PoV:
I loosely follow this map as a visual guide; the creator made it in paint?!?! It’s insane! Some errors here and there, but I follow its design for the most part. Areas can be further apart, some cities are in the wrong places or not listed, and the regions aren’t nearly so close. The best map I’ve found, though!
Recap:
The crew made it to the Xanadu Nursery and were met with a challenge from some Kalos girls that were a little rude. After some banter, Amira and Mallory took on a 2 vs. 3 match to keep Rhea’s promise and not stress her fortutudes.
The Wooloo girls were also challenged and went off to have their first Triple Battle.
Amber and Gables won fairly easily, with Gables memeing hard on the opponents’ Pokemon to the point it caused all their challenges to vanish! No one wants to be a meme like that. xD
Rhea felt really bad for the girls and asked if they’d be okay donating a bit of money to them, which Amira and Mallory were a bit against, but said they’d do it just this once.
The Wooloo girls lost =( but did their best and managed to KO 2 of their opponent’s Pokemon. It was a good match, according to them, though.
Rhea bought everyone dinner while they talked and revealed her family identity to our Wooloo girls. They were more than a little shocked as Rhea went on a rant about how strange Champions were, coming from someone that didn’t idolize their very footsteps.
Her mother finally sent Rhea a Moves list and Abilities list of her Pokemon that she could start using, and the list was more than a little intimidating. When a Pokemon knows all of their breeding Moves, they can be a bit OP for Bronze-tier … her issue is her fortitudes and how much they drain, though. Things will be tricky.
I’d like to thank my patrons for continuing to support me:
Freddie Rash, Malcolm Wade, Kyle, Life Savior, Ianitos, KingWoh, Falx God, Niraada, Seigfried589, Justin Timothy, and my other Patrons!
Rhea’s muscles stiffened as something warm rubbed up against her back; eyes cracking open blurrily, she stifled a yawn, recognizing it was Hannah’s back snuggling closer to her while pulling at the sheets.
Hannah’s nighttime rustling had exposed a quarter of her body. The thermostat wasn’t set low enough where it’d cause Rhea discomfort, and the city wasn’t as cold as the village that was a decent distance above sea-level on the high abrasion Pallet Bay coast. The hills surrounding Route 1 helped to shield the inland from the cold winds carried down from the western expansive Tohjo sierra that was largely uninhabited by humans.
Glancing beside the bed, Rhea squinted as she felt Mya telling her to go back to sleep; it was 2:14 A.M. She wasn’t used to sharing a mattress with anyone. Yawning, she smacked her lips and took a sip of the water she’d prepared by the bed. She thanked Mya, scooted away from Hannah a bit to resituate on her side, and drifted back into her dreams.
When she woke again, it was from Amira opening the door to exit the bathroom. Wiping at her sleep encrusted eyes, Rhea stretched carefully, scooting to the edge of the bed. Glancing back, she noticed Hannah had taken all the sheets, unconsciously wrapping herself in them like a cocoon throughout the night. Her light red hair ponytail sticking out of the top. Peeking around a bit, Rhea giggled softly; it wrapped around her face, under her chin, and around her back.
Glancing around at the other girls, she saw Mallory stretched out across the bed, making Rhea wonder how Amira’s sleep had gone. Each of the girls’ Pokemon had taken the armchairs by the window; Amber was the only one up, spending time with her Trainer with a swaying tail, flames leaving a slight trail with the movements. Sam and Jade were on opposite sides of the bed, near the edge.
Rhea got up, doing a few quick stretches to loosen up. “Morning, Amira,” she whispered.
“Morning,” she mumbled, without pausing her regular routine.
Adjusting her bikini and bottoms, Rhea moved to get her replacement pair from her bag with her morning kit, figuring she had enough time to throw the previous ones in the washer and dryer before they headed out.
“How’d you sleep with Lori like that?” She asked with a soft giggle, eyeing the purple-haired girl’s half-covered figure.
“Hmm?” Amira glanced back after making sure her hair towel was adequately secured. “Oh … she wasn’t like that when I got up.”
“Huh,” Rhea smiled while moving to take the bathroom; she figured Hannah, Sam, and Jade got up much later than they usually did.
Showering and getting ready, she noticed Amira playing with her phone on the only free armchair; Gables was draped over the table between. Once she’d just about finished, Mallory got up with a low moan and started her morning stretches.
Amira said there wasn’t anything exciting in the News, but their match hit MemeStar’s Top 10 ranking for a few hours last night and that it would mitigate a fair amount of Trainers challenging them.
Mallory chuckled while reading through the comments, and Rhea posted a PikaBook update, sifting through a few of her relatives’ updates. Jason seemed to have convinced his party to stay in Dark City for the Yas Gym Bronze-tier Challenge, and he was taking a lot more pictures than her because of his sister and mother’s demands.
She smiled at all the funny poses and personality photos Jason and Len took together, while Lucian seemed utterly focused and serious in the background. A few battles they’d recorded of each other, posting them, and apparently, Lucian wasn’t happy about Gables and Lori’s Memeing that drew even more attention to her team.
Amira left to get some morning OJ after she was satisfied with her phone; Lori and Rhea sent her some credits to bring them back some. Sam, Hannah, and Jade got up in order, greeting them. They were still getting ready when Amira returned.
Handing them their recyclable containers, Amira asked, “You two ready to head out?”
“Oh, you guys are going already?” Sam asked, drying her hair while Jade just exited the shower.
Amira pointed at the clock. “If we leave before 7, then I’m pretty sure we can make it to Viridian by 5 or 6 P.M. It’s pretty simple on the route.”
“All the way there in just twelve hours,” Hannah chuckled. “Yeah, sounds like you guys, umm … yeah, we’ll keep up on your posts, Rhea.”
“Oh … leaving?” Jade asked, a pink towel on her wet hair.
“It’d be nice to get to Viridian,” Mallory commented. “Maybe we’ll get some challenges on the way; that’d be fun, wouldn’t it, Gables!” He held up a hand, and Lori slapped it. “Yeah!”
“Make sure you guys post a bunch, too,” Rhea smiled at the three girls. “Don’t be shy about commenting, too.”
“Nope, we won’t,” Sam assured. “Uh … so, I just wanted to say thank you!” The other three mirrored her.
“I was a bit scared about all this stuff,” Hannah chuckled, “especially after my other team kind of … yeah, fell apart, a bit; uh, since I didn’t have anyone to really join up with, and then we all met because of you!”
Jade hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah, and everything worked out! Oh, next time, can we see Nova? I just want to pet her so bad!”
“Oh, yes! Please?” Sam mirrored with a smile.
“Umm, yeah, it shouldn’t be a problem once we get to Viridian,” Rhea mumbled, grinning at Nova’s own pleas. “She’d like that.”
With a few more words, hugs, and promises to keep up with each other’s progress, they put on their backpacks and left for Viridian, keeping their glasses on their shirt fronts for when it rose.
Rhea glanced around at the dark forest village as they started their journey; the soft breeze that did cut through the hills tickled her neck. The heavens were brightening swiftly, the first rays beginning to cut across the sky at 6 A.M. At 7, they had decent visibility to travel, but it would still take another thirty minutes before they’d have to put on their sunglasses.
She was a little surprised to see young Trainers at the battlefield, probably training with their teammates to increase their Pokemon battle awareness. It was a good idea that Rhea thought would help once her Pokemon were able to come out. Mya was settling in for sleep as Nova took over; they were both excited to be free to roam around by the end of the day.
Mallory was using the travel time to sing songs with Gables; Rhea jumped in on a few she knew, and even Amira reluctantly joined every so often. The Rocket girl definitely had the best voice out of them, which got Lori interested in pulling her into the marching anthems.
Rhea was a bit surprised at how much easier the progress was on a smooth dirt trail, but she saw a lot less Pokemon, and those she did spot were very shy, hiding in the brush or high in the trees. She couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like a few asked Gables and Amber things, which they either ignored or gave a short response that silenced the others.
She’d been told Pokemon would be quick to jump challenge Trainers and their Pokemon, hoping for a chance to be caught, and while there had been a few attempts when they were in the hills, not one tried while they were on the trail. The most obvious answer was the exchange between Gables and Amber to the wild Pokemon chirps, relaying the news that they weren’t in the market for new additions, and they should conserve their energy for someone that would be.
It was a little shocking how fast they overtook people, too; many Trainers that had likely started an hour before them were left in the dust as they traveled at a consistent pace. Rhea began feeling the stress in her body after several hours, Amira and Mallory setting the pace, which started to annoy her a bit as they drew closer to the city.
Are they getting tired, or am I still not 100%? Maybe they’re just more fit than I am … I mean, Amira seems to be pretty fit, but Lori’s just as tone as I am. Could she have more physical fortitude? Well, no, a few weeks ago, I could hike through the mountains at home further than we’ve traveled so far … I must not be 100%. How long will it take?
Nova was a welcomed cheerleader, urging her on, and her dad always said once you break past the body’s natural response, telling you to stop, then it would get a lot easier. She hadn’t reached that point for many years, but something was definitely lacking at the moment because the soreness was returning by 4 P.M when they passed into Victory Forest, Viridian territory.
They were making much better progress than Amira predicted because of their swift movements, and several groups gave them wide-eyed looks, watching their rapid progress with full packs. The 40-mile route from Xanadu Nursery to Viridian took them a little over 10 hours to complete with two small breaks to get out a snack, meaning they’d kept a consistent pace of about 4-miles an hour.
At 5:06 P.M., they rounded a small hill, spotting Viridian in the distance as they exited the Victory Forest; the sight caused Rhea to slow to a stop.
Mallory and Amira were busy with their phones, signals becoming stronger since they were entering the city area. It took them a moment to realize she’d lagged behind. Lori noticed first, glancing back with a small frown.
“Rhea? Are you feeling okay?”
“Hmm?” Amira asked, coming to a stop a bit further ahead.
A lump dropped down Rhea’s throat; she’d seen some of the images before, but looking at it in a photo was nothing like the scope of the city in person.
Massive skyscrapers blocked out any chance of catching what lay beyond Viridian, and there were relatively few big buildings like she’d seen in Pallet because everything was more than ten times larger.
A few hundred meters from the buildings outside the city was a path that cars or joggers could take around the city, and a concrete wall rose around it with Viridian Police on top, probably keeping wild Pokemon from wandering inside and people from skipping the checkpoint.
Several paths lead to different entry points that a Trainer could take at least a mile apart, but the sheer vastness of looking left and right took Rhea’s breath away.
Several Trainers with their Pokemon walked past her; they’d only recently overtaken the group, and judging by their backward glances, they were talking about them. Rhea was too taken by the sweet scent of fruit trees peppering the valley below.
“How … many people live in Viridian?” Rhea mumbled.
Amira scratched her temple, full lips drawing in to take in her home city. “Eh … something like five million. About two million less than Saffron City, but we overtook Celadon about … ten years ago? It’s the second biggest city in Kanto, now. My grandfather brought a lot of business with the competitive lower corporate tax reforms that he proposed. The expansion to Viridian Bay was the biggest boom. The Viridian Docks are always busy with ships and goods.”
“Wow…” Rhea mumbled, head slowly moving to the right to see the ocean far to the right. It seemed that Giovanni had planned for the entire thing since the hill they stood on had been partially dug out to level the whole city’s ground, which must have taken a lot of Ground Pokemon and equipment. “How long did … all this take?”
Amira waved to her, pointing at a spot further down the trail. “There’s a better view over there … it was designed to view the valley.”
Rhea followed her suggestion to a lifted ramp in the wide trail constructed to drop into the valley. Many more lookouts appeared to have been created to the right and the left, showing uniform and well-maintained multi-level shelves that had brick holding back the earth around the city’s hilly environment.
Amira pointed at different things with a soft smile, probably happy to explain everything to them as they got to the lookout point, climbing up the green-themed Viridian brick stairs.
“Actually, my grandpa did most of this with his own Pokemon, and much of it is still owned and maintained by him. See those carts all over there … yeah, those ones way down there … they’re Rocket employees that are hired to maintain the fields, flowers, and gardens.
“Those pink groves with gray trunks that have the yellow fruit, they’re Shuca Trees,” she giggled with a smile that Rhea hadn’t seen yet. “My grandpa had them planted to see how many Trainers would actually use them, not many, it turns out. Most just use them as snacks before heading into the city.”
“Are they good against Ground-types?” Mallory asked, watching the tiny figures below them move about their business.
“Mhm!” Amira replied, pulling back her braided hair and adjusting her cap as the wind picked up. “Certain berries have internal energies that Pokemon can digest to give them certain effects for a very limited time. The Shuca berry gives a Pokemon some Ground-type defensive energy; my grandpa put them there for Trainers to figure out. It’s not illegal to use a berry just before starting a Gym Battle.”
“Good to know…” Mallory mumbled. “I mean, it is against the rules in Unova, but it’s nice to know that’s different in Kanto.”
“Oh, not everywhere,” Amira giggled. “You have to look up the rules of each Gym; they are allowed to be used in Viridian, though.”
“What about those other trees?” Lori asked, pointing at the grove on the opposite side of the path.
“Ah, the green trees with the football-shaped yellow fruit are Charti berries.” She smirked, “Most just use them as free pickles, but they make Pokemon resist Rock-type Moves for a small time. My grandpa said he put those there as a nod to the Pewter Gym.”
“Should we grab some?” Lori asked. “I mean, will they last until we get to Pewter?”
“Probably not,” Rhea mumbled. “Berries don’t last that long once they’re plucked.”
“Right,” Amira gave her a charming smile; it seemed she was becoming a lot more confident with her home city in sight. “Berries are actually very expensive in their base form since every part of it can be used for so many things. A single Charti berry could cost you 500 credits, and its effects only last a few minutes.”
“Oh,” Mallory’s eyes twinkled. “Can we get some and try to sell them on the way to Pallet, maybe in Dark City?”
“Eh … no,” Amira chuckled. “Berry selling is illegal without a business license, and Pewter is pretty picky about where they can be imported. Dark City Charti berries would cost you 200 credits since it’s more popular in the Viridian province.”
“Aww…” Lori pouted.
Rhea was a little surprised at how pretty the city was, and Pokemon could be seen flying between buildings, seemingly patrolling the area. “There’s so much…”
“Oh, it’s way bigger than that,” Amira scoffed. “You’re only seeing the front view … see that big one that’s poking up way back there?”
“Let me guess,” Lori’s smile returned, following her direction, “that’s where you live?”
“The big ‘R’ on the building is a giveaway,” Rhea chuckled.
“… No,” Amira mumbled, lips falling a little, “that’s where my grandparents live. My parents live in another building … yeah, it’s nice, but my grandpa didn’t give it to them.”
Rhea and Mallory held up their hands in defense.
“No, no,” Rhea protested, “I’m not trying to say anything bad!”
“Yeah! No,” Mallory jumped in. “It’s just a bit funny to see that.”
Amira’s cheeks darkened while glancing down at the pretty valley preceding the futuristic city, gripping the rails as their Pokemon studied the area from a small sitting area. “Well … my grandpa developed the entire area himself … without help. He designed the valley and carved it out with his own Pokemon.”
Rhea’s eyes widened; she knew it was possible since her own father was a Grandmaster, but it would still be an undertaking. “No way…”
“Everyone thought Viridian would die … you know, after all the old Rocket stuff,” she mumbled, fingered tightening around the railing. “The Gym was the big thing that even brought people to Viridian … or the League, but Viridian didn’t have the housing or means to handle something like that. The city leadership was terrible … my grandpa sank all of Rocket’s resources into it and built it up from scratch … all of this … Pallet, Pewter, all the other cities. He almost went bankrupt.”
“No way,” Lori hummed. “Isn’t the Rocket company super-rich, though?”
“Yeah, well … when I was a little girl, he almost lost everything. We were about to move into my mom’s parents’ house in Johto because my dad had to put a loan against our own house to help my grandpa.”
“Wow,” Rhea whispered, and Amira’s cheeks darkened further.
“N-No, nevermind … umm, yeah, so my grandpa built everything here. Now a lot of businesses enjoy Viridian’s economy … the second biggest car company in Kanto is based here.”
“Cool,” Mallory giggled. “Okay, but maybe you should actually show us around!”
“Yeah…” Amira brushed by them, climbing down the stairs to continue down the road, clearly embarrassed about sharing something a bit personal.
Rhea followed after her, lips lifting a bit. “Was … that hard time when Hollywood wasn’t doing so good?”
“They’ve gone up and down a few times,” Amira mumbled, “but … no, the bad part was just before my grandpa started throwing all his fortune into Viridian.”
Amira guided them toward the front gate; the wide, Route 1 road came to a gate check-in system, and there was another path that led around the city walls for those that didn’t need to go into Viridian, but another customs point was further down that path to make sure no one was carrying contraband.
The Rocket girl’s mood was much brighter than what Rhea had come to expect from Amira; she really seemed to enjoy talking about her city and knew so many things that Rhea’s head was beginning to spin at all the details she’d point to and explain. It was undoubtedly the most talkative she’d been, and that alone made Rhea happy.
However, when they came up to the gate at 5:47 P.M., they were greeted by several groups of Trainers, and more battle requests proceeded. This time, Rhea smiled at the challenges; walking up to meet the throng, she spoke up. Amira had mentioned something that piqued her interest along the way.
“Okay, whoever wants to challenge me or my team; I hope you know that battling outside Viridian walls is actually illegal!”
A few girls and boys apparently didn’t, glancing toward the gate behind them with the policemen logging people entering the city by passport or Trainer ID. Pallet didn’t have near the security Viridian boasted, but you couldn’t even hope to compare the size of each.
“However,” Rhea pointed at the city, “there are Self-Service Battlefields in Viridian for anyone to battle; there is a service fee per match, but whoever wants to battle us, follow us!”
Mallory giggled at how forward and gung-ho she was, but Rhea was feeling the pent-up emotions of her Pokemon, too. Nova was basically prodding Mya to wake up with squeals of excitement; they could finally shine.
Rhea was feeling a lot better after resting a bit, listening to Amira fangirl about her city, and they’d taken a more casual descent than when they’d trekked through the winding route.
The fact she was recovering quickly meant she was getting better, and the big reason why Mya had utterly drained her in the first place was due to the swift back-to-back Moves she used by funneling Rhea’s own energy into them.
If Nova battled normally, without using any high-energy type Moves like Mya’s Psych Up, Sucker Punch, Swords Dance, or Thunder Fang, and avoided brute-forcing her Moves with more energy, then it shouldn’t be that much of a problem for Rhea. The big thing right now was getting her Pokemon out now to build their own internal energy production to help mitigate the draw from her own.
She might feel a little fatigued, depending on how many people challenged her, but after three, she’d be able to decline the rest without penalty.
“Where’s the nearest one, Amira?” Rhea asked as the groups mumbled to one another.
“Umm … 135th and Main … oh, uh … just a few streets down after we get in.”
“Sweet! Okay, let’s go, and I’ll battle everyone in order!” She replied, accepting the first challenge without looking at who it was. “Better hurry!”
They went into the crowded front gate’s entrance building, getting into line. An advanced scanner would identify anything a person was trying to hide on or inside their body.
Rhea showed her Trainer ID with her phone and logged her Pokemon that she had on her person; according to Amira, the big rotating device they passed through could detect anyone trying to hide Pokemon, and Gold-tier Viridian Officers were stationed nearby with a Raichu and Ninetales to assure everything transitioned smoothly.
Unlike the officers she saw on the way out of Pallet that looked pretty chill and laid-back, with the exception of the first day, the Viridian Officers’ eyes were very sharp and intimidating; Rhea recalled Amira’s statement about the Viridian Police being very strict with Police Commissioner Jenny running the outfit.
The second Amira was noticed by the gate attendants, they pushed them through by having another person come in from the back to process their entry; the two male Officers’ eyed Amira for a moment before pulling up what she assumed was a police communicator, but it was much more sleek and slim than the bulky radios Pallet’s Officers had.
She couldn’t make out what they said past the mumbles of the throng behind them and the soft whirring of the machine, but Rhea could guess what the subject was; Amira Rocket was back in the metropolis.
Passing to the other side much sooner than Rhea expected with the special treatment that caught a few people’s eyes, she walked out of the building, vision adjusting to the light reflecting off the skyscrapers’ smooth glass.
She waited with her team for her challengers to exit the building, studying the very nice and clean streets. To say it was packed would be an understatement, and Rhea figured many would actually use the Magnet Train to go to Silver City for the Summer Indigo League matches and return to Viridian to sleep in their luxury hotels.
The skyscrapers all had unique twists and shapes, only similar in height with a few housing gravity elevators, allowing travel between buildings and reducing ground traffic.
Stylish car models she’d never seen before zipped by on the road; gravity technology programming hadn’t been developed to the point of for general vehicles yet, but she’d heard Rocket was the leading company in the technology, so it made sense there would be many products in the city that incorporated the devices.
The metallic green, red, and black Viridian-flair color-scheme the Capital incorporated made it clear that Rocket had a lot of influence. Giovanni was globally one of the most successful businessmen in the world, a Grandmaster Trainer, and the standing leader of the city’s Gym for decades; he’d clearly dedicated much of his life to the metropolis and tied its progress with his own.
Despite the modern theme, it didn’t skimp on its natural roots as home to the Earth Badge, dedicating plenty of room between buildings to host well-maintained gardens that Rhea saw city workmen pruning. She guessed littering had a pretty hefty fine because not a scrap of paper could be seen on the wide roads and sidewalks.
“Umm, Amira … how far is 135th … a few streets as in … these are big streets…”
Amira smiled. “135th is short for 13,500th, which means it is near the edge of the city. It’s only like an 8-minute walk from here.”
“Only 8 minutes,” Mallory chuckled. “I gotta say it is impressive. I still think Castelia is bigger, but … yeah, maybe not quite as advanced … or well laid out,” she mumbled. “I bet we’ve definitely got a bigger dock, though!”
“Well,” Amira hummed thoughtfully, “I mean, I’ve only seen videos of Castelia City, but we don’t have the sketchy back alleys that city has. My grandpa helped design it to have the towering buildings while keeping enough room to still enjoy the space … mainly to have room for traffic, though … since we import a lot of goods.”
“Makes sense,” Mallory mused.
Rhea glanced back as a few of the Trainer teams started to exit with the crowds of tourists, and one boy came up with a bright smile. “Umm … I was the first one that challenged you…” He was clearly from northern Galar by his accent.
“What about us?” Mallory asked, pulling up her phone. “Anyone on your team … no, they’re still in the line by the distance,” she sighed.
“Uh, no, no, just me, and my name’s Dylan Aiken! I saw your match from the Starter Award, and your Mawile was insane!”
“Thanks,” Rhea chuckled while adjusting her glasses. “So … do you have one Pokemon?”
“Aye! Uh, so, will ya use your Mawile?”
Rhea shook her head with a small smile. “Nope, my other Pokemon wants to get some action. She’s been really excited to jump into the ring.”
“Oh, sweet! I can’t wait to see her; the surprise will be fun.”
Once everyone made it out of the building and met up, they walked into the crowd with Amira leading the way; more than one of the followers were starstruck by the metropolis’ grandeur. Most of the residents commuting didn’t even pay them a second look, talking in their little groups, but the tourists were easily recognizable by their open mouths, leaning back to stare up at each unique building’s architecture.
One particular structure snatched her attention a block down; it looked like a vertical three-dimensional wave pattern with a spire coming out of the top, and when they moved, certain shades changed color to display abstract color patterns.
They arrived at the Self-Service Battlefield sooner than she expected, walking in with Amira as the rest lingered a moment to stare up at the colossal twisting structure they were entering. While they waited, Amira took out a piece of gum and popped it into her mouth before casually walking to the elevator to press the button, explaining the process.
“There’s an information attendant that will tell you the rules; this one is only rated for Silver-tier and below. Depending on the damage to the field, more credits can be taken out for repairs, but it caps out at 500 credits a match, and it’s only designed for Single Matches; there’s also a 5% tax added to the damage bill.
“There are other rules, like 5-minute time-limits per match with a device that will generally rule a winner; there’s some people that complain about it since it’s not super accurate if both Pokemon are near the same stamina, but it is what it is when you use this kind of establishment. Better ones will take more of a cut, and I figured this is the lowest one nearby. It’s probably not the cheapest, but it’ll do. B3, by the way; only 10 people per lift,” she told the nervous crowd.
“C’mon,” Mallory nudged her as they filed into the gravity elevator, “we gotta save money where we can! Where’s the cheapest place nearby?”
Amira shrugged, popping a bubble. “I really never checked, to be honest, I never had a reason to, but I’ve heard this is a cheaper one. The one down 129th and 400th apparently has glitches.”
Rhea gave her an impressed grin; Nova was hyping herself up with Mya cheering her on. “Wow … how do you keep track of everything in this place?”
“I’ve lived here all my life; I hope I’d know my way around,” she mumbled. “We just don’t go to Rally Square … too much political garbage, and there’s usually problems with different protest groups that the Police handle.”
“Oh?” Rhea hummed. “I thought you weren’t into the whole political scene?”
Amira released a short chuckle, sticking the gum against the inside of her cheek. “Growing up in it and knowing the ins and outs of it are something else entirely from enjoying it. There’s been a whole Plasma organization protest going on recently, demanding some guy named Zinzolin be released since he was apprehended in Viridian, awaiting extradition to Unova. Apparently, Ethan is overseeing his confinement right now.”
“Well … he’s not going anywhere,” Rhea mumbled, mind flashing back to the cocky Legendary-tier firestarter. “I bet he’s doing it in hopes something will happen … that’d be like him … wait, if he’s here, does that mean … is Hilbert here?” She vaguely recalled Bianca mentioning he’d be training with Ethan a few days ago.
The other teams listened in to the conversation with interest as the elevator stopped and they walked out to the extensive underground area; they were far further below ground than Rhea thought they’d be but figured it had to be with all the wiring, pipes, and other objects that were under the city roads.
Six decently sized Battlefields were around the area, with five currently in use by different Trainer groups, young and old, chilling while watching or getting ready to participate in daily coaching.
“I don’t know,” Amira replied. They shifted directions away from the attendant’s desk; she was eyeing them with pursed lips, likely wondering if they knew the rules. “My mom just texted me that Ethan was guarding him, so there’s no reason to worry … not that I was, but she’s like that,” she whispered.
The news was pretty big, or at least Rhea thought it was. The city currently had two Champion-tier Trainer, Hilbert and Lyra, possibly a few Grandmasters with her dad here, and whoever else was here because of her mother being present, then you had Ethan, a Legendary-tier Trainer that rivaled her aunt. If anyone did try anything, then they were actually insane; having Ethan guard him was already basically a death sentence for whoever attempted it.
When everyone arrived, Rhea snatched Nova’s pokeball off her belt, tossing it to the floor with a smile. She was a little surprised the pressure wasn’t as bad as it was before; everyone’s gaze shot to her unique Eevee, and even Rhea was stunned by the display. Between the time she’d come out at Pallet’s Pokemon Center and now, she’d grown to 11 inches tall.
Nova stretched out before looking up at the crowd and chipping cutely, but internally, she could feel her not so little Eevee demanding attention. Her paws, tail tip, mane, and the inner section of her long ears were a sleek night black, contrasting the alabaster hue of her fur, and the shimmering pink irises only highlighted her cuteness.
