Astazhei proved a quick fit with the team; well, with Sandile and Aidinza. He fluttered about in the trees above, swooping down whenever Aidinza called him to battle. He and Sandile got along… fine. Sandile at least enjoyed having a Pokémon to roughhouse with. That was something that Astazhei was endlessly willing to provide, and was easily capable of partaking in, unlike most other flying types - birds really, with their brittle and delicate wings - Astazhei had all the bulk and power to wrestle with the ground-bound Pokémon. More even, unless Sandile was coming off the power high of Moxie, Astazhei proved to be his physical superior.
Aidinza’s starter never seemed to let that get him down in the slightest though, cheerfully righting himself after every bout and throwing himself back into the roughhousing uncaring for his far greater loss record.
Of course, there were teething issues. Sandile was cheerful enough when his metaphorical hackles were not raised, but the moment those millennia-old instincts thundered to the surface, Aidinza would find his campground home to mighty roars and great squalls, as the two Pokémon squared off with dangerous intent, the malignant rasp of Hone Claws sharp in the air.
If Aidinza let them go as they were wont to do, he had no doubt that the entire campsite would be rendered apart, and that both would be bloody and bruised. Without him there to guide Sandile into finishing the fight quickly, the desert crocodile would seek to lay a lasting impression on whatever ‘trespasser’ was in his ‘territory’ and Astazhei would surely do the same.
So he did not let them do what their instincts screamed, instead he channelled their aggression into what he thought was a rather productive activity, a challenge the two of them could measure themselves against and find a winner, without tearing each other apart. Besides, it also acted as training for the two Pokémon. They had sharp powerful claws, and learning to channel ever greater amounts of energy through them would only be beneficial.
It also had an added benefit of the two of them independently pushing forward their usage of Hone Claw, dragging more and more power out of the ability to perform ever greater feats of carving.
Though the two of them might just be taking it slightly too far, he thinks to himself as he wakes up from his sleep, rolling out of his tent, feet curling in the dewy grass, and taking in the sight of every tree around his encampment marked with deep, weeping wounds through the dim light. Though the way that Sandile smugly sauntered up to him, as the desert croc gestured vaguely to the largest tree, and the gouge dug halfway into it, softened any irritation at their exuberance.
The young Ya’an-ah paid Sandile his victory scratches, before the dejected look in Astazhei’s eyes broke him and he spared a hand for the eaglet to clear delight as the bird coos.
“We’re going to cross Driftveil bridge soon.” His rufflet perked up at his words, but Sandile simply continued enjoying his trainer’s fingers with a formless rumble. Aidinza shrugged, well used to his starter’s lack of care for much, outside of play, training and fighting. His brow furrows for a moment, marvelling slightly at what a blessed life that sounded like.
Then again, what had Aidinza done since leaving the Naisho’h? Play with his Pokémon, train and fight. His brow furrows further, did walking count as an activity? Either way, he let his smile split into a big grin, he had always wanted to be a trainer, ever since his sister Gowteel left the sands to become one herself.
Thus far, it was living up to all the dreams he has ever had of it and more. He pulled himself out of his introspection to see Sandile and Astazhei jostling each other, a sure sign of them descending into another bout of roughhousing. The young Nomad snorts and shakes his head.
“After Driftveil bridge is Driftveil itself. There is another honoured leader there.” At his words, the two Pokémon stopped the beginnings of their scrap, and two sets of eyes eyed him curiously, flush with confusion. “Like Elesa, in Nimbasa city.” He explained mostly to Sandile, who slumped slightly at the mention of a city, digging up grass and exposing loamy dirt. Despite his own tumultuous stirring at the idea of once more finding himself constrained by the gigantic concrete of a city, he tried to give his starter a reassuring grin. “We’ll get used to it.” He promises.
Sandile merely croaks, curling in on himself in a spot of half uprooted dirt, prepared at some point clearly.
The young Ya’an-ah glanced towards the horizon, where the glorious sun was slowly rising to continue its ceaseless duty. His people were one of ritual and celebration, but no matter how intense their worship was, it was sparse. What prayer they did offer in their day to day was brief, no one knew the words that Bi At Ini spoke to the sun, and to even think to guess at them was sacrilege.
So all Aidinza did at the sight of the dawn was offer a single word of thanks, before turning his mind to the journey ahead of him. He had not lied when he said that they would be at Driftveil Drawbridge soon, already he could see the massive concrete and steel construction in the distance, and more than once he had watched as the titanic thing groaned and cracked as it drew itself up until it was a monstrous tower of concrete in the distance, rather than just a pair of red steel pylons.
The idea of the thing was baffling to the desert nomad, the purpose of it even more alien. What purpose could there possibly be to hoist such a grand amount of anything? Why did they feel the need to hoist it many times a day? Was it because of the deep droning roar he heard? Some Pokémon demanding passage or amusement?
He supposed that he would find out when he reached the bridge proper.
Or maybe he would be left in the dark, as they revealed a ritual older than knowledge, that they simply did because it was what they always did. The Ya’an-ah had a few of those. Rituals on dark nights, under the stars with sharp masks and dull colours, save for a single dash of gold, on days whose auspicious meaning had been lost. To honour what? No one could remember.
All that was known was that it must be done.
Aidinza turned his thoughts from his people’s rituals toward his two Pokémon, returning both of them absently and rolled his shoulders. He would release them when they were on the road once more, but they would just make a mess if he left them out while he cleaned up the campsite.
Or maybe he would leave them in their balls. He had seen a few trainers as he drew closer to the bridge, who seemed off-put by the presence of Astazhei flying overhead. Or far too interested, he remembered with a scowl, a man who attempted to capture his rufflet.
Maybe it was a better idea to leave them hidden away in their pokéballs.
He shrugs to himself, as he sets about packing away the camp, something to consider at least.
-
The Driftveil Drawbridge was massive. Four large red arches ribbed with thick corded steel jut up into the sky from four massive wheel-like constructions, one that even a Desert Nomad like him could tell was linked to its incredible ability to move. The body of the bridge itself stretched across the massive river that split west Unova from central Unova.
It was honestly an awe-inspiring sight, without the discomfort of the cloyingly tall buildings of Nimbasa. The glittering water underneath it - more water than he had seen in his entire life! - as blue as anything that existed in the world contrasted the bridge perfectly, the glittering blue-white against the gleaming red-grey. The almost serene twisting of the waves as they flowed freely underneath, the steadfast stillness of the bridge… it all created an effect that saddened the Desert Nomad to be unable to truly put to words.
It was not the massive buildings of Nimbasa attempting to crudely mimic how the relic castle dominated the land and sky, but it was its own thing, conquering the sea without a touch.
It was incredible to the young teen, that this was something that human minds built, that something this wondrous could come from an age where the Sun stayed silent.
Then the bridge moved! With a groan of concrete and a hiss of steel, the wheels began dragging what must have been several kilometres of concrete into the air! He watched utterly rapt, as the thing exposed its red steel underbelly, and crept higher and higher until it was the concrete tower that he remembered seeing in the distance.
Then the deep droning roar he remembered from the day before boomed out, thundering into the air and startling the few humans and Pokémon around him. His attention snapped towards the noise, and yet another wondrous sight was to be seen.
Aidinza had seen boats before, well he had seen a boat, floating on one of the few rivers that snaked their way from the coast into the Ya’an-ah desert, bringing life-giving water to the desert. It had been a flat, wooden thing, little more than a hut afloat, with the owner a sullen man who nonetheless traded well for the Nomad’s goods. The entire tribe ate well that night. But to compare that float to this… ship was like comparing a finger to an arm. It was massive. Dwarfed, granted, by the bridge it approached. But combined with the fact it moved and the ocean was parting in its wake in great waves that broke even the serenity of the great river mouth the Driftveil Drawbridge sat over…
Today was surely a day of wonders, Aidinza could not help but think, as he marvelled at it.
Unfortunately witnessing the wonder did not come without its cost, the bridge had been dragged high into the sky, a mountainous tower, and not a bridge. According to the man who controlled the bridge, usually, it would only stay up for a handful of minutes, while the boat crossed underneath it.
However, that was not true during the peak of the day, when dozens of ships would cross out into the international waters south of Unova, or cross into the great river Seismahan, the river that Driftveil Drawbridge sat above.
Simply put, for the next hour or so, he was stuck on this side of the river. Which would be fine, there was still the drawbridge to marvel over, and he even ended up having a decent battle with an older man looking to train one of his younger Pokémon. The sight of a scraggy had been a familiar and welcome one, and though Astazhei proved to be her physical superior, the older trainer's experience levelled the playing field remarkably.
No, the issue was the sock-bunned, twin-tailed brunette girl who had arrived not long after Aidinza beat the older fellow.
She had a remarkably innocent look about her, between her hairstyle, the frilly flared yellow shorts, and the wide blue eyes. But she quickly dispelled that notion.
“Urgh, fucking Northsiders, no damn courtesy for other people’s time.” She storms out of the bridge control tower, her cute face twisted into a furious scowl. The loosely assembled people waiting for the bridge to come down watched her wearily, they had all heard her loud demands for the bridge to be lowered. She turns her scowl onto the trainers and imperiously points at one, a young gangly looking ginger boy. “You, if I have to waste time waiting for the lousy boats, then I’ll at least spend it doing something fun.”
Without another word, she expands a Pokéball, and releases a slim bipedal Pokémon, with a cream underbelly, and a number of green leaves jutting out of its green back and short tail. Narrow red eyes scanned over the assembled trainers with a contemptuous arrogance, its nose held high in the air.
She then, to put it in very soft terms, destroyed the boy. His funny looking blue flying fuzz ball lasted only a few moments, and his canine Pokémon - that looked like an evolved form of Mark’s Lillipup - only managed to get in a single move, before the girl’s pokemon - who she called Servine - battered it into the ground with powerful vines.
“Che, you’re barely even worth the air we’re breathing.” Aidinza boggled at that, the incredible rudeness of the girl on display baffling him. “But what can I expect when I challenge some nobodies as a four badge trainer.” She flicked her hair, smirking out at the begrudgingly impressed trainers assembled. It seemed that was considered something of a big deal. “You.” She jerks a finger at Aidinza. “Maybe you’ll be a better distraction than useless over there.”
She waves an imperious hand at the ginger boy, as he slinked off out of sight one final shame directed unfairly at the boy.
“The Sun watches.” Aidinza rumbles, the casual arrogance drawing only the bare modicum of a greeting from him. “Rules.”
“Yeah whatever punk, I’m feeling nice so let's make it my Servine versus whatever ragtag team you can muster. We start on release” Her Servine hissed at that, red eyes glinting with a casual superiority, and the toss of its head left no doubt that it thought this was a foregone conclusion.
“Go, Sandile.” In a flash of red, his starter appeared with a long yawning croak, looking to all the world like he had just woken up from a nap. “Hone Claws.” He growled out, and in moments Sandile answered his order with his own growl and the rasp of keratin on keratin.
“A ground type? You clearly didn’t beat Striaton, grass beats ground doofus. Whatever, Servine finish this off quickly, vine whip!” Aidinza resisted the urge to interrupt her tirade, if she wanted to give Sandile longer to gather strength then he was not going to stop her.
Two long, vividly green vines burst from the Servine’s back, first up into the air, where they wavered for a moment, before racing towards Sandile.
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“Sandile, dodge, then Sand Tomb.”
Sandile wasted no time in obeying, amped up from the distorted power now surging inside his body, and the territorial instincts roused by his trainer’s growl. He skittered along the dirt field in front of the control tower, avoiding the vines as they slammed into the ground with a heavy thump, kicking up a plume of dirt.
Then, from Sandile sand exploded forth, crossing the distance between him and the Servine in seconds, building into a whirling dervish in moments, not the first time that he had pulled off the move, but definitely his strongest example.
It only took a moment for the Servine to test its new prison, a third far thinner vine extending into the sand, stealing a hiss from her as it scraped away at it.
“You think that does anything? Che, Servine doesn’t even need to move to beat your stupid sandile. Now Serv-
“Flex on it.” Aidinza interrupts, to a very affronted look from the girl, which quickly shifts into a look of baffled confusion.
Sandile bursts forward, a low, keening growl splitting the air, soaked in thoughtless arrogance. And that was more than enough for the Servine to respond with its own hiss, body lowering as it prepared to attack the taunting reptile.
“Leaf Tornado!” The girl bites out, and Aidinza feels a flush of satisfaction from her finally shutting up.
But it only lasted a moment, before worry replaced it, as the Servine’s many leaves shook free of its body, hovering, glowing in the air for a moment before they surged at the charging Sandile in a tornado of neon green.
“Sandile look out!” But his warning came too late, the tornado of leaves slammed into the desert croc, dragging him into the air and sending him flying backwards as the leaves tore across his hard scales. Adiniza’s heart leapt into his chest, as Sandile skittered to a stop, his tough scales, and ever tougher hide had stopped any real damage from the leaves, but he was covered in thin scratches and had landed very heavily.
“Don’t let up Servine, Vine Whip!” Aidinza snapped out of his concern for Sandile to turn to where Servine was standing - the tornado had dispersed the sand tomb he noted with a scowl - vines bursting from its back once more. It was clear that the move had taken a fair bit out of the green and cream Pokémon, its mouth cracked open to suck in heavy breaths.
Clearly, it had enough to keep fighting, however, as the vines slapped into Sandile’s side, earning a pained croak from Aidinza’s starter, who was clearly on his last legs.
Though, Sandile seemed loath to go out on just that, pushing to his feet with a growl, his eyes flashing dangerously, as once again he wrested control of the sand, and forced it back into a harsh whirl around the Servine.
It was weaker than his first, far weaker, but it was one final fuck you to his opponent, and even if he had not collapsed forward into the dirt, there was no way Aidinza would have left him on the field.
“Good job Servine, now to clean up whatever weakling he throws out next, and I’ll have a treat for you!” Aidinza ignored her casual taunt, as his hand closed around Astazhei’s ball, and whipped it around to release it into the air.
Astazhei burst out of the red with a piercing cry, powerful wings beating the air into submission as he rose into the clear blue skies.
“Astazhei! It can make a leaf tornado that nearly took out Sandile in one hit!” The rufflet shrieked loud and proud, almost as if boasting that he would not go down so easily.
“Now you get a clue about type advantage? Don’t think it will be enough to win, flare head!” This girl definitely had a talent; one for getting on Aidinza’s nerves, his eyes flashing as the Sun’s hair was insulted.
“Hone Claw, and get in close, it's trapped by Sand Tomb!” Unlike Sandile, Astazhei needed no crutch for his piercing cry to fill the air, powerful talons clicking together with brutal promise high in the sky.
“Batter him away with Vine Whip!” Came the bratty girl's immediate response, arms slicing in the air in a grand gesture. The vines, not even yet finished pulling back into the grass-type’s back, surge forward once more, though Aidinza noted that they were far more sluggish than when they first emerged.
But they still did their job, smacking into Astazhei as he dove towards the green and cream Pokémon, pushing him back in the air, and forcing him to abandon the dive. But that was all it did, the thick feathers layered over his body, and his sheer physical potency meant that he took it easily.
However, it set the pace of the next few minutes, Astazhei diving down towards Servine, powerful claws outstretched, before his flight was interrupted by his opponent's powerful vines.
It was a frustratingly stalled state of affairs, but one that favoured Aidinza more than it favoured Servine. While the Vine Whips might have pushed Astazhei out of his dives, they did little else, while Servine was still suffering at the hands of Sand Tomb's occasional rough rip, no matter how weakened it was by Sandile’s lack of maintenance, and the increasing exhaustion of using its vines at such a height.
Until, it simply did not have enough force behind them, and rather than Astazhei being forced to find another angle, he bullied through the vine strike with a mighty cry.
“Wing Attack Astazhei!” With the barest of acknowledgements, Astazhei’s wing glowed with white light, as he minutely changed his course, angling to slam his powerful wing down onto the exhausted Servine.
“Now! Leaf Tornado!” It seemed the Servine was putting on a bit of a show, pretending to be more exhausted than it actually was. Because the moment the orders left its trainer's lips, it perked up and once again it shook loose half a dozen leaves, and instantly they shot off in a whirl of neon green, slamming into Astazhei, with all the force of his dive behind him.
The incredible momentum that Astazhei had built up found itself clashing against the Leaf Tornado, and as strong as Astazhei was, he found himself on the losing end of that clash, forced back and back until it all slipped away from him, and he was flung upwards, before descending in an uncontrolled spiral to crash into the ground just in front of Servine.
“Finish him off now! Tackle!” There was a frustrated edge in Aidinza’s opponent's voice, a note of uncertainty that made it clear she had not expected anywhere near this amount of effort. But it was just under the surface, and with another arrogant flick of her hair, it was clear that she thought that this was going to be the end of it, as Servine forced itself through the sand barrier to crash into Astazhei.
Against most other opponents at her level, she would probably be right, most birds that Aidinza had fought in the past few days would certainly be down for the count.
“Astazhei! Peck!” But Astazhei was built different from other birds. He was not as graceful in the air, did not slide and glide with aplomb, but he was bulkier, heavy and tough.
He also had a fire in him, a fire that Aidinza was quickly feeling flickering to life inside himself, to match the driven flying type, fed by the satisfaction of his approaching victory against this arrogant trainer. The same fire that had already spread to Sandile, that saw him force another Sand Tomb out. That fire would not let Astazhei simply keel over in a single move.
So, as the Servine forced itself through the tearing sand, leaving itself even further weakened with the expectation that it would be facing an already broken foe, it instead met the fierce piercing eyes of Astazhei, as his beak glowed a white light, and his powerful talons flung himself forwards.
Servine slammed into Astazhei, and Astazhei buried his wickedly sharp beak into the grass type’s ribs, as his talons dug into the dirt underneath him and he presented an immovable wall.
The white-cream Pokémon, already weakened by two powerful Leaf Tornados, Sandile’s Sand Tomb, and his attempts to keep Astazhei at bay, crumbled, collapsing onto the Eaglet bonelessly.
Beaten.
The grin that crossed Aidinza’s face at the sight of his opponent's stunned confusion was as wild as the victorious cry of Astazhei, as he threw his opponent to the ground, and planted a wicked talon on its chest.
“Y-you only won because it was two on one!” The girl returns her Pokémon, and while Aidinza does not correct her, he does nothing to hide his victorious grin. “And because I fought that other loser before! This means nothing, got it? I don’t lose to punks like you!” The girl spun around, and stalked off towards the bridge, standing right in front of it with an intense, impatient air, foot-tapping loudly against the concrete path flush against the fence line, as if it would cause the bridge to lower faster.
Aidinza frowns after her, but quickly finds himself distracted as Astazhei flutters over, the proud bird's chest puffed, despite looking battered and, perhaps a bit ironically, ruffled. Aidinza kneels down in front of him, running his hand through his dirty feathers, straightening them out as he goes.
“Good job Astazhei, yo-”
“You sure showed her!” A loud nasal voice interrupts him, starling the desert nomad. He snaps around, catching sight of the ginger boy that she had first fought.
“Uh, yeah.” Aidinza leaned away from the boy, as he approached, unsure what to do about his wide grin, and pretty sure he would bolt if he followed through on what the nomad was sure was a gesture to clap him on the back.
“That rufflet of yours seemed pretty tough! Don’t see too many of those around here.” Thankfully, the boy seemed to decide against physical contact, simply coming to a stop a few steps away, and shoving his thumbs into his waistband. “I’m Kaine, nice to meet you.”
“Cool sands and wet winds, Kaine. I’m Aidinza.” There was no reason to be impolite, though Aidinza doubted the other boy would know if he was being so. No offence intended to him, but he did not seem… travelled enough to know the greetings of the Ya’an-ah.
“Aw shucks, you too man.” He grins wide, one hand going to scratch at the back of his fuzzy red hair. “Anyway, I was going to come back here to give the chick a piece of my mind for being so rude, but you already got to her, so save me some effort!” The boy laughed loudly, and Aidinza chuckled awkwardly. “And a good turn like that deserves a good turn in turn, and it’s my turn to make sure your turns are served, gettit?”
Aidinza leaned even further back from the other boy, puzzling through what in the world he had just said to him.
“Hah! Your face man, actual classic. But serious time, you’re planning on being in Driftveil for a bit, yeah?” Cautiously Aidinza nods, unsure where the other boy was going. “Well, might be a bit surprising considering which side of the Seismahan river I’m on, but I actually live in Driftveil, and am cordially inviting you to make use of my spare guest room, as of course my honoured guest.”
The Ya’an-ah tribesman freezes as Kaine gives an exaggerated bow, shock slamming into him, he had known that trainers were honoured in the wider world, the Ya’an-ah also did so, but to be considered an honoured guest mere weeks into his travel? It was… it was so much.
“I- you uh. You honour me.” He stutters out, suddenly all too aware of the dirt and grime thick on himself and his clothes, and hyper-aware of how his arms dumbly hung by his side. Should he do something with them? Why was he just standing there? He was being given a hu-
There’s a massive groan of steel and concrete, and Aidinza finds himself saved by the drawbridge finally beginning its descent into proper function once more. For a moment he just admired the marvel, it looked as wondrous as when it had hoisted itself up.
“She's a real beut hey? The largest drawbridge in the entire world had to have steel-types and psychic-types reinforcing it the entire time.” Kaine shakes his head with a grin, before turning away from the bridge, back to Aidinza. “I’ve really got to get going, didn’t expect to be caught on the other side of peak traffic. I live on two twenty-eight Clayton Avenue, not far from the Pokémart. No pressure!”
Then he was off, lightly jogging over to where the bridge had already flattened out, and where people had begun their journey across.
Aidinza glances down to Astazhei, where the Eaglet was picking at his feathers, to clean himself, and wonders if he should take him up on that.
But first things first, he needed to find a reward for his Pokémon.
-
Walking over the Driftveil drawbridge was an experience that did not quite match up to the sight of the wonder itself. It was still incredible, the scent of the sea in the air, the sound of crashing waves, the sheer size of the bridge itself. But compared to its majesty at a distance…
Though maybe it was just the fact it had taken him nearly half an hour to cross the bridge, familiarity had worn away at the experience.
Driftveil city itself was a less overwhelming sight, compared to Nimbasa, but it had something about it that was awe inspiring. Rather than attempting to scrape at the sky with towering buildings, Driftveil was far less vertical, spread wide across the coast, and half-carved into the small mountain behind it.
The buildings themselves further distanced themselves from Nimbasa, rejecting the uniform grey for an eclectic mix of colours of coloured clays and stone, with a common thread of bronze lining framing the houses, emphasising windows and balconies. The bronze glittered in the sun, creating an almost contrast with the deep blue sea that it rested against.
There were still massive modern grey buildings, especially towards the large docks that bookended both sides of the city. But even that was given colour and emphasis by bronze detailing.
The lesser verticality also came with thinner crowds in the streets, Aidinza at least felt like he could breathe as he traversed the bronze-lined cobble pathways. He had already been to the Pokécentre, meeting the surprising sight of a near-identical Nurse Joy inside, though Aidinza was pretty sure she was younger than the Nimbasa city Nurse Joy.
The woman did not keep his Pokémon long, even with Sandile being knocked out an hour or so beforehand, it did not take long to get him up and running about. The real-time sink was the Nurse giving Astazhei a number of medical shots, something that a reptile-like Sandile did not need.
Or did not have access to, Nurse Joy was not entirely clear, her comparative youth evident by her hesitance.
Now Aidinza was walking up to the Driftveil Gym, wanting to sign up as soon as possible, and hoping this time it would not turn into as much of an affair.
If Elesa’s gym was the seat of a tyrant, then the Driftveil Gym was the seat of a warrior king. It was a powerfully built building, all straight, hard lines, and polished bronze, with tall towers capped by glass framing the corners. The windows along the sides of the building were reinforced by a honeycomb pattern, again made of bronze, as if strengthening the building's weakest material.
The entrance itself was the most intricate part of the building, two bronze panel outcroppings that jut into wings that pointed away the entrance, and lead up into an almost crown-like cornice, emphasised by red, shimmering jewels before another glass dome capped off the crown design. Set between the two winglike panels was a gold enamelled plaque, with the Unovan league symbol gleaming proudly.
The entrance proper was a tall door of imposing red, nearly twice the size of Aidinza, etched with decorative gold lines. Thankfully for the young nomad, it was already open, saving him from having to figure out how to pull it open. Inside was a foyer reminiscent of the Pokécentre, a young man stared boredly at a computer, behind a large desk of some sort of carved white stone.
Aidinza walks over to the man, waiting patiently in front of the desk for the young man to acknowledge him. When the man did, he seemed startled by Aidinza’s silent presence.
“Oh hey, uh sorry, um. I was doing work stuff. Cool work games.” The man was a bit older than Aidinza, with thick curly brown hair, and matching brown eyes. He was a fairly tanned person, less so than the Desert Nomad, but clearly no stranger to the embrace of the sun. On his wrist was a gleaming bronze-gold wristwatch that even Aidinza could tell was an expensive piece. “Ah please don’t tell uncle Clay that I was goofing round on the computer.”
“Cool sands and wet winds, I am Aidinza, and I am here to challenge the Honoured leader of Driftveil.” He gives the man behind the desk a respectful nod, who looks taken aback by the greeting.
“Cool, uh, I’m Ssssilt… You’re a how many badge trainer?” Silt’s - Ssssilt? - voice had a strange rising inflection throughout his sentence, hitting a disturbingly high note towards the end. His head turned sideways as he pulled back, eyes narrowing.
Aidinza gives Silt his own strange look, brow furrowing, and the two men just stare at each other for a long moment. “I have one badge.” He finally breaks the silence, after several long moments.
“Cool cool coool coolcool.” Silt gives a thumbs up, a nervous - forced - smile crosses his face as he types something into the computer. “Pretty out of season to see a trainer hitting Driftveil, but I guess if you’re a one badge trainer you didn’t start at uhh that Strattation whatsit place with the triplets.”
“Out of season?” Aidinza questions, wondering if he was the one making this awkward, or if Silt was the awkward one.
“Yeah like, uh, usually we get people hitting up us like, halfway through the season? You obviously have people starting off with the Triplets, they’re pretty chill with being a warm-up for new or returning trainers, so they’re who people go the first few weeks. Then you got Lenora.” He whistles strangely and bounces his eyebrows. “Who’s right next door. Usually, people get caught up on her for a bit, and the smart trainers will train around there for a month or so. Then if you have the right team Burgh is pretty easy when he’s lowballing for a third badge team, but there’s a long-ass waiting list in Castelia city, and then you have to wait for Route Four to not be a raging bitch to cross. So you’re losing another month or two.”
Aidinza recoiled at the idea of his home desert being described as a raging bitch. Ya’an-ah desert was a harsh mother, but she was a mother nonetheless. “You should only insult the sands when you have mastered the sands.” He warns, interrupting the other teen.
“Oh uh, um. Sorry uh, you’re one of those Ya’anah right? Maaan it’s pretty cool how you guys live in the desert and stuff.” He gives another nervous smile to Aidinza, as his typing intensifies. “Uh, yeah. So I can do you at two forty-five today, which is like”. He glances at his wrist, then glances at the computer. “Ssssome tiiiime ffffrom nowww like sort of thirtyish minutes? Or I could fit you in around noon tomorrow? Pretty free the day after that too, and then it's like, the world's your oyster.”
“I can wait thirty minutes.” Aidinza glances away, looking around the foyer for wherever would be the furthest place from this awkward situation.
“Nice, we’ve done it! You can wait around here or you can go watch the current gym challenge going on inside.” The moment after Silt gestured towards the door, Aidinza was moving, waving briefly to the other boy, and pushing into the other room.
He did not feel bad about fleeing the awkward situation in the slightest, as the second, much wider room was revealed to him. It was a large auditorium, the massive windows letting the sun illuminate the stadium in the centre where two trainers stood facing each other, their Pokémon clashing in a furious battle.
The furthest trainer was a large man with curly brown hair, very similar to Silt, but his was partially hidden away by a large white hat, with a gleaming gem set on a gold belt resting against the brim. He had a very different style of clothing than any that Aidinza had seen since he left Ya’an-ah desert, with a leather, sleeveless jacket, and what seemed to be different pairs of pants on.
This was Honoured Leader Clay, Aidinza knew. The gym leader of Driftveil.
And across from him, was a familiar sight. The sock-bunned girl that Aidinza had fought, and beat earlier today. She was commanding a Whirlipede against what Aidinza thought was a Sandslash.
“Bugbite! Put that shrew into the ground!” Aidinza watched as the bug's odd horn-like appendages glowed green, and shot forward in a powerful roll.
“Crush Claw.” Clay’s voice matched his body, loud and commanding. Sandslash wasted no time in obeying the order, long claws glowing a blue-white as it lashed out at the Whirlipede, slamming into the bug’s side, and completely knocking it out of its charge. But despite the savage blow, the Whirlipede simply got back up, and the girl ordered another attack a moment later.
Aidinza wandered over to a set of bleachers taking a seat and getting comfortable, as he watched the two Pokémon duke it out. If the way that both of them were shrugging off the other’s blows was any indication, he was going to be waiting a while.