Archie - Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 2

Blue - Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 0

{Jinua 14th, 11:34AM}
{Oreburgh}

"I can't believe we're back here," Archie grumbled. The gate between Oreburgh and Coronet had long been cleaned out and made accessible to travelers again, and Archie hunched his shoulders as little more as they went through.

Blue had been slightly annoyed to note that, after they'd decided for Star to run around the city separately and wait for them on the other side, Archie was almost as sour as Star had looked before splitting up. It was necessary, though- even if she'd been a Luxio last time, the officers probably hadn't yet forgotten that Archibald Irving had been in town, and were probably keeping an eye out for both Luxio and Luxray and checking each one with a trainer as being potentially the same as from last time. The fact that she had capsule allergy made her all the more easy to identify, and if the police got their hands on her it meant their cover being blown.

"Yeah, well, there's literally no way up to Eterna from here. Those ledges were easy to climb down, but going up pretty much means either using rock-types that we don't have or maybe relying on Girish who can't carry two people at once. Or, y'know, flying up-"

"No," Archie interrupted immediately. "Maybe I'd chance it if I was actually looking forward to seeing Saylee and Key, but as it turns out I'm quite fond of my head being where it is."

"Don't worry, Saylee's not the Queen of Hearts," Blue snorted.

"More like the Queen of Spades," Archie muttered. A few seconds passed and the Aqua leader frowned, making a face and looking like he'd bitten into something sour. "...When I said that I was thinking about the shape of the spade on the cards and how you could probably stab someone with one, but I feel like I just made a shittier implication than I meant to."

"Don't worry, you've got the King of Clubs with you and I'll probably be the one to knock your head across the continent before Saylee can be the queen of either suit," Blue said mildly.

"I am so unbelievably relieved to hear that. Really."

"You're welcome. Aside from that, could you stop acting so damn jumpy and nervous? You're being suspicious."

"Shut up," Archie grumbled. "We're walking through two caves today, I'm allowed to be jumpy."

"They're tunnels."

"There's dirt and mountain rock over my head, I count it as a bloody cave and until we're out on the other side of Oreburgh's west gate I can be a bloody fucking jumpy as I want," the Aqua Leader hissed, Kanto accent suddenly a little thicker.

Blue tried not to roll his eyes. "Any reason you hate caves so much?"

The awkward pause during which Archie pressed his lips was almost an answer in itself.

"The fact that they're shit should be a good enough reason," Archie muttered sourly after a while.

"You're shit too, but you don't see me squirming around in your presence like I'm expecting to find a Nido in my pants," Blue said mildly.

"For Saylee's sake, I hope you never do find a Nido in your pants. I'd kinda hate to see her accidentally grab a poisonous horn."

Whatever comeback Blue had to that went unsaid as a low rumble began under their feet and Archie immediately snatched the gym leader's arm.

"Right, let's hurry up, then," Blue said. The quicker they got out, the less likely he'd have his arm in a cast by nightfall.

{Jinua 14th, 6:34PM}

{Route 203}

After getting through Oreburgh (with, surprisingly, no obstacle at all) and the West Gate, they finally set up camp outside the tunnel. Archie proceeded with his usual ritual of pulling out a considerably larger amount of clothes than Blue in order to bundle himself up and make up for his much lower tolerance of Sinnoh's cold weather.

Star was settled next to him, staring out into the darkness.

"Is something wrong?" Archie asked eventually.

"Not really," Star replied. "I was just thinking about the pond that's back there and how we first met Mark. I might go check it out later, just because."

"Makes sense..." Archie muttered. Maybe he'd consider taking a quick stroll and visit the pond too before going to Jubilife the next day.

He pulled out his Pokeballs and released Prince, Warin, and Basil.

"It's nighttime," the Buizel noted, glancing around. "Are we about to be attacked?"

"This is...the gate to Oreburgh," Prince said, looking in direction of the tunnel. "This is the path leading to Jubilife. There should be a pond nearby, too."

"The one where we met Mark," Star confirmed. "I don't think you two ever got to see it," she said, looking at Basil and Warin.

The Beautifly shrugged. "I don't really need to see it. I haven't spent as much time with Mark as you guys have, so...I mean, I'm sad he's gone, but I'm not..."

"Not grieving as much," Prince offered softly. "It will not be held against you. Rapier is likely taking up more space in your mind, in any case."

Warin's antennae drooped as he glanced downward. "...We were pretty close, yeah," he confessed quietly. Prince started reaching out with a wing, but the Buizel beat him to it and stretched up to nudge Warin with his nose, a silent offer to rest on his head which the Beautifly accepted.

"I think I might go and take a look eventually," Basil said. "I made a promise to both Mark and Rapier, so I...feel a little obligated to go and see where Mark is from, I guess."

"There is no obligation, but...I understand the sentiment," Prince said. There was an awkward silence for a moment, where the only sound to be hear was the crackling of the campfire and the only movement to be noted was a twitch of Star's ears. "...I believe I may go and visit it now, instead of tomorrow."

Star raised her head. "I'll come with you."

The Empoleon gave a small nod before waddling away, Star removing herself from Archie's side and slowly trotting after Prince.

"Damn, now I feel colder again," Archie complained, trying to adjust his clothes. The Buizel scurried to Archie's side, leaning onto the Aqua Leader as best as he could to make up for his small size compared to the large Luxray. "Thanks, Basil."

"Hey Basil, can I ask you something?" Blue started, prodding the fire with a stick. "You haven't really done any battling until now because it was something that scared you. Are you sure you're just suddenly up for it after Galactic made one or two kick the bucket? Don't give me that look, Sebby, it's a serious question. I know that wanting revenge can seriously change someone and suddenly give them the drive to do things they didn't want to before, but firstly you don't seem to have some kind of intense thirst for revenge, and secondly, even if you did, I'd have to tell you that revenge is a petty reason to do something and has been known to nearly end the world." Archie sighed.

"I think...I think I did kinda want revenge, initially," Basil admitted, not meeting Blue's gaze. "I respected Rapier. A lot. He was really strong for his size and really encouraging to others, and also passionate about keeping his promise to Mark. I was pretty scared of Mark at first because of how big he got when he evolved, but then while everyone else was training some more that day he showed me some really cool water tricks and was really nice to me. I just...I was really upset that someone as nice as Mark would get taken by Galactic, and then that Rapier would get taken and not be able to keep his promise. I'm still upset." The Buizel shook his head, the Beautifly on his mane accidentally getting shaken along with it. "Looking for my father in Pastoria can wait. I have a promise to keep. To Mark, to Rapier, and to all of you. I can't...I can't let myself be scared of battles anymore."

Despite those last words, Basil curled up and buried his face in Archie's mass of clothes. The Aqua leader pressed his lips, carefully patting the Buizel's back and ignoring the mild shaking he could feel through his fingers.

{Jinua 14th, 7:01PM}

{Route 203}

"Something about you changed," Star said.

Prince turned his head and blinked, startled by the sudden break in silence. "What do you mean?"

"Well, for one, you stopped using that obnoxious 'We'. I've been hanging around you for too long not to notice it when you and I left the camp." The Luxray sighed, slumping down from her sitting position to laying one, jaw sullenly resting over her crossed forepaws as she watched the pond surface rippling. "...Pastoria really messed you up, darling..."

"...I suppose it did," Prince conceded. He self-consciously brought a wing up to his head, testingly patting his deformed crown. "Although my 'transformation' has nothing to do with Galactic and my new appearance. Or maybe loosely. But only loosely."

A long pause.

"...Do you...remember the explosion that we saw, on that screen?"

"The live news report that the boys were so livid about? Yeah," Star said with a nod. "What about it?"

"There was a Monferno present," Prince explained. "Evolved not too long before the events in Eterna. That was Princess Caelin."

"You mean that mate of yours that you're supposed to marry?" Star asked, a little surprised. "Is she hanging out with the girls looking for us or something?"

"I do not know," Prince replied, shaking his head. "I only know that it was definitely Caelin...and that that was what caused me to think about myself more deeply."

"Are you worried about her?"

The lines of an Empoleon's beak weren't made to thin in the same way a human's did, but he had a frown to match and cheeks puffing oddly. "I suppose I might be, a little. I never really envisioned Caelin as a lifelong mate, but I did not enjoy her company any less and I do have a fond spot for her and for Terra. But..."

"I'm sure she's fine, darling."

Prince shook his head again. "That is not the issue." The Empoleon sighed and slumped onto the ground next to Star, a lot less gracefully and resting on his side. "When you are a child of a royal family, you know to look at the order in which you and your siblings were born. The eldest are expected to compete for the position as the new Lord and the youngest are expected to remain forever inferior to their elder siblings. We get betrothed to younger siblings of other clans for political reasons. And that is usually all we end up amounting to. Political fodder to uphold positive relationships between clans."

Prince dipped the tip of one of his wings into the pond water and started drawing circles, watching the water. "I had made peace with my role long ago. I was neither happy nor upset about my betrothal to Caelin and simply took it as how things were to be. Caelin had no such intentions and instead shared with me her plans to outgrow and overthrow her brother, Fire Lord Indra. As her future mate, I felt inclined to support her ambitions, and expressed a wish to copy her training methods and strategies in order to become a mate worthy of her abilities. She mentioned seeking a human for help. And that is when I came across our dear comrade Archie."

The Empoleon sighed again and rolled on his back. "I do not regret my choice to journey with all of you, but I..." He paused hesitantly. "You have to understand that I had centered my goals around those of Caelin. I had centered my life around Caelin, because I had made peace with my role as her future mate. I went along with the idea that I was required to become strong for her sake, to be a suitable mate to her, but that I would never be able to surpass her and that she would eventually discard me once she became Fire Lord. I had convinced myself that I would not be able to surpass her because I did not have the same drive that she has. It was rather terrible, feeling as if you had to choose between supporting your mate in something she would never achieve, and aiding your mate in succeeding in her goals only to be tossed aside like a corpse at the end of everything. And then in Pastoria...there she was. On that screen. Just barely a Monferno, while I had already progressed all the way to an Empoleon. And in the Marsh Court, as I walked past my siblings, I had evolved far faster than most of them. Only Payam and Pell were stronger than I. Suddenly, I was the one with power. I was the stronger one, and Caelin was the one who had to catch up to me. It was...it was both a terrifying thought, and an enlightening one. I was...I felt that I was no longer tied to the role that had been given to me. The role that I fulfill is...my choice. It is a choice, and that choice is mine. It is such a strange realization, because you hear those words so often that you end up believing they are empty words of encouragement, rather than truth."

"...So all the pompous commanding and flaunting your royalty around were to hide your insecurities, then?" Star asked softly. "You really hated it, huh."

"I did not so much despise my blood as simply lament that I was born the youngest and that it sealed my fate as political fodder," Prince replied. "...I have no doubt that Caelin can achieve her goals. She has something that I could not see in any of her siblings, and I truly, genuinely believe that she can become the new Fire Lord and defeat for brother Indra. But now that I have the ability to choose, now that I am no longer bound by my fate- by what I believed to be my fate- I choose to continue my journey with you and Archie. There is far more for me to learn and discover while I am with you than if I am to return to the Marsh Court to claim the title of Water Lord. And I will not allow anyone to take that choice from me."

The edges of Star's mouth curled upward a little and she leaned her head closer to Prince's, nuzzling his cheek. "I promise I won't let anyone do that either. Except if it's me doing the choosing. If you don't plan to act all royalty-like, that makes you officially a part of my pack and I have higher authority than you."

Prince gave an ungraceful snort and laughed. It was still a polite sort of laugh, the kind that he'd likely practiced since birth to fit his nobility status, but it sounded more genuine than any kind of laugh she'd heard from him until now and Star had to admit that she kind of liked the 'new' Prince she was seeing.

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This chapter was actually finished several weeks ago but never posted because I never got around to actually adding the timestamps for each scene. I've made SOME progress in writing Del, but none of it is part of the next chapter and instead happens much further down the line and won't be seen for quite a while. Especially since I'm technically not even at home and able to actually put any work into writing as I'm currently on a five-week city-hopping trip XD In Edinburgh until thursday, and then starting Saturday-Sunday I'll be in Florida for a week and doing DisneyWorld and Universal and stuff, and then I'll be up in Maryland seeing Washington DC and Baltimore and whatnot, and up in New York City the last couple days of May, and then back to Edinburgh for a day, and finally back home on the 2nd of June. Busy busy. Wouldn't mind meeting some of you if you're in the area, so lemme know if you're willing and available XD

ARCHIE

Shanks the Sharpedo, Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Basil the Buizel, Sutekh the Spiritomb

BLUE

Sam the Blastoise, Pete the Pidgeot, Adam the Alakazam, Gary the Arcanine, Girish the Gabite