Things that You Can't Say Tomorrow Day

Chapter 2 - We Got Places to Go, We Got People to See

Wooop! Chapter 2!

I'm so thrilled with the support my story received after chapter 1! It's already amassed 500 views!

I've decided to settle for a more well-spoken version of Steven as I think it fits his role a bit better. To me, at least, he doesn't seem out of character. Also, I think FanFiction is messing up all my paragraph breaks, so my writing seems like a solid block of text when it is actually broken up a lot. I'll need to have a look into sorting this out.

With my interpretation of Professor Birch's character, I decided not to stick to his AG depiction; I just feel he was completely void of character. Here he speaks a bit more natural.

Also, I've been having problems in the real world; my laptop died, so I haven't been able to write anything for a week, and I went down with a fever for a few days. Great!

Disclaimer: I really don't own Pokemon. Honest.

Well I know that getting you alone isn't easy to do

And I don't wanna lie and I don't wanna tell you the truth

And I know we got places to go, we got people to see.

Think we both ought put 'em on hold and I know you agree.

.

As soon as the heel of Serena's right boot struck the warm tarmac of the Lilycove runway, a sense of refreshment washed over her. She'd just left a place and a person she loved, and here she was going to start again. Behind her, Sawyer clattered down the steps hastily with his suitcase and the most glorious smile. Steven stopped for a moment at the top of the stairs, surveying the environment with his hand shielding his eyes, for the sun bore down on everyone like a drill. He wore the look of a child home from school, despite his age closing on thirty.

.

"This is beautiful!" Serena exclaimed brightly; it was nearly dusk and the sunset reflected off the crystalline ocean ahead. The image was distorted near the base of her view by the most odd heat shimmers. Currents of warm air rose to altitude, and the area seemed to be cooling off by the minute. It never turned cold, but the climate changed from humid and stuffy to crisp and pleasant.

"Yes, it's quite marvelous!" said the silver-haired man proudly, as if his country was his child. Steven paused with his luggage just out of the way of the disembarkees. "I think Prof. Birch said he'd meet us at the arrivals hall at around seven. We're in no hurry, but we shouldn't idle." The three travellers watched as an amber bag cart docked with the aircraft and began to carefully accept their luggage. They then walked briskly towards, then climbed aboard a sky-blue coloured shuttle bus that would take them to the main complex.

.

"Umm," Serena began slightly embarrassed, "Who's Professor Birch?"

Sawyer chimed in; "He was the scientist who gave me my partner Sceptile, while he was still a Treecko!"

"He also gave May her first Pokemon, as well as Brendan Bury."

"Sorry... Ugh, who's Brendan?" Serena asked again.

"Oh, of course, you haven't been following the Hoenn League."

"Brendan's an upcoming Ace Trainer who's just taken on the Hoenn League! He topped out in first place, and he's gonna get to face the Elite Four in just two weeks!" Sawyer said eagerly.

"Only two weeks? Wow, he's come on a long way," marvelled Steven. "He's a great guy as well, always trying his best for his Pokemon and friends. He also helped out with some of Lysandre's dealings when he was still concerned with Team Magma and Aqua."

"Sounds just like Ash," Serena mused aloud, a little sadly.

"Yeah! Before I met Ash, he was always my source of inspiration," Sawyer said, savouring, in Serena's mind, the over-glorification of this character.

.

The shuttle bus came to a smooth halt in a small station attached to the main building. The three of them hopped off with their luggage, and wheeled into the airport. Immediately Serena could smell hundreds of new scents she didn't recognise, see hundreds of new colours rarely flaunted in Kalos, and hear thousands of tongues she couldn't discern from common gibberish. Principally, the same language was spoken across the world, however, many older people still lived with their ancient dialects, preserved only by their vocal chords. She was surprised she hadn't seen so many Hoenn natives on their flight west, or at least who she recognised as Hoenn natives. She understood that her outlook on the world was still quite narrow-minded. The group went over to luggage recovery centre, where they quickly found everything that was theirs on a huge conveyor belt.

"I estimate we could make it to the arrivals hall by six-fifty. Want to buy anything?" Steven asked the two teens.

"I'd love to!" said Serena excitedly, "But I'm gonna need to find somewhere to exchange my Kalosian money for Hoenn's currency.

"Oh yeah," said Sawyer in agreement.

.

The three of them located a currency exchange and spent a few minutes buying simple supplies like Bug-Type repellant and medical items, as well as some snacks for the journey to Littleroot, where it was agreed they would be staying. Once they had obtained all they needed, the group set out for the arrivals hall where they hoped to meet Professor Birch. The hall was a cavernous room lined with various shops of a more serious purpose. Immediately on arrival, the group caught sight of the bear of a man that was the professor. He had a thick copper beard, and a clumpy mess of brown hair on his head. His overall figure was very round and plump. He wore simple khaki safari shorts held up with a dark belt with a polished silver buckle. On his upper half he was squeezed into a navy blue t-shirt under a huge, bleached lab coat. His feet rested in a pair of loose-fitting brown flip-flops and he slung a disproportionately huge satchel under his left arm.

.

"Greetings, Daniel!" Steven said, using the professor's first name.

"Ah, hello, Steven!" Birch replied. The two men shook hands firmly, before Birch realised that Serena and Sawyer were the teens he was expecting. "And if it isn't Sawyer!"

"It's been a long time, Professor!" Sawyer exclaimed, overwhelmed with an apparent nostalgia as he shook hands with the professor as well.

"And who might this young lady be?" Birch asked, referring to Serena who was putting on her friendliest smile.

"This is Serena, a Pokemon Performer from the Kalos region!" Sawyer announced excitedly.

"Hi, Professor Birch! It's lovely to meet you!" Serena said, finally feeling more relaxed.

"Haha, lovely to meet you too, Serena!" Birch stooped low and whispered in Sawyer's ear. "Something between you two?"

Sawyer immediately erupted into about thirty shades of pink. "Er- no! N-no!" He desperately scrambled for words. "Ugh... She likes Ash!" he whispered. Serena just about figured what he was on about.

"Oh, of course!" Birch said, grinning heartily and innocently. "How's Ash doing, anyway? I heard he did exceptionally well in the Kalos League."

"Yeah!" Serena burst in with pride. "He made it to the finals!"

"Uh-huh! The battle was amazing, as well!" Sawyer added. "His opponent was a fierce trainer with a Mega Evolved Charizard!"

"Yeah, but Ash's Greninja did something even cooler!" Serena rambled. "It apparently could change its form through a 'Bond Phenomenon' with Ash, and it became Ash-Greninja! I was the most awesome thing to see ever!"

"Really?" Birch said, genuinely intrigued. He was about to pull something from his bag, but stopped as if he had remembered something suddenly. "How about we continue this conversation at the car?"

Everyone either verbally or visually concurred. They leisurely strolled out the main exit and were greeted with the fresh, coastal atmosphere of Lilycove City once again. It seemed to instantly clear everybody's sense of smell. Ahead lay a huge carpark with each column broken up by un-kept lines of natural grass. Every twenty metres or so a huge tropical tree cast a shadow over its immediate surroundings.

.

Birch decided to re-initiate the conversation about Ash's Greninja.

"Yes! It was quite magnificent!" He paused. "Do you remember when the Lumiose crisis hit the headlines?"

"Of course! It was the biggest story of the year since Lysandre's involvement with the Groudon and Kyogre... fiasco."

"But I suppose the government censored the international broadcasts. They probably hid Ash and his friends."

Everyone turned to Steven, confused.

"What do you mean? Why were we censored?" Serena asked, making no sense of what she had heard.

"Yeah! How does that make any sense?" added Sawyer.

"Well, I don't suppose anybody high up would want teenagers to be seen so directly as a cause, or resolution to what happened. There would be outrage about your safety."

"But we took part because we all wanted to make a difference!" Serena said confidently, with Sawyer nodding. "So did you!"

"I'm not saying I agree with what they did." Steven said very seriously. At this moment, the group found Birch's SUV. It was a large silver machine, with a sleek body and square front. Everybody loaded their luggage in the spacious boot, packing it full. Steven decided to change the subject as everybody got in. The two men were seated in the front, with Birch driving on the left-hand side. Serena and Sawyer filed in the back.

.

"An impressive car you've got!" Steven remarked. "Must've been worth a fortune."

"Oh, no, no. I'm just renting this one for a week or so. My usual car... It's in no fit state to ferry you guys around for a week, assuming that's how long you're goin' to need me."

There was a brief period of silence as Professor Birch started the engine and drove out of the car park onto the busy roads of Lilycove City. The sun was in the process of setting and many of the buildings around the car were twinkling with lights. It was quite peaceful, unlike Lumiose City before the Team Flare attacks. A few cars passed in the opposite directions, all driving on the right side of the road, just like in the Kalos region.

"So what's the route, Professor?" Sawyer asked curiously.

"The route? Well, there's no route across the Fortree marshes, so we'll be going through Fortree City via the country tracks. We'll have to stay the night over there, if that's okay, and I've already got some rooms arranged. We'll just keep going until we reach Mauville, and from there we can take the main roads over new Oldale Bridge to Littleroot."

"So it's gonna be a little while."

"Right. About eight hours total driving."

Serena felt like complaining, but she kept her clapper shut for the sake of politeness. She was now wishing she'd bought more snacks at the airport, even though she had two carrier bags full.

"Sound's good to me!" Steven said, a little more enthusiastically than the two teens in the back. Serena put on her neck pillow from Lumiose Airport and shuffled into a more comfortable position, with her head resting against the window. She stared wearily at Steven's headrest. Sawyer slumped sideways a bit, resting his head on his shoulder.

"Well, I'm gonna try to get some sleep," Sawyer announced. "G'night." Soon all the passengers were slipping into sleep. Birch, however, was fully awake and driving carefully down the tracks that would lead to Fortree City.

Sawyer was awoken by the glare of Fortree City's lights casting multicoloured rays all around. He was still very drowsy, blinking the three hours' worth of sleep away. Birch hadn't noticed Sawyer wake up and was still focused on his driving. Sawyer sat in peaceful contemplation. Fortree City was largely built in the trees that had grown away from the vast marshes further south. This allowed the lights from all the homes on the edge of the town to shine for quite some distance. He looked at Serena, who was still sleeping sound. He realised this was probably because the city's lights were on his side of the car, and she was quite sheltered from the glare.

Sawyer couldn't deny he found Serena attractive, especially with the odd rays of light from the city casting vivid shadows all over. Everybody thought Serena was attractive. And incredibly kind, polite and modest, too. Of course he had a crush on her. It probably began when he was with Ash at Valerie's fashion show, and Serena went up on stage. But that was all it was. A little, private crush. Nobody would find out, and nobody would care; they would probably have a crush too.

Sawyer also realised that he'd been thinking about his friends in much different ways more recently. For instance, when he started out on his journey, he wouldn't have dreamed about such things as 'attraction'. He had also become much more cautious when it came to things he said around other people. He was, simply put, mature.

At that moment, Birch seemed to notice that Sawyer was awake, and Sawyer panicked when he realised he had been staring at Serena sleeping. Thankfully Birch didn't seem to notice, or at least he didn't seem bothered.

.

"So, what d'you think of Fortree City?" Birch asked, breaking the silence.

"It's definitely changed a lot since I was here last," Sawyer said with wonder.

"Yup! So much expansion! Now there are even proper roads for the cars down on the ground. They've been stabilizing and flattening the ground, and there are even some major buildings at ground level," Birch marvelled. Both Serena and Steven stirred because of the conversation.

"Are we nearly there?" Serena yawned.

"Yeah, you can see the city already!" Sawyer said excitedly, despite his tiredness.

"Cool!" Serena leaned across to the left of the car to get a better glimpse of the city. It was a unique place. "Wow, this place looks awesome!"

"Yeah, it's been a long time since I've been in Fortree," Steven remarked. "Last time I was here it was for a battle with Winona, I believe."

"Is Winona the gym leader?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, she's exceptional. A real elegant battler!"

.

The conversation kept going as the SUV rolled into the city. The place had evolved a lot since its treehouse village era. Now it was a thriving settlement with a complete road network, and a pretty large ground-based infrastructure. There were few other vehicles on the roads, however, as the time was about eleven o'clock. They drove around until Birch found a large Pokemon Centre type building that was a bit larger than usual, largely built around a huge tree.

"This Pokemon Centre also serves as one of the city's primary hotels. They've got great service here!" said Birch, as he parked outside. The group got out and unloaded some of their luggage that they needed for the night and wheeled into the building.

"Good evening, Professor Birch!" greeted Nurse Joy, who, Serena noted, looked exactly like those in Kalos. "Are these your guests?"

"Yup! These are the guys!" he said as he approached Nurse Joy's desk.

"Here are your key-cards for the night," she said as she handed him four plastic cards. "You've got three rooms, with a single bed in two of them and two singles in the other."

"Just what I ordered!" Birch said as he signed some quick paperwork. "Thanks, Nurse Joy!"

The other three thanked her as well, and Professor Birch lead the way. They went over to a large elevator which appeared to be embedded in a huge chunk of tree in the centre of the atrium. Birch pressed the up button on a small panel stuck on the bark. He paused for a moment. "You two are okay with sleeping in the same room?"

"Yeah, yeah, I don't mind," said Sawyer.

"Mm-hmm, I'm fine with that," agreed Serena.

"Wow, this hotel really is built into the tree!" Steven exclaimed. "I've heard of this place's construction, but I never heard of its scale!"

"Yeah, this is amazing!" Serena said. Sawyer concurred. The elevator quickly arrived and they all went on board. The huge metal contraption began to accelerate vertically for a few seconds, before coming to a smooth halt. The glossy doors slid open to reveal a curved corridor that appeared to run all the way round the trunk of the tree. They were on one of the upper floors. The teens were in complete awe, and even Steven was struck.

"Well, Professor Birch and I have our own rooms as we need to catch up on some work, so we'll see you in the morning. We can get up at any time."

"Great!" said Sawyer and Serena together. Everyone headed into their respective rooms.

.

The teens' room was huge. It looked a little like a huge pizza slice with the centre cut out. On the opposite end was a massive curved window and a door out to a beautiful balcony. There were two beds against the right wall, and two desks on the opposite side. To the immediate right was a spacious bathroom. Sawyer wheeled his small suitcase into a corner, under a desk.

"Which bed do you want?" Sawyer asked.

"I'll take this one," Serena replied, flopping on the bed closest to the huge window, leaving her suitcase at the foot of the bed. She sighed with comfort. "Finally, we've made it."

"We're still only halfway there, don't forget," Sawyer said, collapsing on his bed as well. "You can have the bathroom first."

Serena just noticed how much of a gentleman Sawyer was being up to that point, when she collected her pajamas, towel and toiletries and went into the bathroom. She had a brisk shower and got changed quickly. She hurried into bed and stared out over the beautiful Fortree midnight. She heard Sawyer quickly do the same, getting into his bed near the door. She felt as if she wanted to spark a conversation, but quickly her tiredness took over here. She was pretty sure that Sawyer was staring at her, but she shrugged it off and fell asleep.