Ginette looked over the rocks in awe, careful not to touch them. Chad, meanwhile, had a question. “Wait, I don’t recognize that fossil, is that one of the new ones?”
No, but due to recent advancements in science we know that the Old Amber concept was even less viable than the stone casting of bone. Also, ‘look at my cool rock with a mosquito inside’ isn’t as exciting. She’ll be getting an Aerodactyl, I just felt this was more in-line with the other fossils.
“Got it, actually a smart idea,” Chad admitted.
<”Serena, are you really sure that’s the one you wanted? You heard the technician; your Aerodactyl is going to be much bigger than average. I’m sure we could-” he started, as she shushed him immediately. With a finger to his lips, she smiled with glowing confidence.>
”I know they’ll be big, but a flying type is a major step up, a milestone in any trainer’s journey. The sheer freedom to go anywhere without being confined to a route cuts travel time like crazy,” she rationalized, as she motioned for Chad and Ginette to follow them into the cafeteria. Besides, have you put any thought into yours? I’m not gonna hold back and walk just because you were afraid to get one.”
Watching as the two gathered up a bunch of food, Chad noticed they each had 3 pokeballs on their belt, but one on Serena’s was different; like it was more worn down than the others. As she released her three teammates, Chad was delighted to see Claude again, now evolved to his spherical Quilladin stage. Her second teammate, with a turtle shell and white fluff all too familiar to Chad, was a Wartortle who seemed both pleased and surprised to see him. The last member of the team, from the worn ball, was a Nidorina who bowed politely before immediately scarfing down dinner.
Trying to get Claude’s attention, Chad asked “What happened to Pikachu?” To which Claude immediately began coughing, and the Wartortle laughed. His voice was surprisingly deep, with calming bass tones that Chad could feel in his soul.
“That rascal pushed our girl too far, so she traded him away for Louise here,” he explained, motioning towards Nidorina who continued to ignore the conversation. “Though, to be honest, I wouldn’t wish that troublemaker on any trainer.”
“Let me guess,” Chad began, thanking Ginette as she passed him a tray with a salad and baguette sandwich. “I only knew the guy for a short while, but did he assault her?” The three across the table froze, glaring at him with a mix of anger, frustration, and regret. “Yea, I had hoped for better, but that tracks with his attitude.”
A tray was haphazardly placed on his left, as a warm and soft body hugged Chad from the side. “It’s good to see you again, Chad. That gym battle had us worried,” Dorothy said, her voice cheerful and full of energy. The Braixen motioned for her two teammates to join them, as an Ivysaur sat next to Dorothy, and a Pancham took the seat next to Claude. “Oh, manners! These are my two new teammates, Fleur,” she introduced, motioning towards the Ivysaur who gave a slight wave with their Vine Whip. “And Remy,” she concluded, as the Pancham gave a ‘tch’ and proceeded to ignore the group.
“Don’t worry about him, he’s still adjusting to being part of a team. And you’ve met Claude’s new pair, Hugo-” the Wartortle gave a thumbs up “and Louise. So,” she settled in, eyeing the frog sitting opposite of the fire lizard. “Are you going to introduce us, or..?”
Standing up to see everyone, the Frogadier bowed, “Greetings everyone, my name is Ginette! And it’s my job to make sure this lug-” she elbowed her partner, “only gets into as much trouble as I think he can handle. It’s nice to meet you all!” she announced, taking a seat again. A glance at the ‘adults table’ revealed to Chad that Calem and Serena were deep in their own little discussion.
Chad felt a grip on his left arm, finding that Dorothy had claimed it while she ate her dinner. “So are you going to be traveling with us again, Chad? I- We miss your cooking, and it’d be nice to shake up the training dynamics a bit,” she pleaded. Chad immediately felt a sense of Deja Vu, and chose to wiggle to his right a few centimeters.
“Would if we could, but your teams are so strong we’re still playing catch-up,” he replied, turning up the charm with a smile. “We just got into town and haven’t even gone to see the cave yet, while you’re all heading north in the morning. Plus, the Narrator was very clear that Ginette and I need to visit Glittering Cave first.”
Dorothy and Claude evaluated his response with skepticism. “Chad, who is the narrator?” Claude asked, as the pressure from Dorothy’s intense gaze bore into the side of Chad’s head.
Choosing violence, Ginette firmly wrapped around Chad’s right arm, pulling in close to respond. “The Narrator is the voix dans le ciel who tells us where to go. He means well, but his Galarian nature makes him say mean things sometimes.”
“Enough!” Chad interrupted, cautious to keep his voice from reaching much beyond their table. With a wiggle of his right arm and expression of displeasure, Chad was able to free his arm from the frog’s grasp. “I am sorry Dorothy, but we can’t travel with you this time,” he apologized, as the fox slowly loosened her grip.
“Fine, but at least make a girl breakfast before we split up again?” she pleaded, standing up from the table and her empty plate. Chad nodded, the corners of his mouth curling slightly upwards, before the rest of Calem’s team stood and walked over to their trainer.
“Did I handle that right?” Chad asked the remaining ‘mons at the table. Hugo shrugged, Claude motioned that he was also unsure. Ginette’s devilish grin grew, only for her to be interrupted before she could speak.
“A woman’s heart can be fragile, especially when you’re only trying to do the right thing,” Louise recited, her eyes swapping back from Dorothy to Chad after the Braixen was returned to her pokeball. “It appears Fleur and I will need to have several conversations with her. But I would say you did acceptable given what little information I have.”
“Ginette,” Chad began, as he tucked his backpack where the nurse had instructed in the employee area, “I think we need to talk about what just happened.”
“What?! So I made her upset, big deal. Next you’re gonna say ‘Ginette, that was very inapproprié,’ or something. It was a joke; it was meant to be funny! Why are you so worked up over it?” she ranted, leaning back against the wall so she wouldn’t have to see Chad. Her arms were crossed, face wracked with anger and discomfort.
“Ginette, we’re supposed to be a team. And back there, I needed a teammate who could distract Dorothy, maybe become her friend; not pour fuel on the fire and instigate that I had a romantic fling going.” Chad slid down to a seated position, with his back to the storage cabinet. He and Ginette were looking in opposite directions, trying to see anyone or anything but each other.
“So why don’t you just tell her no?”
“Because-! Because, even if it isn’t going anywhere, even if I don’t feel that way about her… It's selfish, but I enjoy having someone who cares about me,” he admitted, scrunching up his legs to wrap them with his arms and tail. Ginette, almost reflexively, gripped her right bicep with her left hand.
“That is pretty selfish, and a bit mean if we’re being honest,” she commented.
“Yea,” Chad admitted, punctuating his remorse with a deep exhale. “It wasn’t this bad back on Route 2 or 3, but I’ll take the blame for things getting this far.” The two waited in the silence, as faint sounds echoed from the main lobby. “Am I a bad pokemon?”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Ginette, with a sigh, walked over and sat down next to him. “Not entirely, but there’s room for amélioration; you just need to start working on it,” she answered, placing an arm around his shoulder. She let the moment hang before changing the subject. “So, who would you pick; Dorothy or Hugo?”
Chad lifted his head, staring at her in bafflement, mouthing ‘what?’ as he tried to read his teammate. “Oh no, don’t give me that look,” she continued, “I saw how your face lit up when he laughed. I also saw how it triggered the fox to speed up and practically throw herself at you.”
The two shared a subdued laugh at the imagery, as Chad began to relax his posture slightly. “I take it your type is more like that Lucario we saw a few days ago?” he inquired, watching as a smile graced Ginette’s lips. “Yea, that was pretty obvious too; I just hope you don’t have to wait until the very end like I do.”
I don’t think this counts as a replica.
Ginette, almost annoyed, pouts at Chad, before waving in his general vicinity to the Ranger. “Seriously, are we going to deal with this every time?!”
“Yea,” Chad responded in resignation. “Unless we get a teammate who can trick people into thinking I’m human, this is gonna be the running gag of the adventure.”
Sorry buddy, no Zoroark for you.
“Zoro-what?” Chad asked, earning a concerned eye from his teammate. Waving his hand, he motioned for her to ignore it as he pulled out his trainer ID and presented it to the waiting Ranger.
<”Oh, what’s this?” they inquired as the familiar rectangle was passed to their hands. After beeping it with a scan from the holo caster, they brightened up and passed it back. “Well I’ll be, you’re certainly a memorable one! Let's get you saddled up and on your way; still plenty of light in the day.” Tucking the device away, the Ranger strode over towards the idle rock pokemon, pulling a fresh berry from their bag. “Alright everyone, we got another traveler; anyone up for taking this young’n?”>
The Rhyhorn collectively stared down the fire lizard and water gecko, blinked, and inquired whether the ranger was pulling their leg. The Ranger’s demeanor was unphased, holding out the offered berry to gain their attention. Reluctantly, raising itself above the crowd of its previous form was an old Rhydon, their hide cracked and worn by the decades, stepped forward. “I’ll take em, but the water lass stays in her ball,” the gravelly ancient voice demanded, brokering no negotiations.
Chad apologized wordlessly, offering Ginette her pokeball. Grumbling something about old stones and calcified brains, she vanished in a spectrum of red light. Clipping the ball back to his belt, Chad strode over to meet his transit. The Ranger raised their arm high, handing over the berry to the old rock pokemon before walking off with a wave and a smile. Chad, following a gut feeling, waited for the ancient armored being to finish, making no moves to climb aboard.
With a grunt, and a helpful offered arm, the old rock granted permission for Chad to clamber aboard. Careful of his claws and talons, Chad delicately scaled to the top of the beast’s back and shoulders before straddling the old man and signaling he was ready to go. “If you don’t mind the conversation, how long have you been doing this?” the fire type asked.
“Long enough to spot trouble when I see it,” the earth rumbled he spoke, taking the first leap atop a boulder with surprising agility. Chad, forced to hold onto the two protrusions atop his mount’s head, wisely did not retort. “And you,” he began, before leaping to another boulder almost four body lengths away, “are coated in the thickest aura of trouble I’ve seen in my two hundred years.”
As they continued, some leaps across great distances, others short hops up and down in elevation, Chad could spot other hikers and humans moving about the northern cliffside. “Yea, I guess my own passenger can be a bit of an issue at times. But just as promised, I’ll ferry him to his destination for a fair fare.” The wordplay earned nothing more than a grunt from the old codger, who used it as an excuse to make an even bigger leap; almost six body lengths this time.
“Best be careful dealing with beings like that, kid.” He lectured, pausing atop a particularly tall peak to look out over the entire pass. They had reached the halfway point already, but the view of the long rocky crevasse on either side stretched out to frame an amazing picture. “With that much power, you’re likely to get yourself killed long before your destination.”
With a few short hops, the old man was progressing east again, having passed the younger Rhyhorn with the human trainer they had seen earlier. “You seem a little strong to be ferrying us across the rocks; what’s your story?” Chad asked, his question earning no response from the living transport until they could see the cave starting to approach.
“I used to have a trainer, a Name. Until she made a deal, a pact, with something she had no business associating with,” he began to recount, his pace slowing as the story flowed. “That thing, it waited, biding its time until the day she faltered. A single moment of weakness, breaking their pact, and it turned on her immediately. I threw myself between them, her shield, her Rocky…” The old Rhydon stopped entirely, his mind elsewhere. “Even my best was not enough, and by the time I awoke in the center, she was long gone. My hide was shattered- my prided defenses in tatters; and the only thing I had left of her were the memories of our time together.”
A moment of silence later, the old warrior shook off the memories, and began leaping forward again at a sedate pace. Timing the jumps, Chad asked “What was her name?”
Four hops later, the deep earthy voice responded, “Julia.” The quiet punctuated the statement, barely interrupted by the loud thuds of his steps. “I joined her as her first teammate, and we trained together for over a year before…” His voice caught, and Chad held fast as he swung a haymaker, obliterating a nearby boulder into glass-grade sand. “Before that thing came along.”
“I did manage to avenge her though; took a while, some serious training with the Rangers, and an evolution later I tracked it down to this place; where we first met it.” He continued, as the rage simmering in his steps sent out minor shockwaves which flattened the nearby rocks into fine sediment. “No regrets about what it did, so I made sure it couldn’t hurt anyone again; neither it nor its offspring.” The walking earth-leveler soon reached the end of the rocky road, as things began to smooth out for normal foot traffic. “And for the past one hundred and forty years, I’ve stayed here; ensuring no pokemon like that thing ever get a chance again.” Chad made no motion to dismount, ingesting the story and sheer power the pokemon- no, Rocky- was radiating in the moment.
“Damn,” Chad swore, as they approached the fighting type, “I think she’s waiting for me.” With a helping hand, he slid down off the Rhydon, walking tall towards the waiting muscle-bound woman. Upon standing before her, one of the black bows around her biceps began to glow with a sheen of the rainbow.
“Good, you did not keep me waiting long,” she intoned, moving closer to one of the rocks. “I have been tasked with instructing you in the art of brutal combat, the communication of fists, and the removal of that which obstructs your path.” She moved through a series of katas and stances while reciting her goals. Her voice was clipped, strict and only the bare minimum of sounds for communication.
“First, I impart the ki. Second, you summon the ki. Third, I show you how to use the ki. Fourth, you replicate use of ki.” The Sensei listed off, counting to four with her four fingered hand. Rapidly, the hand shifted to an open palm, fingers together, and coated with splotches of brown light. “This ki, the expression of martial will. Allows you to push hard, assert will over reality. And today, you will learn,” she explained, before smacking the open hand against the top of the left-most rock. Nothing happened, until a few seconds later when there was a cracking sound, and the rock neatly fell apart into two clean halves, bifurcated by a flat surface down the middle.
“Rock Smash,” Chad remarked, before placing his bag on the ground nearby and releasing Ginette. “Were you only instructed to teach me?” he asked, receiving a nod. “Ginette, I’ll be busy for a bit. Feel free to explore a little, but don’t stray far. And especially don’t bother the one kind enough to ferry us out here,” he warned, met with a fake smile and mocking salute. She walked over to examine the giant stone slab leaning against the wall alongside the old Rhydon.
As Chad threw himself into learning, Ginette looked over the giant fossil in admiration. “I can feel the raw power radiating off this old boy,” the ancient rock type rumbled, a hand pressed against the stone. “If he had been around, maybe I-” he cut off, stepping backwards and away from the false hope.
“Not very rassurante to be pining over ‘what ifs’ over a hundred years later,” Ginette commented with a twinge of disappointment. “It’s been barely two years for me, but I still get the intrusive thoughts about how I could’ve pushed harder, or done better.” She gently reached up to touch the rock, but pulled away in resignation. “Which is worse, in your opinion; the idea they’re gone forever? Or that you might have to face them in the future, that in the heat of a battle the memory of the moment they left might be what ensures your own incapacité?”
The old rock type gently sat down on the ground, facing the smaller frog with the mountainside on his left. “Neither is worse. Each just provides a different challenge, a different road to recovery. My pain,” he pointed at himself, specifically a nasty scar on his chest, “led to the extermination of an entire tribe. The young children? I squashed their fledgling lives into the dirt for the simple crime of being born the wrong species. It brought me no joy, no satisfaction; no closure.” His voice teetered, eyes downcast in guilt. “All it did was give me purpose. I did not avenge my trainer, I did not balance any scales of karmic justice. My actions simply put me on the path to devoting my existence towards ensuring no others suffer the same fate as Julia.”
“But you have a choice,” he continued to expound, drawing the Frogadier’s attention. “You can either choose to move on, to be happy it happened and find some meaning in your new life. He may not be human, but I would like to believe he is no worse than any other trainer you could’ve found yourself beside.” The two of them glanced over, where Chad was panting hard, struggling to hold the brown energy on his claws.
“And the other option?” Ginette asked, as Chad swung his glowing hand down on the rock, only to recoil in pain and grip said hand with his other.
“The other is to become strong enough to seek revenge. Whether for you that simply means self-accomplishment, or delivering a fist to their face, or laying them out six feet under the soil.” Ginette spun at the idea, her eyes at maximum diameter in sheer surprise at the heinous suggestion. “The only requirement- the main difference between those three options- is how strong you yourself need to be. Are you strong enough to be proud of yourself? Are you strong enough to make that traitor taste his own asshole? Are you strong enough to resist the world? When the time comes, you’ll have your answer.”
Monologue notwithstanding, Ginette fidgeted with unease, eyes darting around the ground in search of something to fixate on. After making several pseudo-ninjitsu hand signs, her gaze returned to the massive stone slab, her body stilling as the anxiety compressed into a singular ball. An inhale, her body relaxing; an exhale, and the anxiety was gone. “I guess we’ll see. Though, on another subject, I wager we’ll be bringing them back with us,” she motioned towards the fossil. “Think you can carry it?”
The old Rhydon pondered the question for a minute, “With help, potentially. But what makes you so certain?”
“I overheard your conversation, about Chad’s ‘passenger’. Something this old and powerful, this presence… There’s zero chance they aren’t involved.” The rock and water types sat in contemplative silence, as the monument to the past towered above them.
There was a shout, a yell grabbing their attention to watch as Chad’s hand flared with bright brown energy. In a perfect arc, the fire type swung down on the top of the rock, passing all the way through. The energy permeated the rock, crumbling it, pulverizing the pebbles into sand, atomizing the sand and dust to leave naught behind. The Machoke lightly clapped, as her glowing bow began to shine and radiate before exploding into a cloud of rainbow bubbles.
“Good, now you practice. Second task,” she instructed by pointing to the remaining black bow, now also beginning to glow with the rainbow aura. “We carry that to human town,” she detailed as her finger pointed to the giant slab.
“Called it~,” Ginette sang, as the Rhydon grumbled while moving to stand up.