The Road to Indigo (Pokemon RP (Closed): Chapter 7: Dead Living On The Radio...)

[blaze96]

Alan had woken up and put the finishing touches on his article before sending it off to be edited and printed. After a quick shower and breakfast he dressed and decided to see what his colleagues were doing. He was currently walking out of the pokecenter with the paper his article ran in in his hand. Croc and Spike were back inside eating breakfast, he had told them to meet up with him outside once they had finished.

I hope they got enough rest, they are going to need it. He thought as he walked through the sliding doors to see Aeris and Eileen outside.

"Morning ladies, how are the both of you doing?" He asked the two of them as he found a place to sit and began to open the paper.

 

[CounterAttack]

Five Hours Earlier:
After a few hours of dreamless sleep, Rochelle's sleeping mind began to wander for the first time that night.

She was wandering alone through the caverns of Mt. Moon, and she was in the state she had been in when Tyler had broken her out of the supply closet. She must have taken the wrong turn, and gotten lost somehow. It was cold and damp under the mountain; there were less torches than she remembered, and the occasional faint splash of water around her feet.

Then something moved behind Rochelle as she walked; she heard it. A footstep: a heavy boot judging by the muted thud it made. Anxious to get out of the cavern and return to her friends, she sped up, taking turns at random. She wasn't alone down here after all. The footfalls gradually grew louder as Rochelle continued; and was it her imagination, or were there more of them? And those movements in the water... those weren't just Pokémon swimming around.

Rochelle started to run from her pursuers, dashing into the natural maze of rocky walls and deep water. There were definitely more of them now, and they were faster; whoever it was had sped up. Rochelle dared not look behind her as she picked up the pace, whipping around corners and vaulting over low walls of rock. Then she rounded a corner and ran straight into one of the many dead ends that would be present in the cavern. She sat down hard, bleeding from light scrapes on her face and arms.

The footfalls grew even louder; they had found her. Trapped in the small space, all she could do was watch as silhouettes began to appear: uniformed people began to take shape. In the dim light of the cave - there were no torches nearby - all that Rochelle could make out was a faint crimson R emblazoned on the uniform.

Horror filled her as she raised one arm in a pathetic attempt to shield herself from the invasive clutches of Team Rocket. They had already taken everything Rochelle owned... and now they would take her life, her panic-filled brain told her. The Rockets began to casually walk towards her, closing the distance as she cowered in the corner...

At the sight of the black-clad men and women closing in to take her away, Rochelle abruptly woke, sitting bolt upright in her bed with a scream of fright. She looked around wildly, certain she was trapped in the cavern she had dreamed up, only the lights were out. Her fear increased a few notches. Team Rocket members were about to walk through that door and kidnap her, surely... then she caught sight of moonlight dancing on the softly shifting water and remembered the walk with Jordan into Cerulean City. Other sleeping people lay on identical beds; two people were sharing one, judging by the silhouette cast from the reflected light. Thankfully Rochelle hadn't woken any of them up with her scream.

With a deep sigh of relief, Rochelle flopped back down on her bed and rolled over onto her side, staring aimlessly out the window. She didn't want to go back to sleep now, even though it was the middle of the night and her body told her that she needed it. But she didn't want to go through that nightmare again... eventually, though, she succumbed to her heavy eyelids and dozed off, too tired to resist.

Over the next few hours the young Trainer's rest was constantly interrupted. She kept waking up to find that not much time had passed between her fitful periods of dozing. Each time she was relieved that she had not gone through her nightmare a second time. After one such episode, Rochelle found herself lying face-down under the sheets, uncomfortable due to having not properly gotten ready for bed before crashing. It must have slipped her mind in her heavily fatigued state.

Dawn had broken over Cerulean while she had slept: the room was brightly lit from both natural lighting and the glow of overhead lights identical to those found in office buildings and the Pewter Gym's battle arena. Rubbing her eyes with one hand, Rochelle maneuvered herself onto her back, not wanting to get up yet. Her stomach protested - she hadn't eaten in a while, having been too tired for dinner - but she ignored it and just lay there, occasionally shifting when she found herself uncomfortable again.

 

[Lambi]

Aeris was watching over the fight between Blaze and Ekans, and Xal and Tristan, when Eileen showed up a bit sweaty, Hughes not far behind her. "Good morning. I just woke up after a good night's sleep. Though I'd get the guys, and girl, to train a bit before trying to take on Misty. I don't have too good a feeling about going in that gym again, but hopefully I won't need to be on the same platform as you were on..." She was alright with heights, it was just the looming water beneath she didn't want to fall into.

"I'm doing very well, thank you." Aeris answered Alan, seeing him step out of the Poke Center. "Just having my Pokemon train a bit before I attempt to challenge Misty. I only hope I can stay there long enough to battle her and win." She was trying to pump herself with enthusiasm, but failed just a bit. The nearby waters didn't exactly help her calm down completely. She tried to focus on just training her Pokemon, though. However, maybe it would be better if they fought some wild Pokemon.

She looked around, and noticed a bridge that headed north. "Does either one of you know what's beyond that bridge?" She might take a look over it to see what was there after a bit more training.

 

[tsatoma]

"Doing fine Alan, just the usual morning routine," Eileen replied as she walked over to a bench nearby to sit down at with Hughes following after her. She got out her water bottle and drank deeply, now starting to feel the exhaustion from the jog setting in.

She chuckled when she heard Aeris' question about what was north, taking another drink before answering. "There are a couple of interesting things. Patches of grass, a cave you can't get to, a lighthouse, and a bunch of trainers who think they're hot stuff. It's quite fun proving them wrong," she told Aeris, adding, "If you don't feel like bothering with the trainers there are a number of Pokemon over there that you can fight, most of which make for good battles. If you're gonna head over there I think I'll join you. You can never have enough training, right Hughes?"

Grrowwol.

"I can tell you're excited at the thought," Eileen said to her Pokemon, petting him behind the ears, "We'll go easy if we do head up there."

 

[blaze96]

"Well then that makes two of us Eileen." Alan said as he found a place to sit and opened the paper before replying further.

"It's good that you are both doing well. I myself am letting my pokemon eat and rest before I go fight Misty. Can't have them being tired you know." With that he was still paying attention to the conversation but he was reading the paper fully while doing it.

 

[Lambi]

"Hmm. I think training with actual Trainers against their Pokemon sounds like a good idea. They need that." Aeris picked up Xal's Pokeball and returned him to his respective Pokeball. Blaze, Tristan and Ekans stopped their training once Xal was gone.

"Tristan, Ekans. We're going Trainer hunting." She giggled at that, Blaze, Tristan and Ekans doing the same. They nodded and went over to her. "Well, if you're ready, I think we should go over the bridge." she said to Eileen, she, Blaze, Tristan and Ekans ready to go. She was going to let Tristan and Ekans fight against those Trainers, with Blaze either watching over the battles or go against the more tougher ones, should they fight against any.

 

[tsatoma]

"Woah now slow down there, I'll need ten to fifteen minutes or so to take a shower then change and grab breakfast. I suppose I'll go get to that now. Wait up for me if you want, or just go on ahead and I'll catch up," Eileen told Aeris, hopping up from the bench before heading inside the Poke Center. The trainer and Pokemon strolled through the center and over into the room that they were staying in.

Eileen was thankful that not a lot of people were staying at the Poke Center and that she didn't have to share a room with anyone. After grabbing a set of clothes she ran to the shower block (telling Hughes to stay in the room) and undressed before taking a quick shower. She put on her pants and shirt before trying to dry off her hair once inside her room, deciding to just leave it somewhat wet as she grabbed her messenger bag and headed out with Hughes.

"Alright just need to eat quickly and then we'll be ready to go," Eileen told Hughes once they entered the cafeteria area, choosing a table to sit at. Once Eileen finished feeding Hughes his breakfast she went and grabbed some waffles and fresh fruit to eat, sitting back done and starting to eat it as fast as she could.

 

[socialtangent]

Tyler crawled out of bed and sluggishly rose to his feet. The post-sleep haze began to fade away as he made his way towards the showers. By the time he freshened himself up for the day and got dressed, he was wide awake and ready to take on Misty. Taking his belt out from his pack, Tyler put it on and made sure all three of his Pokemon were in their proper places. With all three Pokeballs accounted for, he made his way out of the Pokemon Center.

Outside, he noticed Aeris and Alan standing around as if ready to go somewhere. He approached them and gave a friendly wave. "Morning guys," he said in greeting. "What are you guys up to?"

 

[Lambi]

"No problem. Just take your time." Aeros told Eileen as she headed inside. She waited with Alan outside while Blaze, Tristan and Ekans were playing around. She had brought out Xal again to play with them while she waited for Eileen.

"Good morning, Tyler." Aeris said when he came to them. "Me and Eileen are going across the bridge to the north to explore a bit. Not sure if Alan will be joining us, but you're both welcome to join us if you want to."

 

[blaze96]

"I would but I need to finish my own morning ritual. Can't exactly be a reporter without examining the works of others to and then comparing it to your own work. Some pretty good articles if I'm honest, but of course it isn't all good." Alan replied from behind his paper where he sat.

"Perhaps I'll go with you guys once we are out of the city one day. Seeing as I can't get a paper there anyway."

 

[RBMidknight]

"Yeeeeeen." A plaintive growl interrupted the pleasant slumber that Simon was enjoying.

"Mmmwhat is it?" He asked, somewhat coherently. He reached out blindly for his alarm clock, kind of surprised that he hadn't even-

"Yah!" -Simon tumbled onto a cold tile floor. His eyes flew open then immediately shut against the harsh light of industrial strength florescent lightbulbs. The ceiling lights did an execellent job of illuminating a small room with sparse furnishings and a heavy metal door labeled

PRIVATE

.

"Miy?" Shadow's muzzle dipped down and he nudged Simon's shoulder none-too-gently. Was his trainer playing a game? Or was he just clumsy? Simon gently batted the inquiring nose away as he slowly rose to his feet. Memories of the previous night filtered in while he stretched.

Wanting to get away from the group for a bit Simon had taken his Pokémon and temporary acquisition to the Pokémon center for healing. As always Nurse Joy had been perky, polite, and punctual. The healing had taken only minutes. On the way out of the Center Simon noticed a sign pointed toward his company's office building. So he'd taken a moment to stop by. He decided he could use a little normalcy after the strange events in Mt Moon.

Little did Simon know that the office clerk had quit, the manager's niece was sick, two of the delivery men were out with mono, and the janitor was on strike (no one knew why). A harried assistant had informed Simon of the chaos as soon as the trainer swiped his card key at the door. A stunned Simon had been forcibly dragged into the lobby then recruited to take over some of the jobs that needing doing. It was a temporary thing, the assistant assured Simon with his hands still latched onto Simon's arm, and he'd be paid out of pocket just so 'we can get some order around here'. Though initially he wanted to refuse Simon decided that he could use the money to buy new supplies and food. In addition to the odd-jobs Simon discovered an official job he had to do. A large heavily-taped but light-weight box was to be delivered from Cerulean City to Vermillion City. 'For some big stuffed-shirt who can't be bothered to leave his 'home office' to pick up his package.' was the assistant's grumbled comment. As politely as possible Simon disengaged the assistant's grip and began to freely wander the most-empty building to see what needed doing.

It was 10pm before Simon finally finished everything. And he was sure there were still things left to do. But the week's packages were sorted, the lobby was cleaned, and the boxes littering the hallway had been taken outside. Simon had recruited Shadow (who instead of money was promised a nice juicy steak) to help out with some of the manual labor. The assistant dutifully paid Simon's fee and then returned to his stack of paperwork. Knowing that each office contained a few rooms in case of visitors or bouts of workaholism Simon decided to find one. He needed a break before returning to the Pokémon center.

Apparently he'd fallen asleep.

"Why didn't the night guard notice me?" Simon wondered out loud. Maybe the night guard was on strike too? 'This place is a mess...' the trainer sighed. This place was a far cry from the small but well maintained office Simon was used to working out of. But the efficiency of his home office was largely due to his manager. A large but friendly guy who knew how to work with people but not micromanage them.

Simon missed his home office...he missed his home city...

But on the bright side, he had some spare cash and the potential for more once he finished his delivery. 'Stuffed shirts' usually gave good tips for personal deliveries. 'Hope he's not in some secret forest like that one guy...'

"Come on, bud, let's get out of here." Simon grabbed his pack and exited the room. On his way to the elevator he stopped by the Employee restroom to change clothes and brush his teeth. "I could use some breakfast." Simon informed his reflection.

"Might!" Shadow agreed enthusiastically. The Pokémon beat Simon to the stairs and to the front door. Steak was a powerful motivator.

 

[CounterAttack]

Rochelle knew she had to get up eventually. She had to get a fair bit done today, including finding the local police station, call her parents, and make sure her Pokémon were okay. The latter was easy enough; she could do that whenever she wanted, though it would be better if it were sooner rather than later.

These thoughts buzzing through her head, Rochelle got up, dragged a fresh set of clothes out of her pack and headed for the showers. After spending a decent amount of time under the hot water, during which time she eliminated almost any trace of having spent time under Mt. Moon, including both the grass stain and blood trail on her face, she returned to her bed to retrieve her gear, hair secured under her regular black bandana.

Before Rochelle checked up on her Pokémon to make sure they hadn't suffered at the hands of Team Rocket, she wanted to get them healed up and get some form of breakfast. Once out in the Pokémon Center's main hall, she handed them all over to Nurse Joy, who accepted them with the smile she had become used to seeing from all Center staff. As usual, the nurse promised to let Rochelle know when her team was ready for pickup. Upon entering the cafeteria, the Trainer found only one other person eating. A cute black, orange and cream-coloured Pokémon was with her. Unsure whether to approach the Trainer and her companion, Rochelle turned her attention to the more pressing matter of breakfast; there were a fair few options, but she took the simple route of cereal.

She sat at a table a few places away from the other Trainer in the room, both to avoid infringing on her personal space and to talk if she felt like it, and began to eat in silence, listening out for the call to collect her Pokémon from the counter.

 

[tsatoma]

Both Eileen and Hughes noticed a new face come into the cafeteria; and both ignored the person for the time being, instead focusing on eating their breakfast. It wasn't until the other Trainer sat down a few tables away that Hughes stopped eating and looked over at them.

Grrrrroww.

"Oh stop growling at people Hughes, they aren't doing anything to us. Only do it if they look threatening or if you get a bad feeling from them. Look you're not even done eating yet while I am, maybe I should just leave you here to growl and look intimidating at people while I join Aeris. Maybe I'll catch a new Pokemon that won't be so over protective," Eileen threatened, Hughes looking up at her from his seat with a sad look on his face.

Rroooo?

"Oh you got me, you know I could never do that to you. Just finish up eating so we can head out, I'll be right back," Eileen said after caving in to her Pokemon, getting up and grabbing her plate and utensils to put away. Hughes went back to eating the rest of his food, looking up from time to time at his Trainer and the other one sitting a few yards away.

 

[CounterAttack]

Rochelle raised her eyebrows at the mention of Aeris's name. Perhaps there had been some meeting and greeting overnight, while she was asleep. When the stranger returned from clearing away her dishes, she spoke up. "You know Aeris? We travel together with a few others, on the Pokémon League challenge. Um... I'm Rochelle Sanders," she introduced herself.

Hopefully the Pokémon - Hughes - wasn't going to jump up and defend his Trainer as a result of Rochelle speaking to her. There was such a thing as being overprotective, after all.

 

[tsatoma]

"Oh? I was wondering if you were another person from that group. I met a few of them last night here when we had dinner; Aeris, her boyfriend, the tall blond, and the guy with a goatee. Their names I don't really recall at the moment, but I'm sure I'll learn them in time if myself and a buddy of mine join up with your group," Eileen told Rochelle, waiting for Hughes to finish with his food before joining her at her table.

"How long ago did your group start the journey? Seems like you caught up to us pretty fast, though at the same time I don't really move at a fast pace. Where are my manners? Eileen Weismann is the name, and this here is my Growlithe Hughes," she responded, introducing herself and her Pokemon. Hughes looked up at the other Trainer, then up to his own Trainer before he rested his head on her knees and whined.

"Hush, we'll go in a second. Oh, Aeris and I are going up onto Route 25 to battle and such, would you like to come along? Not sure if anyone else will be joining us but I imagine there might be a few," Eileen said to Rochelle, hoping that she wouldn't have to catch up with Aeris if she went ahead without them. 'Not in the mood for anymore running today.'

 

[CounterAttack]

So Eileen had already met a fair few people from the group: Aeris, Mika, Jordan and Tyler. That was good; it was always nice to meet new people... friendly ones, that is. And Eileen might be joining up with their little band, with someone else in tow.

"In answer to how long ago we started... we all left from Pallet Town just under a week ago, after each of us picked up a Pokédex," Rochelle began. "From there, it took us a couple of days to get to Pewter, and I'm pretty sure most of us picked up a couple of Pokémon along the way. We each had one of our own to start with. Spent a couple of days in Pewter City, during which time we all beat Brock in a Gym battle... despite his obvious attempts at flirting," she added, thinking of the rift between Jordan and Fary for a few seconds before she snapped back to the present. She didn't like to dwell on things that had caused her stress in the past, as was the case with most people, hypothetically.

"So yeah, once we beat Brock... we went through Mount Moon to come here. Things went to hell in a handbasket quickly... I'm not sure I wanna talk about that right now, to be honest. Long story short, we're here now. I crashed early, so I haven't seen any of the others this morning," Rochelle finished up quickly, not wanting to talk about her conflict with Team Rocket to someone she had just met that day.

"And, um... I probably won't come with you guys if you're going soon. I have things to take care of. Sorry," she apologised. "On the subject of which... you don't happen to know where I can find a police station, do you? I need to talk to someone from law enforcement." Hopefully the Kanto region's police department was similar to that of Johto, with competent officers stationed in almost every city or town.

 

[tsatoma]

"Wow I'll certainly have to get used to a quicker pace if I do join up with your group," Eileen replied with a frown, figuring she'll have to change up her normal training routine with Hughes if the quicker pace was the case. 'Don't really want to do that, but perhaps I can work around things going faster,' she thought to herself before hearing Rochelle ask if she knew where the police station was.

"The station is down a few blocks east, around five or so. Then you go south one block. If you get to the city's Gym than you've gone to far east, and if you get to a section of house than you've gone to far south. Maybe once you're done with what you need to do you can join us, if we aren't already back by then that is," Eileen said to Rochelle, getting up from her seat and saying that she needed to head out now. "See you later," she said before heading out to the front of the Poke Center with Hughes.

She was thankful that Aeris hadn't left yet, running up to her and the others and saying, "Well I'm ready to go now. Met up with another member of your group. At this point I should assume every face I haven't seen here in the city is one."

 

[Lambi]

Aeris' Pokemon were just playing around while they had waited for Eileen to be done with all she needed. Aeris had, in the meanwhile, sat down on the ground, watching them play. It was nice, watching them not battling to train for once. Very relaxing.

After a while, Eileen came back and she stood up from the ground. "You did? Who did you meet? Well, you can tell me on the go. Come on, guys. And Blaze." She added that last part because Blaze tapped her foot, which made Aeris giggle. All four of her Pokemon followed her as she walked with Eileen towards the bridge.

 

[tsatoma]

"I met with someone named Rochelle. I had asked if she wanted to join us but she seemed to have things to do. I said she could join us later if that's the case, but I guess it all depends," Eileen replied as she put her bag over her shoulder as she followed after Aeris, turning back once to see if anyone else was going to join them.

"Are there any other people left in the group that I haven't met yet? Seems like a run into a new one every couple of hours," she joked, keeping up the pace as they headed the few blocks down to where Nugget Bridge was.

"If the trainers are there on the bridge you might want me to stay a bit behind you; I know quite a few of them ran away yesterday when I approached them for rematches," she added, before realizing something, "The bridge is over water, obviously, but it's a pretty big bridge so I don't think you'll have problems with it. Just letting you know."

 

[Lambi]

"Hmmm..." Aeris said, thinking who else Eileen hadn't met. "You've met me, obviously, and Mika, my boyfriend. Then there was Jordan the surfer guy, and Tyler. You just met Rochelle. There's also Fary, Simon and Terinth. That's everyone in the group." She stretched her arms a bit while they walked towards the bridge.

"Well, in that case, you might want to stay a bit behind me. I want to challenge them all for training. Oh, almost forgot." She picked up Xal's Pokeball. "In you go again. Sorry about that." Xal nodded. He understood, especially with all the water nearby. Aeris returned him to his Pokeball with the red laser that came out of it, and put his shrunken Pokeball on her belt.

"I figured there might be water under the bridge, but I also figured that if I was with you, I would be alright." She smiled to Eileen as they got closer to the bridge. She could see five people on the bridge. Maybe they were trainers.