Chapter 28: Voyage, part I
Turo hadn't quite considered what travelling to Kalos in this time would entail until a couple of days before the trip. The thing was, with teleportation technology in his time every place on Earth had become pretty much instantly accessible. Maybe, for trips to more remote places, you had to switch teleporter a couple of times because of how they were set up and connected, and how far they could safely send someone. Your baggage was also similarly just sent along with you or just after you, as long as it fit on the teleporting pad.
It was fast and convenient, but it had made Earth itself feel... Strangely small, in a way. When every place was instantly accessible, you kind of lost that feeling of actually departing and going somewhere.
That feeling had transferred completely to travelling in space, where you still had to carefully plan your trip, and actually travel, and pack your bags... so now having to do all of that just to go to Kalos left him befuddled. It wasn't even that far away! There really wasn't a more convenient way of travelling there than plane?
« How long is this going to take?» he half-mumbled, half- whispered as he sat down in his assigned seat. Clavell had booked the tickets for everyone, and had ended up sandwiched between him and Sada... Something that left Turo, sitting on the aisle side, a bit disappointed with, and Clavell embarrassed. He had wanted to sit near Sada... Who, meanwhile ,looked like she couldn't be happier sitting on the window side.
« Your "plane" didn't have wings this long!» she enthusiastically said, peering outside.
« Because it didn't need any-» he muttered as he fastened his seatbelt and reclined back in his seat with a sigh. By his side, Clavell furrowed his eyebrows.
« What do you mean it didn't need wings? How would it fly then?»
Turo smiled a bit invardly as he turned towards Clavell. He had to admit revealing to him little details about his time and watching his mind get blown was always entertaining... And probably just a little bit of a coping mechanism.
« Space doesn't have air.» he just said.
Clavell's seemed to take a moment to get it, at which point his eyes widened and the man leaned forward in a hurried whisper.
« You went to space?!»
« More than once... and you still haven't told me how long this will take.»
« Well, umm...» Clavell still looked a bit dazed, but he fixed his glasses as he thought for a moment.
« Two hours, more or less »
Turo sat back up in his seat, speechless.
« T-two hours?!» he realized he had raised his voice when people in the nearby seats turned to stare curiously at them.
He lowered it back to slightly more than a whisper as he sank back down in his seat, sinking in it even lower than before. He groaned invardly. Two hours in a cramped, tiny seat and the ridiculous tiny screen in his seat only had like, ten movies to choose from.
« Two hours for barely going to another country... I could've almost reached the darn Moon in that time...» he muttered to a bewildered Clavell, who was doing his best to keep his composure.
« You could just casually go to the Moon?!»
He smiled a little bit as the plane started up his engine and decided to blow the scientist's mind a little more.
« Sure. I was born on it.»
---
Sada's only other experience of flying that wasn't on a Pokémon or a Flying Taxi (which she still kind of counted as flying on a Pokémon, just in a less direct way) had been the time she had gone to the Moon in Turo's time. And while she had found it all incredibly fascinating and still treasured the memory, she had to say that she was enjoying this flight quite a lot more. You could actually see the ground get smaller and smaller as the plane got up, the clouds rushing beneath, the scenery change... And you could actually feel the whole plane move when it tilted to turn left or right! She loved it; yes, you didn't get quite as much up like when you went to space, but she liked being able to see the area they were flying over. It gave her a better idea of where they were. She had seen maps of the world, impressed at how people had managed to draw up the entire world with so much precision, but it had felt a bit impersonal until now.
She actually had never left Paldea since they had landed in this time, and the thought that they were going to "Kalos", which was supposedly where she was from... It felt strange.
She tried to keep her expectations in check. Things had changed; it's not like she would find her old village there... but a little part of her kept thinking that, maybe, there would be something.
Just... anything. She looked away from the window, and turned towards the two men in the two seats beside her who had been exchanging whispers here and there. Turo was managing to look annoyed for most of the flight, and she would have liked to sit beside him like they had done on the Moon plane, but he seemed to be enjoying telling Clavell about his time. When they were done, she leaned forward in her seat to speak to Clavell herself.
« You said that the school does this trip often? » she asked, and Clavell nodded.
« Yes. As one of the oldest Pokémon academies in the world, Uvanja Academy has always tried to keep meaningful relationships with other regions to set an example. A lot of our students come to study from all over the world, but since we can't accept everyone who asks to enroll each year, we often organize school trips or joint research projects with other regions instead. Last year was Kitagami, the year before that Johto... it's been a while since I've been to Kalos on a school trip.» he answered.
« I've been lucky, then... what is Kalos like?»
Clavell took off his glasses as Sada leaned back in her seat, cleaned them, then put them back on and stared at her in silence for a couple of seconds.
« ... well, it's... different from Paldea, for sure. Kalos has had a long and bloody history, with a lot of wars with neighbouring regions during the years...» He started, and it made her frown a bit.
« ... That doesn't sound that different from the Emperor of Paldea to me... so are we just going to see stuff about those wars?» she complained, already growing a bit exasperated at the idea.
She found all the focus that history classes put on wars and dates both frustrating and... somewhat disappointing. She wanted to see other stuff! Places! How people lived! What Pokémon there were!
Almost like he had read her thoughts, now it was Clavell's turn to learn towards her and lower his voice.
« I've always wondered... what do you think of it? Did people really not fight between themselves in your time...?» he asked. Sada noticed Turo turn slightly towards them as he thumbed boredly through one of the in-flight magazines he had taken from the seat in front of him.
She sighed, and shook her head.
« Not in my tribe... in my time , at least. We were just so busy surviving... and there was nothing to fight over. There just weren't enough people. We mostly traded things with other tribes when we met... and if someone didn't like a place, you would just move away to another. I don't...» she hesitated, then lowered her voice even more.
« I don't understand... I don't understand what went so wrong. I keep hearing about dozens and dozens of wars in history class and... I just don't get it. How people went from struggling to survive to... that.» she whispered.
Maybe it was her who had an overly naïve view of the world. For all she knew, her tribe was an isolated case because they were so few so far apart, and people had waged war against each other even in her time.
But it... saddened her to think about it.
There was an awkward moment of silence between all three of them. She noticed from the corner of her eye Turo shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He looked like he wanted to hold her hand, but to do so he would have to pretty much lean over Clavell's seat to reach her, so he just turned around after a moment with a small frown.
Clavell, meanwhile, was the one to gently squeeze her shoulder after a moment.
« ... I understand that you may feel... Disappointed, but I think you should focus more on all the great things people achieved from your time...» he said a bit hesitantly.
Sada nodded; yeah, maybe she should do that...
« ... There's a friggin' dragon out there!»
She raised her head quickly at Turo's amazed voice; the man was looking out of the window opposite from their seats.
She shifted sideways to try and see, ignoring Clavell's sharp intake of breath as she almost clambered all over his legs to do so.
« What?! You mean so high up?» she asked.
« Nah, it was serving drinks. Of course it was flying outside! » Turo deadpanned as he rolled his eyes.
Sada peered out the window; for a moment she thought that Turo had blurted it out only to distract her, but then she also saw it: a big, plump dragon with bright yellow scales was flying next to the plane. It turned around, waved happily with one paw, then sped off, leaving the plane in the dust.
« Wha-! So fast! What Pokémon was that?» she asked turning to Clavell... And just now realizing she was pretty much draped over his seat, her elbow poking him in the ribs. Clavell, to his credit, was doing his best to look like nothing was wrong... Even if he looked like he was blushing a bit, now that she paid attention to it.
« S-sorry...» she went back to her seat with a little blush, biting her lip.
« ... Don't worry about it. That was a Dragonite, by the way. They are some of the fastest flying Pokémon-» he started to explain, only to get interrupted by Turo.
« If it's faster than the plane, why are we not flying on one?» he sighed in an exasperated done, making her laugh.
---
The flight had been... Well, he supposed it could have been worse. Why you still had to wait for your luggage instead of investing in just teleporting the luggage to your destination still left Turo baffled, together with a dozen little things that made no sense to him in this time. He was quite sure that the technology existed by now, he had seen some prototypes online... Maybe they were still just short distance?
« Why don't use Pokémon then?» Turo still complained to Clavell as they finally, finally got out of the airport and straight onto a taxi headed for Lumiose.
« You can't tell me something like a... Um... Alakazam or Gardevoir or whatever can't just bring your luggage with them. They are also super smart, it's not like they would lose it or mix it up... »
« You would have to train all those Pokémon, and at that point, it could just bring people with them too ... But I'm not sure a Pokémon would be capable of teleporting halfway across the world...» Clavell answered after he had taken a seat in the back. Sada had decided to sit behind the driver, while Turo had taken the right-most seat. He huffed, mildly annoyed.
« And? Just have them do a lot of little teleport jumps from city to city. Surely it's still much faster than a plane... That's what the teleporter's network is-» Turo stopped, taking a short breath as Clavell frowned.
« That's what the teleporter's network is... Will be? No idea what you would say, honestly. » he chuckled after a moment, before frowning and letting out a sigh.
« ... Whatever. Not like it matters. I know that's how things have to go... Or my society and my time wouldn't exist as they are. So... Wide-spread teleportation is still a way off, as much as I hate it... It just doesn't make sense to me now that it took so long since you do have working teleport pads already... Maybe it's an energy problem.» he concluded, looking out of the car window.
« So all this teleport talk... Are you some sci-fi writer?» the taxi driver suddenly pipep up from the front of the car, making all three of them jump on their seats. Turo's eyes widened.
« You speak Paldean?» he blurted out in a panic.
« Yeah. Studied at Uvanja Academy back in the day, like lots of people, so I never really forgot Paldean after that.» the driver smiled.
Turo tried to compose himself. Of course, of all the hundreds of taxi drivers they could get, they just had to meet the one guy that studied abroad. Great.
« ... Yes. Brainstorming ideas about a story. How society would change if wide spread teleportation were available...» he mumbled.
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« Well, I would be out of a job then.» the driver laughed, and Turo frowned. Well, yes, but that wasn't a reason not to try and make things better, to strive for progress.
People would have gotten nowhere if they remained stuck in the mentality of "but then things would have to change", or "but we've always done things like this", right?
« ... Your job would just have to adapt. You would probably find yourself driving something in conditions where you can't use a teleporter...» he argued back, feeling somewhat irrationally defensive.
« Like what conditions?»
Turo grit his teeth.
« I don't know, space probably! » he spat out, only getting an incredulous eye roll in response.
He forced himself to stay calm, and to not let his mounting irritation show on his face.
Why was he even getting so worked up about this? He knew how things would go.
He knew he was right, no matter if this random guy thought it was stupid.
The driver simply laughed again as they stopped at a red light, three Gogoat carrying school children galloping past them.
« So I would be a taxi driver in space? That sounds cool... If you ever publish that book, I would read it! Eh... space...»
« I... um... thanks, I guess....» Turo just shook his head, going back to looking out of the window.
There was nothing but silence for a couple of minutes; Clavell was busy checking their documents to check in at the hotel, while Sada had been extremely quiet since they had set foot in Kalos.
He quietly stared at her through the rear view mirror.
She was looking outside her own car window with wide eyes, but it wasn't her usual, excited curiosity that shone through them. There was more of a little hint of... desperation in her eyes.
He knew that she was probably looking for something, anything, that would look even remotely familiar to her, that would tell her that this was actually the same place she had been born in, and not just another place made completely unrecognisable by the passage of time. His chest ached for her as she watched paved roads and picturesque villages go past; he wanted to hold her close, to say that he was sorry... He still felt somewhat responsible for her being here with him.
« Um... Sada... » he started, trying to get her attention. He got Clavell's instead.
The older man raised his eyes from the papers in front of him, blinked, and looked to his left, before loudly clearing his throat.
« We were quite interested in visiting some parts of the countryside during our stay! Do you have any recommendations for some hidden, less touristy spots?» he asked the driver, who was more than happy to launch into a proud discourse about the best wineries and other local specialties around the area. That seemed to get Sada's attention, or at least break her out from her gloomy mood for a moment.
Turo sighed, mentally thanking Clavell.
The fact that this was probably the first actual, honest to Arceus car he had ever stepped in suddenly hit him, and he couldn't help but throw a little interested glance to the driver's seat and at the little nobs, buttons and dials on the steering wheel. It was both baffling and fascinating to him how the engine worked, how all the parts had to perfectly fit together and all the little actions you had to do to drive one. He wondered if driving a car like this at high speed on a high way felt even a fraction as good as riding Mirai did-
He forced that thought away, focusing on the driver's explanation about the fabled herb flavoured cheese produced by the Gogoat farm not far from here, and how he could easily get them there if they wanted to try it.
Eating something that came out or from a Pokémon still somewhat disgusted him and he would try to avoid it if he could, but right now, he needed all the distractions he could get.
« Sure, let's go. Sounds lovely.» he lied through gritted teeth.
---
Clavell had kept a close eye on both Sada and Turo the moment the plane had landed, Sada especially. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it must feel like for her, to technically be in the same place she had once lived in yet recognize absolutely nothing. He tried to picture it: what must have been untouched forests had become rows of pretty cultivated fields of grapes and dozens other kind of berries. Cities and villages had developed were there was nothing before.
He had managed to successfully distract her a bit by getting the driver to talk about local specialties, while he thought about what they could do these days if they had some extra time.
Turo meanwhile had been... well, "constantly moaning and complaining about things" would have been a more accurate description, but Clavell figured that it was only his way to deal with things. If Sada had been looking desperate, there had been a quiet frustration radiating off Turo from the moment they had stepped on the plane. If people in his time really just casually went to the Moon and Mars (something that still left Clavell quietly befuddled and not quite sure that the other wasn't just messing with him), he could see how taking a couple hours just to reach the next region over would look horribly antiquated. But he had the feeling it wasn't only that that was frustrating the man, and he had proof of it during the car drive towards Lumiose.
It was the fact that obviously people would think that what he was saying was completely ridiculous. Clavell himself still had trouble believing some details they both would let slip from time to time, like Sada having fought off some Magikarp ancestor that could bite a person in two neat halves or Turo just casually mentioning being born on the Moon, and only did because he reminded himself of all the little evidence he had gathered that pointed to what they were saying as being the only way everything made sense, no matter how absurd it sounded.
But no one else would do that, even if they phrased things as hypotheticals like Turo had just tried to do.
Finally, Lumiose City came into view, and he heard Turo mumble something beside him.
« I always seem to end up here... still in the wrong time.»
What did he mean by that?
Clavell threw him a questioning glance, but the man just shook his head with an almost invisible smile on his lips.
Some minutes later, the taxi left them in front of the hotel, and they walked in with both of their luggage. At the moment of checking in, however, he noticed Sada frowning as they were given two room keys.
« Why two...?» she said, only for Clavell to loudly clear his throat.
« We are, technically, still here as students and teacher. Regrettably, there seemed to be only one single room left. The other is a double... Which will be taken by Turo and me.» he explained as they walked through the cooridors, keys in hand.
Now it was Turo's turn to frown, and Clavell took a moment to fix his glasses.
« Or at least, that's what I'm going to write on the official report. That key is for the double room. » he pointed to the keys in Sada's hand, and they both perked up after a moment.
As if everyone didn't know that those two were constantly sneaking in each other's room.
« Just leave your luggage in your room for now, let's go out for a walk. We don't have anything particular scheduled until tomorrow's museum visit.» he offered.
Lumiose City was exactly as he remembered it from his last trip; bright, busy, and somewhat... dizzying. Mesagoza was similarly large, but while the largest city in Paldea was famous for the little side streets and bright colourful buildings with stairs that went up and down the various hills it had been founded on, Lumiose was methodical in the way everything connected back to the giant PrismTower in its center. While you could get lost just as easily in all its little back alleys, everything seemed to be developed in circles.
« That is a Bushy Pelt!» Sada suddenly exclaimed, pointing to a Pokémon that was walking out of a hairdresser with their trainer. It took Clavell a moment to recognize what she meant.
« You mean a Furfrou...? Is that what you called it...?» he raised one eyebrow as he watched the woman stare at the Pokémon, whose fur had been dyed green and styled in an extravagant fashion, making it almost look like it was wearing a wide hat and some boots.
« Yes, they are pretty common in Kalos... Styling their fur is pretty popular in Lumiose... I honestly didn't think they went that far back. Did you train them?» he said.
Sada turned to look at him with wide eyes.
« N-no... they were bigger than these, and hunted in large packs. Getting one alone was very difficult. They would... Follow from far away during hunts, and... attack sometimes. They were... dangerous.» her face twisted in a slight frown.
« Even the Pokémon changed... is there... anything left like it was?» she whispered. Turo put one arm around her shoulder and held her close, whispering something in Sada's unknown language.
Clavell didn't know what to say.
He didn't want this trip, and their lives here in general ,to just be a constant reminder of how different things were. What could he do to help? He looked around, trying to think of something, anything, that would stop the woman from constantly looking out for things that weren't there anymore, instead of... instead of enjoying what was actually here, now, in the present.
Instead of embracing the changes, being thrilled by them.
A part of him felt like it was his duty to do so, as their teacher and simply... as a friend they trusted.
« Maybe... they are not exactly like you remember them, but... You still recognized it, didn't you? I'm sure that if you got that Furfrou to fight a battle against a wild Pokémon or another trainer, you would see that "Bushy Pelt" come right back...» he tried to say slowly. His eyes widened as he walked past the two to face them, suddenly excited when a thought hit him.
« In fact, why don't you do it right now? Challenge that trainer with the Furfrou to a Pokémon battle!» he proposed.
He was hoping to see her get excited and jump at the opportunity, but to his dismay, she just lowered her eyes after a couple of moments.
« It... it wouldn't be the same...» she sighed and grabbed Turo's hand, and the couple turned their backs away from the Furfrou - and him, indirectly -, to enter a little side street.
Clavell's shoulders tightened as he slumped forward.
He... he couldn't help but feel like he was failing them somehow.
He watched them walk away, a sudden chill crawling along his back, feeling like they were getting away from him in more ways than one. He sighed and walked away, calling his Oranguru to his side for comfort. The calm, wise-looking simian always helped him clear his head. He often asked him for help when he was having trouble with some experiment. Just having someone to talk to helped.
« Let's go for a walk, my friend. It will help me think.»
The Pokémon answered with a deep growl, simply walking along his side and listening as he explained what had happened.
After just a couple of minutes, he already felt better, more ready to think about the problem once more.
As they were passing a street lined with restaurants and fashion boutiques, Clavell felt Oranguru tug at his jacket with one paw.
« What is it... Oh.» he quietly said, peering into the shopping window Oranguru had stopped him in front of, and at something that lay exposed inside.
An idea started to take shape in his mind.
---
Sada kept walking along Lumiose City's wide streets, Turo's arm around her shoulders. All around here were Pokémon, people dressed in vibrant clothes, eye catching signs from restaurants and shops showing words she didn't know. She couldn't quite focus on them; right now, it was just... noise.
She felt so stupid. What was she expecting? Of course it would be just another big city like many others she had already seen in Paldea. She kept hearing snippets of sentences in a different language, the "Kalosian" that she supposedly should know, at least according to the story she and Turo had come up with.
But none of it sounded familiar. Not a single word made her feel like there was even the tiniest trace of her own language in there.
It may as well have not existed.
These people had nothing in common with her.
« Do you know Kalosian...? » she quietly asked Turo after a while, going back to her own language. He had simply followed her, offering her his silent support, and she was grateful for it. She needed someone that understood her right now.
« Mmm » she heard his hum vibrate through the arm still wrapped around her.
« I know how to say exactly three things in Kalosian. The Kalosian of my time, that is. » he answered. There was a moment of silence, and she raised her head to look at him, quietly waiting for him to continue.
He pressed his lips together, and cleared his throat.
« I know how to say "Good morning", "Where is the bathroom?", and "Farewell". That's it. »
« "Farewell"?» she couldn't help a little snort.
« Yes. "Adieu".» he said it with such a straight face that it just made her laugh harder.
« ...Why would you remember that and not anything more useful?» she asked once she was done.
Turo shrugged, the movement half pushing her slightly forward.
« You never know when you will need to make a dramatic exit. »
She couldn't help but shake her head with a little smile at his absurd reasoning; she didn't know if he was saying it as a joke only to cheer her up and distract her, or if he was serious: with his stern expression, it was sometimes difficult to tell. She had grown to like that side of him, the hidden, somewhat silly one with an extremely dry and sarcastic sense of humour. Maybe it was because she had seen the more awkward side of him first: when they had first met, they could barely talk to each other, so they had both relied much more on body language and she had spent a lot of time studying every little change of his expressions and posture.
As they kept walking, she let Kim and Ötzi out, letting the two Pokémon stretch their legs a bit after the time spent travelling. Turo did the same only after a moment, giving a stern glare to the Murkrow after it had materialized on his shoulder.
« You. » he said. « Are forbidden from flying around. Arceus knows there's enough jewerly and shiny objects around to send you on a stealing frenzy. So behave or you get back into the Ball.»
The crow Pokémon clicked his beak with an unhappy caw, and Sada couldn't help but smile a little bit, watching the two interact.
« You two have more in common than you think. » she commented, and Turo furrowed his eyebrows.
« ... so you are saying I'm a thiefing little bastard? Thank you. I'm flattered.» he deadpanned in a dry tone.
« No! I mean... your attitude. You are both smart, and... act cold towards people at first and don't really show what you are truly thinking much...» she slowly added, before smiling.
« ... and you both aren't great at walking straight on the ground.» she chuckled, thinking of how the bird Pokémon would move around in little ungraceful hops on occasions where it couldn't fly, and all the times she had watched Turo trip on his own two feet.
Turo muttered something unintelligible, frowning, and she laughed a little bit at his barely visible pout.
« I... am not sure that's supposed to be a compliment.» he said in the end.
« ... in a way, yes. Birds look... strange and a bit funny on the ground. But that's not their element. They look majestic in the air. I... I saw the same thing in you, from the first time we met. You... you didn't belong there, and not just because you couldn't even light a fire. » she added with a little smile, and he muttered a "I learned in the end, didn't I?".
« You were not in your element... but that doesn't mean you aren't... great. » she realized she had grown a bit flustered in the end of her speech, and wasn't quite sure of how to word it.
Turo, however, seemed to have gotten the message. There was a long moment of silence, and the hand that was still on her shoulder twitched a little, before he drew her closer and into a short hug. He drew a long breath, and she felt his chin come to rest on the top of her head as she leant into him.
« ... we are both not in our element, are we?» he asked, and she shook her head.
« ... we will find it, Sada. We'll... we'll find a place where it will stop to hurt looking at every little, different, wrong detail-» he whispered, and she suddenly felt her chest tighten when he had somehow managed to put into words exactly how she had been feeling the moment they had landed in Kalos. He hid it behind endless complaining and muttering about how "primitive" everything was, but of course he would be feeling the exact same things as her.
She took a deep breath, and nodded.
« ... yes. You're right. There has to be. And... and if there isn't... we'll make one.» she said.
Turo simply nodded, ignoring the little squawk coming from the Murkrow on his shoulder, and they resumed walking.
Feeling a bit better, she now decided to actually consciously look all around; it was, all in all, an incredibly pretty city. Lumiose was called "the city of lights", and she could quite see why. Thinks weren't actually shining like the walls and screens of the Mesagoza of Turo's time did whenever someone got near, bombarding people with images and information in bright, artificial colors.
Lumiose City seemed to be have been built so that there was always light in it, be it the light of the sun during the day or those of street lights she could see erected everywhere during the night. Everywhere she looked there were bright glass ceilings to allow as much light as possible to enter buildings; shops sported enormous glass windows. Everything was twinkling and sparkling under the sun, and she could see how Turo had admonished his Pokémon to stay put. The Murkrow was pretty much fidgeting on his shoulder, opening and closing his wings like he wanted to fly off and check out everything at once.
As they kept walking, Sada noticed that Turo kept looking around, almost like he was searching for something, and half muttering something that sounded like numbers to himself.
« What is it?» she asked after the third time he kept doing it.
Turo blinked and turned towards her.
« It's, um... nothing. I'm looking for... a certain spot.»
Sada blinked, not quire sure she understood what he meant. He was looking for a certain place?
« ... have you been here before? In your time?» she asked, and he cringed.
« Not... really. I... I need a map.» he said, turning away to look for a bookshop. She followed, now kind of baffled at what he was even doing.
She watched Turo purchase a big paper map of the city, the one that you had to fold multiple times, and walk towards a little bench. Instead of sitting down on it, he spread the map out over the two seats.
« Can't believe their electronic maps are still so inaccurate you have to resort to using these...» he muttered, furrowing his eyebrows as he started to trace some roads with his left index finger. She looked down at the map, quickly getting lost in all the names of roads and boulevards. A moment later, he seemed to find whatever he was looking for, because he nodded and folded the map back up.
« All right. I know where to go now.»
"Go where?" she still wanted to ask as he took her hand and led her away, completely puzzled. They walked for a little while, crossing intersections, quickly traversing little side streets and avoiding groups of Gogoat carrying tourists that galloped down the road. Finally they reached a bridge, one of the many that connected the Northern and Southern Boulevard across the river that bisected the city. Turo led her down a set of stairs, towards the riverbank, and motioned for her to sit down beside him. Miguel hopped down from his shoulder and towards Kim and Ötzi.
She complied, looking around with some confusion; it was a completely unremarkable part of the city. There was no pretty scenic view, no other group of turists that usually signalled that they were near some famous, important landmark. The only one you could barely see on the other side of the river was Lumiose's Prism Tower. There was just the water, some Surskits, and a group of Flabebé flitting around a little flower patch, watching the two of them curiously.
« Where are we?» she asked, turning towards Turo. He hesitated, looking just a bit embarassed as he took a big breath.
« 48° latitude North, 2° Longitude East, more or less... this-» he said, turning towards her with the tiniest trace of his usual, almost invisible smile.
« Is where we first met.»
It took her a long moment to realize what he meant, but when she did, it took her breath away. Their very first meeting... of course.
The river.
She turned towards it with wide eyes, watching the water rush placidly past them, like it has always done.
« I had to write those coordinates so many times in my reports, I could never forget them-» Turo was saying, and she felt her eyes sting once, just once, before she let out a tiny, half-sobbing laugh.
« Remembering a bunch of numbers for a place... that's just like you.» she said.
But he did. He remembered. And while coming here, he thought of showing her this little, insignificant corner of Lumiose that held so much meaning for only the two of them.
She turned towards him, looking at his neck. He seemed to notice her gaze, because he raised one hand to take out the necklace she had given him and showed it to her.
« It's still here. Since that day.» he said, and she took a moment to grasp her own, similar looking necklace. Hers didn't have Winged King feathers, she had made hers way before that, but... she turned back to watching the water, and a couple of Flabebé gently float over it, playing with their reflection in the water and chirping. She looked at Kim, who was staring suspiciously at the river as she batted at the Surskit, and Otzi, who quietly looked over the other two Pokémon, only letting out a little, whispering hiss when a drop of water would splash over his way.
So many things had changed from that day... but here they were again, sitting side by side on that same riverbank. The same where she had taught him the first words in her language, and Turo his; rock, water, grass, sun... all things she could still see all around.
It was comforting, in a way.
She sighed, and rested her head on his shoulder as she moved closer.
« ... yes. We're still here.» she whispered.
That day, they had been able to barely exchange a couple of words with each other, and there had been so so many things she had wanted to ask him. Now she could freely talk with him about everything she ever wanted, yet she felt like there was no need for words at this very moment. They stood side by side as the sun set quietly, watching the water and the movement of the city all around them.