RMWJ: Chapter 5

"She looks like a Lilith," Ree said practically. She gestured down to the dignified sewaddle at her feet.

Maya gave them both a disbelieving look. "I can't believe you're going to be naming a bug something so pretty."

"She's cute! And I can call her Lily!" Ree scooped up her poor pokémon, hugging her against her chest. Lilith squealed, pleased. "See! She likes it."

"You could've gotten a snivy from the lab," Maya pouted, "like me. Bo would've liked that! They could've been, like, brothers!"

"What if I had gotten a girl?"

"Most snivy are male." Always the experienced trainer. "If you had one, you'd know that. And then read up on scientific journals asking for female snivy to be used in breeding programs. Once you train up your pokémon, you can volunteer them for studies and stuff! It's an easy way to make some money and you learn a lot."

"Is that where you met... what's his name?" Maya blushed up to the roots of her hair and hurriedly turned from her sister. Ree and Lilith exchanged smug smirks. "Yeah, Maya, I bet you learn a whole fucking lot there..."

"It's not like that, Ree, it's actually scientific! A-And really educational. You can learn a lot about pokémon from studies like that."

"Oh, I'm sure. I bet you've been learning lots about stuff from the breeding programs, huh?"

"It's not like that! It's just..." She crossed her arms and withdrew into herself. "...I'm glad you're trying this trainer thing again. Stick with it this time, will you?"

"Of course!"

-.-.-

Chapter Five: Ree Majors' Wonderful Journey Of Others

-.-.-

Chocolate eyes met cyan eyes. And they held.

Then Whippy shifted in order to get a better view of the development. It broke the spell. Ree screamed, slamming back against the wall, and the thing in front of her gave an inhuman shriek and reared back. Lala and Whippy flailed in her arms as the thing wheeled around and ran for it. It was fast, and Ree was already slipping into panic. She only recognized monochrome and four-legged and green scarf before jumping to her feet. "A-After it! Harper, where are you?" she screamed, voice higher than normal. Lala streaked after the fleeing not-Harper, but Whippy circled around his trainer's feet, tail shaking violently.

"Vee-vee, snivy-snivy vee?"

"I don't know where she is! That—that wasn't her pokeball, and—" Ree wasn't sure what to do. Harper had to be somewhere. Had she just been robbed? What was that thing that had come in the third pokeball? One more heartbeat of panic and hesitation, and Ree tore after Lala and the not-Harper.

She could easily follow them by sound; people shouting and pokémon barking as the two pokémon ran through the town. Whippy pulled ahead of her, but didn't seem to want to leave her behind entirely. She made a frustrated gesture.

She nearly ran past them; Lala had cornered the not-Harper in an alleyway with a chain link fence. Whippy ran up to hiss at the creature, tail straight up behind him. Chest heaving, Ree approached the not-Harper. She blinked several times, her mindset and the scarf momentarily throwing her off. She knew what it was—it was one of those electric things. "Whimsicott!" Lala declared, advancing.

"Bli-i-iiii," it whinnied in terror, pressing itself up against the metal fence, which began shedding sparks. Eyes darting back and forth, it finally made a break for it. It leapt over Lala and Whippy, nearly running into Ree, and made it to the mouth of the alleyway before tripping over its long scarf. Ree and Whippy were on it at once, wrestling it to the ground. It squealed and bucked, before shocking them both off. Ree's world tilted and she fell to the ground, heart beating even harder, fingers tingling.

Lala pinned it to the ground with a tackle, holding it down by the scarf and mane, while Whippy attached himself to its flank. It was clearly scared out of its mind, eyes rolling and legs still kicking, but Ree was more worried about Harper. "Where is my pidove?"

It whinnied shrilly and continued thrashing.

Ree didn't know what to do. She stayed on her knees, blinking back tears. Harper was gone, and she still wasn't sure how or where she was. Maya was still in trouble. She had this thing and she couldn't communicate with it. It was too scared to even talk coherently to either of her pokémon.

"I want my Harper back!" she shrieked at it, pulling on one of its hooves. It nearly kicked her hand in response. Just as Ree was ready to grab at it again, a swath of flames cut across the air just over Whippy's head. Lala screamed and hid behind the not-Harper's head as cover; Whippy jumped off and stood in front of Ree.

A candle hopped across the sidewalk, dripping wax and burning with a faint, flickering bluish flame. Ree paused as a sewaddle came up behind it, fangs bared in a snarl.

"Jackster!" A girl with wavy red hair and a neon purple sweater ran up behind them both, face flushed. "Get off my blitzle!"

Ree only did what she said because she saw a pidove fluttering over her head, a pidove that immediately dove at her and buried itself in the crook of her neck the moment it saw her. "Oh, Harper!" Ree cupped the little bird in her hands, nuzzling her feathers with her nose. Lala hesitantly backed away from the not-Harper and it jumped to its hooves, shivering. "Oh, Harper... I was so worried!" She looked up at the girl with a glare that wasn't very hard to summon. She had finally found an outlet. "You! You stole my pidove!"

"I did not!" She shook her head, hair flying around her face. Ree found herself drawn to the brightness of her sweater. Actually, that obnoxious color seemed sort of familiar. "It was... At the pokémon center, they've been real busy lately. They mixed up another pair's pokémon earlier today, too. A little kid ended up with a woman's haxorus."

That made sense. And she had Harper back. But she was still upset. Ree stood up, Harper still snuggled into her neck. She opened her mouth to make some snappy retort—when she finally recognized the girl. "Y-You! You were the one who came up on me when I was changing!"

The girl's face instantly matched her hair. "I-I'm sorry! Oh my gosh, you are that tall girl—I'm sorry!" She threw her arms around her blitzle's neck and backed up. Embarrassment soon took over the situation as the two avoided each other's eyes as their pokémon continued glowering. Finally, with a pathetic whine, her blitzle was recalled. "Sorry... It's just... Um, Jackster is just... really easy to scare. This had to have been really stressful for him, so I'm sorry if he acted a little unruly. He's really a sweet pokémon, I promise."

"Yeah, well..." The heart attack had been shared, she was sure. Harper looked like she had behaved. "...I guess. No harm, no foul. But shit, that scared me."

"Me too," the girl replied quietly, looking down at the pokeball in her hands. "...Um. I'm Harry."

Sort of a weird name for a girl, but it could be a nickname. Though the trainer of Mister Snivy Whiplash may not have room to judge others on their names. "Ree."

"I haven't seen you around the center. Of course, it's so busy, it's not like I know everyone—but I've been in the city since yesterday. Everyone seems so scared. Do you have a room to stay in tonight?" Harry asked, breaking out into a nervous, but sweet smile. It broke (most of) the tension in the scene and she stooped to gather up her other two pokémon, though the sewaddle didn't seem happy about being picked up.

"No, I figured I'd just... Oh." The pokémon center was packed. All of the rooms were probably taken.

"They've stopped giving out rooms to singles and doubles, but I stayed with a couple of other girls last night. We could share our room; we still have a free bed. There's been talk of putting random trainers together, so I think it'd be better if we actually got someone we know... a bit." Harry scuffed her shoes on the ground. "A-And we could... talk! And stuff."

Talking, and stuff. Ree let Whippy crawl up her leg and held him in one arm, putting the other on her hip. "Sure. I do need a place to stay tonight, anyway. And I can chew the nurses out for switching up pokémon like that."

"No! It's not, I mean—it's not their fault," she said quickly, squeezing her pokémon against her bright sweater. The candle smiled dazedly. "They've been really busy just keeping order."

Well someone had to bear the brunt of Ree's anger. She eyed the younger girl. "You a trainer?"

"...S-Sorta."

Ree sighed. "Ugh, of course not. I'm gonna go beat the shit out of things for a little while. What room are you guys staying in?"

"Oh, we're staying in room 236, it's on the second floor." Ree turned and stormed off without a reply. Harry called something after her, but she didn't pay attention. She had Harper back, but probably at the expense of ten or so years off her life. Those stupid nurses—yeah, they were busy. But it sounded as if it had happened fairly routinely. There would have been violence if she had found that not-Harper in the middle of the center. She couldn't even imagine ending up with a haxorus... Though it probably would've been a little more awesome.

Maya was still in the shitstorm in Sinnoh, though.

Ree's shoulders drooped and she shuffled to a stop. Maya... Her own little sister. Danger, murder, serial killers, and—"Why the fuck would they have sent a little girl over there?" She whirled around and punched the nearest wall, though it hurt her hand something fierce. She studied her scraped knuckles. "That goddamn country has been rocky ever since what's-his-name tried to kill the champion, so why the fuck were we congratulating them on being normal again?"

"Vee-vee, snivy," Whippy said soothingly, tugging on her socks. He patted her fuzzy leg and gestured her away from the wall. "Snivy-sni sni snivy."

"I'm just mad," she growled and crossed her arms. She turned and marched down the sidewalk again. "I'm gonna kill Alder myself if something's happened to Maya because of this. Isn't this sort of thing why we're staying the fuck away from the other regions? I mean—it's not like you can find butterfree flitting around here, and for good reason! Our pokémon are good enough, and we leave them alone, so they're supposed to leave us alone..."

Lala smacked her leg. Not the love tap kind of smack, either. Ree yelped and nearly fell, stumbling as she tried to keep her balance. Harper tweeted and fluttered into the air. "Scott!"

"What?" Ree groused and resisted the urge to kick her pokémon.

"Whimsi-cott," she hissed and turned from her trainer.

"I can't understand a word you're saying. Why are you mad? I'm the mad one here!" Lala jabbed a stubby arm up to point at Harper. Ree looked between the two of them. "Harper's okay. A-Aren't you?" The pidove nodded. "See? Harper's okay. Just be nice to Harry when we see her later. I don't wanna get kicked out of the center."

Lala hit her again. "Whimsicott, whimsi-whimsi-si. Scott..."

Harper tweeted in outrage and Ree quickly snatched her out of the air before she dive-bombed the more experienced pokémon. Lala offered her a dark chuckle. Whippy looked down at his feet, clearly affected by whatever she'd said. "...What? What are you saying about Harper?"

Lala pointed to herself and Whippy. "Whimsi! Whim... scott-whimsi." She cast a sharp glare up at her trainer. "Whimsicott?"

"I. Don't. Have a fucking clue what you are saying," Ree repeated in frustration. "Are you mad at me or Harper?" Lala pointed at Ree. She rolled her eyes, but mumbled, "That's a start... So what did I do to offend you so greatly, oh most experienced and talented imp of mine?"

Lala poked Whippy, dragging him into the conversation, albeit reluctantly. "Sni..." He pointed to himself and Ree first with a, "Vee-vee sni-snivy, vee. Sni?"

"...Um. You and me?" He nodded. She was simply overjoyed that he remembered how to. Ree glanced up around them. "Okay, maybe we shouldn't be doing this in the middle of the sidewalk. Let's head back out a ways, okay?" Lala gave her a death glare, but Whippy agreed pretty readily. Lala had them on a forced march out of city limits, until the people trickling in and out had dwindled significantly. Ree sat down on a grassy patch just outside of the city limits, phone beeping to let her know she'd lost a bit of signal again. "Okay, shoot. Let court begin."

"Vee-vee sni-snivy, vee," Whippy repeated, gesturing once more to himself and then Ree.

"You and me. Gotcha."

He then pointed to Lala. "Vee, snivy." Lala huffed at him and he smiled innocently. "Vee-vee, sni-snivy, snivy."

"You, me, and Lala. ...In the order we met up?" Lala and Whippy both jumped at her, nodding furiously. Harper alighted on her hair and gave their exuberance a disdainful look. "Uh, okay, sure. It was me and Whippy first, for a couple nights. Then Lala came with us, and we got that badge. And it took a couple days to get here, and then we added Harper this morning." The duo nodded once more in unison. Ree looked up through her bangs, just barely able to see Harper's head through them. She cooed down at her. "I guess that's our story, Harper."

"Whimsi!" Lala exclaimed and threw her arms in the air. "Whimsicott-scott!"

"Snivy," Whippy cut in, taking her gently aside. She stewed off to the side, drawing in the dirt of the path. He gave Ree a sharp look, even baring his fangs at her. Serious business, she guessed. "Vee-vee, snivy-snivy vee, snivy. Sni?"

"...I don't get it," Ree replied cluelessly. She had to admit, however, that this was distracting her from murderous thoughts towards the government.

Whippy sighed heavily and once again gestured to himself, then the brunette trainer. She nodded. He then added in Lala with a flick of his tail. "Sni?"

"You two are... upset with me. For something. Involving Harper?" He nodded. Ree squinted down at him. "Why?"

Whippy backed up a couple steps, cleared his throat, and then screamed. She jumped violently and Harper took to the air with an alarmed squawk. She circled around a couple times before settling on a higher branch, peering down at them guardedly. Lala came up beside Whippy, holding a stick and a rock in her arms.

"Whimsi!" she said in a voice much higher than her normal one.

"Snivy-sni!" Whippy shot back, and then after looking around for a moment, came up with a half-rotted berry on the ground. He picked it up and cooed over it, caressing it, then glared at Lala some more. "Snivy," he said in a high voice, then growled, "Snivy-vee!"

"Whimsicott, wh-whimsi," Lala said in that same affected tone. She dropped her stick and rock, then dragged over a larger stone that nearly came up to her waist. She took a moment to put a couple leaves on it. She then gestured wildly to it before throwing her arms around it with obvious affection.

Ree was totally, completely, utterly lost.

Harper gave a low hoot of disbelief from above.

The other two, seeing their trainer's confusion, turned to each other and furiously discussed something in low tones. Aside from Lala making some rather interesting gestures (including, Ree was fairly certain, what seemed to be miming hanging herself with a noose of fluff), Ree didn't understand any more of it. She tried to keep her mind away from thoughts of Maya for a little longer, until she could figure this out, but that frustration mixed with her worry wasn't making for a very patient girl.

Finally, Lala appeared to have some sort of epiphany. She turned her back on Whippy and he hacked off a large portion of her fluff with his sharp tail. Ree gaped at them as they draped it across the large stone. Lala hopped off as Whippy arranged it, adding bits of grass in broad, messy stripes across the back. Harper eventually came down from her high branch and settled on Ree's shoulder again. She petted her with a finger.

As Whippy finished his masterpiece, Lala flounced back onto the scene, absolutely covered in blood. Ree started, but Whippy made sure she stayed put. Most of the blood was splashed across her fluff, including some paw-prints around her head. She realized that Lala had painted herself with it.

Striped rock. Red fluff. A stick and a small rock and a half-rotten berry.

"Are you trying to be me and Harry?" Ree asked, absolutely shocked. But she couldn't see what else they were trying to convey so hard. The red 'hair' Lala had made for herself had finally done it, but Whippy's stripes on their 'blitzle' had come close.

Lala and Whippy sagged against each other with relieved nods.

"...I thought this was about me and Harper."

Whippy pointed to the Harry-Lala. "Snivy-snivy."

"...When Harper had gotten mixed up?" More nodding. Harper made a discontented sound and pressed herself closer to Ree's cheek. "What about it?"

This language barrier was getting to be frustrating. Lala finally pushed Whippy away and simply pointed, menacingly, at Harper.

This persisted until Ree asked, "What about Harper bothers you two so badly?"

"Snivy, sni-snivy..." Whippy mumbled, taking a step away from Lala. She shot him a betrayed look.

"Okay, Lala, what's bothering you so bad that you've done all of this?"

Lala painstakingly went back to the blitzle-rock and fluffed up her scarlet 'hair' with one paw. Ree nodded; something to do with Harry, and that blitzle of hers. And Harper. Well, it obviously had to do with Harper, since she had been the one missing on their end.

Wait, that was a connection. Probably an important one. "Were you worried when Harper was missing?"

Lala gave her a flat look that clearly was a negative to that. She then pointed at Ree once more.

"...When I was worried that Harper was missing?" Lala jumped up and down, shaking her paws. "...Uh, so? Okay, maybe trying to wrestle a blitzle to the ground was a little awkward to try, but my pokémon was missing. I'm allowed to freak out a little."

Lala put her paws together, and pointed to Harper, then herself, and then back again. Whippy came up beside her and only looked up at Ree with big, sad eyes. "Snivy-sni?"

"Aww, Whippy." Even if he was too good at the kicked lillipup look, it worked. Ree scooped him up and patted him on the head. "I don't get what you two are saying, but if you're that upset, then I'm sorry?" Not the most sincere apology, but she really was quite lost. "...Any chance this is the sort of angry that can be fixed with a group hug?"

Whippy snuggled into her chest with a happy cry of "Sni!". Lala, on the other hand, glared mutinously at them.

"Come on, group hug," Ree said, throwing out an arm to beckon to her whimsicott.

Lala hissed at her and stalked off, dripping bits of bloody fluff.

-.-.-

Lala hadn't really left; Ree was supremely thankful for that. She was still the powerhouse, the evil genius of the team. Sure, Whippy was strong, but he was still fairly young and inexperienced. Harper even more so. Ree put on a great show of being nice to all of them, having a triple battle with a trainer just inside city limits, encouraging them to work together.

Of course, when only one out of three even pretended to listen to her, she lost some cool points. And trainer points. And general dignity points. She was glad that Harper followed most orders, but the little pidove was not above adjusting them if the situation called for it. It was probably smart battling, but when she shouted for a tackle and Harper instead flapped higher and strafed with a gust...

Ree just gestured vaguely for Whippy and Lala to do their thing. She was about two seconds from giving up on trying to command them in anything ever again.

"See! You guys are amazing together!" Ree squealed happily, dancing on the spot as Whippy took out the other trainer's purrloin with one last smack with his vines. Maybe it was a fluke, or maybe Harper offset the two grass pokémon just enough for them not to get constantly in each other's way, but they seemed a lot more effective in battles. It was a pity triple battles were fairly rare. Double battles with her two grass ones would still be awkward, but this was proof that they could get along! "Ohh Harper, you were awesome! C'mere, Whippy! Lala, you too. You guys were fucking awesome! Now come on, loser's cash is gonna buy us treats!"

Whippy gasped in delight, claws covering his mouth but failing to stifle the sound. "Sni?"

"Yeah, all the sugar you want." Lala bounced up and clung to her back, demanding a piggyback ride. Ree acquiesced, though her short legs made it pretty awkward. Whippy had to drape himself across her shoulders, which forced Harper to nest in her hair, but they made it work. Everyone got their happy carry time with trainer. And Ree was about ready to collapse by the time she got back into town proper. "You... three..."

They were fairly light and fairly small individually, but all three at once? Whippy and Lala alone had been hell on her neck.

"No more group carrying. Only group hugs. Goddamn." Her snivy slithered off, though Harper only flapped into the air after a warning hiss from him. Lala had to be dropped before she would let go. "Can't imagine what it'll be like with another..."

Now she had three, and had given thought to four. Scott had four. Maya had six. Full teams had six, though illegally carrying one or two more wasn't unheard of. That was a small army. And after this accident got done with... Then what was she going to do with them? That was still a problem. Ree looked up and picked out Harper on a stop sign, tweeting at another trainer's tranquill.

I can't keep them, she realized. They may be able to adjust now. But another eight and a half months from now? Or eight months? Come to think of it, she wasn't completely sure when exactly she had gotten pregnant. She hadn't gotten worried until her period had been late, so that was pretty much a month window... Eight months from now, they'll be trained and evolved. They can't be pets.

Ree wasn't aware she had been steadily walking towards the pokémon center until she nearly ran into another trainer coming out of it. "Woah! Oh—sorry," she said, backing up a step to avoid getting hit.

"Excuse me," he said, scanning over the two grass pokémon by her feet. Eyes then conspicuously down her shirt, he smiled and added, "Nice team ya got there."

"Thanks," she said dryly. "I'm gay."

She pushed past him and his disappointed look, sliding door opening to reveal a shrieking trainer and a very confused—and panicking—bouffalant. Ree looked at the scene; it looked like it was straight out of a rodeo.

"Hey!" she called after the male trainer. He turned, head tilted to the side and eyebrow raised. "Do you have a bouffalant?"

"Yeah, why?" he asked, brow drawing together as he frowned.

"No reason." Ree turned and let the door slide shut on the crazy held within. She could go be social later. Her team wasn't in that bad of shape. "Hey guys, treats!" she said excitedly. Whippy danced in joy. "Let's come back after that's sorted out. He'll figure it out eventually. What do you guys want? Ice cream or something? I think I saw—" Her stomach growled loudly enough to cut her off. Ree wrapped her arms around herself and cast furtive looks around her. "...How about we eat an actual meal? I guess it is getting sorta late."

"Sni!" Whippy agreed at once.

As they walked away, she heard the panicked squawk of a trainer who just figured out he'd had his pokémon swapped. Ree whistled innocently as she quickly turned a corner to avoid the scene behind them. "I guess it'd be easier to just find a restaurant that's pokémon friendly. Think of it as... belated gift for the badge, and to welcome Harper on. I don't really know, I'm just want some fucking food in my stomach now."

Harper swooped off, but came back just moments later with a happy chirp. "Pii!" She circled around her trainer's head a couple times, beckoning to her.

Ree had to admit she was a little surprised that Harper led them to a cozy little outdoor cafe just down the street and half hidden away. Two other trainers were sitting with their teams, one chatting into a phone, the other tossing bits of something into the air for his deerling to catch in its mouth. It had an artsy, secretive air to it, yet it was more than welcoming. "...Huh. Well, aren't you a little bloodhound." Harper somersaulted in the air, chest puffed out with pride.

The waiter was a cute girl about her age, very casual and perky. She looked about ready to make off with Lala with how much attention she was heaping upon the whimsicott. "You don't see a whole lot of evolved pokémon in this town—I mean, like, relatively speaking an' all. Not that I haven't seem whimsicott before, but usually it's cottonee and petilil. Especially with the forest so close here."

"Oh, yeah. That's there." She'd heard horror stories about it from Maya and Scott both. She'd had half a chapter in her book warning her of the perils of wandering around in any of Unova's forests, and Pinwheel was definitely on that list. She winced as she looked in the direction she thought it lay. Dark, secluded, more wild pokémon, less civilization, even longer between cities... A natural maze. Foreboding. The thing of ghost stories. And with those stupid crime rates stuck in her head once more, Ree felt decidedly less hungry.

"So, what'll it be?" the server asked with a chipper smile. "We got, like, a whole bunch of pokémon food on our menu! We may not be a big chain restaurant, but we pride ourselves on serving only the best to our trainers."

"Uh, can we have a moment?" Ree gestured to the menu vaguely. The girl hopped off, curled hair bouncing behind her, and Ree looked over the list. The pokémon menu was larger than the human one. "Don't suppose any of you spontaneously learned the skill of reading recently?" Three blank looks met her. "Didn't think so..."

She had to shoo the annoyingly helpful waitress off a couple more times; it was time-consuming to have to read and describe an entire menu to three different beings. Lala didn't want anything with meat in it. Whippy couldn't decide whether he wanted something sweet or something else, and was quite put out that they didn't have anything sweet that involved chocolate and meat. Harper kept silent, though she had to listen to the menu's list twice before she had any input whatsoever. By the time Ree figured out what her three pokémon not only wanted but could remember them, half an hour had to have passed. She checked her phone as the waitress bustled back over; okay, she was wrong. Forty-seven minutes.

"Okay, let's see if I can get this fucking right now." Ree took a deep breath, slapped the menu flat on the table, and pointed to Whippy first. "He wants the uh... That. The ducklett in pecha sauce, but no..."

She looked at him and he jumped up onto her lap with a fierce, "Sni!"

Ree wracked her brain. "Oh! Okay, ducklett in pecha sauce, but no mushrooms. Okay. Good. She," point at Lala, who crossed her arms with a judgmental look, "wants the tamato and pepper salad."

"You sure?" she asked Lala, eyebrows raised under her bangs. "That's a pretty spicy dish. Usually not something I see a lot of grass pokémon asking for."

"Whimsi!" Lala declared.

"Yeah, she was really sure she wanted it," Ree said with a roll of her eyes. She wasn't sure if Lala was trying to prove some sort of point or if she genuinely liked something that could burn her mouth off. But it was her choice, and she was adamant. "And Harper wants the sunflower seed suet."

"Alrighty. What about yourself?"

Ree blinked up at her, stomach rumbling to—very belatedly—remind her that she was there to eat, too. She hastily scanned over the menu. "Pizza! Oh sweet hell, pizza sounds awesome right now. Extra cheese, and um, fries on the side." Why was it so much easier to simply pick something off the menu as opposed to creating a cohesive meal plan for the rest of them? It was probably easier to get laws passed in the government.

"What would you all like to drink?"

Ree was not stupid enough to bark up that tree. "We're having water," she told her flatly. Whippy deflated in her lap with a rebellious murmur. "...Well, they'll have water, and I'll have the panpour pamtre punch." She smiled at the looks she got from her team. "We'll get dessert here, so calm down. I just don't want any of you having any more sugar than you strictly need. It's getting too late to have any of you on a sugar high." Oh boy had she found that out the hard way. Whippy smiled thinly and played with the frayed leaf on his tail.

"Alright! That shouldn't take too long, probably about twenty or so minutes. I'll bring your drinks right out. And you know, your pokémon are allowed to sit in the chairs here, provided they don't break them."

Ree looked down at them. Whippy was on her lap, Harper on the back of the chair next to her. Lala was seated on her fluff, on the ground. As their server flounced off again, Ree nudged her whimsicott into the other chair. "Come on, be nice. Please? We're in public, so behave, and remember, I can still revoke dessert privileges."

Ree set Whippy in the chair Harper was perched on, and Lala clambered up onto the other one. The whimsicott and snivy looked rather alarmed at sitting at a table, though Ree quickly offered her backpack as a booster seat so he could at least see over the edge. Lala played with the silverware, curious and intrigued. Whippy was more intent on trying to reach the glass of water the girl set down in front of him. He was immensely relieved when she came back with a straw for them all.

"You're like a bunch of children, sheesh," Ree sighed, looking at them mess around. Whippy nearly knocked his glass over; thankfully, she saved it before they both got wet laps. Only Harper stayed on the chair's back, wings folded tight and looking at the two grass pokémon as if their infantile conduct was far beneath her. Ree reached over and stroked the feathers on her head. "Okay, Harper can behave in public. You two... Mister Snivy Whiplash! Don't eat the spoon." The spoon in question dropped out of his mouth and fell to the ground with a clang.

"Si-si-si," Lala snickered. She had tied the cloth napkin around her neck like a bandana, only it stuck straight out due to the fluff propping it up. At least it'd catch the crumbs.

Their food arrived as Ree's stomach complained again, though that may have been the blue drink she'd been nursing for however long it took. To her great surprise—as well as the guy with the deerling, judging on his look she caught across the cafe—Whippy and Lala had manners. Of course Harper did; she seemed to be a prim little lady. But the other two, they were the shock of the evening. For all their curiosity and messing around, they had food, and they weren't going to waste time doing anything else but eating. Lala's bib did a wonderful job at keeping her clean, and while there was no possible outcome that involved Whippy and sauce that didn't involve him covered in it, he kept the mess to himself and didn't splatter it everywhere.

Ree nibbled on her pizza, not all that hungry, after all. It smelled delicious, and didn't have too much grease on it, but her appetite had up and left. Typical. She mostly sucked on fries until they got soggy, eyes on her team.

About halfway through her salad, Lala's water had been refilled once, but she was doing quite well for how spicy it supposedly was. She tried to use a fork, but after failing to grasp it properly, gave up and moved back to her paws. After every couple bites, she paused to lick off her paws and wipe them on her fur, so aside from smudges near her hips, she was remarkably clean.

Whippy finished his ducklett in record time, though he busied himself afterward by drinking the sweet sauce. Ree gave him a couple fries to sop it up with—and hey, he probably needed vegetables. Even if they were fried. He was a grass pokémon, so they were supposed to like veggies, and he was still growing.

Harper had had to move onto a space on the table to access her plate, but she still seemed quite proper. She pecked delicately at the pile of... whatever it was. Like bird seed, but more vegetables and it looked sort of greasy. She was definitely enjoying it, however; she caught her trainer's eye and trilled happily. At least she seemed to be eating a balanced diet.

Ree made it most of the way through her fries and about a third of the way through her pizza. And horribly, she made it just about to the bottom of her glass. The drink was delicious, faintly tropical tasting, and far too addictive. She couldn't help but finish it. She groaned and rubbed her stomach, chin on the table, as her pokémon finished their meals.

"Was everything to your liking? Would you like any to-go boxes?"

"Yeah, please." Ree didn't bat an eye or lift her head as the waitress returned. Her stomach was definitely hurting. The server returned and was kind enough to scoop up the remains of her meal for her. Whippy and Harper had finished their meals, but Lala did have a little left, too. "You can put those in the same box. Unless it's poisonous."

"Almost all of the food served in restaurants has to be safe for human consumption, and the rest of it is warned against. So it's totally fine," the girl chirped in reply. "So, miss whimsicott, you liked the spiciness?"

"Scott," Lala said contentedly, rubbing her full belly. She looked pregnant. Ree snorted and scooted off her chair, eying the bill. It wasn't terrible, really, but jeez. Those three could pack it away. She made sure to leave a nice tip for the girl and made a mental note to come back. And get more panpour pamtre punch.

"I owe you all a dessert for when you're not stuffed, 'kay? Until then... It's getting late. Let's just... ugh. Let's just head back to the center," Ree ground out, swallowing past the bad taste in her mouth. She wasn't going to get sick. She wasn't going to get sick. If she told herself that enough, maybe it'd help. She wasn't going to get sick.

Harper led the way; her full stomach obviously didn't hamper her flying ability. That was useful. Or maybe she wasn't as full as Ree had thought. But her meal had been nearly the size of her...

"Pokémon are crazy," she muttered as the glass doors slid open for them, revealing a slightly less packed pokémon center. Her pokémon weren't in too bad of shape; she didn't want to have to fight her way to the counter again. And maybe she was a little paranoid about losing Harper again. She wasn't going to risk it. Ree couldn't help but look at the news, but it was just fading from the weather to a rehash of the same story. That meant that there wasn't anything new. Besides, surely... Surely she would've heard if something else had happened. Surely.

Her stomach gave an unpleasant lurch and Ree froze, momentarily terrified she'd puke in the middle of the pokémon center.

But the feeling passed with a burp, she tried to remember what number the room had been. On the second floor, she remembered that much. Whippy scampered up the stairs, apparently quite enthralled by them, and then down again. And then up again. Harper still flew around them. Despite the cramped quarters, she was a small bird, and had no problem maneuvering. She flitted down the hall and circled around towards the end of it with a tweet.

She darted back and forth in front of one particular door. 246. The six... That seemed sorta familiar. And Harry had said the second floor. Ree rubbed her stomach again and knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal a young girl with long, sandy hair, half of it obscuring her face. That wasn't the redhead, though she had mentioned staying with other girls—"Ree!" Before anything could be said between the two of them, they turned to find the redhead that she'd been looking for. She was several doors down, smiling in surprise. "Silly, that's not our room. Two thirty six."

Ree looked back at the 246 on the door. Harper had been close. "Uh, sorry," she mumbled awkwardly and quickly marched away from the younger trainer. Her stomach churned again, though the feeling wasn't as fleeting this time around. "Hey, Harry." What did one say to a stranger they'd just met?

"You coming in for the night? I-I suppose you are, I mean, why else would you be here... Oh! Come in, come in." Harry stepped back and held the door open for them. Harper landed on Ree's shoulder, nestling up to her neck. "There are two other girls staying with us, but because of that, um, we've decided that we have a no pokémon policy in the room. Sorry, it's just... That'd be a lot of them, between us all."

Ree caught a glimpse of a girl with really long brown hair, falling off the bed, and another girl seated on the floor next to her, both of them younger than her and even Harry. Then her drink had finally decided it had had enough with her body. In a stunning show of solidarity, the rest of her stomach's contents decided to join it. She bolted for the bathroom, dislodging Harper, and just barely made it in time to throw up a stomach full of blue into the toilet.

"A-Are you alright?" Harry yelped, frozen to the spot where Ree had rushed past her. Ree spat into the bowl, throat feeling nasty in addition to her belly, and then rested her head against the counter next to it. The movement jarred the redhead into rushing in, hovering nervously over her. "Are you okay? Oh my gosh... That's a lot of blue. Did you eat something bad? Are you sick?"

"I drank something," Ree grumbled.

"Are you okay?" Harry repeated with worry. Whippy approached his trainer and set his claws on her leg, looking up at her with big, concerned eyes. Lala, predictably, gave her a very wide berth.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ree spat again before flushing. Wow, best introduction to roommates ever. She'd have to tell Maya about that one—well. Assuming her sister came back. Of course she'll fucking come back, she's the best damn trainer I know, she thought sourly. "I just had this drink, and it was awesome, and then it didn't want to be in me anymore."

Harry gaped at her.

Ree edged past her and rinsed out her mouth in the sink, valiantly resisting the blush-in-embarrassment reflex. She'd done worse in front of strangers. At least she had made it into the bathroom. And she had known it was coming. It could've been so much worse. At least it hadn't be on anyone. "I'm allergic to blue dye, so it's nothing life-threatening. I just get sick off of it. It's not a huge fuckin' deal, seriously."

"If you're allergic to it... Why did you drink something with it?"

"I'll stop drinking it when blue shit stops being the best flavor." Ree had gotten drunk off the power of being a trainer; no more family or boyfriend to beat her back from inhaling everything bad for her. It was disturbing how little she minded throwing up afterward, but it was usually too good to pass up. Ree claimed one of the towels and wiped off her face, then sauntered back into the room. "So hi then. I'm Ree."

The two preteen girls stared dumbly back up at her.

"...Oh, um. Girls, this is Ree, the trainer who got mixed up with Jackster earlier." Harry smiled nervously as Ree sat down on one of the other beds, rummaging around in her pack for the pokeballs for her team. It'd be a little weird, sleeping without them. But maybe a quieter change of pace. And after such a first impression, she wasn't going to break the rule of the room. "Ree, this is June, and her cousin, Lana. I spent the night with them last night, too."

"You're okay, right?" June, the one with the long, brown hair, asked with a shockingly out of place accent. Ree blinked at her, trying to place it. She belatedly nodded.

"So..." Lana said awkwardly, tapping her fingers on her knee. Unlike her cousin, she had a pixie cut and hair dyed shades of blue and green. "How long have you been training? I mean, you're older than all of us, but if those were your only pokémon, you can't be too experienced."

"Oh, no. Hell no. I just started a little over a week ago, only one badge." Ree unlaced her shoes and let her feet relax. Harry sat down on the bed next to her, giving her little glances. "I'm here to eventually challenge Lenora, but I need to train like fuck for awhile until then, so I think I'll be in town for awhile."

"Yeah, I'm in the same boat," Lana said with a smile, finally breaking the tension. "I just got in two days ago, right before the shit hit the fan here. I was showing June around, and then that happened..."

"It was unfortunate timing," June agreed with that strange accent of hers. It wasn't Castelian, and Ree was pretty sure it wasn't northwestern. Scott's dad was in the east, but he didn't sound like that either. She caught Ree's visible confusion and offered her a wry smile. "I'm not from around here. I'm Sinnohan."

Ree stared at her. She'd only ever met one other kid from another country, and that had been a foreign exchange student from Johto. They simply didn't get many foreigners in Unova, but especially in the suburb she grew up in.

"So yeah, she got over here, just to have travel lock down and her parents screaming bloody murder at us both. I mean, The Tournament was hell enough, and now this. You should just move over here. We're quieter," Lana said with a smile up at her.

"My sister's in Sinnoh right now," Ree offered, unsure of what else to say. "She's the rep from here, and she's... stuck in Sunyshore."

"Ouch."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. She's my younger sister, but she's a damn good trainer. She could only take three of her pokémon over there, though, so... I'm worried. Well, no, I was about to beat someone's head in with a brick earlier." Ree pointed back at Harry. "That's about when I met her."

She blushed up to her hair. "I-I'm sorry! That must have been stressful."

"It is. But at least I'm not stuck in another country while it's going on, I guess." All eyes were back on June.

"I'm not from Sunyshore, I'm from a little suburb of Jubilife, and they don't have a gym there. I haven't heard anything from them for over a day now, but... I'm pretty sure they're all safe." She fidgeted with her long hair. Then, she sat up straighter and crossed her legs in front of her. "They'll be alright. I mean, you have to believe that, right? There's always hope in these sorts of situations."

"Yeah. I just hope it finally quiets down over there," Harry said. "...But, uh, why don't we talk about some happier topics? Oh! I know—Ree, what's your favorite color? I'll make you socks!"

Ree gave her a look that she rather thought straddled incredulous and flat rather well. Lana burst out laughing. "Harry has the most badges out of all of us, and she knits in her spare time. Not battling, not training, but knitting."

"H-Hey! After I got Shady... I'm just sort of taking a break right now," she replied with a sniff. "And I'll have you know it's quite lucrative."

Having a Sinnohan girl in the room with her bizarre accent didn't let Ree forget about Maya's plight as she would've otherwise liked, but with her stomach settled (if growling) and the pleasant gossip only female trainers could create, it wasn't so bad. She didn't miss her pokémon as much as she thought she would. Harry did indeed knit and apparently quite well; she pulled out a set of needles and a half-finished... something... and idly worked as she talked. The clacking of the needles was nice after awhile.

"So why did you become a trainer?" Lana asked with a bright smile.

Ree balked and quickly hid it with an unconvincing smile. "It's not my first time trying it."

"Oh, I know how that is," June said with a knowing nod. "I quit once, too. Just a couple months ago, in fact."

"I quit four times," Ree replied with a grin. "This is my fifth attempt, and so far, most successful. I've never gotten more than one pokémon before, and never a badge."

"How did you beat the first gym? I had a hell of a time with him."

"Stun spore is very flammable."

"Woah, really?"

"So is string shot," Harry advised. "Only that's usually still attached to the pokémon, so... Be careful with that one."

"And poison powder," June added with a grimace.

"I'm going to have to get a fire pokémon, just to light all this stuff on fire," Lana decreed. "My own personal flamethrower."

-.-.-

Ree and three other girls circled around the television the next morning, pancakes forgotten as they watched the news. It repeated a clip of the champion of Sinnoh, a severe looking man with sunglasses, covered in soot and followed by an alakazam, glared evilly at the camera. He was followed by three boys all equally blackened by smoke and ash—one with glasses and hood pulled up so it obscured much of his face, one with a ponytail and possibly a colder glare than the champion, and the shortest one with a severe limp.

The clip ended as they stormed out of the pokémon center. The view changed over to a clip in front of the Sunyshore gym, where one of the glass doors had a blood splatter on it that a girl with dark skin was furiously trying to scrub off. A man with orange hair and a cigarette chased the cameras away soon after that, as the Unovan reporter narrated, "No media personnel are allowed into any of the Sinnohan gyms yet, but we've been receiving news reports from official sources as well as unofficial ones, as the phone and internet connections have been slowly restored across the region, about the status of the region.

"The elite four all survived with minimal injuries, as well as the champion. Two of Sinnoh's gym leaders have been killed and two more hospitalized, though we are not sure of the severity of their injuries. Nearly two dozen people were killed across the nation, though many of them were centralized in the north and east. Tensions with other countries remain high, especially in light of the evidence that two of the foreign representatives had been impersonated and were, in fact, part of the attack.

"Though we have not been able to see her yet, we have had official word from the champion himself that our national representative is alive and not in any hospital," the reporter said solemnly as it switched back to him. "It seems as if the disaster itself may be over, but what does it mean for the future of the region? Unovan officials remain distant and unsure, but after this, I believe I am not alone in saying that we are only hoping for some peace in coming weeks as this is wrapped up."

Ree was unaware of the tears down her cheeks until Harry pointed them out. She really didn't mind. June was scrubbing at her eyes, too, anyway. It was okay. Sinnoh was still stupid, but her sister, her Maya, she was still alive.

-.-.-

Next Chapter: With the team reunited and Ree wiser to such accidents in the packed city, training montage time! Tensions slowly slip away as the Sinnoh problems fade away, but with Maya returning in just a couple days, Ree has a new problem: keeping her curious and very capable sister from tracking her down. The team's dynamic stabilizes, and slowly, they grow.