Chapter 43: Friends of the Faux

The red metal handle of the shipping container rattled violently as the truck made its way down the road. Fomantis reached up with its leaf-like arms and grasped the handle, making it stop rattling. It pulled itself up, straining to even stay on the truck. The road rushed by like an unending treadmill, every little bump threatened to break Fomantis’s grip, all the buildings came and went before anything could be familiarized. But maybe if it could just get to the top, everything would be easier.

Fomantis rose up from the handle, eyes focused on the edge of the container that led to the top. It bent down, ready to jump. But then, a pothole shook the entire vehicle violently. The leverage Fomantis had was completely yanked away right under its body. The weightlessness seemed to have slowed down time. The car behind the truck immediately hit the brakes, tires screeching as it desperately tried to turn out of the way. Only for the driver to wobble side to side as there was no obvious path to divert towards.

The heat of the car's engine wrapped around Fomantis’s body as it grew close. It was over. In a land Fomantis knew nothing, and ultimately got nothing out of. It shut its eyes tightly in anticipation of the end. But then a flash of purple forced its way through. Though its eyes were closed, the light was blinding. Something wrapped around its body, almost as if it was submerged in water.

But just as soon as the purple light flashed, Fomantis was bashed away into the air. It felt itself spin in circles wildly. The ground hit hard, sending Fomantis in a rolling tumble. On and on it went until it hit the hard surface of a wall. Its rough surface stung and the wind was knocked out of Fomantis’s lungs. The world was blurry and unintelligible voices mumbled about all around.

A shrill filled Fomantis’s ears as one voice made itself heard clearly. “Noi……..you oka……….is tha……..antis?” Fomantis tried to focus. It saw a boy standing over it. His hair was a dark, oily black and wavy all the way down to his neck. His skin was a somewhat dark, ashy brown. Great big nerdy glasses sat in front of his tired hazel eyes.

“Yo?! Are you okay?!” his voice reverberated. Who was this boy? A mere passerby? Another trainer looking to catch it? Perhaps, a savior? He poked Fomantis’s belly, making it flinch and restoring its sense enough to see the world clearly enough. “Hey! Are you gonna make it?”

“That boy! Looks like he found Fomantis first!”

“He didn’t catch it yet! Now’s our chance!”

The boy looked to his side and he gave a concerned expression. “Shit! We gotta go! Come on!” The boy picked Fomantis up as gently as he could while rushing. He then swerved to the side towards another Pokémon, a Noibat. It was down for the count on the sidewalk, seemingly in great pain. The boy picked it as he ran by as others ordered him to stop. Fomantis felt an unwavering uneasiness trusting another person, but at this point it had no choice. Its fate was now in his hands.

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() Ceailean ran down the street, trying his best not to plow through the pedestrians. All his Pokémon and guests performed various acrobatics to avoid the crowds. Still, his two pursuers chased him relentlessly.

“Stop dammit! Just where do you think you’re takin’ that Pokémon?!”

“Can you guys do something about them?” asked Ceailean. Solosis nodded and turned around charging a psywave. “Ack! Stop! Don’t use an attack that can hurt the crowd!” Solosis pouted and dissipated the attack. That was when Roselia perked up and suggested an idea to Steenee. Steenee gasped and nodded with a smirk. Roselia jumped into Steenee’s arms and they spun around. Roselia grew vines out of its flowers and shot them out like bolas right as Steenee spun towards the pursuers. The vines wrapped around the bar of a guard railing and a tree. Before the pursuers could react, they both tripped over it and crashed hard.

Steenee and Roselia cheered as Steenee threw Roselia to the side to let it run independently. “Good work you two!” said Ceailean, Scorbunny cheering along with him. Solosis privately sulked at the others stealing its potential spotlight.

The pursuers quickly got back up and resumed the chase. “Make it fair! Let us all try to catch it fair and square!”

“It seems pretty caught to me! Why don’t y’all budge off!” said Ceailean as he turned the corner.

“If that’s so true, why don’t you put it back in its pokeball huh?”

“Liars don’t run!” The two pursuers turned the corner, only to see that the alley was empty. “What?!” One kicked a nearby trash can to the ground. “Where did he go?!”

“Hurry and find him! No way I'm giving up a Pokémon like that!” The pursuers hurried down the alleyway. Unbeknownst to them, Ceailean was hanging up above from the bottom of a fire escape. “That was close.” he said as he looked up to see what he was holding onto. He had his arm grasped around Steenee’s legs, to which it had its arms around Scorbunny’s body, to which it held on to Roselia’s shoulders, to which it held onto the guardrail of the fire escape with a vine. Solosis flew up to the top and observed the spectacle.

Scorbunny gave a sigh of relief, but then it noticed Roselia’s strain. The weight was too much to bear and the vine began to slip. Ceailean felt himself slide down a bit. “Uh oh…” Roselia lost its grip and the vine began to unravel. Solosis gasped and tried to stop the vine, only to get spun around the railing as the vine unraveled. Everyone then crashed softly onto the trash bags of an open dumpster.

“Ow…” Ceailean said, unamused. Everyone tried to take a breather from the situation, but that was when the stench of the dumpster caught up with them. They all pinched their noses and jumped out of the dumpster. “Augh! That wasn’t pleasant at all!” All the Pokémon agreed. “Whatever the case, we better get outta here before they come back.” The Pokémon nodded. “Back this way.”

Ceailean lead them back the way the came. While turning the corner, he instinctively looked back to check if the pursuers were there. But then he ran into someone. He stumbled back, making sure he took the fall rather than the Pokémon in his hands.

“Ow! Sorry about that sir, we-“

“You?!” Ceailean looked up to see who it was.

“Aeise?!” he said, surprised.

There in the flesh, Aeise stood in his path. “‘Fuck you over here haulin’ ass here bruh?! I’m already in a bad mood!”

“I uh’… have my Pokémon here hurt real bad. I’ve been tryin’ to find the nearest Pokémon center!”

“A Pokémon center?” Aeise pointed down the alleyway, “You mean like the one just down there?”

Ceailean looked back to see that a Pokémon center was partially visible at the end of the alleyway. “Well, would you look at that? Guess I missed it. You know how it is, I can’t see very well as it is…” he said while pushing up his glasses and chuckling nervously.

Aeise crossed his arms. “Yeah, bullshit. I ain’t about to stand here and have you disrespect me by tumbling into me and lyin’. How ‘bout you tell what the hell goin’ on here before we have some problems!”

“At least some of it was true! Can’t you see! I have some hurt Pokémon here!”

“Then by all means dude,” Aeise gestured down the alleyway, “Be my fuckin’ guest and rest ‘em up at that Pokémon center over there!”

Ceailean inhaled through his teeth. “Yeah! I know! But I can’t, not at that one!”

“You soundin’ mad sus’! I know that Pokémon is the one people are sayin’ found its way here from another region! I bet you some kinda bottom feeder headass mother fucka! Bein’ as desperate to get away as much as you are actin’ musta meant you snatched this shit from someone!”

Solosis flew up and yelled at Aeise for such an accusation. Ceailean however, pushed it aside. “Solosis! Don’t provoke him! Look, if you’d just listen-”

“And to think I had even a shred of respect for that Marie girl. To think she was hangin’ out with two bit thug assholes!”

Ceailean snapped. He grabbed Aeise by the tank top strap. “You keep Marie out of this! As if you can talk after shooting that attack in the ground to hurt Marie like that!”

Aeise’s expression turned to that of shock before reverting back to anger in an instant. “I didn’t do shit, mothafucka!” He pushed Ceailean into the street, “Get yo insinuatin’ ass outta here!”

Ceailean grit his teeth as his eye began to glow a faint red. But before he could get another word, the blaring horn of a truck rang out. Ceailean looked to see the exact same truck that Fomantis was on came barreling down the road towards him. The red glow in his eyes faded as he realized the situation he was in.

“Aw shieeeet-!” The truck rushed through the street and Ceailean was gone. Scorbunny, Steenee, Solosis, and Roselia all screamed in horror and chased the truck down. Aeise was shocked himself. He may have been angry, but not enough to hurt him that much.

The people around him began to gossip. “By Arceus! Did he just kill that little boy?!”

“Should we call Officer Jenny?”

“What the heck did I just see?”

Aeise looked around in a panic. That was when he noticed the reflection of the windows of shops on the other side of the street.

Ceailean gave a sigh of relief. He was on the side of the cab, hanging onto the step up pole and steps. He then looked around and saw Aeise’s reflection on the window of the passing shops. He smirked and waved two fingers away from his head.

“Mothafucka…” Aeise said to himself. He huffed out hot air and turned away, pushing his way through the skeptical crowd in a hurry.

As the truck moved away, Scorbunny bounced to the top of the shipping container. It urged all the remaining Pokémon to get on. Roselia ran as fast as it could, but its stamina had reached its limit and it began to fall behind. Steenee saw this and picked it up with its hair like appendages. Steenee then spun around and tossed Roselia up in the air towards the container. Scorbunny raised its paws up in the air to catch Roselia. Roselia crashed down on Scorbunny, flattening them both. Solosis flew up to see if they were okay. Scorbunny waved, saying it was fine.

Suddenly, the truck revved up and spewed a huge cloud of smog right into Solosis’s face. Solosis reeled back, its face black with soot. It tried its best to spit it out and wipe it out of its eyes. Roselia and Scorbunny tried to help, but Steenee pleaded for help. Roselia and Scorbunny looked over to see Steenee falling quickly behind. The truck was speeding up. Roselia desperately reached out its vines and wrapped them around Steenee’s body.

But the sudden grasp made Roselia start sliding down the container. Scorbunny chased after it, catching it by the waist just before it flew off the container. Scorbunny held on for dear life as it tried to get a grip on the slippery ridge of the container. Steenee glided along the road and urged them to hurry, the sliding was burning its feet real fast.

Scorbunny called Solosis for help, but Solosis was still busy trying to clean itself up. Scorbunny groaned as it tried one more idea. It bent its legs and used bounce while holding Roselia. All three Pokémon flew into the air. Scorbunny fell flat on its back, Roselia landed perpendicular to it, then Steenee fell down and sat on the both of them, making them both groan in pain. Steenee realized what happened and quickly got back up, apologizing profusely.

Scorbunny and Roselia stood up and forgave Steenee. But Roselia turned to Solosis and sarcastically thanked it for its help. Solosis finally wiped enough of the soot off its face and argued that maybe Roselia should get a facefull of soot, see how it acts then. The two growled at each other before Scorbunny and Steenee got between them to break it up.

“You guys behaving up there?” asked Ceailean. All the Pokémon gasped and poked their heads over the side. There was Ceailean, hanging on the side of the cab just fine. “I’m okay too, if you guys asked.” All the Pokémon gave a sigh of relief.

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() Ceailean and the Pokémon traveled for a long while on the truck until just before it came up on a red light just before the international highway. The cab’s passenger window then lowered down and a big burly trucker spoke out.

“Hey kid, this outta be yer last stop lest you wanna head all the way down to Lumiose.”

Ceailean quickly stepped off the truck. “Oh no, thanks!”

“Looked like you needed a way out of that heated conversation o’ yers anyway. Take care now!”

“You too!” Ceailean waved bye while Scorbunny, Steenee, Solosis, and Roselia came down from the container. “To the sidewalk guys, come on!” He urged them to the back of the truck and around, traffic honking and noisy as it would be. Right as they got to the sidewalk, the light turned green. Ceailean and the pokemon watched as the truck went down the on ramp and traveled down the highway until it disappeared behind the mountains.

“Phew!” Ceailean sighed, “That sure was… an experience.” All the pokemon exhaustively nodded. “Let’s hurry and help out Noibat and Fomantis. I can only imagine how much that hurt for them.” They all went down the sidewalk back towards town.

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() “Oh my, you seem to have gotten yourself quite lost young sir.” said a woman operating a tourist booth.

“Yeah, we seemed to have uh…” Ceailean looked back at all the pokemon, “wandered off a bit. Do you know where the nearest pokemon center is?”

“Oh yes. If you just head up this road through the shopping district and make a left, you’ll find one there.”

“Okay, thank you!” Ceailean dashed off, all the Pokémon quickly following.

“Oh wait! May I suggest some restaurants and cafes for you to visit!”

“I have hurt pokemon, lady! I’ll check on my own time!”

“Oh uh… okay! If you want to know a good place to visit, you know where to find me!”

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() Ceailean burst into the Pokémon center and slid to a halt in front of the counter. “Nurse Joy, I need you to help my pokemon!”

Nurse Joy waved her hands down. “Whoa whoa! Calm down. Please tell me what happened.”

“Noibat saved this Fomantis here and got hit by a car! Can you help them?” Ceailean held out Noibat and Fomantis out slightly. Noibat was unconscious, its head limp against Ceailean’s knuckle. Fomantis looked at Noibat, its expression full of guilt.

Nurse Joy gasped. “A car?! Okay okay uh…” She pulled out a medical cart and patted it. “Place them here please. Apart from each other.” Ceailean nodded and carefully laid Noibat and Fomantis down on the cart. “Okay, let's go Wigglytuff!” Wigglytuff nodded and helped push the cart through the swinging doors.

Ceailean could stand there and watch through the tiny windows as the two turned the cart around the corner and disappeared. A red light indicating that an operation has started lit up, filling Ceailean with anxiety.

He swung his fists and turned around. “Damn it!” He walked through all the Pokémon waiting behind him. He sat down on a nearby bench and sighed, resting his arms on his knees and tightly grasped his hands together.

Scorbunny, Steenee, Roselia, and Solosis all cautiously approached him. Scorbunny gently placed a paw on and asked if he was alright. It noticed that his whole body was shaking.

“I… I think I’ll be fine, Scorbunny. Thank you.” Ceailean said with a shaky voice. “It’s just… everything’s starting to catch up with me, you know.” All the pokemon looked at each other, wondering what he meant. “Noibat was brave to save Fomantis like that. Quick thinking too. But… that doesn’t keep me from worrying. It’s been so long since I felt that way. I felt it in my hands, Noibat’s tiny heartbeat, its small breaths, it even felt like it was clinging on to me. I felt Noibat’s trust in me. So why do I… I…”

Ceailean grasped at his chest and started to breathe heavily. He fell on his side and closed his eyes in pain. Scorbunny ran up, scared for his safety. It shook his left shoulder, making him wince in a huge amount of pain. Scorbunny backed away, unsure what to do. It began to panic, desperately asking the other pokemon what to do.

“What’s… happening…?” said Ceailean. The voices of the Pokémon reverberated and the world swirled around until everything became silent.

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() A voice slowly grew louder and louder. “Kid… kid…KID! God dammit, wake up!” Ceailean’s eyes flew open. Eyse was shaking him by the shoulders.

“Ye-Yeah! I’m up!” said Ceailean. Eyse sighed and leaned against a shattered wall. Ceailean felt his neck. “Augh, why does my neck hurt so much?”

“You don’t remember?” asked Eyse.

Ceailean’s eyes widened. “Fletchinder! Is it okay?!”

“Yeah, but…” Eyse looked to the side. Fletchinder was laying on a chair, keeping a close eye on Ceailean.

“Fletchinder, you’re okay!” Ceailean stood up to check on Fletchinder. But then Weavile stood in his way. Eyse also held him back by grabbing him by the torso.

“Stay back kid, we gotta make sure you’re okay.” said Eyse.

“But I told you I’m okay, I’m standing up aren’t I?

“That’s not what I mean! I mean ‘are you okay in the head’?”

Ceailean looked at him. “What…?” he asked with his voice cracking.

“So you really don’t remember, huh?”

“W-What happened?”

“Zygarde… did something to you. You became someone else and you tried to hurt Fletchinder.”

“I would never! I love pokemon! I couldn’t hurt one if I tried!”

Eyse knelt down to Ceailean’s level. “But that doesn’t matter kid! What happened, happened! You shouted into the like a berserker and you were gonna smash Fletchinder on the ground like a fuckin’ watermelon!”

“No! I don’t believe you!” Ceailean ran past Eyse towards Fletchinder. Weavile got ready to stop him, but Eyse waved him off.

“Let ‘em.” he said. Weavile sighed and stepped out of the way.

Ceailean moved up to Fletchinder, his breathing heavy. “Fletchinder! I didn’t do that to you, right? You… You still trust me right?” Fletchinder scooted against the back of the chair in fear. Ceailean could see it shivering. He reached his arms out. “Fletchinder…” Fletchinder’s nerve snapped and it quickly stood up and burst into flames, opening its wings defensively and screeching. The heat made the hairs of Ceailean’s body stand up as he jumped back startled.

Weavile pulled him Ceailean back aggressively, making him fall down on the ground. The chair that Fletchinder was on then caught fire, sending Fletchinder into a panic. Weavile sprung into action and grabbed Fletchinder, placing it down gently on a counter. The chair was consumed fully by the flames and fell apart with the sound of clinking wood and popping.

Ceailean picked himself back up. “Wait please!” He tried to get closer to Fletchinder, but Weavile stomped its foot down. It shouted at Ceailean, telling him to back off. Ceailean jumped back, reeling his arms close to his chest as tears began to stream down his face.

“It’s over, kid.” said Eyse, crossing his arms. “Fletchinder doesn’t trust you anymore.” The realization hit Ceailean like a truck. His heart caved in and more tears streamed down his face. “Kid I-“Ceailean started to hyperventilate and he quickly turned away, bashing his way through the door. “Wait! Ceailean!” Eyse chased him outside.

He stepped outside to see Ceailean already halfway down the street, weaving his way through ruins and destroyed cars. “Where are you gonna go kid?!” Eyse asked.

Ceailean ignored him. He kept running and running. He knew a place where he could go, where people could trust him. But something was off. He could remember what comes next. He had to stop, no more. There was nothing more important than turning around right this instant.

“Sir?” a reverberated voice asked, “Sir?!” The world then drowned in a blinding white light. Consuming the ruined city and Ceailean along with it.

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() “Sir!” Ceailean’s eyes flew open. He shot right up into Nurse Joy’s forehead, making them both reel back in pain. “Ow-ah!”

Ceailean soothed his forehead with his hand, inhaling sharply through his teeth. He peered with one eye. “Mmh, sorry about that.”

“No, it's okay. I probably shouldn’t have been so close. But let's focus on you first.”

“Me?”

“Yes. When I came out here, your Pokémon were clamoring for me to come check up on you. You had passed out on the bench and you were sweating profusely.”

“Huh, I guess I was.”

“Could you please tell me what happened before you passed out? I may specialize in pokemon care, but I’ll try my best to help you in any way I can.”

“S-Sure…”

Ceailean told Nurse Joy what happened right before he passed out.

“Strange. You suddenly felt like you couldn’t breathe and everything got hot around your chest area?”

“…That is exactly what I just said, yes.”

“Nurse Joy placed her fingers on her chin and pondered. “I can’t be too sure, and I highly suggest that you have a professional diagnose you properly, but it seems like you had a spontaneous panic attack.”

Ceailean chuckled at the suggestion, thinking it was absurd. “Me? Having a panic attack?”

“Considering you’re able to keep up your sense of humor, perhaps I’m wrong. But I wouldn’t deny it entirely.”

Ceailean scoffed. “I don’t have time for such things like panic attacks.”

“Whether you have the time or not doesn’t matter. You’re human just like the rest of us. And something must’ve happened that sent you over the edge.”

Ceailean’s eyes widened slightly. He looked up at Nurse joy. “Noibat! Is it okay?”

“Um… see for yourself.” Nurse Joy looked to her left and Ceailean followed her gaze. There stood Noibat amongst the concerned Pokémon surrounding him.

“Noibat! You’re okay!” said Ceailean, elated. But his eyes began to focus and he could see a little more clearly. Noibat stood somewhat hunched over with a small cast over its torso and left wing. Ceailean’s lip quivered at this sight.

“You see, whatever it did got it hit pretty hard. I’d guess that car was doing 40 miles an hour. What were you guys doing anyway?”

“We… were chasing a semi on the road.” Nurse Joy gave him an expression that practically said ‘what the heck?!’ Ceailean put his hands up defensively. “It’s not as bad as it sounds!”

He explained the pursuit of Fomantis.

Nurse Joy sighed. “By Arceus. I get you would want to help, but throwing yourselves into danger like that is foolish and you know it!”

Ceailean looked down guiltily. “Is Fomantis okay too?”

“Luckily, it's doing just fine.” Nurse Joy gestured a hand to Fomantis and it bounced happily.

“Glad to see that.”

“Quick thinking on Noibat’s part though. Using dragon rush as a shield from the impact. If it hadn’t, I’d suspect both would be quite worse off than they are now.”

“But, give it to me straight Nurse Joy. Is Noibat gonna be… crippled?” Noibat gasped, worried about the possibility.

Nurse Joy raised her hands up in a panic. “Oh no! Noibat is in no such condition! While it has sustained pretty serious damage to its spinal cord and left wing, nothing was broken. Just a couple days and it should be feeling better.” Nurse Joy then looked to the side. “Besides, I’m sure its just delighted to have a new piece of itself to show off to others.”

Noibat knocked the chest of its cast with its good wing and nodded triumphantly. Ceailean sighed. “You’re acting like those girls at my school who’d show off their casts like a trophy. I’d just need to sign it and you’d be in full character.” Noibat ran up with beady eyes, asking if Ceailean would really do that. “Um… it was just a joke.” Noibat pointed and blew a raspberry at him for being so lame. “But if it really means that much to you, I’ll do it.” Noibat cheered and hugged Ceailean’s leg with its good wing.

As it did so, a glint caught Steenee’s eye. It looked through the window of the Pokemon center and saw a rapidly sparkling light coming from a nearby building. On and off again it went, making Steenee cross its arms as it observed. It called over Roselia and pointed the light out to it.

4th story, 3rd window from the right. Roselia tapped its flowers together nervously as it began to watch. Scorbunny then walked over and asked what they were looking at. Roselia panicked and sputtered that they were just looking at something weird in the sky. Scorbunny asked what it was. Steenee nonchalantly said it was some weird blinking light. Roselia gasped. Steenee reiterated that it was just some weird light, nothing more. Roselia clammed up and reluctantly agreed.

Scorbunny shaded its eyes and tried to look out as well. But right as it did so, Noibat jumped back from Ceailean’s leg all hyped up. It got into a battle stance and exploded into dragon rush to express its vigor. But as soon as it exploded, a sharp pain ran down its back, forcing it to dissipate the dragon rush almost immediately. It hunched over and repeatedly expressed its pain in short phrases.

“You’re quite lively, Noibat.” praised Nurse Joy. “But I’d suggest not letting your liveliness outgrow your body’s current limitations.”. Noibat sighed and nodded. Nurse Joy turned to Ceailean. “Now, I have to return to my duties sir. Please stay as long as you need to.”

Ceailean stood up and put his hands in his pockets. “Nah, I think I’ll dip in a minute. I’m feeling a bit better.”

“If you say so, I won’t stop you. Good day, sir.” Nurse Joy bowed and walked away.

Ceailean sighed and then felt a tug on his pants leg. Scorbunny looked up to him worryingly. Ceailean gave it a warm smile and crouched down. “I’m fine Scorbunny, really. I was just… exhausted, alright?” Scorbunny looked skeptical. It remembered back to when Ceailean was passed out. He was writhing, sweating, and talking in his sleep. The words weren’t intelligible, but Scorbunny could feel an immense amount of pain behind them.

Steenee then stepped up and patted Scorbunny on the back comfortably. Scorbunny looked up to it and Steenee gave back a wink and a smile.

“I think it's trying to say to believe in me, Scorbunny.” Scorbunny’s eyes widened slightly. “And I say you should believe in Steenee too. Believe in all of us. We’ll all pull through.” Scorbunny choked up a bit. It wiped subtle tears from its eyes and nodded with a smile. “That’s the spirit!”

Ceailean then turned. “But now, what do we do with you? All the Pokémon turned and looked at Fomantis. Being put on the spot, it didn’t know quite what to do, so it awkwardly waved. “We may have saved you from the streets, but if you go back out there, you’re bound to run into persistent characters like those guys we were running from. Could you really make it on your own?”

Fomantis looked down and pondered. “Or you know, I could catch you instead?” Fomantis pondered even harder. But before it could decide, Steenee walked up and swiveled behind it. It whispered into its ear that it better think about it hard. Being caught by a trainer is a huge commitment, Fomantis would have to think long and hard if Ceailean could be the one. He could be boring, the perfect partner, or maybe even secretly neglectful. Best choose wisely, there’s no going back if it chooses to stay.

The words dripped out of Steenee’s mouth like poison, straight into Fomantis’s ears. A shiver went down its spine. Ceailean, feeling like he already knew the answer, pulled out a pokeball. This shook Fomantis to its core and it ran back behind a nearby table. It peered over the pole, shivering in fear.

Ceailean quickly put the pokeball back in his duffel and raised his hands assuringly. “Hey whoa! If you need more time to think about it, I’ll let you. I know it ain’t the easiest thing in the world.” Fomantis peered out a little more. “I promise.” Ceailean said, crossing his heart. Fomantis hesitantly nodded and hopped back over to him. However, halfway there, its stomach rumbled something fierce. Fomantis groaned and fell over on the ground.

“Whoa! Fomantis! Are you okay-!” Then the same rumbling sound ran through everyone else’s stomachs. They all knew exactly what was wrong now. Ceailean fell dramatically on the bench, all the other pokemon melting on the floor along with him.

Ceailean groaned. “Ugh… I don’t think we’ve eaten since breakfast.” Noibat, Scorbunny, and Solosis all tiredly nodded in agreement. “I probably shoulda listened to that tour guide, a great restaurant would be real cash money right now.” All the pokemon groaned.

Ceailean then stood back up. “Well, we’re not gonna get food by sitting around! Let’s hurry and find something to eat!” All the Pokémon got back up in earnest and cheered.

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() “Sorry, but we can’t serve kids.” said a caterer.

“You’re a little young to be eating at our establishment,” said a receptionist.

“This place ain’t for kids, try somewhere else.” said a manager.

Ceailean and the pokemon all sighed in disappointment on a park bench. All their stomachs then growled in unison, causing another wave of annoyed groans to come out of them. Ceailean rubbed his eyes under his glasses and sighed.

“Lucky us that the place we end up in is the nightlife district.” he said. “Where the hell are we gonna find a place that will serve us? Solosis, you like human food, can you sniff out a place?” Solosis nudged him in an irritated manner, saying it wasn’t some kind of Houndoom.

Ceailean checked the time on his pokedex. “7:30. I think we should get the heck outta here before the weirdo’s start showing up. Come on.” Ceailean stood up and walked forward a few steps before realizing that none of the pokemon budged an inch. “Guys! Come on!” All the pokemon groaned in protest, simply too hungry to move. “By Arceus, y’all really are spoiled.”

Fomantis worriedly looked at the setting sun. Its orange rays barely creeped over the nearby two story buildings as the sky started to turn an inky black. Street lamps and string lights hanging over the plaza lit up the area in a comfortable golden hue.

“I’m gonna carry you all if I have too!” said Ceailean. Immediately, all the Pokémon beckoned their arms out, taking up Ceailean on his deal. “It was supposed to be an ultimatum! I can’t actually carry all of you!” All the pokemon slumped back down into a pile and groaned.

“Might there be a problem sir?” asked a feminine voice. Ceailean turned around and found a girl. Her hair was a sleek, light brown that it bordered on the edge of being orange. It was tied up with a white bonnet that let her hair fall down in a ponytail. She wore a dark blue blouse with a white apron. And a black ankle-length skirt flowed in the wind just enough for Ceailean to see her petite black dress heels.

“Um…” said Ceailean, somewhat clammed up. Solosis took notice and wandered over to inspect this new feminine figure. “Yeah… I guess you could say that.” Ceailean had a hard time looking at her focused, purple-tinged eyes.

“Oh, what seems to be the problem?”

“Well, all my Pokémon here are as hungry as Hariyama and I can’t get them to move. And what’s even worse is that we’re in the nightlife district, ain’t nobody here that would want to serve us in any way.”

“Huh? Nightlife district?” asked the girl.

“Y-Yeah.” The two stood in awkward silence. The girl then screamed up in the air in terror.

“AAAAACK!” she screamed, her hands clawing at the sides of her face.

Ceailean stood back aghast. “Ah! What!? What the hell?! What’s wrong with you!?”

“Are we really in the nightlife district?!”

“Y-Yeah why?”

“My father warned me of places like this. He said they could also be called something like the ‘pleasure’ district. Where lonely decrepit old men come to gaze upon the revealing womanly figures around here. Can you see them? It already feels like they’re watching me!” The girl rubbed her sleeves uncomfortably.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Really?” Ceailean looked her up and down again. “Can’t say you’re letting them have much to work with.”

The girl stood back offended, placing her hand on her chest. “Are you saying that a gal like me isn’t appealing at all?!”

Ceailean blushed slightly before he pounded his forehead with his palm and pointed accusingly. “That’s a trap question and you know it!”

The girl chuckled while knocking her head with her knuckle and sticking her tongue out. “May-haps.”

Ceailean sighed. “Whatever your father said about this place or not, it sure as hell sounds like you’re not supposed to be here anyway.”

“You would be correct, good sir! I was supposed to be in the festival area, serving out my delectable goods to the happy children and parents. But evidently, I seem to have gotten lost.”

“Sure seems like it.”

“Oh! But you!” The girl grasped both of Ceailean’s hands and pulled him close, startling him. “You can help me can't you?”

“That depends. I kinda got my own hands full already, remember?”

The girl looked over and saw the pokemon in a dog pile on top of the bench. “Oh yeah. One sec, I may have just the thing to fix this!” The girl ran off down the street. Ceailean was dumbfounded. This girl seemed to be moving a million miles an hour, and to think he had just got used to Marie. The girl dove into a wooden cart, fumbled around by making all the loudest metallic noises possible, then came back out with a plate and a pokeball.

“What’s that gonna do?” Ceailean asked.

“Just watch, okay?” said the girl with a beaming smile. Ceailean threw his hands up in disbelief but still humored her. She walked over to the hungry pile of pokemon. “Now, indulge your noses to the sweet aroma of our Rikas specialty. This is my Razzberry Tiramisu.” The girl held it out in front of the pokemon, seemingly hooking them by their noses. As she moved the plate from one side of the bench to the other, the pile of hungry pokemon followed like they were magnetic fluid.

Unable to restrain itself anymore, Solosis flew away from Ceailean’s side and dove for the sweet treat, its mouth wide open. Roselia rose out of its trance and quickly pushed Solosis away with a burst of rainbow leaves.

“Oh my, that seems to be magical leaf.” said the girl.

Noibat then reached over to grab a piece, only for Steenee to hold it back. Noibat winced in pain as Steenee had touched the cast on its left wing. Eventually, all the pokemon except Scorbunny and Fomantis devolved into bitter fighting amongst each other.

“Oh, how uncouth.” said the girl with an endearing smile.

“I’m sorry about this.” said Ceailean, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them fight like this before. Actually… that’s a lie. I could tell you about two of them.”

“This isn’t news to me. I’ve seen first hand what hunger can do to people.”

“Uh… what do you mean by that?”

“To be honest, it's kinda cute.” The girl walked up and cleared her throat. “THAT’S ENOUGH!” she screamed. All the pokemon jumped in fear and quickly stood at attention in a line. The girl’s sudden commanding tone also made Ceailean stand up stiff, only for him to catch himself and cough the embarrassment away.

“You’ll all get your share, just you wait.” All the Pokémon looked at each other confused. The girl took out her pokeball and threw it up. A Delcatty flipped its way out and landed gracefully upon the girl's shoulders. “Delcatty, could you prepare a 6 set for our gracious customers please?” Delcatty nodded. The girl chuckled and tossed the whole plate up into the air. All the pokemon gasped, thinking that it would crash on the ground. But Delcatty jumped up after it and slashed at the baked good with fury swipes.

The girl held her hand out expectantly and caught the plate, followed by 6 evenly cut slices of Razzberry Tiramisu. All the pokemon cheered, amazed at their performance.

“Thank you guys! It really isn't much!” said the girl, clearly loving the attention. “Now please, all of you dig in.” She put the plate down and all the pokemon leapt to it and took a piece. They cheered one more time before digging in. A moment passed. Then all the pokemon placed their arms on their cheeks in pure bliss. They all wriggled around at the pure tastiness, humming and giggling all together.

“I’ll tell you what.” said Ceailean, “I’ve definitely never seen them like this. Never even seen Solosis like food this much before.” Solosis gave Ceailean a cheeky smile with a bit of crumbs around its mouth.

“Oh?” said the girl, tilting her head curiously with a finger on her chin. “But one of the slices didn’t get eaten. Did I make too many?” Another growling stomach caught everyone’s attention. They all looked to the side to see Fomantis looking down sadly on the single slice of Tiramisu. The girl gasped. “D-Don’t tell me you didn’t like it!”

Fomantis bounced up and shook its head. It pointed to the sky as hard as it could. “Oh, I get it.” said Ceailean.

“You do?” asked the girl.

“Fomantis must be saying it's solar powered.”

“Solar powered?”

“Oh uh, meaning like the sun gives it its food.”

“Oh, that’s so cool! But,” The girl looked up to the sky, “It just became night time. Fomantis won’t be able to eat for another 11-12 hours at least.” Fomantis groaned and fell on its back. It looked up tearfully towards the sky and reached its arms out, desperately wishing it had the time to bask in the sun.

“Wait! I might have something! Be right back again!” The girl ran off towards her cart. Steenee asked Delcatty what she could possibly have to help Fomantis. To which Delcatty could only shrug. Scorbunny then suggested that they should decide who gets the last piece of Tiramisu. But before they could converse, Steenee reached over and quickly ate the piece before anyone could protest. Steenee chewed and smiled, delighted. Roselia and Solosis pushed Steenee side to side, absolutely berating it for being so selfish. But Steenee kept smiling, completely amused with itself. Scorbunny sighed and scratched the back of its head, wondering how to handle the situation.

“I’m baaaack!” shouted the girl. She slid to a halt in front of the pokemon and placed down a lamp next to Fomantis. “This is a heat lamp, used to help warm up some cold blooded pokemon! I’m not sure how similar it is to the sun, but hopefully its close enough. Here!” She pressed a button on the lamps base and its bulb slowly lit up with a red light. Steenee, Scorbunny, and Noibat put their arms under the lamp and felt it emitting heat, making them huddle around it like a campfire.

“Guys, let Fomantis get in. That's who the lamp is for anyway.” said Ceailean. The pokemon nodded and backed off somewhat. Fomantis then crawled over and bathed its head under the light to get a taste. It was light, metallic tasting, and somewhat bitter. But Fomantis didn’t care, it would take anything at this point. It leapt under the light, exposing its whole body to it. It felt so satisfying to finally satiate its hunger, bringing tears of joy to its eyes.

“Whoa look! Is it glowing?” asked the girl.

“I think so?” said Ceailean. “It’s to tell under that red light, but it looks like it's glowing green.” The rest of the pokemon gathered around the lamp and got comfortable, only for a wave of growling stomachs to run through them again. They groaned and held their heads down.

The girl clapped her hands. “That’s right! That’s what I was doing!” She bent down over the pokemon. “I’ll give you guys all the food you could ever want, my treat!” All the pokemon stood up excitedly. The girl stood up, pointing a finger to the sky. “Buuuut!” All the Pokémon's smiles changed to that of anticipating gasps.

The girl pointed at Ceailean. “♪I’m gonna need a favor from you♪.”

“F-From me?”

“I asked for your help, remember?”

“Yeah…”

“Well I need some help and it looks like you need my help too!”

“I get it,” Ceailean crossed his arms, “I mean, I was gonna do it out of the kindness of my heart anyway, but what do you need?”

“As I’ve said, I happened to have ended up in the wrong place. I need to be over by the carnival grounds. I’ll need you and your pokemon to help me push the cart over there!”

“Okay, but if you got your cart over here already, why do you need my Pokémon's help-”

“ANNND! My friends tell me that I have a horrible sense of direction. So I’ll need your help to navigate me to the carnival grounds also.”

“Don’t you have your own phone to navigate…?”

“Nope! See, our family is pretty old fashioned. So I don’t have one!”

Ceailean sighed. “I mean…” He looked at his pokemon. “Wha-?!” All the pokemon all acted sickly. Coughing, moving around weakly, even some pretending to be dead. “You guys are hungry! Not sick! Ugh…” Ceailean looked at the girl. “It’s not like we were gonna say no anyway. We’ll help you.”

“You will?!” The girl grabbed both of Ceailean’s hands and shook them vigorously. He winced at the pain inflicted in his left shoulder. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Ceailean tugged his arms away and messaged his shoulder. “Y-Yeah, no problem.” The girl’s smile briefly disappeared, fearing that she may have gone overboard a bit. But it quickly returned.

“M-Mm-hm! Anyway, I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves.” She offered her hand. “I’m Synden Rikas, heiress to the Rikas family business.”

Ceailean shook her hand. “I’m Ceailean Crimis. Just a normal boy on a normal Pokémon journey.”

“Huh? Coulda fooled me.”

“What-?”

Synden turned around. “ANYWAY! Let’s get going already! I don’t wanna be late.”

“Uh huh.” Ceailean walked over to Fomantis. “Did you get your fill? We gotta get moving.” Fomantis was still hungry, but nowhere near as bad as before. It stood up and nodded to Ceailean. “Okay then, let’s go guys.” All the Pokémon pumped their arms to the air.

----------------------------------------

() “Okay everyone!” Synden smacked the side of her food cart. “I like to call this the Rikas wagon. Be sure to treat her gently!” All the pokemon nodded. “Now, I’m also taking this opportunity to prep some product on the way there, so I’ll be having all my other Pokémon baking new goods as we get there.”

“Other Pokémon?” asked Ceailean, “You have more?”

“Well duh! You don’t think I can run this whole cart with me and Delcatty by ourselves right?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t know. I don’t run a business.”

“Oh that’s okay. I’ll introduce you guys first.” Synden cupped a hand around her mouth. “Rikas roll call please!” A small bell rang from inside the cart. Delcatty jumped up to the service counter and meowed endearingly. A Purloin and an Alolan Meowth jumped up next to Delcatty. Both had a bored expression as they looked down on Ceailean’s Pokémon.

“This is my wonderful staff, everyone! Meet Delcatty, Purrloin, and Meowth!”

“Yeah, you certainly have a type.” said Ceailean.

“Oh?” said Synden with a slight blush, “Was I so obvious?”

“Yeah, all these Pokémon are similar to those own Skitties.”

Synden coughed and turned her head away. “Of course, that’s totally what I meant.”

“So they’re gonna work while we try to get this thing moving, right? Any special way of doing that or-”

“Nope, just get behind it and push. And I’m gonna steer up front.” Synden jump up on top of a bicycle-like contraption connected to the front of the cart and firmly gripped the handlebars. “And C, you’re gonna help me navigate from behind in the cart.”

“C?” asked Ceailean, perplexed.

“Yep! I hope you don’t mind, but your name is kind of a handful.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s just that nobody else ever had to call me that before. Save another friend of mine and another person who twisted it into an insult.”

“You have another friend who calls you C?”

“Yeah, she’s been my friend for a long time.”

“A long time huh?” Synden said to herself. “Anyway, you guys ready to go? I’d like to help you, but the chain is broken.”

“It’s fine. Everyone pick a spot you want to push and I’ll give you a signal.” All of Ceailean’s Pokémon pumped their arms and got behind the cart. “Where do you specifically want to go?” he asked Synden, pulling out his pokédex with the GPS open.

“Sights and Alcroft, if you’d please.”

Ceailean typed in the location. “36 minutes, this is gonna take a while.”

“The Rikas wagon will make quick work of that. We’ll turn it into 15 minutes easily!”

“Legally…?”

“Eh, we don’t gotta talk about that. Start your engines! Or your Pokémon, in this case. I’m raring to go!”

Ceailean had a new feeling of hesitance accepting this favor for Synden, but nonetheless he walked to the back of the cart. “We’re ready to go!” All the pokemon shouted their readiness. Synden’s Pokémon leapt from the counter to various appliances, bags, and dish ware, each doing their separate tasks as if nothing major was going to happen. “Okay 3, 2, 1, push!” All the Pokémon pushed with all their might. Straining, yelling, their feet locked to the ground. But the cart didn’t budge an inch.

Synden looked back with an unenthusiastic expression. “Hey, don’t tell me your Pokémon are weak, C?”

“No! That’s not it! Something has to be wrong.”

“Uh-huh…” she said skeptically. Noibat, hearing the exchange, took that personally. It exploded into dragon rush, powering through the pain and jolting the cart forward. When it did, a metallic screech rang out from under the cart with a handful of sparks flying out. Ceailean clenched his teeth at the sound and Synden had her hands just over her ears. “Okay, maybe there’s something wrong with the cart.”

“Ya think?” said Ceailean. Noibat groaned in pain and held its left wing while falling to one knee. Ceailean poked his head out the back of the cart. “Noibat! Nurse Joy said not to exert yourself so much.” Noibat pointed its good wing around, explaining that Ceailean told everyone to help push. “I know, I know. I guess it just slipped my mind how committed you are to some things.” Noibat mumbled with a bored expression. “Steenee, can you hand me Noibat?” Steenee nodded and picked up Noibat with its head appendages and jumped up, putting Noibat in Ceailean’s hands.

“Not sure how good you are at relaxing, Noibat. But at least try to take it easy for now.” Noibat nodded, but it pointed up the roof. “You wanna go up there? Man, even while relaxing you gotta commit all the way.” Noibat rolled its eyes as Ceailean Ceailean hoisted it up above the roof. Noibat hopped down and perched on the wooden railing. “Anything else, your majesty?” asked Ceailean sarcastically. Noibat put on a bad posh accent and pretended to take a sip of champagne. “Yeah yeah, any more of that and I swear I’ll unionize.” Noibat then mocked him childishly. “Hey! Don’t make me come up there!” Ceailean shouted, unable to stop smiling. Noibat snickered and retreated towards the center of the roof.

Synden jumped off her seat and went towards the back of the cart. “Okay, y’all had your fun. But now I wanna see if I can push it. The Rikas wagon never stood still against my might!” Synden said while popping her knuckles behind the cart as if she was about to fight it.

“You want, should I get off?”

“You’re fine!” she slammed her hands against the cart and pushed as hard as she could. She wriggled, strained, and squirmed, but the cart didn’t budge. Synden held her head down. “Man, I must be getting out of shape.” All the Pokémon looked away, doubtful of her claim. “Can you guys help me please?” The Pokémon agreed and they all started to push again.

Noibat came back and perched on the outer wooden frame and began to swing its wing back and forth as if composing an orchestra. Solosis found it irritating and yelled at it to come help. Noibat slumped its wings and said to take it up with the big man as the decision was out of its hands. Solosis seethed at Noibat taking full advantage of its injury. Scorbunny tried to ease tensions by saying Noibat was just having a little fun. Solosis grumbled, saying Scorbunny was too nice for its own good and people may take advantage of it. Scorbunny dismissed the claim by smiling awkwardly and waving it away.

Ceailean could feel the cart shift, but not move forward. He stepped off to see what could be the problem. “Oh, I think I found the problem.” he said a little too quietly. He walked over to the back wheel and saw that the brake lever was halfway between ‘engaged’ and ‘disengaged’. “Someone didn’t turn the brakes all the way off.”

Ceailean then gave the faintest of touches on the lever. It then snapped forward to ‘disengaged’. The switch startled Ceailean and caused the cart to lurch forward. Synden and all the Pokémon pushing all fell on their faces. And before Ceailean could get out of the way, the menu sign protruding out from the cart hit him upside the forehead and knocked him down on the floor.

Ceailean rolled around in pain. Solosis and Scorbunny came up to see if he was okay. “Forget about me! Scorbunny, catch up to that cart!” They looked to see the cart racing down the road completely driverless. Noibat swung its wings around trying to keep its balance on the edge of the wooden frame. Scorbunny wound up and sped down the road after it.

“The Rikas wagon!” cried out Synden, getting up from her fall.

“Sorry,” said Ceailean in a strained voice, “I didn’t know the brakes were that sensitive.”

“No, get up.” Synden took Ceailean up by the shoulders and dusted him off. “It was me that forgot the brakes were on. So, sorry for that and also for doubting you.” She held a hand over her eyes and looked over Ceailean’s shoulder. “Sheesh though! Your Pokémon really sent it, didn’t they?”

“Aren’t you worried at all?!”

Synden chuckled. “Nope! Because I have a plan!” She took Ceailean’s right hand. “Come on, this way!” She ran off with Ceailean in tow. Steenee, Roselia, Solosis, and Fomantis followed.

----------------------------------------

() “Watch out!” The sparse crowd dispersed in a panic as the cart raced through. Scorbunny was hot on its tail, leaving fiery footprints behind. Soon it caught up and jumped on the driver's seat. But up there it realized it had no idea how to drive a cart! Another group of people yelled and Scorbunny noticed a Slowpoke slowly making its way across the street, right in the cart's path. Scorbunny desperately tugged on the handle bar. The cart turned ever so slightly, just out of the way of Slowpoke.

A paw tapped Scorbunny’s shoulder. It looked back to see Purrloin, its bored expression slightly hinting its confusion. Purrloin asked where Synden was, to which Scorbunny quickly explained what happened. Purrloin sighed and regained its composure. It told Scorbunny to move and Purrloin took its spot. It flicked a piece of gum into its mouth and began to steer the cart with its feet nonchalantly.

Purrloin swerved and turned expertly along the street. Its expression looked so bored that it seemed like it was about to fall asleep. Purrloin popped a bubble with its gum while Scorbunny stood in astonishment as to how Purrloin could do what it was doing so well.

Noibat then peered over the front edge of the roof and told Purrloin to go faster, pointing ahead excitedly. Scorbunny gave a big loud ‘HUH?!”. Noibat looked down and said that this wasn’t too bad, it flew faster than this before. Scorbunny yelled back saying that it had run faster than the cart before, but that wasn’t the point.

----------------------------------------

() Ceailean and Synden came up on a bridge and saw the cart turning a corner from below, coming down a path below the bridge.

“There it is!” said Synden.

“Oh! I get your plan now.” said Ceailean.

“You do? Not many people tend to go along with my plans, much less figure them out.”

“Yeah. Roselia!” Roselia stood at attention. “Do you think you can make enough vines to stop that thing?” Roselia was shocked to have been put on the spot like that, but Synden interjected before it could answer.

“No no! Not that!”

“What? What else could there be?”

“Um… here just-” Synden came close and wrapped her arms around Ceailean. He stood there startled and blushed slightly. “Do you trust me?”

“U-Um, sure?”

Synden smiled. “Thank you, C.” She then took his hands and spread them outwards as if they were about to start dancing. “Then let’s do this, together!”

“Do wha-” Little did he know that he would be tugged off the side of the bridge along with Synden. “What the SHIET!”

“Weeeeeeeeee!” sang Synden as she fell down the bridge. Steenee, Roselia, Solosis, and Fomantis all looked over the edge in shock. On instinct, Solosis dove after them. Steenee picked up Fomantis and got Roselia’s attention, asking it to swing them towards the cart. Roselia’s expression turned serious and it agreed, confusing Fomantis slightly. Steenee wrapped an arm around Roselia’s waist and held on tight before diving off the bridge.

While still going back and forth with Scorbunny, Noibat noticed a couple of shadows closing in on it. It then heard Ceailean’s yelling from up above. It looked up and its jaw dropped when it saw Ceailean and Synden falling from above. Noibat dove out of the way right before they hit the central beam of the cart and rolled off either side of the roof, both being caught by the display sign.

Ceailean felt around his body. “By Arceus! I’m alive!” He then felt the material the roof was made of. “Tarp?! The roof is tarp?!”

“You think this is the first time I’ve had to catch my own cart, C?” she said with a giggle. She hopped off the front of the roof down to the driver's seat. Noibat gave Ceailean the most confused look, to which he just shrugged. Synden pat Purrloin on the head. “Thanks for being such a pal, Purrloin! I’ll take it from here.” Purrloin unenthusiastically waved her off and walked back up to the cart. Scorbunny asked how it could walk so well, while struggling to keep its own balance. Purrloin glanced over and only offered a shrug.

Ceailean struggled to make his way off the roof and into the cart. But then a bunch of screaming voices came from right above. Roselia, Steenee, and Fomantis were all haphazardly falling towards the cart, screaming their lungs out in fear. Noibat grimaced at the sight of more things falling on the cart.

“What the heck?!” Ceailean said, wondering how they even caught up in the first place. Noibat dove off to the side again right as Steenee and Roselia fell on the tarp while Fomantis went off towards the side. “I gotcha’!” Ceailean reached out quickly and scooped Fomantis out of the air. They looked at each other while Ceailean chuckled at himself, thinking it was a miracle that he even managed to catch it. But then Fomantis shouted and pointed to a rapidly incoming light pole. Ceailean’s eyes widened and he quickly huddled against the side of the cart with Fomantis close to his chest.

“You alright?” asked Ceailean. Fomantis was incredibly thankful, but tears swelled in its eyes. It bawled into Ceailean’s jacket, yelling that it didn’t want to be on this scary ride anymore. “I know, I know, this ride is gonna drive us all batshit crazy.” Something then cleared its throat above Ceailean’s head. He looked to see Noibat perched on the cart sign, somewhat miffed that Ceailean would use such a derogatory term. “Oh don’t you start right now! We have bigger things to worry about!”

Solosis then flew in by Noibat and blew a raspberry in its face before flying off. Noibat tried to give chase, but the pain in its left wing made it remember that it was hurt. Solosis laughed at Noibat, but then it noticed an incoming lamp post and quickly dodged at the last second. Noibat laughed back at Solosis’s shocked expression, only for it to see an overhead road sign. It limboed under it in a split second. Solosis laughed again, making Noibat even angrier. But then the cart barged through the top of a tree, leaving the both of them covered in leaves and twigs.

Scorbunny was starting to get used to the swinging cart and gained a little more balance every second. Eventually, a tiny smile cracked across its face. That’s when Scorbunny got the motivation to run. It jumped out of the cart and started to follow it at a steady pace.

“Fighting and racing?! In this chaos?! Really?!” Ceailean could only sigh as his Pokémon did as they pleased. Ceailean swung into the interior of the cart, where he saw all of Synden’s Pokémon hard at work at their stations. Roselia and Steenee then swung in from the roof to join him, both complaining loudly about the situation they were in.

“You havin’ fun, C?” asked Synden.

“How can you have fun in all this?!” said Ceailean, gesturing to the situation around him, “I got Pokémon crying up to my head! All of my personal Pokémon are gone! And we’re moving at breakneck speeds! Would it kill you to at least slow down!?”

“Come on, C! Just trust me on this!”

“The last time I did that, you threw me off a freakin’ bridge!” yelled Ceailean, his voice becoming coarse.

“This plan is more tame, I swear. Oop!” Synden then swerved out of the way of a car trying to get out of its parking spot, sending Ceailean, Steenee, Roselia, and Fomantis careening off to the side. “Watch the road, ya dingus!”

“I’m so positive it wasn’t his fault!”

Synden shrugged. “Eh, maybe it's a matter of perspective.”

“What?!” Ceailean struggled to get his balance back. He got a hold of the counter top with his elbows and gently placed Fomantis down. “Okay, stay here for a minute, I’ll try and do something-whoa!” Ceailean leaned off to the side. Fomantis then noticed that it was placed near the heat lamp. It turned it on and sat under the light with its eyes closed, hoping to just ride out the whole thing.

Steenee struggled to the top of a different counter near where Alolan Meowth was working. As soon as it noticed Steenee, it asked it to hold a piping hot plastic cup of coffee. Before Steenee could answer, Meowth shoved the cup into its hands. The coffee burned Steenee’s tiny arms through the plastic. It winced in pain as it tried to balance itself on the wildly unstable cart ride. Up, down, left, right, nothing seemed like the right direction. Then just before it felt like it was going to fall over, Steenee spread out its head appendages between an appliance and the wall to keep itself upright. That was when Meowth thanked Steenee for helping and snatched the coffee from its arms and drank the whole thing in one gulp before tossing it out the window. Steenee was appalled at Meowth’s behavior, but it fell back over on the floor before it could complain.

Another swerve of the cart sent Steenee rolling across the floor where it bashed its head against the back of the glass display case. It groaned in pain before realizing Roselia was right next to it, having face planted the display case at the same time. It waved awkwardly, having Steenee do the same.

Delcatty then walked up to them and said to stop fooling around and getting the display case dirty. Steenee and Roselia were about to complain about Delcatty’s audacity, but another swerve of the cart sent them on their way to the other end. Delcatty nonchalantly stepped out of the way as they passed before getting a towel and wiping off where Steenee had face planted.

Synden looked over to her side. “Oh! We’re here!” She pulled a lever that engaged the brakes with the gears rapidly buzzing. The wheels skidded against the road and it started to come to a stop. Scorbunny noticed this and ran up ahead, stopping just ahead of where it estimated the cart would stop. It raised its paw like a crossing guard and ushered the cart to come to a complete stop.

Ceailean, Steenee, and Roselia were tossed across the cart again. Fomantis only watched from up above, thanking Arceus that it wasn’t part of that. But a pothole shook the whole cart and sent Fomantis airborne and down into the walkway along with everyone else.

Steenee hit the wall and winced in pain. But then it noticed Ceailean barreling towards it. It reached its arms out desperately as it could only watch in horror and Ceailean crashed straight into its abdomen. Steenee let out a deep and guttural groan of pain, only for Roselia and then Fomantis to then crash into Ceailean to force a couple more groans out of it.

“-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, we’re here!” said Synden, right as the cart stopped. Ceailean and the Pokémon he crashed with lurched forward off the wall and groaned. Purrloin carefully stepped over them with a plated baked good in its arms and placed it in the display case before walking away.

“No more…” said Ceailean weakly, “Please.” He shakily got to his feet and stood up to leave the cart.

Synden jumped out of the driver's seat and walked up to the side. “Hehe! Did you guys have fun?” Ceailean then flopped out of the cart face first into the ground along with Steenee, Roselia, and Fomantis. Scorbunny gasped and ran over to check on them.

“Does that answer the question?” he asked, muffling his voice into the patch of grass he fell on. Noibat flipped off the roof of the cart like an acrobat and landed on Ceailean’s back, raising its wings in triumph. But then the pain from its hurt wing shot through its body, making it fall limp on the top of the dog pile in an attempt to ease the pain. Solosis lowered itself slowly beside the pile, genuinely concerned about how shook up everyone was.

“I understand. My first time was like that too. When my sister took me on a trip, I was practically screaming my head off and I couldn’t walk for a couple days afterward. Seems just like yesterday, but that was when I was 10.”

Ceailean had one eye glance over to her. “And how long ago was that?”

“About 6 years ago. Why?”

Ceailean groaned into the ground. “So you’re 16?”

“Uh… Hey! You sneaky boy! Getting such a personal answer out of me like that!”

Ceailean raised his fist weakly above his head. “Yaaaaay… so much I can do with that information…”

“It’s the principle that counts!”

Noibat, Scorbunny, and Solosis gently shook Ceailean’s body back and forth trying to make sure he was okay. “I’m okay guys, I just need to rest my eyes for a minute.”

“Well, I think you got a little more out of me than I wanted to give today.”

“Huh…?”

“My age, C!”

“Oh yeah, that thing you’re so serious about.”

“I am serious C!” Synden cleared her throat. “Because of that, I’m gonna change my deal.” All the Pokémon looked at her curiously. “Since you got me to tell you my age, I want you to tell me yours.”

“Or…?”

“Or else, I won’t give your Pokémon food.”

“MMmmmmm, think I’ll pass.” All the Pokémon gasped.

“Huh?! Why not?!”

“Just to hold it over your head, and to be a meanie.” All the Pokémon this time rocked Ceailean’s body back and forth in desperation for some food.

“Come on C, don’t be so stingy. How about this?” Synden opened up her display case and held out a plate in front of the Pokémon. “The first one of you to convince C here to say his age will be the first to get their hands on my scrumptious treats.” All the Pokémon doubled their efforts, Fomantis even joining just to vent out its frustrations.

Ceailean groaned as he felt his entire body almost flip over with each push. “I don’t wanna wake, just 5 more minutes.” Steenee got so frustrated that it was about ready to tear Ceailean's hair out. Scorbunny noticed Steenee gritting its teeth while it was thinking this and thought that behavior was strange.

Noibat then got everyone’s attention with a polite call. Everyone looked to as it calmly stepped up on top of Ceailean’s back and asked everyone to observe. It spread its wings and burst into the smallest dragon rush attack it could muster. The aura covered its body like a thick residue, but it was still enough for Noibat to feel like it sank a tiny bit.

Ceailean shot his head up as his back felt like it had a 5 gallon jug of water placed on it. “Ow! Ow! Okay!” he said, trying to get back the wind that was knocked out of him. Noibat dissipated its attack and Ceailean’s head fell back on the grass. “...13.” he said with a muffled voice.

“13? Really?” asked Synden. “Coulda swore you were older.”

Ceailean turned his head to the side. “What made you think that?”

Synden crouched down near Ceailean’s face. “Hmm, maybe it's the eyes? They seem a bit more mature looking than my little brothers.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah! I imagine your dad was quite the serious looking man!”

“Oh… uh,” Ceailean sat up. All the Pokémon were curious as to what he had to say. “I wouldn’t know.”

“Huh? Why not?” Scorbunny then clenched its teeth and pushed its paws towards the ground, indicating that Synden had asked a pretty heavy subject. She gave a slight gasp, but it was too late. The question was asked.

“My father passed away when I was 8 years old.” Noibat and Solosis looked at him, shocked about the news. Scorbunny sighed and looked up sadly at Ceailean.

Synden covered her mouth. “Oh my gosh, I-I’m so sorry.”

“Uh… no!” Ceailean slapped his forehead. “I-It’s my fault being such a downer.” he said, trying to laugh it off. But then he felt something grasp his wrist. Scorbunny hugged his right arm and nuzzled its head against it. “Again, Scorbunny?” Scorbunny ignored him and hugged tighter. Then Noibat and Solosis hugged him on the other side. “G-Guys.” Noibat shushed him, somewhat aggressively. Ceailean chuckled slightly, “If y’all insist. Thanks.” Ceailean snatched up all his Pokémon and hugged them back.

“You got Pokémon that really care about you C.” said Synden.

“I guess I do, huh?”

The group remained silent for several moments. Ceailean then felt a slight rumble in his arms. He looked down to see that Solosis had turned a bright red. “Whoa! Solosis! Did I hurt you or something?!” Scorbunny and Noibat jumped back as Ceailean let them go. Solosis desperately tried to explain, only for a growl from its stomach to flush away the red on its face and it fell on the ground like a wilted leaf.

Synden laughed. “I had almost forgotten! It's time to hold up my end of the bargain.”

“Please, thank you.” said Ceailean leaning back and holding his stomach. “I think I’ll need some too.”

Synden stepped up into the cart and looked back at Ceailean. “Sorry, no can do.”

“What?”

“You’ll have to pay for your own servings.”

“Why?!”

“Because I technically only agreed to feed your Pokémon right?”

Ceailean’s eyebrow twitched. “No, you left it quite vague. Enough so that I think it's grounds for a lawsuit.”

“Aw, you’d never sue little ol’ me.”

“How would you know?”

“You’re too nice of a person.” Synden chuckled and stepped inside her cart.

“Too nice? I’m just like anybody else aren’t I?” Ceailean asked himself.

----------------------------------------

() All the Pokémon cheered having received their own personal platters. “Alright everybody, dig in!” said Ceailean. The Pokémon dove right in. Croissants, muffins, and scrambled eggs disappeared quickly from their plates. Fomantis enjoyed more time under the heat lamp. Ceailean himself nibbled on a piece of nanab bread as he observed his surroundings.

The carnival was lively and boisterous. Golden lights shined brightly from the various stands, accentuating their bright colors and products. Many people gathered around the carnival games like Mothims to a lamp. Children laughed, parents smiled, and the various Pokémon helping vendors or traveling around were all delighted to help one another.

“Thank you! Come again!” said Synden, handing out a bag of food to a paying customer. She wiped the sweat off her brow and looked at Ceailean. He and his Pokémon were sitting on a patch of grass near a tree, secluded compared to the numerous people passing him that it looked like he was on his own little island. “Take the floor for me guys, I gotta step out for a minute.” All of Synden’s Pokémon acknowledged her decision and kept on working. She walked over to Ceailean. “Hey, C.”

Ceailean waved. “Yo! Hope you aren’t me to pay again.”

“No, that was a joke. I actually came to give you my uh… business card! Yeah.”

“Oh? You one of those traveling food carts?”

“Something like that. I’m currently doing a circuit around Kalos. Started in Laverre city and moved as clockwise as I could. Once I get back, I’ll be heading to Galar.”

“Suppose it's almost over then huh?”

Synden looked delightedly into Ceailean’s eyes. “I wouldn’t think so. I’d say it's just beginning.”

“Ain’t that the riddle of the day. Still, I hope you enjoy yourself out there.”

Synden frowned. “Take a hint, dude…” she muttered.

“Huh?”

“N-Nothing! Here, take our business card.” Synden held out the card and Ceailean took it. He inspected the writing.

“Rikas Ranch. A luxury foods distributor and catering service. Visit our website at RikasRanch.com… wait a minute, I thought your family was old fashioned?”

“Oh! Uh… we are. But it doesn’t mean we aren’t trying to adapt to the times, it's just that we’re a little slow and all. But that does remind me,” Synden pulled out Ceailean’s pokédex and showed it to him.

Ceailean felt around his duffel and found that it wasn’t there. “How did you get that?!”

“I might’ve stolen it from you when we jumped off that bridge. Probably a good thing I did too, you didn’t navigate me at all.” Synden handed back the pokédex.

“Well, safe to say I think that most of us were hung out to dry…” Ceailean put the pokedex back in his duffel, “Also, how did you know how to use it? You said you never had a phone?”

Synden shuffled in place. “Um… that’s…”

“Excuse me?” asked a passerby, startling Synden.

“Ah! Um… yes? Can I help you?”

“Are you the owner of that cart? The Pokémon pointed to you saying they needed assistance.”

“Oh! Yes, I am. Thank you for telling me, I’ll be over right now.”

“Could you answer my question first-“

“Sorry C! Duty calls! I’ll be working the whole night so use that number on the card to get a hold of me, okay bye!” Synden quickly walked off back towards the cart.

Ceailean looked at the card. “Yo, there’s no number on this!” he said waving it at Synden. But he realized there was something scribbled on the back. There in very neat handwriting was a phone number. Ceailean looked at it suspiciously. “I think she’s hiding something from me.” Steenee and Scorbunny shook their heads at Ceailean’s dilemma. “What? Did I say something?” Steenee sighed and said that it was what he didn’t say.

The Pokémon feasted on. Steenee took another bite of a croissant when a light flickered in its eye. It squinted and looked at it. It was the same as before at the Pokémon center. The light was blinking rapidly at irregular intervals. Steenee looked back and forth to make sure nobody was paying attention before bringing it up with Roselia.

Roof, three streets back, two to the left of the center. Roselia found the light and observed it closely.

.- -.-. --.- ..- .. .-. . / ... . -.-. --- -. -.. .- .-. -.-- / - .- .-. --. . - --..-- / .- .-- .- .. - / ... .. --. -. .- .-..

Steenee looked at Fomantis, casually enjoying its feast of light. Steenee sighed and wiped the crumbs of its mouth. It nodded to Roselia, to which Roselia nodded back.

Ceailean stretched his arms up towards the sky and groaned. “Ahhh! What to do now huh? Suppose we could keep looking for your trainer, Steenee. You think they would be here?” Steenee looked away from the light and nodded. Steenee turned to Roselia and asked it to give one last shot at looking for its trainer today. Roselia nodded.

“You’ve gotten pretty comfortable around us, haven’t you Roselia? Have you tried to get to know anyone?” Roselia blushed and poked its two roses together, shaking its head no. Ceailean stood up. “Well, I hope you do soon. It looks like we’re gonna be here for a while. I have a couple friends I know are here at the carnival. Maybe we can find them and they can help look.” Steenee nodded, appreciating the help.

“Alright. Scorbunny, can you return the plates.?” Scorbunny saluted and started to collect them. “Now Fomantis, I know you’re enjoying your time under the lamp, but we have to go. So do you want to stay here, or maybe do you wanna come with us?” Fomantis stood up and bounced its way in front of Ceailean. It eagerly wanted to go with him. Ceailean looked around. “Yeah, I get it. Too many people around for you to be alone. Even though I’m pretty sure everybody would’ve given the search by now. Too dark to search anywhere consistently.”

Fomantis shook its head. It hopped over to Ceailean's leg and hugged it, reiterating that it wanted to go with Ceailean because it really wanted to.

Ceailean was touched. “Oh, thanks Fomantis. We’ll bring you along for the ride.” Fomantis bounced around happily. Steenee and Roselia then stepped and offered to carry Fomantis. No walking? How could Fomantis not take this offer. It thanked them graciously and let Steenee pick it up with its head appendages. Steenee placed Fomantis on its head, Fomantis nestling in as comfortably as it could.

“Okay, let’s go.”

As if on cue, an explosion rocked the carnival grounds. All the Pokémon were startled and Ceailean looked up to see a huge shadowy billowing dust cloud a few streets down overhead.

“Are they having a battle over there?” Ceailean asked in a vain hope. Right afterwards, three more explosions blew from all sides of the carnival grounds. “Oh come on!” Ceailean shouted in hands in frustration. “You know what, its fine. whoever did this did so in a super public place. Police should be flooding the area any minute now. I don’t have to deal with this.”

Scorbunny came running back from the cart, trying to see if Ceailean was okay. But on the way there, it noticed that Steenee, Roselia, and Fomantis were missing. It stopped in its tracks and looked around. There in an alleyway, it saw Steenee give Scorbunny the faintest of glances, its smile turned sour, before turning away and running inside. Scorbunny called to it, asking for it to wait. Without thinking, it pursued.

Noibat’s ear twitched. It heard Scorbunny’s cries and turned around just in time to see Scorbunny slip into the alleyway. Noibat gasped, confused as to where Scorbunny could be going. It tugged on Ceailean’s pant leg and pointed to the alleyway.

“Huh? What is it? Was someone there watching?” asked Ceailean. Noibat didn’t have time to convince him. On instinct, it tried to fly, but the pain prevented it from doing so. So it opted to run, but didn’t get very far before tripping over itself. Solosis snickered, but Ceailean gave it a stern look.

“Knock it off.” Solosis stiffened up and nodded. “Let’s go see what Noibat saw.” Ceailean ran ahead, picking up Noibat before running into the alleyway. Solosis followed close behind.