[PKMN FULL] Voyage Grandeur (IC)

It was okay. It was okay. He'd done it. Even if it was just him going to the Pokémon Center to pick up his package. He had awkwardly stammered out a "I, uh, I-I... package... for me. Oh, sorry! For, um, Raphael Bataille?", and after receiving it he had bolted out of there with a thundering heart. But he'd done something outside his comfort zone. For the second time in two days! After all, earlier he'd had to be driven to Coumarine (it really wouldn't be practical for such a nervous kid with no experience to go alone). Now he was standing in the middle of a small city, with sounds and smells of the ocean which he barely knew and large, buildings obscuring his view and his senses and it was like trees but worse and worse and too many people... a bag full of Pokéballs - with one clipped to the strap. O-Oh, right, he'd totally forgotten. Plucking it off the magnetic hold, he stared down at the metallic sphere, before letting it drop to the ground.

A bright flash of white made him shield his eyes. He couldn't stop a whimper from escaping his lips, nervous butterflies fluttering in his stomach. What... what was it? Blinking the stars away, he looked down. His new Pokémon, his new partner, was a little blue dinosaur with what seemed to be shaggy, deep grey hair covering its head and body. At the sight of the little Pokémon, Raph calmed, feeling like his senses all swirled back to his body. A small smile spread over his lips. "You're, um, a Unova Pokemon, right?" He didn't really like Unovan people, but he always thought their Pokémon were interesting. The Deino tilted its head, sniffing at the air, before sputtering. "Y-Yeah, everything smells kinda funny here, right?" Raph crouched down, getting a better look at his new Pokémon. He'd never seen a Deino in real life. The Dragon-type turned its head, now focusing its attention on the boy in front of it. Slowly, it moved its head up and down, like it was mapping him. Raph frowned lightly, confused. Why was it doing that? Delicately, he brushed at its bangs, his eyebrows raising when he realised why the Pokémon was smelling him rather than looking.

"Oh... you're blind." The Deino didn't even have any eyes, simply two depressions in its head where the eyes would be. Somehow, somehow, even though it made him feel bad to do so, Raph smiled. "You're... just like me. You have some bad parts to you, parts that won't work... but we'll work together to be great, right?" His Pokémon tilted its head, before nodding lightly, like it wasn't exactly sure what Raph had said. Still, it was good enough for him. The young man stood back up, and as if remembering he was in the middle of a city he barely knew, spun around slowly to get his bearings. "U-Um, we need to meet Professor S-Sycamore." Talking to Deino felt almost calming, like he could properly get his thoughts out. "And... he's in Lumiose... so we have to go through o-one of the routes." He swallowed, the idea of stumbling through the wilderness looming up like a wave and totally swallowing him, getting lost, getting dehydrated, dying, never being found-

chomp

As if sensing his bad thoughts, Deino had forcefully clamped its jaws around his calf and bit down. Raph yelped and hopped away, clutching the gushing, bleeding, ruined wound- oh, wait, that's Deino's saliva, not blood. Raph shook his head clear. "Uh, thanks." But still, he had to push his way through someplace he didn't know. "But... hey..." he murmured, mostly to himself. "Maybe there's someone I can kinda, y'know, follow... that'll work." Yeah, just tail a more experienced trainer. He should be fine that way. It'll be fine.

Tristan parked the moped out front; his parents weren't home to yell at him for it, and he wasn't infringing on any driveway space anyway.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside, expecting to find the house empty, but instead--

"Oh, hey Tristan."

His older sister Lise was laying on a couch, staring up at a book in her hands.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were at college."

"I'm on break, so I get to come home." She shifted positions so that she was laying on her side.

Tristan chose not to reply, and instead walked to a rack of DVD cases on the other side of the room.

While picking out a video game to play from that rack, an awkward silence fell between the two.

"So, uh..." he started, trying to make small talk while ultimately uninterested in it, "How's uni treating you?"

"Same as usual... oh, by the way, you've got a package."

"A package? What'd I order?"

"Someone from the Pokémon Lab brought it here. Said you should also head over there when you can."

"Huh..." There was a small-ish cardboard box. Upon opening it, he found a load of Trainer items, plus a new Holo Caster and Pokédex hiding beneath it all.

"The Lab, huh? I guess I'm heading out now then."

He shoved the items into his canvas messenger bag and began to pick up his stuff when he was interrupted by Lise. "Wait! Can I borrow your Peugeot if you don't mind? I have to go to a friend's house later and I need it to get there."

"...I thought you had your own bike."

"I... um... mine is out of service at the moment. Please?"

Tristan let out a small sigh. "Whatever. Since you seem to be incapable of walking and/or using public transport, I'll let you use it. Keys and helmet and stuff are here. I'm leaving now." He shut the door behind him and walked toward Sycamore's lab.​

It had taken at least an hour of awkward pottering around Coumarine for Raph to pluck up the courage to leave. He had stocked up on water - several more bottles than he would probably need, but it was enough to calm the squirming in his stomach. Deino had just placidly followed along with its neurotic trainer, exploring the scents of the world. Having Deino nearby was pretty comforting - Raph had never owned a Pokémon of his own, but he always felt better around them than he did with people. Even with a small, swaying crowd of strangers around, just having one nearby was enough. Raph did steal furtive, worried glances back at his new companion even when wandering around for supplies - what if it ran away? What if it didn't like Raph? But, as mostly always, his worries had been unfounded.

Now, the two of them found themselves at the mouth of a vast, rocky plains, with winds threatening to blow away Raph's hat. He held onto it tightly, surveying the area with squinted eyes. He'd heard it been called the "Badlands" before, both in books and from his family. Other than the intimidating redness and the utter vastness of the sky above and the way that he'd always catch something in the corner of his eye but by the time he'd look there would be nothing... it didn't seem so bad. Not as bad as he'd expected, anyway. It wasn't as desert-like as he had feared. "Well, alright," he murmured in a voice that barely rose above the howl of the wind, "I-I guess we start our journey now, right, b-buddy?" Deino did what Raph could best describe as a shrug, and plodded on ahead of its trainer.

As the two of them walked, Raph continued to look around. There were some intimidating cliffs, but they were far in the distance, along with the large metal structure of the powerplant. The ground beneath his feet was deceptively flat, despite the myriad of cracks running through the dirt. It looked like this area would get flooded every so often, and then dry up within a matter of days. The only plantlife to speak of was the occasional valiant weed bursting forth from the dead earth, and leaf-bare trees that looked like they were only doing the minimum to survive. A few metal pipes sprouted from the ground like the plants before diving back in to hide. Getting a feel for his environment was another way Raph calmed down - the unknown is scary, but the known is comforting. Deino didn't seem as interested in the land as its trainer, lacking the ability to see, but it would occasionally stop to sniff and poke at the holes left by underground-dwelling Pokémon. Overall, it was pretty peaceful.

It was when Raph was halfway through his second bottle of water that he actually, finally, spotted someone off in the distance. He almost choked on his mouthful. He'd actually kind of forgotten that other people would probably be walking through here - it's not like people avoided the badlands, anyway. A-And maybe they were even someone like him, chosen from many teenagers by Professor Sycamore to become a Pokémon trainer! M-Maybe! He swallowed heavily. Should he just... follow them, like he was planning? But if she was a trainer like him, perhaps she'd be able to help him through Lumiose...? Was it worth it? Is it possible? They'd just find him a nuisance, probably. But maybe not, maybe they'd like him, as much as that was wishful thinking! Raph didn't realise his feet were still moving until he realised he was close enough to see the trainer properly. She was a girl, short, with silky blonde hair hidden beneath a red cap, and wearing a simple, airy outfit. Next to her was a proud Goomy - Raph was pretty familiar with the slimy Pokémon. The girl was staring down at a Pokéball, looking a little dazed, yet with some sort of excitement bubbling underneath. Yeah, she was obviously new. It was worth a shot. He could do it. He could do it. Hecoulddoithecoulddoithecoulddoit

"A-Aaah, h-hello," he said, his voice cracking. "Uh, um, P-Pokémon... Goomy..." Oh, goddamn it. "Your... Goomy. It looks happy." Well. It was better than saying nothing at all.