Fuchsia was not a fun place to be early in the morning.
Locals swarmed through the thin streets, rushing forward towards head-on collisions only to sidestep their neighbour at the last moment in perfect sync. Groups of strangers, all moving at different tempos, worked in harmony to avoid each other and get to their destination as fast as possible. There was no room for personal space. There was no stopping or falling over. Everyone who had chosen to travel the backstreets and alleyways knew that. They eschewed the comfortable main thoroughfares in favour of speed.
With a heavy backpack and a growing headache, David was regretting every decision that had brought him to this moment. The Rangers wanted him for some reason, and he wanted to be prepared. Packing up the tent and all his supplies had taken time. The sun was barely rising. The bright light that stabbed through the chinks in the eaves above, the nearby houses’ armour, was an added annoyance and after a week in the city, he still wasn’t used to all the brightly coloured heads around him.
Red, green, blue, yellow. Heads swayed back and forth as David tried to make his way through the crowd. It was like a set of traffic lights. The spiky yellow fellow was an obstacle to be avoided. The man seemed to be enjoying the chaos. A blue haired businesswoman provided a buffer of no nonsense that quelled the rush. If the long green locks to the left began to speed up, David would need to follow. They were tapped into some crowd consciousness that warned of trouble. If the redhead, a stout worker carrying a big box, was forced to move David would need to follow - someone higher on the courtesy food chain was coming and if David messed up the entire street would clog as they failed to react.
By the time the procession dumped him out on the main thoroughfare by the edge of the city and Route 18, David was battered, wearier and wide awake for whatever the Rangers had waiting for him. Given the timing, he suspected the Voyants were involved in some form as always. One conversation with a Voyant didn’t feel like a crime, but Finn had called their relationship with Fuchsia a century old hatred for a reason.
There was no avoiding the summons either. He couldn’t hide from Fuchsia in Fuchsia city. The message delivered at night was a sign of that. He didn't have time to do so even if he wanted to. If he was being called out of the city to be exiled or interrogated... There were 18 days left until his two month deadline. He’d need every day to make it to another gym. Vermillion was the closest. It was a long road along the peninsula towards the city, but after what he saw on his trip across the bridge here, crossing the bay to the Water type gym was not an option.
White buildings and red roofs were left behind and David crossed into Route 18. This close to the city the trees were evenly distributed and you could follow the light grey drainage trenches into the distance for miles. The Ranger’s office stuck out from the synthetic marshland and appeared from behind the trees all too soon.
David ran his fingers across the pokeballs on his belt one last time. Cloudburst would be waking up hungry soon. If it came to a battle she would be his only option. Venonat didn’t have the experience and would likely still be tired this early in the morning.
Taking one last look at the path towards Celadon, he stepped up and knocked on the door. The hollow thumps echoed out into the silence. David listened carefully, eager for any information before he stepped into the meeting.
He heard nothing. After thirty seconds of waiting, he tried knocking again.
No response.
Frowning, David tried the handle. The door stuck fast. It was locked.
“Of course it’s bloody closed,” He grumbled. These buildings were always closed. Out of all the times he’d passed an office, only twice had they been open. He still shoved the door one last time to make sure before cursing.
All of that planning, stressing and sacrificing his sleep, the office wasn’t even open. Scowling at nothing in particular, he shrugged off his backpack and sat down to wait.
-.-
“David?”
Blinking open tired eyes, he followed the voice. Louis, the tall Ranger’s apprentice with lime green hair, stood on the path with a set of keys hanging forgotten from his hand.
“Louis?” David asked around a yawn. What was the Ranger doing at his campsite? He reached up to rub at the crust at the edge of his eyes. As he did, his head began to clear and he remembered why he was here.
“What are you doing here so early?” Louis asked, tilting his head to the side. The keys in his hand jingled announcing their displeasure at being forgotten.
Trying to shake off the last of his sleepiness, David shook his head and stood up. “Message-” He yawned again. “I got a message from the Rangers last night.”
“Oh,” Louis said, pinking slightly. “Right. From the Rangers.”
Before David could respond, the apprentice slipped past him and began to unlock each of the multiple locks on the door. He eyed the taller man’s back suspiciously. The office’s shadow split Louis’ shoulders in half.
“What time is it?” David asked, glancing up. The sun had risen a lot higher than he’d expected. His nap may have gone on for quite some time.
“Twenty minutes past ten.” Louis finally finished with the locks and pushed the door open. He hurried inside without turning back.
“Is this the usual opening time?” David asked, following him in. He wasn't quite on edge anymore, but he was still groggy and sour from the nap. “I never seem to see an office open."
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Louis slid off his backpack and shoved it behind a desk. He busied himself with something on the desk, but even as he looked away the embarrassment was clear on his cheeks. It wasn’t just David’s suspicions then. Louis was late to the office today.
“You’re not alone,” Louis muttered reluctantly. “I could count on both hands the number of offices I found open last year. It always annoyed me, but now I can see why. There’s so much to do outside and the offices are well..” He gestured around the room.
David's eyes followed the movement. It’d been a week since he was last in these offices and Louis had put that time to good use. The old knick-knacks and paper on the desks had been cleaned out and the spare furniture stacked aside from a few chairs that had been placed near the door for visitors. Half the posters that had once plastered the walls were gone, blank unpainted walls visible behind. The floor had been scrubbed and the windows cleaned. Aside from several bags and a stack of paper by the bins, the room was impeccably clean. Too clean to have seen any use since he was by, but it looked professional.
“It looks good,” David admitted reluctantly. He was more than a little annoyed with the apprentice, but relieved at how this meeting was looking. Annoyed because half the morning was already gone. It was time without training or battling that he wouldn’t be able to make back. Relieved as this didn’t look like anything serious and nothing like his worst expectations.
“Thanks.”
After the brief response Louis went back to sorting out some papers, but after hours waiting outside David wasn’t willing to extend much courtesy. Slipping a hand into his pocket he pulled out the thin slip of paper he’d received last night. He stepped forward and placed it on the desk in front of Louis.
“I got this last night. I haven’t been to any other Ranger’s offices so I figured this was the place.”
“Right,” Louis said, glancing at the paper quickly before turning back to the papers he was sorting.
It didn’t take long for David to realise that Louis was shuffling them over and over without doing anything. His motivation became clear soon after. Louis was stalling.
David stiffened. Pidgey’s pokeball began to shake. Why was he stalling? What was he waiting for? Who was he waiting for? The door was closed behind him. It wouldn’t be hard for someone to lock the two of them in here.
“Arceus,” Louis whispered. He looked up and winced. “Okay, I messed up. It - I sent that message. It was only a small thing. I didn’t think you’d come so early.” He took another look at the slip of paper. “I didn’t realise how I made it sound.”
David watched Louis' face for a second, before relaxing. He took a deep breath. It was just paranoia. Paranoia, far too little sleep and the Voyant putting him off balance. There was nothing going on here. It wasn’t an interrogation or a witch hunt.
Still, that was several hours he’d lost.
“Why am I here?”
Louis winced again. “It felt like a better idea yesterday.” At David’s raised brow and unimpressed expression he hurried to continue. “Patrols on the other Routes are still high. There aren’t enough Rangers to cover this office and I’ve been alone here for the last week. No one’s travelling the Route and I’ve no idea what’s happening between here and the bridge. I was hoping you’d be able to give a report on the route.”
David still looked at him suspiciously. Louis’ cheeks were still growing redder. He was holding something back. David scanned the room once more. “That’s why you sent the message late last night?”
“I sent it on my way home,” Louis replied sheepishly. He wilted. “I.. I was bored and it felt like a good idea. I didn’t realise how it sounded and I was sure I signed my name. Sorry.”
“You were bored?” David asked incredulously, scanning the room again. The spotless floor and neatly organised cabinets took on a new meaning.
“All week,” Louis repeated. “I have done anything I possibly could. I mopped the floors for Arceus’ sake.”
David wasn’t sure if he should swear or not when Cloudburst’s pokeball shook again. Ah. It was late enough wasn’t it. She was hungry. He settled for glaring at Louis.
“Is there a training ground around the back?” Most offices seemed to have a small field out back. He’d fought his very first battle against Fred on one back in Saffron.
“Yeah, why?” Louis asked, the red starting to fade from his cheeks.
-.-
As Pidgey dug into her satchel, keeping a keen eye on Louis’ grumpy Nidorino, David examined the small clearing. All the trees in a fifty metres square had been cleared away and the drainage trenches filled in to make a training ground hidden from the main path.
“Could I train here?” He asked eventually.
“Huh? Why would you want to?”
“The only training ground I know of in Fuchsia is opposite the campsite. It’s where we do all of our battles as well.”
Louis nodded slowly and gave him a weird look like he was stating the obvious.
“It’s not great to train in front of your next opponent,” David clarified. It also wasn’t great if you wanted options to hide from a Voyant. “I’ll tell you everything I remember about Route 18, but I want to train here.”
Louis winced again but he was quick to respond. “Sure. That sounds fine.”
Louis' Nidorino grumbled and Pidgey chirped in response.
David looked around the clearing once more. This could work.
-.-
David went straight to the market on the way back. Marie, the overdressed belt weaver agreed to store his backpack in her stall while he worked for the day.
As he cleaned up the old marketplace, David adjusted his route to stop by a few stalls. The first was in the area that sold trainer tools. He had a recommendation from Finn that he was under enough time pressure to attempt. Finn assured him the needed ingredients would be common in Fuchsia, but David wanted to secure a supply as soon as possible.
It didn’t take him long to come across one that sold stacks of compressed treated paper. The stacks were closer to bricks made from wood, but it didn’t stop the merchant from monologuing about the virtues of the Fuchsia’s layering technique. 130P later he had two bricks, which according to the merchant, was enough for several training sessions.
David hoped so, as Venonat needed a new Move and these were the first steps to making that happen.
On the way back to Marie’s stall to drop off his purchases he paused by a booth full of racks of clothing. A new set of clothes had been near the top of his to buy list for a long time now. Near, but never at the top. It was hard to justify the expense when he was counting his wealth in food supplies and by the day.
Now however, he had a relatively steady income. He was winning more battles than he was losing and the marketplace provided a low wage but steady work. More importantly, there were Voyants in town. The summons to the Ranger’s office was a false alarm, but David was playing things risky by talking to Finn. It would be safer to hide from the Psychic, to train elsewhere or postpone working with Venonat for a while.
However, that was a choice for someone with more time. David had two and a half weeks. He needed help and advice, and if Finn was willing to provide that, David was going to use it. He saw it as a downpayment on what the Voyants owed him.
For the first time, he’d met and really spoken to one of his pursuers. He didn’t know if that was what had changed things, but for once he didn’t feel like the hunted. It was time to start taking some risks.