Mauville 5
Evenstar
Triple Jump Unlocked
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's pitch dark in Autumn's tent, but she can't sleep. Ziggy's curled up by her head, napping contentedly, but the world outside is haunted by the distant hooting of Noctowls and the sound of the surf against the pebble beach below. She's not tired, the ground is hard beneath her bedroll, and she's far away from home or safety.
Sighing to herself, Autumn pulls out her flashlight and pulls the end out to put it into lantern mode. Setting it up next to her bed, she turns it on, and the tent walls appear again. Ziggy stirs in his sleep, letting out a low groan.
Unzipping the tent flap, Autumn steps out into the camp, lantern held by her side. There's only a sliver of moon overhead, and the world outside is full of shadows beyond a few yards out from the camp. The scrubland grass rustles in the wind, and the surf sighs against the beach below.
"Dreavus!"
Autumn jerks sharply and almost drops her lantern as Lethia pops out of the shadows.
"L-Lethia!" Autumn whispers. "You scared me half to death!"
Lethia just giggles mutely as she floats in the air in front of Autumn, then she does a loop in the air and winks. "Miss~"
Autumn sighs. "So you're a prankster, huh."
Lethia bobs in the air, the little motion perhaps her equivalent of a shrug. Then she turns to look back out over the grass. "Dreavus," she says.
Autumn looks out across the scrubland with Lethia. Patches of tawny grass shroud the path, hiding everything and anything.
Lethia turns slightly, and pauses, starting out across the scrubland. "Miss?", she says softly.
Autumn follows Lethia's gaze, but it's too dark for her to make anything out other than shadows. Raising the lantern a little higher, she leans forwards a little and stares intently. Did one of those shadows move...?
- there's a pair of eyes looking at her from that stand of grass, reflecting back the light of the lantern.
"Lethia -" Autumn's voice rises.
"Miss," Lethia says loudly, pitching it to carry out to the half-shrouded watcher.
The grass rustles with movement, and a canine shadow darts away across the ground to another stand of grass. Lethia sighs. "Miss."
Autumn bites her lip hard. "That poochyena?"
Lethia nods. "Missdreavus." She sighs, then holds up four locks of her hair.
"This is the fourth time that's happened?" Autumn blinks.
Lethia bobs in that hover-shrug, and nods.
"Thank you, Lethia," Autumn says. "It's - really good to have you looking after me."
Lethia smiles. "Dreavus." The two syllables are warm and happy.
Autumn sits down in Nix's chair next to the camp stove, and sets the lantern down next to her. "I'm not going to get any sleep knowing that poochyena's out there stalking us," she says. "Could you... keep me company?"
Lethia nods and smiles. "Dreav."
Autumn settles into the chair, and looks up at the sky. The stars are hidden by the light of her lantern, but the sliver of moon is still bright and clear. The cold sea wind brushes past her and makes her shiver. She takes a cold breath, and rubs her hands together to warm them a little.
Lethia looks down at her disapprovingly. "Dreavus," she says, and points at Autumn's tent. "Misd."
"Yeah, I really should put on a coat." Autumn gets up from her chair and goes back over to the tent, her fingers stiff in the cold as she works the zipper. Ducking into the tent, she digs through her pack and comes back out with her fleece coat and her windbreaker. She shrugs on the fleece first, then adds the windbreaker on top, pushing her arms through the sleeves and catching the windblown front of the coats to zip them up. Tucking her hands into the pockets, she sits down next to the camp stove again and sighs softly as the wind catches at her hair. The camp seems very small and cramped with only the light of the lantern, and the blasted scrubland with its hidden watcher offers no comfort.
Autumn sits again anyway, and does her best to suppress the hammering of her heart. Lethia is looking after her.
Lethia does a slow half-circle of the camp, looking out into the scrublands with her yellow eyes. She sighs, the noise almost human but a little higher and more whistling. Autumn hunches in a little at the noise, and looks at the lantern to keep herself from staring out into the night where the poochyena waits.
The stars are beautiful, and the sigh of the sea is lulling enough. The light of the lantern feels warm and cheery, and despite everything there's a rugged beauty to the landscape. She might not be one for nature, but even this barren scrubland by the sea has some beauty to it. Off in the distance, a light passes on Cycling Road. Some cyclist on a midnight ride, probably a priority courier if they're out this late at night.
Autumn closes her eyes, and listens to the sea.
"Dreavus," comes the quiet call to her left, and Autumn's eyes snap open. She looks over at where Lethia is, and just catches the motion of the shadow in the grass.
Autumn watches as the shadow darts away again, hugging herself close beneath her coat. "Persistent, isn't it?", she says to Lethia softly.
Lethia nods. "Dreav..."
"You must be tired watching this whole time..." Autumn sighs.
Lethia shakes her head. "Miss." She does the bobbing shrug again. "Miss, dreav."
"You're used to it?" Autumn tilts her head.
Lethia nods. "Misdreavus." Then she holds out her hair, and a shimmer of purple Ghost energy covers it. "Dreav," she says, an edge of malice in her voice.
Autumn chuckles. "Yeah, I bet you could show it what for if it really tried anything. I'm just... scared that you might slip out and it might get in close, or..." She sighs. "But you'd catch it, I know you would with those eyes of yours. Should I go back into my tent?"
Lethia bobs from one side to the other, and says nothing.
"Up to me, huh." Autumn sighs. "I... Part of me wants to apologize to the poochyena. It's stupid and silly, but - I did walk into its territory, and I did kick it... I mean, it's justly annoyed..."
"Dreavus." Lethia's tone is flat and unamused.
"Yeah, that's probably wrong. Still..." She sighs again. "I guess I'll try to sleep again, Lethia. I trust you to keep the camp safe." Autumn gets up from the chair and stretches, looking out over the darkened sea; then she picks up her lantern again, and steps back towards her tent.
"Yena!", comes the harsh bark from behind her, and Autumn half-turns - just in time for the angry Poochyena to catch her in her side, knocking her back into her tent as the breath's driven out of her. The poochyena brings its forepaws in and rakes at her -
"DREAVUS!" Lethia screeches, and the Poochyena's covered in a black aura for a moment that singes and burns it. It darts away from the ghostly pokémon's gaze and harsh voice, fleeing for the grass at the side of the road - but as it passes into the clear space away from the tents, a lance of purple energy - a Psybeam - lashes out and catches it from behind, driving it into the earth.
Moments later Nix is out of her tent and on her feet, a lantern in one hand, Crimson and Noir appearing next to her as she tosses out pokéballs with the other. Nix's pokemon flank the fallen Poochyena, Lethia floating over it as Crimson and Noir box it in from each side. The fallen Poochyena doesn't stir.
"Watch it, Lethia," Nix snaps out. "Crimson, watch the grass." Then she's across the clearing to where Autumn's lying on the ground, kneeling next to her with the lantern by her side. "Are you okay," she says in a rush, her voice tense and high.
Autumn rolls off the tent with a groan, holding her side. There are rents in the tough material of her windbreaker, showing through the fleece beneath. "Ow," she says, and sits up slowly.
Nix presses her hand lightly to the cuts in the windbreaker, and finds the fleece underneath untorn and clean of blood. She exhales hard. "Lucky," she says. "It looks like your coat got the worst of it."
Autumn winces as Nix's hand presses against her side. "I don't feel lucky. Ow."
"You're probably going to have quite the bruise, but it could've been much worse." Nix stands and offers a hand to Autumn, the lantern in her other hand throwing shifting shadows.
Autumn accepts Nix's hand up, and pushes herself to her feet. Then she turns to survey the fallen dome of her tent.
"Yeah," Nix says, "That's a problem. But first..."
She sets down her lantern, ducks back into her tent, and returns carrying a pokéball. She tosses it at the downed poochyena, and it vanishes into the capsule.
"This one will have to go to the Rangers," she says.
Autumn blinks. "And they'll...?"
Nix sighs. "Try to rehabilitate it so it doesn't attack humans anymore. If it doesn't cooperate they'll probably put it in storage on a server somewhere. If it's recalcitrant for long enough, well..." Nix shrugs. "Pokémon who hunt humans can't be allowed to roam free."
"Oh." Autumn looks at the pokéball in Nix's hand.
"Yeah." Nix steps back into her tent, then returns without the pokéball. "But we've got more immediate problems. Is Ziggy okay?"
Autumn blinks. "- Ziggy!" She looks at the fallen remains of her tent. "He must still be in there."
The fallen tent wriggles a little, a lump in it shifting.
"I really hope I didn't fall on him -" Autumn grabs at one of the fallen poles and tries to lift the fallen mass of the tent off Ziggy. One of the legs pops free of the baseplate, and with a couple more pulls the mass of the tent comes off of Ziggy.
Ziggy rolls over from his side, and gets up on all fours, shaking out his fur with a swishing motion. "Zag!", he says. "Zigzag." He gives Autumn a big toothy smile.
Autumn falls to her knees again and scoops Ziggy up into her arms, holding him firmly against her bruised and scraped body. "So glad you're okay," she says.
"Zaaaaaag." Ziggy presses in softly and rubs his head against Autumn's chest.
"Alright," Nix says, looking out at the darkness beyond the tents. "I think we should get that tent set back up, and then we can go to sleep again. Crimson, is there anything else out there we should know about?"
The Ariados clicks its mandibles together and shakes its head. "Dos."
"Good." Nix exhales. "Alright, this will be awkward in the dark, but it looks like the tent poles are still okay. Crimson, just - keep watching, just in case. You too, Lethia. The more eyes the better." She walks over to the fallen tent and fishes through it for Autumn's still-glowing lantern. Setting it aside on the low grass, she sets her own lantern up at the opposite corner of the tent.
Lethia and Crimson both nod, and keep watching the scrubland around the camp.
Autumn lets Ziggy back down onto the grass, and starts trying to sort out the tangled mess of tentpoles. Nix crouches down as well and does her best to help, and between the two of them they manage to extract the still-locked-together tent poles from the dome of the tent. Settling them into the holes of the base, they lock together the frame again; then Nix picks up the fallen nylon cover, and with some help from Autumn wraps it back around the frame.
As the nylon settles back into place, it becomes apparent that the poochyena managed to catch some of the tent material as well with its wild swiping; there's a neat trio of rents through one of the side walls.
Nix pinches the bridge of her nose. "Fuck."
Autumn winces. "Yeah..."
Nix looks over at her still-set-up tent. "Looks like we're sharing. It's probably safer anyway. At least it's summer and not raining."
Autumn bites her tongue, but nods. "Alright," she says. "What you say goes." She picks up her pack, which's been put aside from her tent, and puts it into Nix's tent next to her purse. Then she grabs her bedroll and sleeping bag and looks into Nix's tent again. The space inside is... not large, especially with both Nix's purse and her pack taking up space. There isn't enough room for her bedroll as well.
Nix ducks into the tent, and sits at the end with the packs, setting down her lantern at the top of the space. Autumn comes in as well and sits at the other end. Between them and the packs, all the space in the tent is full.
Nix rubs her forehead and sighs. "Looks like we're going to have to get a little cozy." She slips into her sleeping back, which is lying along one side of her bedroll. "If you overlay the two bedrolls, you can have one side and I can have the other and we can put the pack and my purse in the middle."
"I, uh, yeah," Autumn says. She pulls on her sleeping bag halfway, then lays down her bedroll half-overlapping Nix's, and lies down across from her, her back against the wall of the tent. Their faces are maybe a hand's breadth apart.
Nix smiles slightly. "And now we stick the pack and the purse in the middle -" She pulls down the pack and flops it down between herself and Autumn, then sets her purse between her pillow and Autumn's, separating them. "A little uncomfortable, but better than getting all up in each other's business."
Autumn bites the inside of her cheek. "Yeah," she says quietly. Ziggy walks up her body and curls up in the small space next to the lantern at the top of the tent. "Zag," he says.
Autumn works her tongue in her mouth. "Um... Goodnight."
"Yeah," Nix says, and turns off her lantern. "Can you get your lantern?" She points at Autumn's flashlight at the base of the bed.
Autumn sits up awkwardly, grabs the lantern, and lies back down with it in her hand. Setting it down next to her head, she thumbs the button, and the tent falls into darkness.
She lays down slowly, and settles her head onto the pillow of her bedroll. It's cramped and narrow, but - it's a huge relief to know the poochyena's not hunting her anymore. And Nix's presence is... somehow comforting.
She closes her eyes, and sleep takes her.
Eventually, the soft light of morning shines through the sides of the tent, and Autumn stirs. Her face is pressed into Nix's purse, the stitching on the leather leaving tracks along her forehead. She can feel Nix's shins through her sleeping bag.
She takes an unsteady breath, and sits up carefully. Her ribs ache. Her arms ache. Her everything aches. It's been... A really profoundly bad couple of days, hasn't it. All because of that gang and the damn poochyena...
Nix's eyes blink open, and she stretches a little in the small space. "Mmmmnnnnnnhhhhh... Morning?" She works her jaw and sighs. "Yeah, morning. Can you get out of the tent?"
Autumn untangles herself from her sleeping bag, and gets up onto her knees. Reaching back over her head, she fumbles with the zipper for the tent flap, then finally steps out into the early-morning sunlight.
The camp is a mess in the morning sun; Nix's camp stove was apparently kicked in the scuffle, and Autumn's damaged tent hangs in streamers, half-skeletal in the sunlight. Crimson is lying on his thorax by the side of the camp, his eyes closed; Lethia hovers over him, and waves with her hair when Autumn steps outside. "Dreavus," she calls out.
"Yeah," Autumn says. "Good morning to you too." Looking over her shoulder at Nix in the tent, she sighs softly. "I guess it's time to pack up again, huh?"
Nix sits up in the tent and stretches. "Yeah. It's not far to town from here, so it should work out alright. We have time for breakfast if you want."
Autumn rights Nix's fallen camp chair and looks around for her camp cushion. Walking over to a nearby patch of scrub grass, she picks her cushion out from where it's fetched up against a bush. "Yeah," she says. "Breakfast would be good. I..." She touches her side softly where the poochyena tackled her. "I don't feel so great."
Nix crawls out of the tent and stands up, dusting off the knees of her jeans. "Yeah," she says, "it's no surprise between all those scratches and your fall last night. Let's get a better look at you in the light."
Autumn pulls off her coat and her fleece, and lifts the side of her blouse a little. Sure enough, there's a wide, purpling bruise just above her right hip.
"Ow." She winces a little.
Nix leans in and takes a close look. "No scratches, good. You don't want to know what could be on a wild pokémon's claws." She sighs softly. "That poochyena... Really took it personally, huh." She shakes her head. "We should still get you checked out by a doctor just in case. How's breathing?"
Autumn takes a deep breath. "It doesn't hurt too badly. Just a big dull ache."
"Your ribs are probably fine then," Nix says. "But let's take it easy." She grabs her purse from the tent and pulls out the green container ball full of fruit. Unsealing the basket, she sets it down in the middle of the camp, then looks over at her camp stove.
She picks up the stove and inspects it closely. The gas bottle is intact and undented, and the hose looks fine too. "This looks okay," she says, "But we probably shouldn't use it just in case." She fishes out her container ball for the camp stove and reseals it. "There, now it's guaranteed not to explode before I get it to a professional." She puts away the container ball and unseals her box of trail mix, granola bars and water again.
Autumn sighs, and nods. "Sorry about all this trouble..."
Nix rolls her eyes. "You're the one who's got the worst of it so far. Just look at you, covered in scrapes and bruises..." She gestures at the bandages on Autumn's forearms. "You've had a real rough few days."
Autumn's lips twitch. "Yeah. It's almost funny how badly my pokémon adventure's gone so far."
"Trainer life is full of harsh realities," Nix says. "But it's very rewarding as well, when done right." She leans over to her resting Ariados and strokes his chitinous side. "Crimson, Noir and Lethia bring so much joy to my life. I think you know that already, with your Ziggy..."
Autumn nods. "Yeah, it's... I wouldn't trade him for anything."
Nix smiles. "Yeah. There are some people who treat pokémon more like tools, but - I've never been one of them." She pulls Crimson's pokeball out of her purse. "Crimson did a good job guarding us, but he needs to rest now. Return."
Red light flashes out of Nix's pokéball, and Autumn watches as Crimson disappears back into stasis. "You know," she says, "I've never really liked to keep Ziggy in a pokéball. It feels more right to... spend all my time with him by my side."
Nix smiles. "Yeah. A lot of trainers get attached to their first pokémon like that. I used to be that attached to Noir, too, but - letting him sleep in his pokéball is just really convenient, now that he's bigger, and the realities of looking out for wild pokémon and managing safety and feeding schedules and all the rest of it..." She shakes her head. "I want him to have real off-time now and again, you know, and I'm always on the move as a trainer, so the whole thing is difficult."
Autumn looks back into Nix's tent. "Ziggy!", she calls.
There's a low rustle from the tent, and then a few moments later Ziggy bounces out of the tent, all fluffed up and energetic. He scampers along to the basket of fruit and looks at it with a pleading expression.
Autumn laughs. "You never change, do you." She picks a peach off the pile of fruit and extends it to Ziggy. "Here you go, then. A present for cheering me up a little."
Ziggy takes the peach in his forepaws, the large fruit almost as big as his head, and starts munching on it greedily, juice going everywhere over his face.
Nix smiles as well. "Gluttonous little Zigzagoon, isn't he? I've heard a lot of them are like that. Cute, in a shameless kind of way."
Autumn nods and sits down on her cushion, a little bonelessly. "Yeah. I... can really use it right now." She picks up an apple from the fruit basket and stares at it morosely, then finally takes a bite. "Mm. I guess it's whatever."
Nix grabs an apple as well, and looks over at Autumn's damaged tent. "We'll have to get that packed up as best we can, have breakfast... I've got to feed Noir at least too, and then it's off to Slateport."
Autumn looks over at Lethia, who's still hovering over the camp. "Does Lethia sleep or eat at all?"
Nix tilts her head. "Well, yes and no. She has... kind of a special diet. Did she spook you last night at all?"
Autumn blushes. "I, uh. Yeah."
"Yeah, she actually feeds on fear." Nix tosses the apple in her hand up in the air and catches it. "She doesn't need much, so generally she gets enough from being creepy in Contests or playing little harmless pranks. Battle is good for her too. Without enough ambient fear around her she starts to, mmm, fade a little, get - her equivalent of sleepy, I guess. If that happens I dig into creepy things on the internet for a little while until she feels better."
"So you're a horror fan?" Autumn tilts her head.
"Not really, but for my Lethia..." She smiles slightly. "It's worth it to see the smile on her face and her energy afterwards."
"Aw. That's kind of weirdly cute." Autumn smiles back, and takes another bite of her apple. She pets Ziggy lightly as he keeps working on his peach. "So you were going to feed Noir?"
Nix nods. "Yeah." She digs in her purse and unseals another container ball, this one holding a similar amount of food to Autumn's, with chicken breasts, carrots, and apple slices all in separate bowls, along with some whole Cheri berries. There's also a Tupperware container holding charcoal along with the rest of the food. "Noir's a fire type," Nix says, "So he needs some fuel to keep his metabolism running. This is ash and rowan charcoal, a special blend just for him - Noir deserves the best, after all."
"Yeah," Autumn says, "They really do deserve the best." She strokes Ziggy softly. "Doesn't it get expensive keeping your pokemon in food?"
Nix nods. "Which is why I've got to keep winning contests and doing my best to earn that prize money. Most Great Rank contests hand out a prize pool of berries to the winners, along with valuable items - traditionally it's Stardust for Great Rank contests, which sells for around a K and a half each. But that money goes fast when you're taking care of a full team..."
Autumn bites her lip. "I was barely even able to care for Ziggy on the kind of wages that I had back at the Pokemart in Oldale Town. But... Yeah, it's different for Trainers."
Nix smiles slightly. "Yeah. And soon I'm going to get to the Ultra Rank, and they hand out Star Pieces there, which are worth even more, and rarer berries, and - yeah. Just got to keep improving, and then we'll be able to do more. I've been thinking a little about a fourth pokémon, but - right now the budget isn't really there, you know..."
Autumn halfsmiles. "You can afford this many container balls and you're still short of resources, huh...?"
Nix sighs. "Yeah. I guess I'll never really be satisfied."
"Do you want to be a Top Coordinator?", Autumn asks.
Nix shakes her head. "Not really, but - the challenge is there, and helping people see the appeal of "creepy" pokemon like Crimson, Noir and Lethia really makes me feel happy. I think I want to become, like, a consistent Ultra or Master Rank competitor with a team of six, that would be a satisfying life."
Autumn nods. "Yeah, I don't think anyone would look down on you if you made it that high."
Nix smiles and takes another bite of her apple. "S'not bout that," she says through her mouthful, then swallows. "It's more just about... feeling like I'm doing my best."
Autumn tilts her head. "Yeah, I can sympathize with that. I... Well..." She looks down at Ziggy. "The dead-end pokémart job wasn't exactly... good for me. I got by, but..."
"Yeah." Nix nods, and tosses out Noir's pokéball. He appears in a burst of flames, and looks over at the bowls full of charcoal and chicken breasts. His spade-tipped tail starts to wag.
"Good boy," Nix says, stroking Noir's head. "Breakfast time."
"Doom," says Noir gravely. But he lowers his head and begins to eat.
Nix sighs and leans back in her chair. "This would almost be relaxing, if not for the... everything. Sea, sun, Noir by my side, a new friend..." She smiles a little at Autumn. "It seems like there's adventure ahead for both of us."
Autumn smiles back. "Yeah," she says. "There really does seem to be." She finishes off her apple, sets down the core next to the basket, and walks over to her damaged tent. "I guess it's time I took this down," she says.
Nix stands. "Please don't stress yourself, I can get it. Your bruises have got bruises. Rest for now. You can even have my camp chair for the moment."
Autumn looks over her shoulder. "Finish your breakfast," she says, "this isn't too complicated."
Nix sighs. "We've had this conversation I don't know how many times now. Please, don't injure yourself further."
Autumn looks down at her aching body, and sighs. "- Yeah, fine, alright." She walks back over to the center of camp and flops down on her cushion again. "I - thank you."
"It's fine," Nix says. She puts down her apple core as well, and goes over to the remains of Autumn's tent. Pulling off the cut-up nylon, she folds it together as best she can. "Where's the bag this came from?", she asks.
Autumn points at her pack in Nix's tent. "On top of my backpack," she says.
"Alright. Do you mind if I go through your pack for it?"
"Not at all." Autumn shakes her head.
"Alright. Then let's get this all squared away." She ducks into the tent and comes back with the bag the tent came in. Over the next few minutes, she disassembles the frame and slips the poles back into place, along with the torn nylon and base tarp. Autumn watches, petting Ziggy occasionally, her eyes half-closed against the morning's light reflecting off the sea.
There's not much more to say after that; each Trainer sees to their own pokémon's breakfasts, snatching bites of granola bars and fruit as they go. Nix takes down her tent and reseals it in a container ball, and picks up Autumn's pack (over her protests) and slings it onto her back. Ziggy hops up onto Autumn's shoulder as usual, and after a small pause to make sure everything's been packed up, the pair set off to the south again, Noir in the lead, Lethia floating along behind them.
There isn't much trail left between the pair and Slateport, and all the local pokémon seem to be terrified of Lethia and Noir. After an hour or so's walk, the pair make it to the other end of Seaside Cycling Road.
Nix points at the gateway. "Slateport ahoy!", she calls with a big grin, her rose pendant jangling against her black top.
Noir lets out a low woof that might be a chuckle, and Autumn rolls her eyes. Ziggy hops down from Autumn's shoulder as they emerge from the tall grass, scurrying along beside her. "Zigzagoooooon!", he says.
Autumn smiles, and picks up her weary pace a little. Before long her and Nix arrive amid the buildings.
"Alright, let's drop by the pokémon center quickly and get that side of yours checked out," says Nix. "And then I'll give you your pack back and we can get rooms at the trainer's dorms."
Autumn just nods. "Alright."
The Pokécenter is just to the west of the city's gates, not far from the route itself; after a short wait, Autumn is shown into a back room and an X-ray is taken of her chest bruise, then Nix and Autumn are ushered back to the front to wait some more.
When the nurse finally brings back the X-ray, the news is good; Autumn's ribs are intact, not even cracked.
"You can take over-the-counter pain meds, and you probably should," says the nurse, tucking a strand of his black hair behind his glasses. "But the bruising's pretty much the extent of it. You're young, you'll heal up; just take it easy for a couple weeks and you should be right as rain soon enough."
Autumn exhales, and nods. "I'm glad."
"Make sure you hand that Poochyena over to the ranger station, now, you hear?" The nurse gives Nix a serious look. "This kind of incident isn't to be taken lightly."
"Yes, I know the regulations," says Nix. "We came here first just to make sure that Autumn wasn't seriously injured. We're heading to the ranger station next."
"Alright," the nurse says, and lets the topic drop.
A few minutes later the pair emerge into the sunlight again, this time with Autumn carrying her own pack. Noir and Ziggy follow their owners to either side, Noir loping along easily as Ziggy scurries along with his head on a swivel.
"It seems cruel to hand over the poochyena to the Rangers..." Autumn says quietly.
"It's regulations," Nix says. "If I don't do this I could lose my Trainer's License. And I mean... It's not like it didn't know the potential consequences. Pokémon are smart, and this one attacked you deliberately... If it was human it'd be put on trial for assault with a deadly weapon, you know?"
"I guess," says Autumn. "But in a sense I started it..."
"That doesn't mean its response was proportional," says Nix. "There's a tense peace between humans and pokémon - we stay out of their natural habitats and treat the ones we choose to adopt well, and in exchange they don't cause trouble for us - and people or pokémon who disturb that balance have to face the consequences of that."
Autumn sighs, looking over at the pokéball cradled in Nix's hands. "Alright," she says.
The ranger station is manned by an older man, grey touching his hair, his eyes steely and his hands callused. He accepts the pokéball and Nix's explanation with a wordless grunt, then places the ball into a machine by his desk, where it disappears.
"Here's your replacement pokéball," he says, handing one over. "Do you have a pokétch number we can contact you at?"
Nix rattles off her number, and with a little prompting Autumn produces hers as well.
"Have a nice day, you two," says the Ranger, and turns away.
Nix looks at Autumn, shrugs, and steps away from the window. "I guess it's off to the trainer dorms now, then." She reslings her purse over her shoulder and sets off at a steady pace. "I know where they are - it's over by the shipyard, most people come in by boat..."
They pass a large open-air market and a museum on the way down to the trainer dorms; a stylized pokéball over the door announces them from a fair distance away. Nix steps inside, followed by Autumn, and the pair of them step up to the front desk, where a tall man and his Machop wait.
Nix looks back over her shoulder. "Two rooms or a double room for the two of us?", she asks. "A double room is cheaper."
Autumn tilts her head. "A double room, I think."
Nix fishes out her wallet from her purse and produces a payment card and her trainer's license; Autumn produces the same items from her own purse, and after a cursory check the pair are given keycards and directions to room 307. "Meals separately, internet is another ten pokédollars, no battling outside designated areas," drones the clerk. Nix just takes her keycard and heads down the hall, Autumn trailing behind her.
The room behind the door has two single beds, a TV, a nice large kitchenette with an oven, stove and microwave, and an ensuite bathroom. Nix sits down on one of the beds and sets her purse aside.
"So," she says. "What do you want to do in Slateport?"
Autumn flops onto the other bed. "Lie the fuck down. My bruises have bruises."
Nix smiles slightly. "Alright. You get some rest." She fishes out her first aid kit and passes over a small vial of pills. "Take two of these if you want help with the pain for sleeping."
"Gee, thanks," says Autumn. "Where were those an hour ago?"
Nix flushes. "I, uh, forgot. I'm sorry."
Autumn smiles slightly. "It's alright, I'll live. Thank you anyway. For everything."
"Yeah," says Nix. "You're welcome. I'm going to go check out the contest hall and the open-air market, alright? Catch you in a few hours."
Autumn opens the vial and pulls out two pills. She swallows them dry, then coughs a little, the acrid taste of them burning her throat. Then she lies back into the bed and closes her eyes.
"See you, Nix."
"See you, Autumn."
Slowly, the room drifts away.
Sighing to herself, Autumn pulls out her flashlight and pulls the end out to put it into lantern mode. Setting it up next to her bed, she turns it on, and the tent walls appear again. Ziggy stirs in his sleep, letting out a low groan.
Unzipping the tent flap, Autumn steps out into the camp, lantern held by her side. There's only a sliver of moon overhead, and the world outside is full of shadows beyond a few yards out from the camp. The scrubland grass rustles in the wind, and the surf sighs against the beach below.
"Dreavus!"
Autumn jerks sharply and almost drops her lantern as Lethia pops out of the shadows.
"L-Lethia!" Autumn whispers. "You scared me half to death!"
Lethia just giggles mutely as she floats in the air in front of Autumn, then she does a loop in the air and winks. "Miss~"
Autumn sighs. "So you're a prankster, huh."
Lethia bobs in the air, the little motion perhaps her equivalent of a shrug. Then she turns to look back out over the grass. "Dreavus," she says.
Autumn looks out across the scrubland with Lethia. Patches of tawny grass shroud the path, hiding everything and anything.
Lethia turns slightly, and pauses, starting out across the scrubland. "Miss?", she says softly.
Autumn follows Lethia's gaze, but it's too dark for her to make anything out other than shadows. Raising the lantern a little higher, she leans forwards a little and stares intently. Did one of those shadows move...?
- there's a pair of eyes looking at her from that stand of grass, reflecting back the light of the lantern.
"Lethia -" Autumn's voice rises.
"Miss," Lethia says loudly, pitching it to carry out to the half-shrouded watcher.
The grass rustles with movement, and a canine shadow darts away across the ground to another stand of grass. Lethia sighs. "Miss."
Autumn bites her lip hard. "That poochyena?"
Lethia nods. "Missdreavus." She sighs, then holds up four locks of her hair.
"This is the fourth time that's happened?" Autumn blinks.
Lethia bobs in that hover-shrug, and nods.
"Thank you, Lethia," Autumn says. "It's - really good to have you looking after me."
Lethia smiles. "Dreavus." The two syllables are warm and happy.
Autumn sits down in Nix's chair next to the camp stove, and sets the lantern down next to her. "I'm not going to get any sleep knowing that poochyena's out there stalking us," she says. "Could you... keep me company?"
Lethia nods and smiles. "Dreav."
Autumn settles into the chair, and looks up at the sky. The stars are hidden by the light of her lantern, but the sliver of moon is still bright and clear. The cold sea wind brushes past her and makes her shiver. She takes a cold breath, and rubs her hands together to warm them a little.
Lethia looks down at her disapprovingly. "Dreavus," she says, and points at Autumn's tent. "Misd."
"Yeah, I really should put on a coat." Autumn gets up from her chair and goes back over to the tent, her fingers stiff in the cold as she works the zipper. Ducking into the tent, she digs through her pack and comes back out with her fleece coat and her windbreaker. She shrugs on the fleece first, then adds the windbreaker on top, pushing her arms through the sleeves and catching the windblown front of the coats to zip them up. Tucking her hands into the pockets, she sits down next to the camp stove again and sighs softly as the wind catches at her hair. The camp seems very small and cramped with only the light of the lantern, and the blasted scrubland with its hidden watcher offers no comfort.
Autumn sits again anyway, and does her best to suppress the hammering of her heart. Lethia is looking after her.
Lethia does a slow half-circle of the camp, looking out into the scrublands with her yellow eyes. She sighs, the noise almost human but a little higher and more whistling. Autumn hunches in a little at the noise, and looks at the lantern to keep herself from staring out into the night where the poochyena waits.
The stars are beautiful, and the sigh of the sea is lulling enough. The light of the lantern feels warm and cheery, and despite everything there's a rugged beauty to the landscape. She might not be one for nature, but even this barren scrubland by the sea has some beauty to it. Off in the distance, a light passes on Cycling Road. Some cyclist on a midnight ride, probably a priority courier if they're out this late at night.
Autumn closes her eyes, and listens to the sea.
"Dreavus," comes the quiet call to her left, and Autumn's eyes snap open. She looks over at where Lethia is, and just catches the motion of the shadow in the grass.
Autumn watches as the shadow darts away again, hugging herself close beneath her coat. "Persistent, isn't it?", she says to Lethia softly.
Lethia nods. "Dreav..."
"You must be tired watching this whole time..." Autumn sighs.
Lethia shakes her head. "Miss." She does the bobbing shrug again. "Miss, dreav."
"You're used to it?" Autumn tilts her head.
Lethia nods. "Misdreavus." Then she holds out her hair, and a shimmer of purple Ghost energy covers it. "Dreav," she says, an edge of malice in her voice.
Autumn chuckles. "Yeah, I bet you could show it what for if it really tried anything. I'm just... scared that you might slip out and it might get in close, or..." She sighs. "But you'd catch it, I know you would with those eyes of yours. Should I go back into my tent?"
Lethia bobs from one side to the other, and says nothing.
"Up to me, huh." Autumn sighs. "I... Part of me wants to apologize to the poochyena. It's stupid and silly, but - I did walk into its territory, and I did kick it... I mean, it's justly annoyed..."
"Dreavus." Lethia's tone is flat and unamused.
"Yeah, that's probably wrong. Still..." She sighs again. "I guess I'll try to sleep again, Lethia. I trust you to keep the camp safe." Autumn gets up from the chair and stretches, looking out over the darkened sea; then she picks up her lantern again, and steps back towards her tent.
"Yena!", comes the harsh bark from behind her, and Autumn half-turns - just in time for the angry Poochyena to catch her in her side, knocking her back into her tent as the breath's driven out of her. The poochyena brings its forepaws in and rakes at her -
"DREAVUS!" Lethia screeches, and the Poochyena's covered in a black aura for a moment that singes and burns it. It darts away from the ghostly pokémon's gaze and harsh voice, fleeing for the grass at the side of the road - but as it passes into the clear space away from the tents, a lance of purple energy - a Psybeam - lashes out and catches it from behind, driving it into the earth.
Moments later Nix is out of her tent and on her feet, a lantern in one hand, Crimson and Noir appearing next to her as she tosses out pokéballs with the other. Nix's pokemon flank the fallen Poochyena, Lethia floating over it as Crimson and Noir box it in from each side. The fallen Poochyena doesn't stir.
"Watch it, Lethia," Nix snaps out. "Crimson, watch the grass." Then she's across the clearing to where Autumn's lying on the ground, kneeling next to her with the lantern by her side. "Are you okay," she says in a rush, her voice tense and high.
Autumn rolls off the tent with a groan, holding her side. There are rents in the tough material of her windbreaker, showing through the fleece beneath. "Ow," she says, and sits up slowly.
Nix presses her hand lightly to the cuts in the windbreaker, and finds the fleece underneath untorn and clean of blood. She exhales hard. "Lucky," she says. "It looks like your coat got the worst of it."
Autumn winces as Nix's hand presses against her side. "I don't feel lucky. Ow."
"You're probably going to have quite the bruise, but it could've been much worse." Nix stands and offers a hand to Autumn, the lantern in her other hand throwing shifting shadows.
Autumn accepts Nix's hand up, and pushes herself to her feet. Then she turns to survey the fallen dome of her tent.
"Yeah," Nix says, "That's a problem. But first..."
She sets down her lantern, ducks back into her tent, and returns carrying a pokéball. She tosses it at the downed poochyena, and it vanishes into the capsule.
"This one will have to go to the Rangers," she says.
Autumn blinks. "And they'll...?"
Nix sighs. "Try to rehabilitate it so it doesn't attack humans anymore. If it doesn't cooperate they'll probably put it in storage on a server somewhere. If it's recalcitrant for long enough, well..." Nix shrugs. "Pokémon who hunt humans can't be allowed to roam free."
"Oh." Autumn looks at the pokéball in Nix's hand.
"Yeah." Nix steps back into her tent, then returns without the pokéball. "But we've got more immediate problems. Is Ziggy okay?"
Autumn blinks. "- Ziggy!" She looks at the fallen remains of her tent. "He must still be in there."
The fallen tent wriggles a little, a lump in it shifting.
"I really hope I didn't fall on him -" Autumn grabs at one of the fallen poles and tries to lift the fallen mass of the tent off Ziggy. One of the legs pops free of the baseplate, and with a couple more pulls the mass of the tent comes off of Ziggy.
Ziggy rolls over from his side, and gets up on all fours, shaking out his fur with a swishing motion. "Zag!", he says. "Zigzag." He gives Autumn a big toothy smile.
Autumn falls to her knees again and scoops Ziggy up into her arms, holding him firmly against her bruised and scraped body. "So glad you're okay," she says.
"Zaaaaaag." Ziggy presses in softly and rubs his head against Autumn's chest.
"Alright," Nix says, looking out at the darkness beyond the tents. "I think we should get that tent set back up, and then we can go to sleep again. Crimson, is there anything else out there we should know about?"
The Ariados clicks its mandibles together and shakes its head. "Dos."
"Good." Nix exhales. "Alright, this will be awkward in the dark, but it looks like the tent poles are still okay. Crimson, just - keep watching, just in case. You too, Lethia. The more eyes the better." She walks over to the fallen tent and fishes through it for Autumn's still-glowing lantern. Setting it aside on the low grass, she sets her own lantern up at the opposite corner of the tent.
Lethia and Crimson both nod, and keep watching the scrubland around the camp.
Autumn lets Ziggy back down onto the grass, and starts trying to sort out the tangled mess of tentpoles. Nix crouches down as well and does her best to help, and between the two of them they manage to extract the still-locked-together tent poles from the dome of the tent. Settling them into the holes of the base, they lock together the frame again; then Nix picks up the fallen nylon cover, and with some help from Autumn wraps it back around the frame.
As the nylon settles back into place, it becomes apparent that the poochyena managed to catch some of the tent material as well with its wild swiping; there's a neat trio of rents through one of the side walls.
Nix pinches the bridge of her nose. "Fuck."
Autumn winces. "Yeah..."
Nix looks over at her still-set-up tent. "Looks like we're sharing. It's probably safer anyway. At least it's summer and not raining."
Autumn bites her tongue, but nods. "Alright," she says. "What you say goes." She picks up her pack, which's been put aside from her tent, and puts it into Nix's tent next to her purse. Then she grabs her bedroll and sleeping bag and looks into Nix's tent again. The space inside is... not large, especially with both Nix's purse and her pack taking up space. There isn't enough room for her bedroll as well.
Nix ducks into the tent, and sits at the end with the packs, setting down her lantern at the top of the space. Autumn comes in as well and sits at the other end. Between them and the packs, all the space in the tent is full.
Nix rubs her forehead and sighs. "Looks like we're going to have to get a little cozy." She slips into her sleeping back, which is lying along one side of her bedroll. "If you overlay the two bedrolls, you can have one side and I can have the other and we can put the pack and my purse in the middle."
"I, uh, yeah," Autumn says. She pulls on her sleeping bag halfway, then lays down her bedroll half-overlapping Nix's, and lies down across from her, her back against the wall of the tent. Their faces are maybe a hand's breadth apart.
Nix smiles slightly. "And now we stick the pack and the purse in the middle -" She pulls down the pack and flops it down between herself and Autumn, then sets her purse between her pillow and Autumn's, separating them. "A little uncomfortable, but better than getting all up in each other's business."
Autumn bites the inside of her cheek. "Yeah," she says quietly. Ziggy walks up her body and curls up in the small space next to the lantern at the top of the tent. "Zag," he says.
Autumn works her tongue in her mouth. "Um... Goodnight."
"Yeah," Nix says, and turns off her lantern. "Can you get your lantern?" She points at Autumn's flashlight at the base of the bed.
Autumn sits up awkwardly, grabs the lantern, and lies back down with it in her hand. Setting it down next to her head, she thumbs the button, and the tent falls into darkness.
She lays down slowly, and settles her head onto the pillow of her bedroll. It's cramped and narrow, but - it's a huge relief to know the poochyena's not hunting her anymore. And Nix's presence is... somehow comforting.
She closes her eyes, and sleep takes her.
~*~
Eventually, the soft light of morning shines through the sides of the tent, and Autumn stirs. Her face is pressed into Nix's purse, the stitching on the leather leaving tracks along her forehead. She can feel Nix's shins through her sleeping bag.
She takes an unsteady breath, and sits up carefully. Her ribs ache. Her arms ache. Her everything aches. It's been... A really profoundly bad couple of days, hasn't it. All because of that gang and the damn poochyena...
Nix's eyes blink open, and she stretches a little in the small space. "Mmmmnnnnnnhhhhh... Morning?" She works her jaw and sighs. "Yeah, morning. Can you get out of the tent?"
Autumn untangles herself from her sleeping bag, and gets up onto her knees. Reaching back over her head, she fumbles with the zipper for the tent flap, then finally steps out into the early-morning sunlight.
The camp is a mess in the morning sun; Nix's camp stove was apparently kicked in the scuffle, and Autumn's damaged tent hangs in streamers, half-skeletal in the sunlight. Crimson is lying on his thorax by the side of the camp, his eyes closed; Lethia hovers over him, and waves with her hair when Autumn steps outside. "Dreavus," she calls out.
"Yeah," Autumn says. "Good morning to you too." Looking over her shoulder at Nix in the tent, she sighs softly. "I guess it's time to pack up again, huh?"
Nix sits up in the tent and stretches. "Yeah. It's not far to town from here, so it should work out alright. We have time for breakfast if you want."
Autumn rights Nix's fallen camp chair and looks around for her camp cushion. Walking over to a nearby patch of scrub grass, she picks her cushion out from where it's fetched up against a bush. "Yeah," she says. "Breakfast would be good. I..." She touches her side softly where the poochyena tackled her. "I don't feel so great."
Nix crawls out of the tent and stands up, dusting off the knees of her jeans. "Yeah," she says, "it's no surprise between all those scratches and your fall last night. Let's get a better look at you in the light."
Autumn pulls off her coat and her fleece, and lifts the side of her blouse a little. Sure enough, there's a wide, purpling bruise just above her right hip.
"Ow." She winces a little.
Nix leans in and takes a close look. "No scratches, good. You don't want to know what could be on a wild pokémon's claws." She sighs softly. "That poochyena... Really took it personally, huh." She shakes her head. "We should still get you checked out by a doctor just in case. How's breathing?"
Autumn takes a deep breath. "It doesn't hurt too badly. Just a big dull ache."
"Your ribs are probably fine then," Nix says. "But let's take it easy." She grabs her purse from the tent and pulls out the green container ball full of fruit. Unsealing the basket, she sets it down in the middle of the camp, then looks over at her camp stove.
She picks up the stove and inspects it closely. The gas bottle is intact and undented, and the hose looks fine too. "This looks okay," she says, "But we probably shouldn't use it just in case." She fishes out her container ball for the camp stove and reseals it. "There, now it's guaranteed not to explode before I get it to a professional." She puts away the container ball and unseals her box of trail mix, granola bars and water again.
Autumn sighs, and nods. "Sorry about all this trouble..."
Nix rolls her eyes. "You're the one who's got the worst of it so far. Just look at you, covered in scrapes and bruises..." She gestures at the bandages on Autumn's forearms. "You've had a real rough few days."
Autumn's lips twitch. "Yeah. It's almost funny how badly my pokémon adventure's gone so far."
"Trainer life is full of harsh realities," Nix says. "But it's very rewarding as well, when done right." She leans over to her resting Ariados and strokes his chitinous side. "Crimson, Noir and Lethia bring so much joy to my life. I think you know that already, with your Ziggy..."
Autumn nods. "Yeah, it's... I wouldn't trade him for anything."
Nix smiles. "Yeah. There are some people who treat pokémon more like tools, but - I've never been one of them." She pulls Crimson's pokeball out of her purse. "Crimson did a good job guarding us, but he needs to rest now. Return."
Red light flashes out of Nix's pokéball, and Autumn watches as Crimson disappears back into stasis. "You know," she says, "I've never really liked to keep Ziggy in a pokéball. It feels more right to... spend all my time with him by my side."
Nix smiles. "Yeah. A lot of trainers get attached to their first pokémon like that. I used to be that attached to Noir, too, but - letting him sleep in his pokéball is just really convenient, now that he's bigger, and the realities of looking out for wild pokémon and managing safety and feeding schedules and all the rest of it..." She shakes her head. "I want him to have real off-time now and again, you know, and I'm always on the move as a trainer, so the whole thing is difficult."
Autumn looks back into Nix's tent. "Ziggy!", she calls.
There's a low rustle from the tent, and then a few moments later Ziggy bounces out of the tent, all fluffed up and energetic. He scampers along to the basket of fruit and looks at it with a pleading expression.
Autumn laughs. "You never change, do you." She picks a peach off the pile of fruit and extends it to Ziggy. "Here you go, then. A present for cheering me up a little."
Ziggy takes the peach in his forepaws, the large fruit almost as big as his head, and starts munching on it greedily, juice going everywhere over his face.
Nix smiles as well. "Gluttonous little Zigzagoon, isn't he? I've heard a lot of them are like that. Cute, in a shameless kind of way."
Autumn nods and sits down on her cushion, a little bonelessly. "Yeah. I... can really use it right now." She picks up an apple from the fruit basket and stares at it morosely, then finally takes a bite. "Mm. I guess it's whatever."
Nix grabs an apple as well, and looks over at Autumn's damaged tent. "We'll have to get that packed up as best we can, have breakfast... I've got to feed Noir at least too, and then it's off to Slateport."
Autumn looks over at Lethia, who's still hovering over the camp. "Does Lethia sleep or eat at all?"
Nix tilts her head. "Well, yes and no. She has... kind of a special diet. Did she spook you last night at all?"
Autumn blushes. "I, uh. Yeah."
"Yeah, she actually feeds on fear." Nix tosses the apple in her hand up in the air and catches it. "She doesn't need much, so generally she gets enough from being creepy in Contests or playing little harmless pranks. Battle is good for her too. Without enough ambient fear around her she starts to, mmm, fade a little, get - her equivalent of sleepy, I guess. If that happens I dig into creepy things on the internet for a little while until she feels better."
"So you're a horror fan?" Autumn tilts her head.
"Not really, but for my Lethia..." She smiles slightly. "It's worth it to see the smile on her face and her energy afterwards."
"Aw. That's kind of weirdly cute." Autumn smiles back, and takes another bite of her apple. She pets Ziggy lightly as he keeps working on his peach. "So you were going to feed Noir?"
Nix nods. "Yeah." She digs in her purse and unseals another container ball, this one holding a similar amount of food to Autumn's, with chicken breasts, carrots, and apple slices all in separate bowls, along with some whole Cheri berries. There's also a Tupperware container holding charcoal along with the rest of the food. "Noir's a fire type," Nix says, "So he needs some fuel to keep his metabolism running. This is ash and rowan charcoal, a special blend just for him - Noir deserves the best, after all."
"Yeah," Autumn says, "They really do deserve the best." She strokes Ziggy softly. "Doesn't it get expensive keeping your pokemon in food?"
Nix nods. "Which is why I've got to keep winning contests and doing my best to earn that prize money. Most Great Rank contests hand out a prize pool of berries to the winners, along with valuable items - traditionally it's Stardust for Great Rank contests, which sells for around a K and a half each. But that money goes fast when you're taking care of a full team..."
Autumn bites her lip. "I was barely even able to care for Ziggy on the kind of wages that I had back at the Pokemart in Oldale Town. But... Yeah, it's different for Trainers."
Nix smiles slightly. "Yeah. And soon I'm going to get to the Ultra Rank, and they hand out Star Pieces there, which are worth even more, and rarer berries, and - yeah. Just got to keep improving, and then we'll be able to do more. I've been thinking a little about a fourth pokémon, but - right now the budget isn't really there, you know..."
Autumn halfsmiles. "You can afford this many container balls and you're still short of resources, huh...?"
Nix sighs. "Yeah. I guess I'll never really be satisfied."
"Do you want to be a Top Coordinator?", Autumn asks.
Nix shakes her head. "Not really, but - the challenge is there, and helping people see the appeal of "creepy" pokemon like Crimson, Noir and Lethia really makes me feel happy. I think I want to become, like, a consistent Ultra or Master Rank competitor with a team of six, that would be a satisfying life."
Autumn nods. "Yeah, I don't think anyone would look down on you if you made it that high."
Nix smiles and takes another bite of her apple. "S'not bout that," she says through her mouthful, then swallows. "It's more just about... feeling like I'm doing my best."
Autumn tilts her head. "Yeah, I can sympathize with that. I... Well..." She looks down at Ziggy. "The dead-end pokémart job wasn't exactly... good for me. I got by, but..."
"Yeah." Nix nods, and tosses out Noir's pokéball. He appears in a burst of flames, and looks over at the bowls full of charcoal and chicken breasts. His spade-tipped tail starts to wag.
"Good boy," Nix says, stroking Noir's head. "Breakfast time."
"Doom," says Noir gravely. But he lowers his head and begins to eat.
Nix sighs and leans back in her chair. "This would almost be relaxing, if not for the... everything. Sea, sun, Noir by my side, a new friend..." She smiles a little at Autumn. "It seems like there's adventure ahead for both of us."
Autumn smiles back. "Yeah," she says. "There really does seem to be." She finishes off her apple, sets down the core next to the basket, and walks over to her damaged tent. "I guess it's time I took this down," she says.
Nix stands. "Please don't stress yourself, I can get it. Your bruises have got bruises. Rest for now. You can even have my camp chair for the moment."
Autumn looks over her shoulder. "Finish your breakfast," she says, "this isn't too complicated."
Nix sighs. "We've had this conversation I don't know how many times now. Please, don't injure yourself further."
Autumn looks down at her aching body, and sighs. "- Yeah, fine, alright." She walks back over to the center of camp and flops down on her cushion again. "I - thank you."
"It's fine," Nix says. She puts down her apple core as well, and goes over to the remains of Autumn's tent. Pulling off the cut-up nylon, she folds it together as best she can. "Where's the bag this came from?", she asks.
Autumn points at her pack in Nix's tent. "On top of my backpack," she says.
"Alright. Do you mind if I go through your pack for it?"
"Not at all." Autumn shakes her head.
"Alright. Then let's get this all squared away." She ducks into the tent and comes back with the bag the tent came in. Over the next few minutes, she disassembles the frame and slips the poles back into place, along with the torn nylon and base tarp. Autumn watches, petting Ziggy occasionally, her eyes half-closed against the morning's light reflecting off the sea.
There's not much more to say after that; each Trainer sees to their own pokémon's breakfasts, snatching bites of granola bars and fruit as they go. Nix takes down her tent and reseals it in a container ball, and picks up Autumn's pack (over her protests) and slings it onto her back. Ziggy hops up onto Autumn's shoulder as usual, and after a small pause to make sure everything's been packed up, the pair set off to the south again, Noir in the lead, Lethia floating along behind them.
There isn't much trail left between the pair and Slateport, and all the local pokémon seem to be terrified of Lethia and Noir. After an hour or so's walk, the pair make it to the other end of Seaside Cycling Road.
Nix points at the gateway. "Slateport ahoy!", she calls with a big grin, her rose pendant jangling against her black top.
Noir lets out a low woof that might be a chuckle, and Autumn rolls her eyes. Ziggy hops down from Autumn's shoulder as they emerge from the tall grass, scurrying along beside her. "Zigzagoooooon!", he says.
Autumn smiles, and picks up her weary pace a little. Before long her and Nix arrive amid the buildings.
"Alright, let's drop by the pokémon center quickly and get that side of yours checked out," says Nix. "And then I'll give you your pack back and we can get rooms at the trainer's dorms."
Autumn just nods. "Alright."
The Pokécenter is just to the west of the city's gates, not far from the route itself; after a short wait, Autumn is shown into a back room and an X-ray is taken of her chest bruise, then Nix and Autumn are ushered back to the front to wait some more.
When the nurse finally brings back the X-ray, the news is good; Autumn's ribs are intact, not even cracked.
"You can take over-the-counter pain meds, and you probably should," says the nurse, tucking a strand of his black hair behind his glasses. "But the bruising's pretty much the extent of it. You're young, you'll heal up; just take it easy for a couple weeks and you should be right as rain soon enough."
Autumn exhales, and nods. "I'm glad."
"Make sure you hand that Poochyena over to the ranger station, now, you hear?" The nurse gives Nix a serious look. "This kind of incident isn't to be taken lightly."
"Yes, I know the regulations," says Nix. "We came here first just to make sure that Autumn wasn't seriously injured. We're heading to the ranger station next."
"Alright," the nurse says, and lets the topic drop.
A few minutes later the pair emerge into the sunlight again, this time with Autumn carrying her own pack. Noir and Ziggy follow their owners to either side, Noir loping along easily as Ziggy scurries along with his head on a swivel.
"It seems cruel to hand over the poochyena to the Rangers..." Autumn says quietly.
"It's regulations," Nix says. "If I don't do this I could lose my Trainer's License. And I mean... It's not like it didn't know the potential consequences. Pokémon are smart, and this one attacked you deliberately... If it was human it'd be put on trial for assault with a deadly weapon, you know?"
"I guess," says Autumn. "But in a sense I started it..."
"That doesn't mean its response was proportional," says Nix. "There's a tense peace between humans and pokémon - we stay out of their natural habitats and treat the ones we choose to adopt well, and in exchange they don't cause trouble for us - and people or pokémon who disturb that balance have to face the consequences of that."
Autumn sighs, looking over at the pokéball cradled in Nix's hands. "Alright," she says.
~*~
The ranger station is manned by an older man, grey touching his hair, his eyes steely and his hands callused. He accepts the pokéball and Nix's explanation with a wordless grunt, then places the ball into a machine by his desk, where it disappears.
"Here's your replacement pokéball," he says, handing one over. "Do you have a pokétch number we can contact you at?"
Nix rattles off her number, and with a little prompting Autumn produces hers as well.
"Have a nice day, you two," says the Ranger, and turns away.
Nix looks at Autumn, shrugs, and steps away from the window. "I guess it's off to the trainer dorms now, then." She reslings her purse over her shoulder and sets off at a steady pace. "I know where they are - it's over by the shipyard, most people come in by boat..."
They pass a large open-air market and a museum on the way down to the trainer dorms; a stylized pokéball over the door announces them from a fair distance away. Nix steps inside, followed by Autumn, and the pair of them step up to the front desk, where a tall man and his Machop wait.
Nix looks back over her shoulder. "Two rooms or a double room for the two of us?", she asks. "A double room is cheaper."
Autumn tilts her head. "A double room, I think."
Nix fishes out her wallet from her purse and produces a payment card and her trainer's license; Autumn produces the same items from her own purse, and after a cursory check the pair are given keycards and directions to room 307. "Meals separately, internet is another ten pokédollars, no battling outside designated areas," drones the clerk. Nix just takes her keycard and heads down the hall, Autumn trailing behind her.
The room behind the door has two single beds, a TV, a nice large kitchenette with an oven, stove and microwave, and an ensuite bathroom. Nix sits down on one of the beds and sets her purse aside.
"So," she says. "What do you want to do in Slateport?"
Autumn flops onto the other bed. "Lie the fuck down. My bruises have bruises."
Nix smiles slightly. "Alright. You get some rest." She fishes out her first aid kit and passes over a small vial of pills. "Take two of these if you want help with the pain for sleeping."
"Gee, thanks," says Autumn. "Where were those an hour ago?"
Nix flushes. "I, uh, forgot. I'm sorry."
Autumn smiles slightly. "It's alright, I'll live. Thank you anyway. For everything."
"Yeah," says Nix. "You're welcome. I'm going to go check out the contest hall and the open-air market, alright? Catch you in a few hours."
Autumn opens the vial and pulls out two pills. She swallows them dry, then coughs a little, the acrid taste of them burning her throat. Then she lies back into the bed and closes her eyes.
"See you, Nix."
"See you, Autumn."
Slowly, the room drifts away.
State of the buffer: Chapters 6-17 drafted for a total written length of roughly 100k.
Last week's buffer was Chapters 5-13.
Buffer has grown by 3 chapters.
Last week's buffer was Chapters 5-13.
Buffer has grown by 3 chapters.
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I'm not sure Nix is the 
