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Chp 2: Arrival

The SS Speedy let out a loud horn as it approached the port. An intercom started on board. "Attention passengers, we will be docking shortly in Canalave city. If you purchased a ticket to the Battle Zone, you will have time to..."

"Well, that's us." Seth said, tuning out the captain. He gathered the rest of their things in the suitcases, then made one for check of the cabin. "Alright."

Soul was fighting with one of the suitcases handles, trying to get a comfortable grip on it somehow, with her paws, or her teeth, or her horn.

"Here." Seth said, taking it from her. "We only have three suitcases. I can handle it."

"Don't come cryin' to me when your arms hurt." She said.

"Will do." He opened the door and exited into the hall. A bit later and they were stepping off the ship and onto dry land once again. He set one of the suitcases down and took out Sky's ball, releasing her.

She wobbled a bit and looked around. "Much better. So what are we doing?"

"Alright." He unzipped one of the front pockets on the suitcase and took out a guidebook. "We should get some supplies first, then we can go to Jubilife City." He shut the book and slid it into his jacket pocket. "This way." He said. He guided his team through the port city's streets, before they crossed a bridge to the other side of town. As they crossed the bridge, he noticed Sky constantly looking down. "You really hate being over water don't you?"

"Yes..."

He picked up the pace to get off the bridge as fast as possible. Once they were in the western half of town, he turned to walk south, but someone called.

"Hey, sonny!" An old man yelled.

"Can I help you?" Seth said, turning to face him. He was standing in front of an old looking building.

"Interest you in a room for the night?"

"Sorry, but I'm not staying in town. Thanks anyway." Seth said, returning to his path. A short time later, they arrived at the poke mart. Being a big town, the mart here was equally big, catering to both tourists and sailors. He stepped through the automatic doors and into the air-conditioned building. He moved to one of the aisles, looking at the signs to find traveling gear. Once there, he picked out a new backpack, and other tools they might need. The main difference here though, was that Sinnoh was much more civilized than his home. In Sinnoh, you could never be more than a day away from a town. He went to a few other aisles, getting some pokechow, snack nuts, and dried meats, and some medicine. "Alright. Let's check out."

"What about our suitcases?" Sky asked.

Seth looked around to make sure no one was looking. "I got a plan for that. We never did end up using the item storage system back home."

"Item storage?" She asked.

"You'll see." He said, walking towards the check out.

Once that was done, they went over to the pokemon center. Inside, Seth went up to the PC.

"Oh, I remember these damn things. My old trainer used to use them to warp her pokemon around. Good thing you never had too many pokemon." Soul said. Seth reached over and rubbed her head. He stopped for a moment to unload some essentials, before setting his suitcases on the pad next to the PC. With a button press, they were converted and stored in his account.

"I love technology." He murmured. "Now that I don't have that giant pack to carry everything, I can actually use these. Alright, time to hit the road." He stretched his arms above his head, groaning as he stretched. Once he finished, he reached down and patted both of the pokemon's heads. They then left the pokemon center, and left town, entering route 218.

To the right was a patch of grass and trees, while the path went off to the left. As they walked, Soul spoke up. "Why don't we get a new team together?" She suggested.

Seth looked around to make sure no one was watching before he responded. "Because you two are more than enough for me. And I can fight in a pinch. We're fine as is." He explained. "What are you planning?"

"Oh, nothing~" She said sarcastically.

"Yeah right." He said. Up ahead, they came to a small dock. "According to the guide book, this ferry was only established in the last few years. Before then, the only way to get across was by swimming or riding a pokemon. Wow, that must have sucked." He sat down on one of the wooden benches, and looked out, seeing the boat coming in the distance. He looked down to see Sky shivering. "You gonna be okay?"

"No..." She whined.

"Alright, hop up." He said, patting his lap. "Unless you wanna go in your ball."

She grimaced and jumped into his lap.

He took out his trainer card and handed it to Soul. "You're in charge of paying."

"Mm-hmm." She said, taking it into her mouth carefully.

Once the boat arrived, he stood, holding Sky in his arms, with her head propped over his shoulder. The boatman gave him an odd look.

"She gets seasick." Seth explained. Soul approached the man and gave him the card.

"Thanks..." He said, wiping off the spit on it before swiping it and giving it back to the absol. She trotted away and went back to Seth's side, who had sat down. After a few minutes, the ferry started up again, and they were whisked across the water.

Once they arrived, he was among the first of the few people on board to step off. There were also several other people waiting to get on. Seth carefully set the espeon back down once they were on dry land, before ruffling her fur.

"Thank you." She said.

"Jubilife or bust." He said while cracking his knuckles. They got back on the move. The large city was just ahead, through a gate. Large buildings could be seen on the other side. Once they passed through, they were immediately plunged into a busy street, filled with people. To the sides of the streets were stalls and performers. As they navigated the sea of people, they took time to look at a few stalls. They had many pokemon themed items, from drifloon balloons, to jigglypuff shaped hard candy.

"Seems like some kinda festival." Soul guessed as they continued.

They eventually made it to main street, but a barricade was set up, preventing any further progress. The reason for it was plain to see. In front of them was a parade featuring many pokemon themed floats. The most grand was a garchomp float. On it was a real garchomp, alongside a blond woman in black. Based on the crowds cheers, she was named Cynthia. People really seemed to like her. "C'mon, let's see what else there is. Might as well enjoy this." Seth said. He looked down to see the girls. Or one of them at least. Sky looked back up at him, then followed his gaze to her side, where a certain absol was missing. "Oh shit..." He muttered. He motioned for her to follow and left the crowd, escaping to a small area with a fountain. It was less compact than the street, but there were still plenty of people.

He sat down, back against the marble fountain, and sighed. "She'll be fine. She'll turn up on her own, so we should just chill here."

+++

Soul trotted off while Seth was distracted. She had a plan, and she was going to find something to kick start it. Most people allowed her slender frame to pass, so she lithely swam through the crowd. She zigzagged back and forth across the street, seeing what each stall had to offer, keeping an eye out for pamphlets. In front of a large building were three clowns. Once she turned her attention away from them, she spotted a small stall, with many pamphlets. She approached and she saw what she was looking for. The guy at the stand was without any patrons. She had to get his attention by standing up onto the stall. She motioned her paw towards a slip of paper.

"A brochure? Sure, why not." He said, offering one to her. She took it in her mouth and trotted off happily.

+++

"Oh, there you are." Seth said once Soul emerged from the crowd and approached him. "What?" He asked, pointing to the paper in her mouth.

"Read." She ordered after he took it.

He unfolded it, revealing a display of eight badges, and the respective towns that held the gyms that gave them out. "What about it?" He asked.

"I'd say she was trying to tell you something." A female voice said. A girl about his age, looking twenty or so, approached and sat next to him. She was wearing jeans and a black shirt with a sparkly pink heart on it. "Nice day isn't it." She offered her hand.

He took it and shook it gently, careful not to hurt her with his hybrid strength. Ever since he had started transforming and training, his body had been getting much stronger. He liked to imagine he could take down those balloon looking body builders. To his surprise, she was the one to squeeze hard. "Hah, wuss." She said jokingly.

"And who are you?" He asked.

"It's a secret. I'm incognito right now." She whispered, putting a finger to her lips. "You can call me Allie."

"Alright, and how can I help you, Allie?"

"I'm not here for help." She said. "I noticed your absol walking like she had a purpose, so I followed her. Based on that," She pointed at the brochure. "She wants to take on the league. I'd recommend it. It's a fun time."

"I really don't want to put my pokemon through battles like that."

"Almost no pokemon are ever injured in a gym battle. What seems cruel to us is exercise and playful to them." She reached over and played with Sky's ears. Sky closed her eyes and nuzzled into the stroking.

"Yeah, come on, it'll give us something to do, and get your mind off of things." Soul said.

"See? She agrees with me." Allie said.

"Can you understand her?" Seth asked.

"I wish. No, I'm just good with pokemon. Been around them all my life after all."

"Oh. Sky? What about you?"

She looked down. "I don't know... If it'll make you feel better..." She looked up with puppy dog eyes. "I can't stand to see you so depressed."

Seth took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Alright." He said quietly.

"I think I'll leave you alone." Allie said. She stood and walked away, disappearing back into the streets.

"Let's go find a place for the night, and we can talk about this more." He rose and began the journey to find the pokemon center.

They eventually found it by spotting the red roof. Behind it was a large building, presumably a hotel. He entered, and as soon as the doors closed behind him, it was a night and day difference in volume. Outside, the sound was a roar, but in here, it was much quieter. There were hardly any people or pokemon here. "Hi, can I get a room?" He asked the nurse on duty.

"Yes, of course." She said. She looked down at her computer and typed for a moment. "20,000 poke for a night."

"20,000!?" Seth exclaimed. "That's insane!"

"I'm not the one who sets prices. Sorry. This center doesn't have any lodgings so instead we're partnered with the local hotel. And the pokeday festival always drives up the costs on everything." She explained.

"Alright." He said. "Better than nothing." He handed her his card. He winced when she swiped it and the funds were taken from his account. She handed his card back, along with a packet containing a couple of keycards, marked 426. "Thank you." He said before stepping away. "Fourth floor, room 26."

After an elevator ride and a walk down the hall, they arrived at their room. Seth swiped the card and opened the door. He immediately went inside, dropped his backpack, and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the girls. "Are you two serious?" He asked.

They both nodded. Soul said, "It's something to get your mind off of things. You don't have to forget, but stop being so depressed." She smacked his knee, then jumped onto the bed. "You've had plenty of time to mourn, now get back to living!" She yelled, poking him in the chest with a sharp claw.

He brought up a hand and placed it over the spot which still stung. "I-"

"No! You need to hear what I have to say. When I was young, I was captured by a female trainer. Her name was Jessica. I was one of her huge team. Just another cog in the machine. Despite that, she really cared for each and every one of us. She even bred some of us, me included. I never even saw the pups. After a while, I was put on her top team. We only got closer after that. She was my friend, no matter what. But then, one day... We were out in the woods, and she never walked with us out. From what I can gather, another human tried to rob her, and ended up shooting her. With her last breaths, she released every pokemon she had on her. At the time, we were only going on a walk, so she only had me and a houndoom. We fucked once, and then parted ways. I was just so angry, at every human for what they did to her, my best fucking friend!" Soul shouted, tears running down her face. She took a moment to compose herself. "And if I had held that grudge, I never would have met you. Life goes on."

Seth reached over and held her while she let out a few more shuddering crying breathes, before she recovered. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "But..."

"No buts. I miss them too. Sky, talk to him."

"I... well, I sense emotions stronger... and you're surrounded by black and blue. It's both scary and sad. It's destroying you. I just want us to be happy again." She whined.

He lowered his head, putting it in his hands. "I'm sorry." He said after a long period of silence. "We can do the gym challenges, but..." He raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot and watery. "I'll try to be better, but I can't just flip a switch and be happy." He moved around, swiveling on the bed and crawling up towards the pillows. He lifted the blanket and burrowed under it, lifting it over his head. "I'm gonna go to bed early." He said from under the covers. The window was still open with early evening sunlight coming in.

"Alright..." Soul said, hopping off the bed, landing with a thump on the floor.

"Soul..." Sky whispered. Her ears twitched, and she pointed her forked tail at the lump in the bed.

The bulge was quivering and a faint sniffling sound could be heard. Both of the girls silently agreed and got onto the bed, one on either side of Seth. They fell asleep like that, with the lights still on.