that was not a very Courtney thing to do.

"I... Hate to rain on your parade, but I think you skipped through so many steps… You would like to invite me, a complete stranger who you don't even know his name and you know purposefully eavesdropped on your conversation to hunt a rare Pokemon you aim to find? I'm sorry Miss, I really am, but even if you invite me, I would just be an excess baggage. You should invite a much more trustworthy and competent trainer instead of me."

"Excuses, excuses! Trust me, the more we are the better. Now would you just come to our table so we can plan out our adventure…?" Courtney almost interrupted Richard, still a smug expression on her face.

"Oh my, look at the time! Haha… I didn't realize it took this long for me to eat my lunch." Richard nervously glanced towards his phone, faking an urgency to get the hell out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. "I'm really sorry, I really do… but I have to go now. I wish the best of luck for both of you on your search for Rotom, thank you for the conversation, bye!" Richard stood up from his seat before he courteously bowed, he then tried his best to escape the restaurant, but alas…

"Both of you? But she's not even coming! Do you understand the problem now? I'm not gonna get another chance!" Courtney complained, fake tears on her face. "And if you think you're not that good, why not prove it with a battle? You do seem strong after all!"

The red haired girl then smiled slightly: she had just come up with the best idea of the day. "Let's say… if you win, it means you have all it takes to be the prince for this damsel in distress. And if you lose, you owe me, so you'll have to tag along!" Courtney whispered in Richard's ear, after grabbing him by the hand.

Oh no… She's not going to give up isn't she. Do I even have the heart to leave a girl alone in a cemetery? I'm not sure… Exploring the graveyard at night doesn't sound like a good idea, but… Argh… Oh well, Might as well get this over with. Richard tried his best to find the best answer as possible, after he was roped into signing the petition that the Pokemon Tower followers made, another chance of trouble was not something he was very eager to look after.

"...I don't have any say on this, do I? Fine, let's battle… I guess… But umm… On one condition."

"What on Earth are you doing Courtney!?" Sarah quickly appeared behind her friend. "What did this boy even do to you! You're really outdoing yourself… Come back to our table right now!" She pulled the red haired girl away from Richard, gesturing at the ice cream that she left melting unattended. Of course, Courtney pulled Richard along as well, creating some sort of human chain. "I'm not letting him go now!" She cried out in defiance.

"What's this condition? It better be something I can get behind." Courtney turned to the boy.

"Whether I win or lose, I'm leading the way. Deal?" Richard put out his hand for a handshake.

"It's already too late uh? Whoever you are, are you sure about this? I'm Sarah by the way, nice to meet you!" The brunette introduced herself.

"You seem quite confident, boy… Deal I guess. I'll do my best!" Courtney smirked in the meantime, with an expression that really just said otherwise.

"Uh… Well, honestly I'm not, but I think your friend had made up her mind. I'm Richard, nice to meet you too!"

"Oh but you don't have to do her bidding, you need to stand up to her!" Sarah explained. "I suppose you're from Cape, right Richard?"

In the meantime Courtney just stood there, eyeing Sarah carefully. "Just what are you trying to do?"

"The right thing!" the brunette hastily answered, grinning happily, much to the dismay of her friend.

"You're not mistaken, Sarah. And judging by the way you mentioned Cape… I presume you both came from Safari, am I right? Also, I think even if I refuse, your friend would just storm the cemetery alone and… I… I just can't leave her like that. Although, I really appreciate your concern, I really do… But I guess it's inevitable at this point." Richard smiled towards Sarah as he tried his best to convince Sarah that he was fine with it, even if he actually had a lot of problems with Courtney's plan.

"Yes we did study and there!" Courtney explained. "Alongside some other people who wanna find this Rotom but don't deserve it."

"Is that how it is, Richard? Then…" Sarah paused and thought about what to do for a while, without paying attention to her friend's words. "I might as well come along then and help you two out."

"Oh really? Richard, what did you do to her?" Courtney asked, baffled.

"I really appreciate it, Sarah. Should we battle now, then? I have something to do, remember?" Richard reused his excuse from before to hasten up the battle, the quicker it ended the better it'll be for both him and Sarah.

"Oho! Sure, we can do a one-on-one! But to make it more spicy… if you lose, you'll have to get another trainer to come with the three of us! Let's go-"

Sarah interrupted Courtney, who was definitely excited out of her mind because of how well things were turning out for her. "First of all, your molten ice cream is waiting for you. Second, we need to pay. And third, don't you think you've asked enough favors to a stranger today?"

"You can be so annoying at times! How many times have I told you this Rotom-searching adventure is so important?" she answered, unamused, but eventually complied and sat back down at her table. She finished her dessert as Sarah, once she grabbed her stuff and pulled out her Trainer card, started talking in Richard's ear.

"Don't know if you've noticed but, we're all very scared of that graveyard and Courtney is first in line. Usually she'd go alone - I didn't think she'd go as far as to bother you but the fact she did means she's really scared. And that got me wary as well. But… I guess if we find more people, we can make it through, while also keeping her in check. Sorry she dragged you into this but…" the brunette explained, trying her best to go unnoticed by Courtney, "but hopefully we can turn this into a win-win situation!"

"I certainly hope so, thanks for sticking up with us. Otherwise… Well I don't want to think what will happen otherwise." Whispered Richard while eyeing Courtney who was still busy with her dessert.

"Hey, what are you talking about you two?" Courtney remarked, as she eventually finished her ice cream. "I trust in you, but this doesn't help!"

"Nothing important, really. So, shall we fight? Or… Maybe you have second thoughts?" Richard skillfully changed the conversation topic to avoid suspicion.

"Of course I wanna fight! Right now, on the battlefield outside… once we pay I guess. After what happened last night, I'm so eager to win again!" Courtney cheered as she walked towards the counter, followed in tow by Sarah. "Haha! You'll get used to her if you stick to it!" she commented as she turned to Richard, getting a pout from her friend.

"Haha, this might not be as bad as I thought." Richard giggled, as he followed both of them to the counter to pay for his own meal.
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Bruno Dillinger
May 24, Friday

The main arena's doors shutter closed behind the four of them before Casey actually remembers.

"Wait, Jordan, you're not battling at all?'

"Of course I am! Just… not now," Jordan quickly turns to Vera and Bruno, changing the subject. "Congrats, you two!"

"How did you even pull off that win? I didn't, uh, see the beginning of it." If Casey's lucky, the younger boy won't notice the new scratches Ginger put on his arms when he'd gripped her too tightly. But Casey's not always lucky. And Bruno's perceptive, and basically eye level with those scratches anyway.

Jordan had pulled him out from under the bench when he came back in. Casey gives him a warning look and sighs. He may have also had his eyes closed under there. Yeah, he has a problem. But that's not the point right now. So he waits for Bruno to gather his thoughts.

"No idea." Bruno answers. "Well, I actually planned a counter for the Magnemite. Emolga was improvisation. Flaaffy was luck… kinda. How did it go for you?"

"I forfeited." It kind of stings, a little, to have forfeited and then watched two of his classmates succeed. Vera with her stubbornness and Bruno with his intellect. And he couldn't win even with Beaumont giving him leeway. Oh, right… "I didn't like what he did. He put Magnemite against Pepper, like he was trying to go easy on me. That ain't right."

Bruno just nods. He takes his time to think for an answer, but eventually it comes to him. "Now that you mention it… something similar happened against Emolga. He could pretty much have finished Shir while it was in the air, but instead waited for me to somehow get up there. It was weird."

And he'd even told the guy not to pull the same stunt on his friends! Rude. "Hope other gym leaders aren't like that. I want a fair fight, even if I'm gonna lose. At least then I'd learn somethin'. Well, okay, I learned some things. But he shouldn't have done that! 'S rude."

"I don't know what you two are complaining about. He didn't go easy on me at all!" Vera crosses her arms as she complains. "But I agree, he was rude at times."

"There's no-" Casey begins, but catches himself quickly. Bonnie had type advantage, and her hits were solid. Maybe Beaumont didn't go easy on Vera. Maybe Beaumont had been going all-out, and Vera won anyway. With a single Pokémon, basically.

Aurelia prob'ly did similar.

No, who cares what his sister did? She hadn't fought Beaumont.

But Vera and Bruno had.

And they won.

"Nothin' more rude than people not taking you seriously," he says, and feels the slight discomfort of hypocrisy. Hadn't he just thought that of Vera? "I took him seriously. Used everything I could think of!" And still lost. "And made stuff up, too. Just couldn't- didn't have any way to get at that Emolga, really." He sighs again. "Ginger needs more diverse moves."

Vera shrugs. "I noticed that. She only really has the one trick, doesn't she? She just hits things really hard."

"Same as Bonnie, huh?" Casey retorts. Ah. No, hold your tongue. "Least Ginger's fast." No, that's not-

Vera immediately turns on Casey. "You wish she was as strong as Bonnie. Who cares if she's not that fast? Did you see her take on that Heliolisk? Where did speed get him? A bone to the face, that's where!"

"If she didn't have Bone Club you'd'a been shit outta luck! And Sapphire wouldn't'a lasted thirty seconds if you had t' use her!"

"H-hey… you guys…" Jordan timidly attempts to diffuse the situation, but his interjection falls on deaf ears.

"You don't know that! She's as fast as Ginger, and has some good tricks. You just never saw them because they weren't useful in Rock Tunnel. Not that I needed to use all my Pokémon."

She swept Beaumont with only Bonnie, because- "Nah, ya just had to flail around with a super effective move! Job done!"

"Yeah? Well… I won! I could have won with Sapphire, too! I'll prove it right now! She can beat anyone on your team, super effective or not!"

"What is happening?" Jordan wonders aloud. Maybe he was talking to Bruno. Maybe to himself, or genuinely asking a question. Casey doesn't really care enough to answer him at the moment.

"Fine! Sapphire against Ginger, right here, right now!"

"You're on!" Vera grabs Sapphire's ball, looking more confident now than she had against Beaumont.

Casey barely catches Bruno's soft, unaffected goodbye to Jordan and raises a hand in farewell as the boy disappears. Whatever. He doesn't need an audience.

He just needs an outlet.

This is good. This is very good for him. This party is exactly the sort of thing Casey likes to insinuate himself into. He hasn't had much opportunity since starting at Cape, but that hasn't dimmed his enthusiasm for such events. Perhaps to someone with data to compare it would seem like it has- he's so far stuck to a much smaller area than he normally would. But it's not like anyone here knows him well enough to notice a difference. And he's not yet itching to go explore the rest of the festival. Though it won't be long. He has visited every stand in his little radius at least twice so far.

He joins the queue once again at one stand in particular, eventually requesting a specific drink along with a few fruit skewers. Third time he's been here for food, first time he's gotten a drink. He has Ginger hold the skewers as he wanders back toward where he'd left Jordan. Pepper would have complained less, but as the plaza became more crowded Casey had opted to put him away rather than potentially set someone on fire.

He walks along the row of chest-high hedges, counting under his breath. Fourth one... He dangles the skewers over the hedge and they're quickly snatched up, as is the pink-tinged drink he offers next.

A noise of disgust precedes grey eyes peeking over the hedge to glare at him. "Casey, what the hell is this?"

Vera brushes leaves out of her white hair as she stands up properly, irritation obviously trumping anxiety. Casey grins at her anyway. "It's punch!"

Vera shakes the cup lightly, making the ice rattle inside. "They call this punch?"

"Okay, I did water it down a little, but-"

"This isn't 'watered down', you spiked a glass of water with a splash of punch! Go get me a real one."

Casey holds his hand out for the cup, but Vera pulls back, keeping it out of his reach. "No, I'm keeping this one, because I'm still thirsty. Just… go get me a real one." She sits back down, once again hidden from the sight of casual passersby.

Casey rolls his eyes at Vera's hedge, then again as he passes Jordan watching those performers they'd spoken to earlier, bobbing his head to the music but completely off-beat. This has basically been his night so far, fetching things for Vera after dragging her from her room because she's holding her highly debatable win over his head and also gets spooked by groups of more than six people. There's gotta be a thousand here; most of Lavender must have turned out for this thing. Amazing! Casey wonders if he'll meet this birthday girl, this Jarmie. Maybe. Though probably not at this same food stall.

This time he requests two parts water and one part punch. Nobody needs that kind of sugar; it's nasty and dehydrating. Vera won't realize, not after he's primed her with the earlier concoction. And indeed she doesn't, though she does look at him with some suspicion. Damn, Casey, neutral face. Not smug.

Vera accepts the drink with a shrug. "Thank you. I should be fine now. I'll be here if you need me."

"Well yeah, you haven't really gone anywhere else. Don't you wanna go see stuff?"

"It's fine. I'm just… partied out." She maintains eye contact for about one second, then looks away from him with a sigh. "Okay, for real, this isn't my scene. I actually kinda hate this. But you… you shouldn't be stuck here with me. I'm probably just gonna go back to my room and get ready for later. You can go enjoy the rest of the party. If I really need something, I… Jordan can come find you."

He knows Vera is kind of antisocial, but not wanting to explore is just weird. Aren't they on a journey to explore? But if she's sure, well… "I'll be back later!"

He bounces randomly from performance to performance, not yet spending much time with vendors as he lets himself be tugged along by the flow of things. Some of the crowd he recognizes- Cape students, trainers from the gym, the woman who sold him Pepper's tanbō- and he chats briefly with several of them. Sees Noel, briefly, but doesn't dare get close to that show. Continues wandering.

It's a beautiful evening, even if that group of ghosts has spiked his heart rate. Why'd she have to use all of those, anyway? He likes her shows. But he can't hang around there, not when she does something like that.

As he's walking, a familiar Rockruff bounds up to Casey. "Oh, hi, Iggy!" Glancing around as he scratches the puppy, he spots Vera a short distance away, trying to get his attention.

Jordan joins up with them too, as Vera scoops up Iggy. "It'll be dark soon. We're going to find those Safari boys now. Just wanted to let you know. We'll see you later, okay?"

Casey tries not to hover nervously. There's no way he's going with them, and he can't stop them from going, and it wouldn't be good for anyone if he tried anyway. They can handle themselves. Well, they can make their own decisions. And they don't have such a problem with Ghost-types. So they'll be fine. Maybe. Maybe he should…

No, he can't go. He knows that.

"If you don't- if you aren't back when I wake up, then, uh, I'll… I'll call Ralph? And she'll go find you." Yes. Good plan. Ralph can do pretty much anything; a graveyard won't be a problem for her.

He wishes it wasn't a problem for him.

"Don't worry, Casey, we'll be fine!" Vera tries to reassure him, then seems confused. "Wait… who's Ralph?"

"Wh- Ralph Gonder? She's got purple hair, dark skin, nose ring…" Vera nods slowly, but is still looking at him blankly. That's baffling. How can she not know Ralph? "You went to school together for three years."

"Oh. Well… I don't think I had any classes with her, then. It was a big school."

"It really wasn't." Casey shakes his head as Jordan snickers. He's getting distracted. "But, uh. Come back safe?"

"We'll be fine Casey. We could even bring you back something cool! Maybe a Rotom?" Vera smiles slyly at him.

"If you do that I will literally die." He actually might. Rotom can probably cause heart attacks, right? Phase through you and stick some nasty ghostly electricity through your heart. Casey presses his lips together as if that will help repress the shudder rolling up his spine. "Do not bring me anything."

"Whatever," Jordan sighs. "You're missing out on a cool experience."

He knows. But it's not enough of a regret to override the fear. "Be safe," he says instead, and waves them off.

He's not quite sure what he's going to do if they come back possessed.

A voice at his elbow makes him jump, the water in his glass suddenly all over his shoes. "Hey, hey, don't look so worried!"

Casey's verbal keysmash is met with a reasonable amount of comprehension- zero- so he forces his words to align properly into the most pressing question: "Are you working right now?"

"Well, technically yes but mostly no!" Sorley tilts their head, hair bouncing even tied up in twin puffs as it is, and laughs. "No no, wait wait, that's not what you really want to know! My Pokémon aren't with me. That's what I was gonna say anyway! Don't look so worried- Golurk and Sableye are up at the graveyard!"

Casey really does not see how this should make him less worried. "So…?"

"So? So Golurk will look out for people! And bring them to me if they're in trouble! Like he did with you! So! Your friends will be fine." Sorley loops their arm through Casey's, yellow batwing sleeves somehow not a hindrance, and tugs him into the crowd. "Hey, hey, you should stick with me! Then you can help them if Golurk has to bring them back, yeah?"

He shoots a last glance in the direction his friends had left in as he's pulled further into the excitement. Well, not like I can do anything else about it. "Besides," Sorley, says, as if adding onto Casey's own train of thought, "you're athletic and stuff, right? Right? I want to do that."

Casey glances to where Sorley's pointing and sees pairs of performers twirling, leaping, lifting, and throwing each other in tune with lively music.

"Oh, absolutely!"

Casey lifts Sorley from the hips and tosses them high into a flip, catching their heels and bending his knees to take the impact of their feet coming down on his shoulders. Yes! They've been trying to do that one for a while. It's been a little rough on his scraped palms, but so worth it. Sorley grins down at him, hair falling even further out of their puffy ponytails as Casey spins, slow and controlled, reaching up to catch their left hand with his right in preparation for breaking stance. Casey is strong, and Sorley is light and agile, and that's a great combination for mimicking the performers. Ginger had tapped out after their first stumble- there's no way they can do everything the acrobats are doing, of course not. They're having fun trying, though, and dancing in between attempts!

But they don't go back to their silly moves and dramatic twirls, not this time, because Sorley's attention is captured halfway through their dismount; their expression turns sharp and they're patting his head urgently. "Let me down, let me down-" As soon as their feet hit the ground they're darting through the crowd, tugging Casey along by the cuff of his jacket, ignoring muffled curses and yelps from those they shove aside. They break past a tightly packed wall of bodies in tandem with a resounding thwack and Casey's trying to take everything in while still moving- the circle of onlookers surrounding two parties, a teenager crumpling to the ground, a flushed woman following through on her hook, her two friends' cheers hardly heard above the gang of teens screaming at them. The woman wobbles, steps back to right herself, and Sorley skids to a sudden halt between her and her victim. Casey has to dance around them to avoid tripping, finds his footing only by using their shoulders for balance.

"Whoa whoa whoa hey hey hey what's happening?" For being so small, Sorley easily commands attention. It's probably due to how well they can project, actually- not the time! Way too much going on right now! The assailant blinks- she seems confused, eyes darting around until they land on the person still on the ground behind Casey. Understanding washes over her face and now Casey understands, too- wobbly, flushed, slow on the uptake- drunk. Her friends behind her, too. The others?

With Sorley and Casey- well, mostly Casey- providing a barrier, the unconscious teenager's friends have dragged him to their edge of the ring. None of the voices clamoring for Sorley's attention are slurred, neither of the teens rallying behind Casey are off-balance. He still can't make heads or tails of their story, though, not with the adults in front of them shouting just as loud.

"HEY!" Casey yells, and thankfully the group quiets just long enough for him to point at one of the teens. "You- what's goin' on?"

"She punched Ethan!"

"Yeah, saw that- why?"

"They've been harassin' us all night, all night, we din't do anything-"

"Ah- sch- no-" Sorley shushes the assailant. Her eyes narrow- not great- but she does shut up. "He wasn't askin' you. But-" they turn back to the teenager. "that true?"

"Might be," the boy sulks.

"Nah, nah, c'mon," Sorley's easy tone settles the teens even more. "Help me figure this out."

"Haven't been followin' them all night. Didn't even see them 'till an hour ago." The rest of the teens murmur in various tones of agreement. Aside from Ethan, still out cold with an already-purpling jaw. As Sorley coaxes more of the story from the teens, Casey surreptitiously slides his phone out of his pocket and texts some details to an emergency number. Head injuries are not to be taken lightly.

Huh, Sorley's doing well, Casey thinks, tuning back in, and curses himself immediately as the argument swells again.

"They don't belong here," the boy spits. "All those factory workers, comin' in actin' like this is their town now, actin' like they can come in and celebrate the Warden's birthday, as if they care, no! They're just here for cheap booze. They don't deserve to be here! Go back to your barracks, freeloaders!" - "Trespassers!" - "Leeches!" - "Thieves!"

Sorley again attempts to mediate, but the teens are loud and the adults start in on them as well, insults flying back and forth as both groups lunge at each other. The surrounding crowd, too, is rallying for a fight, egging both groups on, forcing them closer together as the ring shrinks inward. The bottleneck they're creating is a mixed blessing; neither party can get at the other, not with Casey and Sorley between them, but that means the two are very firmly trapped between eight people who are actively trying to punch each other. Casey catches a wrist just before its wild swing catches him in the face, blocking an attempt on the other side with his elbow, and thinks now what?! He's never fought anyone, not for real, what's he supposed to do?

The woman tears her wrist out of his grasp and a single step back is all the warning he gets before she body-checks him. He doesn't go down, but he feels Sorley stumble and gasp at the impact and he can't even focus on them because the other two adults are piling on and it takes all he has to stand his ground, and really now what?! I gotta get out, how do I get out?! His stance is all wrong and he's going down any second, he knows it, his heels sliding back and knees buckling under the weight of three others-

Several people scream in unison.

And Casey's falling forward, all that resistance no longer needed against bodies that aren't there. He catches himself on one knee, looks up to see people falling away, as if a blast of force has radiated from where Sorley's hand rests on his back. The blue glow outlining human forms fades as they hit the edges of the circle pit and crumple against the onlookers' feet.

Casey grits his teeth against the cold sweat breaking out along the back of his neck. Can't go down right now.

But he also can't stand up.

Sorley's fingers tap gently on his shoulderblades and he focuses on that, focuses on breathing, definitely doesn't focus on that terrifying demonstration of power- no! Barely hears Sorley commanding the dissolution of the crowd, notes vaguely the arrival of someone official. He reaches for his PokéBalls but something flits in front of him and he jumps, gasp harsh in his ears, PokéBalls clattering away. His broken focus picks up on Sorley speaking more quickly than even their usual- "Yes yes thank you Missy love you lots really appreciate it I'll see you later leave before he passes out-" and Casey sits heavily, vision starting to blur around the edges.

But Sorley's there, hands on his face, forcing him to look at them. "Hey, hey, he's gone- look at me- don't worry, he's gone, they're all gone, you can breathe now. Do it. C'mon. With me, yeah? Breathe."

It's hard.

But he gets there, shaky breaths eventually slowing to match Sorley's. Patient, is the first real thought he has. For someone so busy, they're really patient.

He's still shaking, but he's in control again. He glances up into concerned but unfamiliar faces. Clears his throat as Sorley sits back on their heels. "Hi."

"Hello," one of them responds quietly. "We need a statement from you. Are you able to do that right now?"

"Uh." He glances to Sorley, who pats his knee. "Yeah, that's fine."

Casey bounces back quickly.

He kind of has to. If he doesn't pick himself up, who will?

Well, Sorley did. This time. And before, in Cerulean. And Jordan always does, like in Rock Tunnel. Vera did too.

For all his ideas about self-sufficiency, he's been rescued by others with worrisome frequency.

He frowns. Sorley pokes him in the side. "Hey, hey, you can't frown at a party!"

"I can frown wherever I want," is his petualent response, then remembers he's not talking to Jordan. His filter's really off-kilter. He'd thought it was because of Jordan, but- no, he never solved that, did he? It might be Jordan. But it's also dropping around Sorley, now, and he's only met them twice. It's probably all related, somehow.

For all his ideas about constantly moving, he's been stuck on this… thing with Jordan for the better part of a day now.

He's really got to shake this off.

Sorley looks at him quizzically as he shakes his head, but Casey heads them off by letting his mouth turn up into his usual easy grin. "Let's go see stuff, huh?"

They wander, more room for idle chatter now that they're not persistently out of breath from trying to keep up with professional dancers. No, Casey hasn't gotten any Pokémon items yet. Yes, Ginger is warming up to him more. Oh, right, they have nicknames now. Pepper Bomb- yes, after the hot sauce- is a Charmeleon now, and he accidentally caught a Skiddo named Parsley. Why is Casey here?

"What? Uh, this is the way we're s'posed to go. Why are you here?"

"Working! I told you earlier, didn't I?"

"Well, you said technically-" Sorley cuts him off with a dismissive wave.

"There are many many nuances! We have a booth here somewhere that I'm working at but I only am working here and now because there's a party!"

"Who's 'we'?"

"My coworker's here too! Probably at our booth. I hope? She should be, anyway."

"As should you!"

Casey startles at Sorley's shriek as they're scooped up and thrown over the shoulder of a brown-haired woman, perhaps in her thirties and broadly of Casey's stature. "No no Britney whyyyy!"

"Because you're supposed to be helping me," Britney says, striding away quickly enough that Casey has to jog to keep up. "I knew you just wanted to hang out at a party and not actually work!"

"Is that so bad?" Sorley grumbles, chin propped in one hand and making faces at Casey as he tries to keep up as they wind through the bustling crowd. "I made a friend! No, well, no- I made a friend a few days ago, but I found him again here! I couldn't find him if I just sat at a stinky booth all night, could I?"

"The booth isn't stinky, it smells like leather." Britney ignores Sorley's complaints and drops them behind said booth, gesturing in a way that apparently means "put the wares back out, will you?" because Sorley does just that, pouting all the while. "This your Cape College friend?" Sorley grumbles an affirmative.

"Yeah, uh, hi. I'm Casey."

"Britney; nice to meet you." She shakes his hand firmly and eyes him critically. "I heard someone asking around about Cape trainers earlier, wondering if they had gotten to Lavender yet. Guess you have. Did your classmates make it?"

He'd passed by Noel's show, and a few other familiar faces in the crowds. And Bruno at the gym. And of course Jordan and Vera… "Yeah, I think they did. I haven't seen everybody yet, though…"

"Maybe you should check in with them."

Maybe he should.

But right now it's Sorley that's demanding attention, showing him different styles of Mega Stone accessories. "Hey, hey, did you pick which one you're going to Mega-Evolve yet?" Casey shakes his head. That's still a difficult question. And he doesn't even have a Keystone, let alone the appropriate Mega Stones. Sorley laughs brightly, assuring him that they'll be around when they do figure it out.

And under their breath, "See the games booths kind of to the left-ish? Wait over there- I can get away again in about fifteen minutes."

They pretend to wave goodbye for the night with Britney keeping a fairly suspicious stare trained on Sorley, and Casey meanders away, letting the shuffling crowd obscure him. A glimpse of hair the same color as his own has him turning sharply, but the person is gone before he can really look at her. Ugh, that's what he gets for worrying all day about how he's doing compared to his sister. Starts seeing her places she's not. That's annoying.

Bet Aurelia's not debilitatingly afraid of Ghosts…

No! He's not gonna let either of those ruin the rest of his evening!

He joins the crowd gathered around one of the booths. It's for a balloon popping game, but something's weird- Casey gathers that the line has not been moving, and he wonders why that could be for about half a second before he spots the problem and shoulders his way to the front.

"Hi, Debbie!"

She doesn't pay any attention to him. Not until she throws her last dart at a yellow balloon, popping it!

"Yes! Eiscue, Eiscue, Eiscue!" she yells in excitement pointing at a small plushie hanging at the top.

"You only popped one balloon…" the man hosting the game says in a very annoyed tone, taking an even smaller plushie from a shelf to his right. "You get a Meowth or a Seel, you choose."

"Ugh." Debbie goes quiet for a bit, and points at the Seel. Then puts her hand in his pocket and takes out… nothing. "No money…"

"Aww. Don't worry it happens! Tell your parents to give you more next time and come again!" the man says, and in a lower voice he adds. "Or don't."

Debbie picks up five more plushies from the ground and starts walking away, too concentrated on not dropping any of them to realize she is about to crash into Casey. He sets a hand on each of her shoulders and holds her at arms' length. "Geez, watch where you're going! What are you doing with all of those?"

Debbie raises her head to look at him without hiding her disappointment. "Oh, hi, buoy kid." she says. "I wanted that Eiscue over there, but got all of these instead and now I'm out of money. I'll probably leave them in my room once I get back to Vermilion. Do you want one?"

Casey inspects her armful. Misdreavus, Seel, Minccino, Skitty, Gastly and Bounsweet… "How about you win me a Charmander one? Here, I've got money- get that Eiscue, too."

Her expression changes as soon as Casey hands her the money. She drops all of her prizes and jumps at him to hug him, which would have probably dropped anyone smaller. Hugs of enthusiasm are somewhat aggressive. "I'll take it! Don't you want to play, though? A-actually, don't, that'll cost me more money. I'll get the Charmander, and the Eiscue and uhh… that thing over there, and… I don't know. Where did you get the money?"

"Huh? I just have it. I mean, my parents? I guess?" Casey shrugs. "Go ahead and use all of it."

"Uh? Okay! Tell them to give you more, though! Anyways, bye! Have fun and stay away from the ghosts!" she laughs and heads back to the counter and forcefully hits it with both hands. "Got more money!"

Casey steps aside, rolling his eyes at the ghost comment. As if he needs reminding. As if he has a choice in this infested town…

"Boo." A voice at his elbow says, clearly with no intent to scare him. He doesn't jump this time. "C'mon, let's get outta here before Britney notices I'm gone!"

"Debbie's winning me a Charmander," Casey protests vaguely. Sorley surveys the girl critically.

"Well it's not gonna happen anytime soon. Let's go, let's go! I'm hungry, and cold, and there's soup over there."

"You're cold?" It's not even remotely chilly.

"I'm small," Sorley says indignantly. "Buy me some soup."

Casey obliges, which Sorley expresses no small amount of surprise at. But there's no reason not to, really. And besides, something about soup is nagging at his memory. Something Vera said…?

Oh, right.

"Hey, is "soup's on" a Johto phrase?"

"Maybe! I've heard it a lot. But maybe not! Maybe it's a Kanto one, and Kanto people just forgot!"

Sorley chatters on between bites of soup and Casey lets them. It's fun to listen to their theories, their miscellaneous facts about Johto and their random observations. Sorley's brain seems to work like his, which is interesting to see from the outside. And enjoyable to take a backseat to, for the moment, while he thinks about other things.

He didn't think losing to Beaumont would bother him so much. Well, actually… it's not the loss. Most people lose their first gym battle. Despite doing the best he could, the expected outcome still prevailed. He's not upset about losing.

So what's actually bothering him?

The obvious answer is that Beaumont thought so little of Casey that he intentionally handicapped himself. That's irritating, to not be taken seriously. To be given false confidence. To be allowed room to win rather than winning through entirely his own merit. But Casey had lost- he hadn't won unfairly, so all of that is easily put behind him.

Bruno and Vera had won.

Bruno and Vera had won after Casey told Beamont to take them seriously.

There it is.

How far ahead are they, then, to win without lenience? How much stronger than his team is Bonnie, to defeat three leader-trained Pokémon on her own? How much smarter than him is Bruno, to find a way around his own weaknesses? What have they done differently?

Why is he behind?

"You're frowning again," Sorley waves a spoon in their face. "Why's that? Still thinking about Missy? He won't come back, not unless I call him, and I'm only gonna call him if we're in real trouble again, so don't worry!"

"Uh, no, wasn't thinkin' about Missy." Now he is, though. He grits his teeth and dismisses that train of thought. "Was thinkin' about my gym match."

"With Beaumont? Or Jarmie?"

"Beaumo- what? Jarmie? Isn't that the birthday girl?"

"Yeah, yeah, that one!" As if Jarmie is a common name. "She's a gym leader too! Well, not officially. There's a whole thing, that's what the fight was about, you know?"

Casey does not know.

"So, so, the tower, right? In the east? It always has a Warden, and they're important in the community, and they're in charge of the tower, 'cause it's a historic landmark. And Jarmie's the Warden now!"

"That makes her a gym leader?"

"No, no- well- kind of? So, so, the Tomorrow Foundation built a gym and all and put Beaumont in it and that's the official one but a lot of people think that Jarmie should be funded and be the official one because her family's important to the Lavender and Beaumont is just the son of a Foundation bigwig or something like that!" Sorley finally takes a breath, which is somewhat impressive. "Oh, but, now that I say it, they both are what they are because of, of nepotism. Aren't they?"

"Yeah, seems like it." Another gym leader. Beaumont is the one he's being graded by. But another battle is more training. And a chance to be taken seriously, maybe. "What's she like? As a gym leader?"

"She likes music! She plays music during battles. Some people say it's distracting. Maybe that's the point? And she's clever, you'll have to- oh." Sorley grimaces. "You can't battle her."

"Why not? She's a gym leader. She has to take-"

"No, no, you didn't listen right," Sorley sighs. "You can't battle her. She uses Ghost-types."

Oh.

"The tower is right by the graveyard, too. You can't go there."

Sorley's… not wrong. Casey presses his lips together and looks anywhere but at them. He should be able to. He should. There's no reason Ghosts should affect him like this. They're just another Pokémon type, they're just Pokémon, they're just…

They're malicious, they're eerie, they can do things a normal Pokémon can't. They can crawl inside your mind, confuse you, possess you, take your body for their own. Keep you under their control for who knows how long. Make you do things, say things that you never would.

"Look," Sorley says, slipping their hand into his. "It's okay! Everybody struggles! You just gotta learn to cope."

He should have learned a long time ago. He doesn't know what else he can do now.

He lets Sorley steer him along physically, but Casey takes up the reins of conversation. Anything to change topics, anything to get back to enjoying the evening. And he does, for while, but he can feel himself spacing out more often. Losing track of what he was saying. Moving slower, keeping closer to Sorley.

"What're you doing?"

Casey blinks. His head is resting on Sorley's shoulder as they watch a food vendor's flourishes. "Oh. I dunno." Sorley laughs and pats him on the head. "Where haven't we been yet?"

"Oh, oh, I know!" They whirl him around and tug him along by their joined hands, past food stalls they've eaten at and booths they've perused, past the games they'd left Debbie with and the performers they'd learned from. Through light and noise and laughter and cheer and out the other side to stand in a familiar warm red glow.

"The Pokémon Center?"

"You don't stay up late, do you?"

Casey laughs. "It's that obvious?"

"Yeah, yeah, now go to sleep! See you later!" Sorley gives him a quick hug and shoves him through the automatic doors. Well, attempts to shove him. Casey's both heavy and balanced and therefore not easy to move. But he goes willingly, a half-smile and a "good night" on his lips as Sorley vanishes back into the night.