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Chp 4: Oreburgh

"So this is the Oreburgh gym." Seth said, looking at the imposing building. "Everybody ready?"

"We should practice more first." Sky said. "Surely we aren't ready for a gym yet."

"Don't call me Shirley." Soul joked. "But I have to agree with her. I still feel rusty."

"Excuse me!" Seth yelled at a nearby pedestrian. He ran over to them now that he had their attention. It was a scruffy looking guy, with stained overalls and a miners helmet. "Could you tell me if there are any good places to train around here?"

"A trainer?" He asked, motioning towards the girls. "In that case, you're after Roark I bet. The town mines are open to trainers. The workers there are always ready to take a break for a battle. It's just around the bend." He turned and showed Seth the way.

"Alright, thanks." Seth said. He looked back at the girls. "Let's go to the pokemon center first." The signature red roofed building was close by. As the doors slid open when they approached, a cacophony of noises blasted out.

The center was packed with a vast assortment of trainers. They sat all around, some with pokemon out, some not, others in line for the nurse...

"Shit." Seth said. "No choice..." He muttered as he got in line. He'd guess there were twenty to thirty people in here, around half of which were in the line.

Five minutes passed. Soul had taken to tapping and scrapping her claws on the linoleum floor in search of some kind of entertainment. Sky was waving her tails and bobbing her head as she quietly hummed an unknown song, the sound almost lost in the roar of the crowd. Seth was restless, but had no real outlet. Instead he kept watching the front of the line. Only three more people. Two, one.

"Next." The nurse called. Seth stepped forward.

"I'd like to get a room."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." She looked down at her computer. Eventually she looked back up. "You're in luck. Rooms are filling up fast." She leaned over and pulled a pack of keycards out from under the desk. "May I see your trainer card?" He gave it to her. She looked at it and handed it back, along with the keycards.

"No charge?"

"Of course not. All pokemon center services are free to trainers. Are you not a local?"

"No, I'm from the Daedris region. I just arrived here."

"Ah, I see. Welcome to Sinnoh. Would you like to recover your pokemon?"

Seth looked down at the absol by his side.

Soul shook her head. "Nah, that arcanine was a pushover."

"No, thank you." Seth said, getting out of the way so the next person could take his place. He looked down at the packet in his hand. 316 was written on it. He went to the stairs, and up to the third floor. Based on the numbers on the wall, there were twenty room on this floor, and the same on the second. The first floor had the nurse's station, and the PC. There was ample free space and chairs for trainers to take a break in, as well as free phones. Behind the nurse's station was a small care unit for more serious injuries. Back in Seth's home region, pokemon centers were a local business, and funded themselves through charging trainers. Here in Sinnoh, they were much smaller, but were free, being funded through taxes. Seth swiped his card and opened the door.

"So what happened to training?" Soul asked.

"That's the plan, but I need to take a dump first." He said, leaving his pack on the floor as he slipped into the bathroom and shut the door. After he had settled on the toilet, he heard a knock on the door.

"Why do you close the door?" Soul asked from outside. "It's not like we don't know how you look naked."

"It's a private thing. Can you not right now?" He asked, a bit flustered.

"Well what about training? We're going to the mine aren't we?"

"Hell no!" He said. "That place is probably infested with zubat. We'll find a spot to spar on our own. We'll talk when I get out, alright?"

A short time later, he left the restroom. Soul had turned on the TV. "Finally." She said. "There's nothing on." The TV was currently on a history show.

"Six years ago, Team Galactic terrorized Sinnoh. A small group of skilled trainers brought them down, including such people as the elite four themselves. Sinnoh has known nothing but peace and prosperity since those dark days." The voice over said. It was stopped when Soul turned it off.

"Alright, so we're gonna find a spot, not in a cave, and private, and we'll train there."

"Finding a private spot in the mountains might be hard..." Sky said.

"I've got a plan." Seth reassured her. "Let's get moving."

+++

They left the center and headed to the north, directly away from the mine. They soon found their way to route 207. Once they got there, they were surrounded by mountains, one long chain to the east. The chain of mountains were all connected, the tallest peak near the clouds. Seth took some time to look around.

"Alright. Keep an eye on this." He said, setting down his backpack. He brought up his hands and cracked his knuckles as veins bulged from his neck. Incredibly rapidly, his clothes began to merge into his body as thick brown fur replaced it. He shrunk down almost two feet and his ears migrated to his head, becoming almost as long as his much more slender body.

"Never seen you become a slutbunny." Soul said.

"Don't even. I hate this form." He said, shaking his lopunny head. "It makes me look girly." He suddenly stamped his feet, his powerful legs launching him up like springs. He bounced nearly twenty feet into the air. He looked around, before he plummeted back down. He winced when landing, and did it a few more times. "Okay, found a small crater, that way." He pointed towards the cliff face.

"And how are we supposed to get there?" Soul asked sassily.

Seth went over to his pack and took out their balls. Soul whined, giving him puppy dog eyes. "It's just for a second." He said, recalling her. It was awkward to hold the balls with his tiny paws. He put them back in the pocket. Pack in hand, he took a few bouncing steps, before launching into the air, landing at the top of the cliff.

Once there, he fumbled to release the girls again. The large tufts of fur around his paws made it hard. The mountainous terrain continued on, but just ahead there was a sizable crater, probably around ten feet wide. It wasn't too steep or deep, resembling a flat bowl. In that, they would be hidden from the everyday passerby, which was perfect for his idea. He released both of the girls in front of him. Sky immediately took an interest in the crater.

"Wow, what could have made this?" She exclaimed, rushing over to it and examining the edge.

"There's the Sky I remember." Soul said, following her.

Seth followed them as well, turning human again when he felt safe to do so. "Alright, so we're going to train. I'll be each of your opponents. One on one, with type disadvantage." He explained.

"First." Soul said, stepping forward. Seth closed his eyes for a moment and transformed into a lucario.

"I know this isn't your favorite form to fight, but my options are a bit limited. So we get in the pit, and I come at you. You have to defend, no fighting back. Maybe we can do something special for dinner if you both don't get hit at all."

"Don't you think that's not good training?" Soul asked.

"Well, I know both of you are plenty strong, this is just more of a warm-up, not training. And if we really go at it, I won't have the energy for Sky."

"Kay, let's go then." She got into the crater, and he was right behind her. They took up positions across from each other, then Sky whistled. Seth closed his eyes and held his paws together, like he was clutching a ball. He yelled and fired out a ball of aura at Soul. She was surprised, but kept her cool. Just before the hurtling balls of energy could hit her, she leapt into the air. She landed behind Seth, who turned to face her. The sphere kept going for a bit, before righting its trajectory, and coming towards them. Seth could feel his own aura approaching and stepped aside so it could past, but Soul did too, causing it to explode into the ground. "Since when could you do that?!" Soul asked through the cloud of dust. "I thought you lost your aura?"

"Well, that is what dad said, but after these got cut off," He reached up and touched the two stumps on his neck. On the other side were two tassels. "I wasn't able to use it for a while, but I've been practicing, and I think I can use aura again, but it is kinda hard. Either way..." He brought up a leg and slammed it into the ground. Soul dove out of the way.

"Come on, you're slow!" She teased. He rushed her, following her moves with forceful palm thrusts and punches. Soul fluidly moved around each blow, as if she could read his thoughts, all while a grin was plastered on her face. "You have gotten soft. But I'm still at the top of my game. For me, it's like riding a bike. I've been fighting all my life. You've been for... well, we met about uh... six months ago, and you stopped training about three months ago, but you've been training in secret since then..." She thought aloud while still avoiding him. Eventually his exhaustion caught up with him, and he fumbled a punch, not putting enough power into it. Soul took the opportunity and dove forward, tackling him down. She was breathing normally as she pinned the panting lucario to the ground. He didn't really have the energy to try and fight back.

"Ok then... you're ready."

"I knew that." She said, giving him a quick peck on the nose. She stepped off him and strutted out of the crater, with it now looking more rugged with cracks and holes. He rose shortly after, still panting lightly, and followed her.

"You'll have to wait a bit Sky." He told her. "Lunch time." He sat down and pulled his backpack over. He fiddled with the latch on top. "I feel for both of you. Paws are not easy to use."

"Why not go anthro?" Soul asked. She was sitting nearby, tail wagging slowly as she waited.

"That form isn't as strong as pure pokemon. At least that's how it feels." He managed to get it open, and he took out a three bowls. He also took out a bag of food pellets. "Sky, would you pour?"

"Sure." She said. The bag was enveloped in a blue glow as it lifted up and tipped over each of the bowls, filling them with pokechow. Once they all had some, the bag was set down, and they began to eat. Seth picked up his bowl and the girls ate with theirs on the ground.

"Since when do you like pokechow?" Soul asked after a bit.

"I dunno. It's not the best, but it's cheap so... And since when we're you the one concerned about food. That's my shtick." He asked with a raised eyebrow, or at least the lucario equivalent.

"Well with all that fancy human food, the good ones at least, I assume you'd be eating that." She said back.

"Well, if we kick the league's ass, we'll be rolling in cash. Fight hard and I'll buy whatever you want."

"You're gonna regret that." She snickered.

Seth stood and stretched. "You ready Sky?" He asked. Both of them had finished eating.

"Not really..."

"What's wrong?" He asked, kneeling next to her.

"I don't want to fight you." She said quietly.

He looked up and rubbed his neck. "Uhh... How about instead we do this." He closed his eyes and his body shrunk as it was blocked by a white light. It faded in less than a moment, revealing an umbreon. "Wanna try to break my dark type defenses?"

"That sounds better..." She rose.

"We can do it right here. Go ahead." He nodded, his red eyes telling her it was okay.

She closed hers and focused. It was hard to pick him up, the same with Soul, but he was there. She recognized what he felt like, even as a dark type. Then she tried to pierce his thoughts. Seth twitched as he felt her try to probe him. He focused his own thoughts at fighting her off. Psychic types were good at reading minds, dark types were good at protecting them. They were both bad at the other side of it however. She was forced out and back, mentally. She put in more force to her prodding, now trying to catch him up in a psychic attack. Near him, a couple pebbles shook, but he didn't budge. He grimaced as he tried to fought her powerful influence off.

"Are you two even doing anything?" Soul asked loudly. A small hole next to Seth exploded into dust, leaving an apple sized hole in the ground.

Sky looked at Soul sharply. "Yes. Do you mind?"

"Geez, sorry. It looked like you were just standing there." She laid down at the hard stone. "I'll just be going through your stuff." She said, reaching into the backpack and digging around.

The two eeveelutions went back to their own training. Sky began trying other ways in, some crack in his defense. After a while of trying, something changed.

"What are you doing with that?" He asked. She was too focused on this new weakness to find out what was going on.

"What? I'm just lookin'." Soul said.

"You're gonna break it. Claws don't work on the screen! And we don't have a connection, so you're gonna run up charges." Seth said worriedly. With his concentration shifted, and attention taken away from her, Sky had her window.

"Relax. I'm just taking a look at it." She said in a sing song voice.

"I've heard that before. Just put it down before you-" He took a step forward, but his body stopped halfway down. A thin flickering blue glow enclosed him and lifted him up about a foot. "Agh! Put me down!" He yelped. "She's gonna break it!"

Soul was too busy laughing at him squirming to keep playing with his pokedex. He tried to focus again and break her hold, but his thoughts were too panicked to fight back. He squirmed in her telekinetic grasp for a bit, until she set him down and let out a breath.

The moment he was down he darted over and snatched the pokedex away from Soul. "This thing was expensive! And if you break it, I have to replace all the data on it!" Now Soul was laughing at how important that little red toy was. She ended up rolling on her back as Seth cradled the dex, checking it carefully for damage. Until a blue glow engulfed her and lifted her up.

"H-h-hey!" She said, trying to contain her laughter. "I'm not some pushover!" She said. Suddenly, the psychic hold broke, and she dropped to the ground, landing on her feet. She stuck out her tongue. "Try again."

"So, I think that'll do. Let's go back into town. And dinner's on me."

+++

"Nope... Nope... Nope... ugh..." Seth groaned in disgust. They were back at the room. "How can a town not have any restaurants?"

"Really?" Soul said. She didn't even turn around. She was busy watching TV. Now it was a show about a bunch of trainers and their pokemon living in an apartment. A comedy, as was her favorite.

"Well, there are two bars, but that's not really a place to get dinner. They got chicken wings and some other stuff, but they usually..." He looked up from his dex after hearing something move.

Soul was already down. "Well? Let's go already."

"Listen, it's not the kind of place you think. People go there for alcohol, not for food. It'll be nothing but drunk miners."

"I swear if they don't have boneless wings..." Soul threatened.

"You're not even listening..." Seth stated the obvious.

+++

"Booth please." Seth said. The waitress, wearing a skimpy outfit, lead them to a clean table. The bar was bigger than Seth had expected. There was the actual bar, which was full, several tables on the floor, and booths along the walls.

He slid in on one side while the girls climbed into the other. Sky was on the inside and Soul on the outside. The waitress looked like she was going to say something, probably about pokemon in the booths, but she didn't. "What can I get you to drink? And bowls for your pokemon?" She asked.

"Please." He nodded. "Do they not allow pokemon here or something?"

"Oh, it's not that. We just try to avoid letting pokemon in. The miners always let their pokemon get drunk and wreck the place. As long as they behave, you'll be fine."

"Oh." He pointed to the girls. Soul tapped her claws at the drink list, at a fizzy lemon lime soda. Sky pointed with her tail at lemonade. "And could I get... how about a slushy, cherry."

"Would you like that alcoholic?"

"Please." He said.

"Alright. Be right back with those." She turned and left.

"Don't overkill it again." Soul warned him.

"I won't. Just one drink. So what do you both want?"

"Chicken wings, barbeque, boneless." Soul said.

"I could have guessed. Sky?" He asked.

"Uh, just these cheese sticks." She said, referencing the menu.

"Are you sure?" She nodded. "Okay, I'll get a burger." The waitress came back shortly, setting two bowls filled with liquid before each of the girls, and giving him a glass of red icy juice. He took a drink of it. It had a strong taste of alcohol, just what he wanted. He gave her their order, and she left again. "So, feeling ready for tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yep. I'm gonna kick some ass. That badge is ours."

"Sky?" Seth asked after a bit of silence.

"I think... I'm not really a fan of fighting, but... I'll go." She nodded.

"I know the feeling. I used to watch the league tournaments on TV all the time, but the idea of having my own pokemon fight... I couldn't stand the thought of letting them go through that. Now that I'm actually here... It doesn't seem so bad. I promise not to push you both too hard."

"Thank you for that." Sky said, smiling happily.

"There's a face I haven't seen in a while." She looked actually happy. He took another drink. "I'm sorry for what I've put you through. I was a real debbie downer. I feel... better, I guess."

Sky brought her paws up and rubbed her eyes. They were wet and red. "That means a lot.

"C'mon, cheer up. I don't want the waitress to think I made my pokemon cry."

She sniffled and composed herself. "Can I have a drink of that?"

"Have you ever drank before?"

"No..."

He slid his glass over. "Here, but be careful. It'll hit you a lot harder than me."

She took a sip and grimaced. "It tastes like medicine."

Soul leaned after and stole a sip for herself. She sucked nearly a third of the drink down. She licked her lips but made no comment.

"Gah. That was for me. I'll have to get another one by the time my food gets here."

+++

"C'mon! Let's go challenge the gym right now!" Soul roared proudly.

"Soul, chill out." Seth said as he fiddled with the door. He swiped his card for the third time and it finally accepted, and the lock clicked open. "They're closed by now. I knew I shouldn't have let you have so much."

"Don't be such a spoilsport." She squeezed past him, and was on the bed with the remote in her paws before he even stepped inside. Seth stepped into their room, followed by Sky.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I don't know. I don't really feel anything..."

"That's fine. Everybody's a different drunk. I get mellow and relaxed, and Soul..." He turned back to the absol to see her bouncing on the bed as she watched TV. He crossed in front of her and got into the one bed. Sky hopped up with him on the other side. He stripped down to his underwear and got under the covers. He kept one arm out to play with Sky's ears.

"I'm so happy!" Sky suddenly cried. She buried her head into the covers over Seth's side and began to bawl. He wrapped an arm around her quivering body and pulled her over to hold. "I thought we'd never be happy! But we're still here!" Her words broke down into gibberish as she cried her eyes out.

"We're in for a night..." Seth mumbled. Soul was still blissfully watching TV, humming the theme song to the show she was watching, and waving her tail while tapping her paws on the bed. He gently picked up Sky and moved her on top of him, clutching her to his chest while she cried and muttered incoherently. Eventually, she calmed down. So much so that she fell asleep. "Soul..." He whispered, using his feet to get her attention. She turned, mouth already open and ready to spout something out. But she stopped when she saw the finger over his lips. "Light." He whispered, pointing to the switch. He then reached over and turned on the lamp next to the bed.

Soul got off the bed and hopped up to flip the light off. She returned by the light of the TV and lamp, while Seth carefully and slowly moved Sky off him and laid her down. Soul turned off the TV, and before Seth could wonder why, she turned and took Sky's place.

"Soul?" He asked. She didn't answer. Instead she dropped onto him, planting her lips on his in a deep kiss. It didn't last long though. She pulled back, looking down at him with starry eyes. "Soul... please... not tonight. I'm not ready yet." He told her.

Her expression sobered up. "Alright." He wrapped his arms around her and rolled over, onto his side, taking her with him. She ended up with her head resting on his arm, belly to belly, and with her paws wrapped around his back. He took a moment to flick off the lamp, before they both fell asleep.