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Description

Twelfth Travels
I wasn't exactly honest with Nurse Joy when I told her that I wouldn't be travelling that day. It all started after my talk with Morgan; he had a scheduled Gym Match with an in town trainer and given my previous experience with the battlers of Mauville (let's just say I 'put the fear of Lucy in them' yeah?) he asked me to take a walk so I wouldn't scare the trainer off. I rolled my eyes; now who was making me seem power hungry? At any rate, I decided to head around the city for that walk. My first intended place was the far eastern shore that split Route 118 into two sections; it was the place that I'd spent most of my time in during my last stay in Mauville and it was a comfort spot for me. On the way, though, I was distracted by the shiny glimmer of a shop I passed by. I stopped to look into the yard beside them and found that I was peering at some rather speedy looking bikes.
Oh, yeah, I thought, remembering that I was supposed to get one of these. I walked over to the front door of the shop – a large logo claiming them as Rydel's Bike Shop was emblazoned on the glass of the door – and went in. The interior was pleasantly cooled by an unseen air conditioner and the walls were practically coated in merchandise. Everything from bike chains to designer seat cushions and even baskets to hold the smaller Pokémon were equipped to the walls and various testable floor models around the shop.
"Ah, hello there!" a man came up to me from my right and grinned widely from behind a large moustache. The hair on top of his head, however, was missing and I had a feeling the moustache was a bit of a compensation piece. "I'm Rydel and I am the owner of this bike shop."
"Oh, hullo; I'm Lucy," I introduced myself after his awaiting pause.
"Are you interested in a bike, young lady? I know just the one for you!" he told me cheerily before dragging me by my good arm to one of the display model bikes littered around the room. We stopped in front of the glossy red one and he started pointing out the various features of it – which, needless to say, went right over my head. Remember when I mentioned I wasn't an outdoorsy person before all this? Yeah, bikes are included in that. "…and it's only 30,000 pokébucks!"
I had been nodding at his appropriate pauses and saying things like, "Uh-huh, yeah, sounds cool," so when he told me the cost of the model I jerked my head around in surprise. My neck cricked and my glasses were near about knocked askew from my face. "Do what now?"
"A new model, young lady, it's only 30,000 pokébucks. Surely a talented trainer like you could afford that, no?" he asked, still grinning widely behind his facial hair. I could literally feel my eye twitch.
30, 000 pokébucks? Is he insane? Who could afford that? I ranted in my head. Sure, I was doing well so far – I figured I had about 80,000 pokébucks at the moment – but I wasn't about to spend more than a third of my money on a damn bike. "Well, I don't really - um," I stuttered.
His face became less jovial as I spoke and a frown marred his features. There was a beat of silence between us as I squirmed and he gave me a hard look. Suddenly, his face broke out into his previous smile and he clasped his hands together. "Ah, I have a solution! And a free one, at that," he said to my hesitant look. "I can let you have a bike so long as you keep my stickers plastered to it and ride it wherever you need to go!"
"That's great!" I beamed, truly excited. This would make travelling so much easier.
"Let's get you a floor model, m'dear, they aren't quite as expensive as the others," he explained, grabbing my left hand. He went to take my right and when he could he realized that I had my arm up in a sling. Truthfully, my shoulder wasn't hurting quite as much as it had a few hours earlier. He quirked his head to the side and furrowed his brow at my injury. "What happened to you?"
"Oh, I took a tumble – sprained shoulder, or so says Nurse Joy," I shrugged awkwardly.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Lucy," he shook his head sadly. "Means you can't get a bike."
I didn't move for a moment, shocked. "What do you mean, I can't get a bike?" I asked, eyes wide.
"It takes about four weeks for a sprained shoulder to heal," he informed me. "You'd never be able to navigate a bicycle with a sprained shoulder."
"It does?" I groaned. Just great. Figures something like this would happen to me. "Oh," I said, sounding like a child who'd had their trip to Disney cancelled. "Well, thanks anyway, Mr. Rydel."
I left the shop and kicked up some dust on the road, unhappy with this turn of events. Looking at my arm I narrowed my eyes in a petulant sort of anger and headed towards the Gym once more. I stopped in and let the battle between a purple haired boy (the challenger, I assumed) and Morgan finish their match (no surprise that he won, though the challenger's Pokémon were still in fairly good condition by the end) before telling Morgan goodbye.
"Leaving already?" he asked as he applied a potion to a dent in his Magnemite's plating.
"Yeah, there's really not much left to do here. Besides, I want to stop by and visit Stephanie in Rustboro and maybe get the Nurse in their Center to give me a clean bill of health," I explained.
"You do realize that it isn't up to the Nurse to decide if you're healthy or not, don't you? Even if she says your fine your shoulder will hurt you."
"Why do you have to be so damn rational all the time?" I whined. He chuckled at me and I was, once again, sort of surprised to hear the sound. At our first meeting he had seemed so serious and bitter and cynical – who know he could be so happy, too?
"Because one of us needs to be," he reasoned.
"Oh, fine, be that way. Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you then – I'm going to have to stop by on my way to Route 118, anyway," I shrugged.
"So I'll expect you again in another few days?" he asked, wiping the excess potion on a towel he'd grabbed.
"Yeah, something like that. As far as I can tell Eric won't be as vigorously tough as his counterpart Norman was," I said. We parted and I headed out to Verdanturf once more. I bypassed the tiny town in a breeze and hiked my way through the Tunnel with ease – I was glad for the flat surface of Rusturf otherwise I would have had a time of it trying to navigate my way with a hurt arm. I made it to Rustboro at about five till six and yawned at the long day I'd had.
Knocking on the front door of the Rock Gym I eased my way in, wary of any wayward children who might try to question me eternally, as children liked to do. Thankfully, the school Stephanie hosted by day was apparently let out and I didn't see anyone in the arena area of the building. Unfortunately, that's the only part of the building that I knew and my fiery haired friend wasn't in it.
"Hullo?" I called out; my voice echoed hollowly against the boulders that littered the floor and it gave me the creeps. "I feel like I'm in some b-rated horror film."
"Boo!" a voice in my ear shouted.
"Whaa!" I shouted, spinning quickly and my breath coming in quick gasps. I focused my widened eyes on my attacker, a giggling Stephanie.
"Ahaha!" she sniggered. "You should have seen your face."
"Not. Funny," I growled, blushing in embarrassment.
"You only say that because it happened to you. Besides," she waggled a finger at me, "you practically dared me to do it with that horror film comment. Protagonists shouldn't ever say things like that, they tend to happen."
"Oh, and what makes you think I'm the protagonist?" I queried, brow arched.
"The fact that you took the main character spot of the game, for one," she listed. "Two, because you fought not only the Hoenn Teams but also a deranged Gym Leader – "
"How'd you hear about that?" I asked, confused.
"Huh? Oh. The League sent out a mass mail to the Leaders telling us to be on the lookout for strangers who might attack us and take our place," she said.
"Wow, word really does travel fast in this place."
"Yeah, but it kind of worries me, you know?" she said, biting her lip. She looked around and grabbed my good hand before pulling me to a far door and into an office. "Let's talk in here, less ears."
"And here I thought I was paranoid," I sighed. "This is because you think they might figure out about your false Leadership, isn't it?"
"Of course!" she shouted, spinning on me. Her eyes were wide and full of fear. "What if they find out about all of us? What then? What will they do to us?"
"Calm down, calm down," I put a hand on her shoulder. "We have to be here for a reason, right? You've done nothing wrong. Someone threw you into this situation and now you're just making the best of it."
She sniffled. "That's number three, you know?"
"What is?" I asked, confused.
"Reason three why you're the protagonist: you always say just the right thing," she smiled at me.
"Oh, please. I called that Gym Leader a deranged bitch and slapped her," I rolled my eyes. "How on earth is that the right thing to say?"
"Not sure yet, but I'll figure it out."
"You're really good at rationalizing you know that?" I told her.
"Duh," she giggled again.
After that it was another catch-up game on my life for the last few weeks. She took it all in without comment as she sat behind a cushy looking desk and just let me talk. I told her about Morgan, first and foremost, and then about our match – she made the appropriately sympathetic sounds in response. I skipped out on the week of grieving I'd done and briefly explained that the Teams hadn't been where they were supposed to be up at Meteor Falls and then I went on to explain my match against them. The last leg of my explanation contained my battle with the Flannery-imposter and my talk with Stone and my encounter with Mirage Tower. Over all, I believe I did a fairly good summation of my rather hectic life.
"Wow, this life's rougher than any of us could have ever guessed," Stephanie thought aloud. I nodded in agreement.
"You're preaching to the choir, Steph," I told her.
"I teach not preach," she stressed. She stood and motioned me with a hand to follow her to yet another back room; I was surprised, though. It wasn't just another office or perhaps a training area, but a rather nicely furnished living space. A large living room was sunken in slightly and on the far wall, over a cat walk like hallway that overlooked the living room, was another door. "It's late, you can stay here. That couch may look horrible but it's the most comfortable thing I've ever sat on."
"Cool," I chirped, heading over to the couch and bouncing on it.
"What, you're not going to argue that it would be 'wrong' and how you'd be 'intruding' or something?" she tilted her head at me.
"Uh, no." I gave her a weird look. "Why in the three worlds would I do that? This place beats a hard cot in the Pokémon Center anyday."
"Oh. Well, you know the protagonist thing we were talking about earlier?" I nodded. "Usually they're all chipper and humble and deny any sort of help or kindness from anyone – like an invite to spend the night on the couch."
"You obviously don't know me well enough," I rolled my eyes. "I am not one to turn down a free anything let alone something that will help me with my bum arm." I shook the appendage to emphasize the point and winced at my stupidity when my arm throbbed. "Told ya I wasn't a protagonist."
"Just because you don't fit that criteria doesn't mean you aren't the hero of this story," she laughed lightly. "One bad apple doesn't make the whole bunch rotten, you know."
"Whatever. Good night," I shooed her, a most ungraceful guest. She laughed at me again and went to her room as I toed off my shoes, unclasped my belt, and pulled off my glasses. Faintly, as I fell asleep looking at my pile of belongings, I realized I must have left my bag in her office. This was the last (somewhat superfluous) thought in my head before I drifted off to yet another exhausted sleep.
The next day was a flurry of activity, to my surprise.
"Up, up, up!" Stephanie shouted at me, pulling at the blanket I'd used last night.
"Nng," I moaned, wrapping myself tighter in the cover.
"Lucy, get up now. Or no breakfast for you," she told me. I could almost hear her put her hands on her hips and see the glare on her face. I pulled down the blanket from above my head and scowled at her.
"Fine, fine," I grumbled, getting up. I slid on my glasses before I caught a glance in the mirror across the room; I grimaced – I looked like a mess. My short black hair had grown down passed my ears in the past few weeks and as such stuck up more than it used to. Making me, at the moment, look as if I'd been messing around with an electrical outlet. Seeing my frown, Stephanie turned and laughed at me. "Not nice!" I told her, standing up.
"You look ridiculous," she snorted at me. "When was the last time you bathed, anyway?"
I blinked. "Um…"
"You don't remember?" she curled her lips at me in disgust. I couldn't argue with her there. "Go!" she shoved me towards a door I hadn't seen earlier. "Bathe! I'll go throw your things in the wash and bring you something to wear when you're done."
"Yes, Mommy," I rolled my eyes at her but I didn't bother to hide my pleasure at the thought of a nice, hot bath. No shower for me! Yessss, I hissed in my head, pleased. It would be nice to rest my weary body for a little bit more and a new set of clothes wouldn't hurt either.
"Do as you're told and maybe you'll get a treat later, Little Girl," Stephanie teased, playing along. I knew I liked her for a reason.
The last thing I hear before I closed the bathroom door was a giggling laugh of amusement from my rock trainer friend. At first, I had a little trouble trying to get the sling off of my shoulder without hurting myself, but I eventually worked it out and pulled off the rest of my clothes soon after. As I sat and scrubbed my filthy appendages I relaxed back into the deep tub. Being a Gym Leader has its perks, I thought. I missed this. And it was true. I missed the simple commodities that I didn't get as a trainer – hot meals and hot baths instead of sandwiches and shower, clean clothes that didn't smell like soot or dirt, a friend who I knew would look out for me. It was nice. I pushed the longing feeling of wanting to be normal away. It wouldn't do any good to dwell on what ifs – and besides, I wouldn't give up my new life as a trainer for anything. Where would I be without them?
About a half an hour later Stephanie knocked on the door and slide a hand through the crack to lay a pile of clothes on the counter. Already clean, and thoroughly jelly-like from the warm soothing effects of the tub, I got out, dried, and dressed. Looking down at myself, I was glad that she hadn't stuck me with one of the blue and red dresses she wore as her professor/Gym Leader outfit. Instead, she gave me a pair of long, red cargo pants and a black shirt that looked a helluva lot like my tank tops. I left the sling off, though, since the heat of the water had soothed the ache by miles. After I dressed, I left the bathroom and went looking for Stephanie. I found her in the little off-set kitchen around the corner from the living room, reading a newspaper and sipping coffee.
"Why, aren't we domestic, Mommy?" I quirked a brow at her as I grabbed a plate and spooned some of the eggs she'd made onto my plate before snagging a piece of toast. I poured myself a cup of coffee as well and topped hers off. "So," I said between bites. "What's with all the red and black, anyway?"
"What do you mean?" she looked over her paper at me.
"Well," I started. "When I first started I had a red and black jacket with black riding shorts. Then, when I went to buy my clothes from the vendor in Slateport, most of their clothes were either red or black (or something horridly neon) so that's what I got. I assumed at the time they were Hoenn colors, but now that I think about it, none of the Gym Leaders really have a color scheme." I furrowed my brow at her.
"You were right the first time," she shook her head. "Red and black are the colors of Hoenn. It's just that the Gym Leaders don't all originate from here and they'd rather not disrespect their own region buy wearing separate colors, so we have no set dress code, and which is why you generally only see the trainers wearing them."
"Ah," I nodded. "Gotcha."
We spent the rest of the morning going over what her life had been – though her story didn't contain nearly as much excitement as mine did, she seemed to enjoy it. She evidently had taken up my suggestion and took her class to a contest over in Verdanturf. Which had sprung up the debate of cute Pokémon versus competitive Pokémon – not only within her class, but with us too.
"My Geo is plenty adorable!" Stephanie argued.
"Your Geo is plenty tough," I emphasized, shaking my head. We'd been at it for fifteen minutes already. "But he couldn't win a beauty contest."
She huffed at me and slouched back in her seat. Then, she brightened up and sent me a smile that gave me the shivers. "Let's put it to a test, eh?"
"How…?" I asked, not really sure I wanted to know.
"C'mon," she tugged at my hand. She dragged me towards the arena doors and over to the bleachers that were steadily filling up with children ages five to what appeared to be twelve. "Hey there, students," she called to them.
"Hi Miss Roxanne!" they chorused back. I blinked.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot they don't know your real name," I muttered to her.
She shrugged. "You get used to it; besides, I think I like Roxanne better than Stephanie." She turned back to her eagerly awaiting students. "You all remember what we did last week, don't you?"
"The Contest Hall!" a few shouted up as others grinned and giggled.
"Yep, that's right," she smiled at them. "And as a special treat I've decided that we should have our own little contest," she clapped.
"Yay!" was the general agreement.
"Now, I need everyone to line up. Those with Pokémon on the left side of the arena, and everyone else on the bleachers – you guys get to be the judges," she winked at them and they giggled. She was good at balancing out the students so those who couldn't participate didn't feel left out. I had to admit, she was a natural at this teaching stuff. "Good, good. Everyone has a pencil and paper for judging? Nice. All right," she turned back to the students in the arena. "Call out your prettiest Pokémon, all right? And then we'll start the contest."
The room filled with voices as the entire row of kids called out their Pokémon. Many of them were common inhabitants of the nearby forest – i.e. Wurmple, Silcoon, and even a few Zigzagoon – though one girl had a Skitty, I was surprised to see. Two of the boys possessed Geodudes, a token to their favorite Gym Leader, no doubt.
"Lucy, call your Pokémon and take your spot in the line," Stephanie informed me. I sent her a curious look. "You're a part of this, too, you know. I want to see if your Pokémon can compare to theirs; obviously if you have it on you right now, it's strong, so I want to see if it can be cute, too."
I rolled my eyes at her. "Fine, fine. Go, Minnow!" I called.
"Mi?" he quirked his head to the side, glancing around at all the children.
"Aww, he's so cute!" I heard one little girl squeal. I smirked. Done deal.
Stephanie saw my smirk and frowned at me, wrinkling her nose in a way to suggest that this wouldn't be as easy as I thought it was. "Everyone, team up! Whoever's closest to you will be your partner. The first round will be a competition between partners for who can impress our judges most," Stephanie said before grouping us together. I ended up with a little boy who had a Zigzagoon; he promptly informed me his name was Kenny and his Pokémon was Koolie.
"And I don't care how cute your Minun is," he told me, crossing his arms in defiance. "We're gonna win!"
"Whatever you say, Kenny," I smiled at him. Inside I was smirking and chuckling my head at his audacity – it was really amusing.
There were three rounds before us – two girls and a boy were the victors of those (the Skitty, a Zigzagoon, and a Geodude) and then Kenny and I stood in the arena, facing the crowd.
"Next up, Kenny and his Zigzagoon, Koolie," Steph announced, raising an arm into the air on Kenny's side. The kids cheered for their peer. "And Lucy with her Minun, Minnow!" There was a smattering of applause, but it was to be expected. Of course they'd want their friend to win, I told myself. I had to admit – it was nice to see kids sticking together.
"Come on, Koolie! Tail whip to the audience," the boy ordered. His raccoon scurried over to the edge of the arena and wiggled its bushy tail cutely at the kids. A few laughed and some cooed; it was a pretty disarming move, but I guess that's why it was so effective in battle. Kenny turned to me and smirked. "Top that, teenager." I blinked at him.
"Little runt," I half-laughed. "All right, Minnow, Charm," I smirked. I knew that move would come in handy someday.
"Minun, Mi-Mi," Minnow sang as he darted around in front of the crowd, stopping and giving them his cute face every few turns. He practically glowed with his charisma.
"Cuuuuute!" many of the girls shrieked enthusiastically. I mentally cackled and physically stuck my tongue out at Steph as she sighed in defeat.
"Winner, Lucy and Minnow!" Stephanie raised an arm in my direction.
I turned to Kenny and stuck out a hand. "You did great, man," I said to him. He looked at my hand and a minute later took it.
"Yeah, you too. Hey, you-uh, you think you could teach Koolie that move?" he stuttered.
"Wish I could," I shrugged. "But he just picked it up on his own."
We parted ways then as he turned to the stands while I waited out for the next round – the Skitty won, unsurprisingly, with a Fake out, Growl combo. After those two were done, I faced off against one of the boys with a Geodude and got an easy win with Helping Hand ("Aw, look it! He's giving a hand to his opponent!" one of the students had cooed.). Finally, it was just the girl and I left.
"Ladies and germs," Steph started, making the class laugh at her silly wink, "we welcome you to the final match of our contest. But this will not be any ordinary match – oh, no. For, you see, I want to show that even the most adorable of Pokémon can be battle champs! This match will be a duel between Kathy and her Skat and Lucy with her Minnow. Let the battle commence!" she called. Kathy and I got to our edges of the arena, facing each other as opponents now rather than the audience as contestants.
"Like you could ever beat me," the twelve year old flaunted, throwing her hair over her shoulder like a true mean girl. I tilted my head. She seems familiar… I snapped my fingers.
"Hey, you're that kid who made fun of me last time I was here!" I remembered.
"Duh," she rolled her eyes. "You may have beat Miss Roxanne but you won't beat me. Skat, Foresight!" The kitten Pokémon zoomed in on Minnow, effectively reducing my Minun's evasiveness. I narrowed my eyes.
"You're good, girl, but you won't beat me," I promised her. "Min, let's take this out in a one hit shot. Spark with Quick Attack," I ordered.
"Min-min-min," he charged, glowing bright yellow with his electricity and darting through the stadium towards the Skitty.
"No!" Kathy gasped, realizing just how fast my little mouse was in comparison to her vastly undertrained normal type. "Skat, sing! Something!"
"Skiii-iiity, skitty, skiiii-iiity, skiii," her Pokémon started. Unfortunately or our opponents, Minnow was deceptively harmless. He hit her, but only glanced the Pokémon's side instead of a head-first blow. My Pokémon was also very, very smart. He knew what kind of damage that sort of full on hit would have had and edged out just enough to win but not enough to seriously harm. After the (decidedly quick) battle was through, there was a half-crowd of applause and Minnow darted back to my side, sitting on his hind legs and looking up at me.
"You're smarter than you look, aren't you?" I quirked a brow at him.
"Minun-mi?" he tilted his head and blinked. I shook my head and chuckled, picking him up and setting him on my shoulder. It took a few minutes for the students to calm down and for Stephanie to ease them all back to their classroom. They chattered away at the performances and the final battle as my friend turned to me.
"Show off," she pouted. I stuck my tongue out at her.
"You dared me," I shrugged, grinning arrogantly. "Now, where's my prize, woman?"
She spluttered at me. "Prize? I was just trying to prove a point to you and my kids!"
"I want ice cream! No, no!" I widened my eyes, really enjoying teasing her. "A banana split!"
"Uhhh, I created a monster," she bemoaned, lowering her head in defeat. I cackled.

Description

Twelfth Travels
I wasn't exactly honest with Nurse Joy when I told her that I wouldn't be travelling that day. It all started after my talk with Morgan; he had a scheduled Gym Match with an in town trainer and given my previous experience with the battlers of Mauville (let's just say I 'put the fear of Lucy in them' yeah?) he asked me to take a walk so I wouldn't scare the trainer off. I rolled my eyes; now who was making me seem power hungry? At any rate, I decided to head around the city for that walk. My first intended place was the far eastern shore that split Route 118 into two sections; it was the place that I'd spent most of my time in during my last stay in Mauville and it was a comfort spot for me. On the way, though, I was distracted by the shiny glimmer of a shop I passed by. I stopped to look into the yard beside them and found that I was peering at some rather speedy looking bikes.
Oh, yeah, I thought, remembering that I was supposed to get one of these. I walked over to the front door of the shop – a large logo claiming them as Rydel's Bike Shop was emblazoned on the glass of the door – and went in. The interior was pleasantly cooled by an unseen air conditioner and the walls were practically coated in merchandise. Everything from bike chains to designer seat cushions and even baskets to hold the smaller Pokémon were equipped to the walls and various testable floor models around the shop.
"Ah, hello there!" a man came up to me from my right and grinned widely from behind a large moustache. The hair on top of his head, however, was missing and I had a feeling the moustache was a bit of a compensation piece. "I'm Rydel and I am the owner of this bike shop."
"Oh, hullo; I'm Lucy," I introduced myself after his awaiting pause.
"Are you interested in a bike, young lady? I know just the one for you!" he told me cheerily before dragging me by my good arm to one of the display model bikes littered around the room. We stopped in front of the glossy red one and he started pointing out the various features of it – which, needless to say, went right over my head. Remember when I mentioned I wasn't an outdoorsy person before all this? Yeah, bikes are included in that. "…and it's only 30,000 pokébucks!"
I had been nodding at his appropriate pauses and saying things like, "Uh-huh, yeah, sounds cool," so when he told me the cost of the model I jerked my head around in surprise. My neck cricked and my glasses were near about knocked askew from my face. "Do what now?"
"A new model, young lady, it's only 30,000 pokébucks. Surely a talented trainer like you could afford that, no?" he asked, still grinning widely behind his facial hair. I could literally feel my eye twitch.
30, 000 pokébucks? Is he insane? Who could afford that? I ranted in my head. Sure, I was doing well so far – I figured I had about 80,000 pokébucks at the moment – but I wasn't about to spend more than a third of my money on a damn bike. "Well, I don't really - um," I stuttered.
His face became less jovial as I spoke and a frown marred his features. There was a beat of silence between us as I squirmed and he gave me a hard look. Suddenly, his face broke out into his previous smile and he clasped his hands together. "Ah, I have a solution! And a free one, at that," he said to my hesitant look. "I can let you have a bike so long as you keep my stickers plastered to it and ride it wherever you need to go!"
"That's great!" I beamed, truly excited. This would make travelling so much easier.
"Let's get you a floor model, m'dear, they aren't quite as expensive as the others," he explained, grabbing my left hand. He went to take my right and when he could he realized that I had my arm up in a sling. Truthfully, my shoulder wasn't hurting quite as much as it had a few hours earlier. He quirked his head to the side and furrowed his brow at my injury. "What happened to you?"
"Oh, I took a tumble – sprained shoulder, or so says Nurse Joy," I shrugged awkwardly.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Lucy," he shook his head sadly. "Means you can't get a bike."
I didn't move for a moment, shocked. "What do you mean, I can't get a bike?" I asked, eyes wide.
"It takes about four weeks for a sprained shoulder to heal," he informed me. "You'd never be able to navigate a bicycle with a sprained shoulder."
"It does?" I groaned. Just great. Figures something like this would happen to me. "Oh," I said, sounding like a child who'd had their trip to Disney cancelled. "Well, thanks anyway, Mr. Rydel."
I left the shop and kicked up some dust on the road, unhappy with this turn of events. Looking at my arm I narrowed my eyes in a petulant sort of anger and headed towards the Gym once more. I stopped in and let the battle between a purple haired boy (the challenger, I assumed) and Morgan finish their match (no surprise that he won, though the challenger's Pokémon were still in fairly good condition by the end) before telling Morgan goodbye.
"Leaving already?" he asked as he applied a potion to a dent in his Magnemite's plating.
"Yeah, there's really not much left to do here. Besides, I want to stop by and visit Stephanie in Rustboro and maybe get the Nurse in their Center to give me a clean bill of health," I explained.
"You do realize that it isn't up to the Nurse to decide if you're healthy or not, don't you? Even if she says your fine your shoulder will hurt you."
"Why do you have to be so damn rational all the time?" I whined. He chuckled at me and I was, once again, sort of surprised to hear the sound. At our first meeting he had seemed so serious and bitter and cynical – who know he could be so happy, too?
"Because one of us needs to be," he reasoned.
"Oh, fine, be that way. Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you then – I'm going to have to stop by on my way to Route 118, anyway," I shrugged.
"So I'll expect you again in another few days?" he asked, wiping the excess potion on a towel he'd grabbed.
"Yeah, something like that. As far as I can tell Eric won't be as vigorously tough as his counterpart Norman was," I said. We parted and I headed out to Verdanturf once more. I bypassed the tiny town in a breeze and hiked my way through the Tunnel with ease – I was glad for the flat surface of Rusturf otherwise I would have had a time of it trying to navigate my way with a hurt arm. I made it to Rustboro at about five till six and yawned at the long day I'd had.
Knocking on the front door of the Rock Gym I eased my way in, wary of any wayward children who might try to question me eternally, as children liked to do. Thankfully, the school Stephanie hosted by day was apparently let out and I didn't see anyone in the arena area of the building. Unfortunately, that's the only part of the building that I knew and my fiery haired friend wasn't in it.
"Hullo?" I called out; my voice echoed hollowly against the boulders that littered the floor and it gave me the creeps. "I feel like I'm in some b-rated horror film."
"Boo!" a voice in my ear shouted.
"Whaa!" I shouted, spinning quickly and my breath coming in quick gasps. I focused my widened eyes on my attacker, a giggling Stephanie.
"Ahaha!" she sniggered. "You should have seen your face."
"Not. Funny," I growled, blushing in embarrassment.
"You only say that because it happened to you. Besides," she waggled a finger at me, "you practically dared me to do it with that horror film comment. Protagonists shouldn't ever say things like that, they tend to happen."
"Oh, and what makes you think I'm the protagonist?" I queried, brow arched.
"The fact that you took the main character spot of the game, for one," she listed. "Two, because you fought not only the Hoenn Teams but also a deranged Gym Leader – "
"How'd you hear about that?" I asked, confused.
"Huh? Oh. The League sent out a mass mail to the Leaders telling us to be on the lookout for strangers who might attack us and take our place," she said.
"Wow, word really does travel fast in this place."
"Yeah, but it kind of worries me, you know?" she said, biting her lip. She looked around and grabbed my good hand before pulling me to a far door and into an office. "Let's talk in here, less ears."
"And here I thought I was paranoid," I sighed. "This is because you think they might figure out about your false Leadership, isn't it?"
"Of course!" she shouted, spinning on me. Her eyes were wide and full of fear. "What if they find out about all of us? What then? What will they do to us?"
"Calm down, calm down," I put a hand on her shoulder. "We have to be here for a reason, right? You've done nothing wrong. Someone threw you into this situation and now you're just making the best of it."
She sniffled. "That's number three, you know?"
"What is?" I asked, confused.
"Reason three why you're the protagonist: you always say just the right thing," she smiled at me.
"Oh, please. I called that Gym Leader a deranged bitch and slapped her," I rolled my eyes. "How on earth is that the right thing to say?"
"Not sure yet, but I'll figure it out."
"You're really good at rationalizing you know that?" I told her.
"Duh," she giggled again.
After that it was another catch-up game on my life for the last few weeks. She took it all in without comment as she sat behind a cushy looking desk and just let me talk. I told her about Morgan, first and foremost, and then about our match – she made the appropriately sympathetic sounds in response. I skipped out on the week of grieving I'd done and briefly explained that the Teams hadn't been where they were supposed to be up at Meteor Falls and then I went on to explain my match against them. The last leg of my explanation contained my battle with the Flannery-imposter and my talk with Stone and my encounter with Mirage Tower. Over all, I believe I did a fairly good summation of my rather hectic life.
"Wow, this life's rougher than any of us could have ever guessed," Stephanie thought aloud. I nodded in agreement.
"You're preaching to the choir, Steph," I told her.
"I teach not preach," she stressed. She stood and motioned me with a hand to follow her to yet another back room; I was surprised, though. It wasn't just another office or perhaps a training area, but a rather nicely furnished living space. A large living room was sunken in slightly and on the far wall, over a cat walk like hallway that overlooked the living room, was another door. "It's late, you can stay here. That couch may look horrible but it's the most comfortable thing I've ever sat on."
"Cool," I chirped, heading over to the couch and bouncing on it.
"What, you're not going to argue that it would be 'wrong' and how you'd be 'intruding' or something?" she tilted her head at me.
"Uh, no." I gave her a weird look. "Why in the three worlds would I do that? This place beats a hard cot in the Pokémon Center anyday."
"Oh. Well, you know the protagonist thing we were talking about earlier?" I nodded. "Usually they're all chipper and humble and deny any sort of help or kindness from anyone – like an invite to spend the night on the couch."
"You obviously don't know me well enough," I rolled my eyes. "I am not one to turn down a free anything let alone something that will help me with my bum arm." I shook the appendage to emphasize the point and winced at my stupidity when my arm throbbed. "Told ya I wasn't a protagonist."
"Just because you don't fit that criteria doesn't mean you aren't the hero of this story," she laughed lightly. "One bad apple doesn't make the whole bunch rotten, you know."
"Whatever. Good night," I shooed her, a most ungraceful guest. She laughed at me again and went to her room as I toed off my shoes, unclasped my belt, and pulled off my glasses. Faintly, as I fell asleep looking at my pile of belongings, I realized I must have left my bag in her office. This was the last (somewhat superfluous) thought in my head before I drifted off to yet another exhausted sleep.
The next day was a flurry of activity, to my surprise.
"Up, up, up!" Stephanie shouted at me, pulling at the blanket I'd used last night.
"Nng," I moaned, wrapping myself tighter in the cover.
"Lucy, get up now. Or no breakfast for you," she told me. I could almost hear her put her hands on her hips and see the glare on her face. I pulled down the blanket from above my head and scowled at her.
"Fine, fine," I grumbled, getting up. I slid on my glasses before I caught a glance in the mirror across the room; I grimaced – I looked like a mess. My short black hair had grown down passed my ears in the past few weeks and as such stuck up more than it used to. Making me, at the moment, look as if I'd been messing around with an electrical outlet. Seeing my frown, Stephanie turned and laughed at me. "Not nice!" I told her, standing up.
"You look ridiculous," she snorted at me. "When was the last time you bathed, anyway?"
I blinked. "Um…"
"You don't remember?" she curled her lips at me in disgust. I couldn't argue with her there. "Go!" she shoved me towards a door I hadn't seen earlier. "Bathe! I'll go throw your things in the wash and bring you something to wear when you're done."
"Yes, Mommy," I rolled my eyes at her but I didn't bother to hide my pleasure at the thought of a nice, hot bath. No shower for me! Yessss, I hissed in my head, pleased. It would be nice to rest my weary body for a little bit more and a new set of clothes wouldn't hurt either.
"Do as you're told and maybe you'll get a treat later, Little Girl," Stephanie teased, playing along. I knew I liked her for a reason.
The last thing I hear before I closed the bathroom door was a giggling laugh of amusement from my rock trainer friend. At first, I had a little trouble trying to get the sling off of my shoulder without hurting myself, but I eventually worked it out and pulled off the rest of my clothes soon after. As I sat and scrubbed my filthy appendages I relaxed back into the deep tub. Being a Gym Leader has its perks, I thought. I missed this. And it was true. I missed the simple commodities that I didn't get as a trainer – hot meals and hot baths instead of sandwiches and shower, clean clothes that didn't smell like soot or dirt, a friend who I knew would look out for me. It was nice. I pushed the longing feeling of wanting to be normal away. It wouldn't do any good to dwell on what ifs – and besides, I wouldn't give up my new life as a trainer for anything. Where would I be without them?
About a half an hour later Stephanie knocked on the door and slide a hand through the crack to lay a pile of clothes on the counter. Already clean, and thoroughly jelly-like from the warm soothing effects of the tub, I got out, dried, and dressed. Looking down at myself, I was glad that she hadn't stuck me with one of the blue and red dresses she wore as her professor/Gym Leader outfit. Instead, she gave me a pair of long, red cargo pants and a black shirt that looked a helluva lot like my tank tops. I left the sling off, though, since the heat of the water had soothed the ache by miles. After I dressed, I left the bathroom and went looking for Stephanie. I found her in the little off-set kitchen around the corner from the living room, reading a newspaper and sipping coffee.
"Why, aren't we domestic, Mommy?" I quirked a brow at her as I grabbed a plate and spooned some of the eggs she'd made onto my plate before snagging a piece of toast. I poured myself a cup of coffee as well and topped hers off. "So," I said between bites. "What's with all the red and black, anyway?"
"What do you mean?" she looked over her paper at me.
"Well," I started. "When I first started I had a red and black jacket with black riding shorts. Then, when I went to buy my clothes from the vendor in Slateport, most of their clothes were either red or black (or something horridly neon) so that's what I got. I assumed at the time they were Hoenn colors, but now that I think about it, none of the Gym Leaders really have a color scheme." I furrowed my brow at her.
"You were right the first time," she shook her head. "Red and black are the colors of Hoenn. It's just that the Gym Leaders don't all originate from here and they'd rather not disrespect their own region buy wearing separate colors, so we have no set dress code, and which is why you generally only see the trainers wearing them."
"Ah," I nodded. "Gotcha."
We spent the rest of the morning going over what her life had been – though her story didn't contain nearly as much excitement as mine did, she seemed to enjoy it. She evidently had taken up my suggestion and took her class to a contest over in Verdanturf. Which had sprung up the debate of cute Pokémon versus competitive Pokémon – not only within her class, but with us too.
"My Geo is plenty adorable!" Stephanie argued.
"Your Geo is plenty tough," I emphasized, shaking my head. We'd been at it for fifteen minutes already. "But he couldn't win a beauty contest."
She huffed at me and slouched back in her seat. Then, she brightened up and sent me a smile that gave me the shivers. "Let's put it to a test, eh?"
"How…?" I asked, not really sure I wanted to know.
"C'mon," she tugged at my hand. She dragged me towards the arena doors and over to the bleachers that were steadily filling up with children ages five to what appeared to be twelve. "Hey there, students," she called to them.
"Hi Miss Roxanne!" they chorused back. I blinked.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot they don't know your real name," I muttered to her.
She shrugged. "You get used to it; besides, I think I like Roxanne better than Stephanie." She turned back to her eagerly awaiting students. "You all remember what we did last week, don't you?"
"The Contest Hall!" a few shouted up as others grinned and giggled.
"Yep, that's right," she smiled at them. "And as a special treat I've decided that we should have our own little contest," she clapped.
"Yay!" was the general agreement.
"Now, I need everyone to line up. Those with Pokémon on the left side of the arena, and everyone else on the bleachers – you guys get to be the judges," she winked at them and they giggled. She was good at balancing out the students so those who couldn't participate didn't feel left out. I had to admit, she was a natural at this teaching stuff. "Good, good. Everyone has a pencil and paper for judging? Nice. All right," she turned back to the students in the arena. "Call out your prettiest Pokémon, all right? And then we'll start the contest."
The room filled with voices as the entire row of kids called out their Pokémon. Many of them were common inhabitants of the nearby forest – i.e. Wurmple, Silcoon, and even a few Zigzagoon – though one girl had a Skitty, I was surprised to see. Two of the boys possessed Geodudes, a token to their favorite Gym Leader, no doubt.
"Lucy, call your Pokémon and take your spot in the line," Stephanie informed me. I sent her a curious look. "You're a part of this, too, you know. I want to see if your Pokémon can compare to theirs; obviously if you have it on you right now, it's strong, so I want to see if it can be cute, too."
I rolled my eyes at her. "Fine, fine. Go, Minnow!" I called.
"Mi?" he quirked his head to the side, glancing around at all the children.
"Aww, he's so cute!" I heard one little girl squeal. I smirked. Done deal.
Stephanie saw my smirk and frowned at me, wrinkling her nose in a way to suggest that this wouldn't be as easy as I thought it was. "Everyone, team up! Whoever's closest to you will be your partner. The first round will be a competition between partners for who can impress our judges most," Stephanie said before grouping us together. I ended up with a little boy who had a Zigzagoon; he promptly informed me his name was Kenny and his Pokémon was Koolie.
"And I don't care how cute your Minun is," he told me, crossing his arms in defiance. "We're gonna win!"
"Whatever you say, Kenny," I smiled at him. Inside I was smirking and chuckling my head at his audacity – it was really amusing.
There were three rounds before us – two girls and a boy were the victors of those (the Skitty, a Zigzagoon, and a Geodude) and then Kenny and I stood in the arena, facing the crowd.
"Next up, Kenny and his Zigzagoon, Koolie," Steph announced, raising an arm into the air on Kenny's side. The kids cheered for their peer. "And Lucy with her Minun, Minnow!" There was a smattering of applause, but it was to be expected. Of course they'd want their friend to win, I told myself. I had to admit – it was nice to see kids sticking together.
"Come on, Koolie! Tail whip to the audience," the boy ordered. His raccoon scurried over to the edge of the arena and wiggled its bushy tail cutely at the kids. A few laughed and some cooed; it was a pretty disarming move, but I guess that's why it was so effective in battle. Kenny turned to me and smirked. "Top that, teenager." I blinked at him.
"Little runt," I half-laughed. "All right, Minnow, Charm," I smirked. I knew that move would come in handy someday.
"Minun, Mi-Mi," Minnow sang as he darted around in front of the crowd, stopping and giving them his cute face every few turns. He practically glowed with his charisma.
"Cuuuuute!" many of the girls shrieked enthusiastically. I mentally cackled and physically stuck my tongue out at Steph as she sighed in defeat.
"Winner, Lucy and Minnow!" Stephanie raised an arm in my direction.
I turned to Kenny and stuck out a hand. "You did great, man," I said to him. He looked at my hand and a minute later took it.
"Yeah, you too. Hey, you-uh, you think you could teach Koolie that move?" he stuttered.
"Wish I could," I shrugged. "But he just picked it up on his own."
We parted ways then as he turned to the stands while I waited out for the next round – the Skitty won, unsurprisingly, with a Fake out, Growl combo. After those two were done, I faced off against one of the boys with a Geodude and got an easy win with Helping Hand ("Aw, look it! He's giving a hand to his opponent!" one of the students had cooed.). Finally, it was just the girl and I left.
"Ladies and germs," Steph started, making the class laugh at her silly wink, "we welcome you to the final match of our contest. But this will not be any ordinary match – oh, no. For, you see, I want to show that even the most adorable of Pokémon can be battle champs! This match will be a duel between Kathy and her Skat and Lucy with her Minnow. Let the battle commence!" she called. Kathy and I got to our edges of the arena, facing each other as opponents now rather than the audience as contestants.
"Like you could ever beat me," the twelve year old flaunted, throwing her hair over her shoulder like a true mean girl. I tilted my head. She seems familiar… I snapped my fingers.
"Hey, you're that kid who made fun of me last time I was here!" I remembered.
"Duh," she rolled her eyes. "You may have beat Miss Roxanne but you won't beat me. Skat, Foresight!" The kitten Pokémon zoomed in on Minnow, effectively reducing my Minun's evasiveness. I narrowed my eyes.
"You're good, girl, but you won't beat me," I promised her. "Min, let's take this out in a one hit shot. Spark with Quick Attack," I ordered.
"Min-min-min," he charged, glowing bright yellow with his electricity and darting through the stadium towards the Skitty.
"No!" Kathy gasped, realizing just how fast my little mouse was in comparison to her vastly undertrained normal type. "Skat, sing! Something!"
"Skiii-iiity, skitty, skiiii-iiity, skiii," her Pokémon started. Unfortunately or our opponents, Minnow was deceptively harmless. He hit her, but only glanced the Pokémon's side instead of a head-first blow. My Pokémon was also very, very smart. He knew what kind of damage that sort of full on hit would have had and edged out just enough to win but not enough to seriously harm. After the (decidedly quick) battle was through, there was a half-crowd of applause and Minnow darted back to my side, sitting on his hind legs and looking up at me.
"You're smarter than you look, aren't you?" I quirked a brow at him.
"Minun-mi?" he tilted his head and blinked. I shook my head and chuckled, picking him up and setting him on my shoulder. It took a few minutes for the students to calm down and for Stephanie to ease them all back to their classroom. They chattered away at the performances and the final battle as my friend turned to me.
"Show off," she pouted. I stuck my tongue out at her.
"You dared me," I shrugged, grinning arrogantly. "Now, where's my prize, woman?"
She spluttered at me. "Prize? I was just trying to prove a point to you and my kids!"
"I want ice cream! No, no!" I widened my eyes, really enjoying teasing her. "A banana split!"
"Uhhh, I created a monster," she bemoaned, lowering her head in defeat. I cackled.