Chapter Text
The train ride to Tourmaline Station was uneventful.
Romi was the only passenger, as the train station was not officially back in business yet; the only trips being made were to gather supplies and carry the construction workers to where they were needed. And now, on Adrienn's instruction, to give Romi a lift into the desert "on City business".
Romi had wondered about that part, at first; they didn't know why Adrienn hadn't simply told the engineers that they were after a badge. But they didn't bother questioning xem about it; the Fairy Leader was busy enough as it was. Instead they had simply stocked up on supplies- their bag was stuffed with sandwiches, berries and Pokemon medicine- and got on the train. Less than an hour later, the train slowed, and Romi felt themself tense- but nothing happened other than the engineer opening the door and checking to see if they were off yet.
It was hot . Reborn was almost always warm, anywhere that wasn't in the vicinity of Ametrine Mountain, but this was something else entirely. It reminded Romi slightly of Pyrous Mountain's thick, choking heat, although the desert air felt drier and didn't carry the volcano's scorched chemical smell. But the swirling sand in the air made it just as unpleasant to breathe, as they discovered after their first gasp left them coughing.
By the time they had cleared their throat of sand, the train was gone and the gate had closed behind it. Romi wondered if they would clean the tracks every time the train passed through, once the trains were officially running. They looked around; the city wall was behind them, a mountain to the east, but little else that they could see.
They took only one step before they heard a voice, muffled but unmistakable.
"I hoped you wouldn't come."
They turned quickly, and sure enough, there he was. Taka Alcantara, child of Team Meteor's mastermind Solaris. And likely runaway, judging by his disheveled appearance. The anger and indignation that had been building since Romi heard his voice ebbed at the sight of him looking so miserable, replaced with a feeling of worry and something else that was too tender to go near. Romi recalled their anger- really, how dare he ambush them like this?- and brushed aside the grim edge to the comfort that settled over their shoulders as they glared at the boy.
"Romi, I'm- I'm so sorry. I have to stop you here. If I don't... they're probably already- or she's- watching us from somewhere. I don't have a choice anymore!" He rubbed his face. "As if I ever did."
He was nearly in tears. The twinge of worry grew and flared, but Romi shoved it down with a vengeance. He was still trying to go back, to pretend. Romi's hand found first Faith's pokeball, then Betty's, and they clutched both in comfort for a moment before moving to release the latter onto the field to meet the Gliscor Taka had chosen.
The battle was somewhat subdued. Neither Trainer displayed their usual level of skill, both unused to the terrain and weather, and both distracted. By the time it was ending Taka could only sigh.
"I can't win. Not against you." He recalled the defeated Klefki, who reached for his hand with one key before returning to his Pokeball, and looked out over the horizon. "...And not against them."
Romi was still angry, but the battle had made it impossible to smother the concern they also felt. Returning Madison to her Pokeball, they simply followed his gaze. Nothing they could think of to say felt right- nothing expressed both their anger and the way it blended, somehow, into compassion. So they chose, as they often did, to simply say nothing at all.
After a moment Taka looked over at them. "So I guess that's it. I- This'll probably be the last time you have to deal with me. Sorry, again..." He looked down and scuffed the sandy stone platform with his shoes. And then his despondent expression shifted to one that was almost thoughtful. He looked back to Romi. "I never had a choice, but you can. You've always been standing up to us. And you've always been winning. You're gonna keep doing that, aren't you?"
Romi had not been expecting that. And they felt the pressure to say the right thing warring with their other instinct, which was to be entirely honest.
Romi had been fighting Team Meteor almost as long as they had been in Reborn, but so much of that time had been incidental. For a long time it had been other people driving the movement against Meteor, Romi only getting involved by the chance of being nearby when things broke out. It hadn't been until the mess in Beryl Ward that Romi had felt any personal drive to oppose Meteor beyond fear, of what they had done and what they were capable of doing. When they had seen what Meteor had done to the Tangrowth, and to Heather, the determination to protect others from them had finally taken root in Romi's heart. And as they fought, against Meteor and against Taka, that drive had only grown. But the fear had not gone; it had grown, too, and been mixed again with pain from all the things Team Meteor had taken.
And in this moment Romi felt all of that hit them in full force.
"I. Hope so."
"Not what I expected to hear, honestly, but what else is new? I never thought anything could change, but here you are. You rocked the boat and I've fallen right out of it. And yet you're still not sure."
Romi flinched at his words.
"So where does that leave me? When I go back a failure again, I won't get another chance. And you... you'll keep fighting anyway, whether you're sure or not," Taka realized. Again his face turned thoughtful. "...Romi, can I come with you?"
Not for the first time that day was Romi surprised. Both by Taka's request and by the clarity of their decision. They were still angry- they needed that anger- but they didn't hesitate for a moment. They nodded.
"Wait, really?" There was nothing but disbelief in his eyes now. Romi nodded again.
"Okay, so here's the plan. I've got absolutely no clue. So I'm just gonna follow you, okay? I'll try not to get in your way. If I can find somewhere safe to hide, I think I'll lay low there for a while. Maybe long enough that I'll get off that woman's radar. After that... who knows?" He shrugged. "I never thought I'd make it this far, I have no idea what comes next. But there's gotta be somewhere."
"Yeah," Romi agreed.
He seemed surprised. "I'll keep an eye out. And in the meantime, I kinda took a bunch of healing items from base before they sent me out here... so I can help you out whenever your Pokemon need healing. Like maybe now, before we head out?" He hopped off the platform and squatted before clicking a Pokeball, and Minior appeared. "Here you go, bud," he patted the Pokemon before spraying it with a Potion he pulled from his bag. Minior twirled gently before Taka recalled him.
Next came Gliscor, and once Taka had sprayed him he dove into the sand, rolling around in obvious glee, and with an amused sigh he let Gliscor keep playing while he treated first Klefki, then Komala and finally Chatot. Chatot hopped onto Taka's shoulder and made clicking sounds with his beak, watching Gliscor, and Romi chuckled.
The sound drew Gliscor and Chatot's attention, Gliscor stopping to see who had laughed and Chatot simply turning to look at them before turning back.
"Hey guys, we're going with Romi for now, okay?" Taka asked the two. "Romi, here, take some heals for your team."
"Gli." Gliscor rolled about in the sand some more, completely unconcerned.
Romi accepted the offered Potions with a nod of thanks, and brought out first Faith, then Betty and Madison. Primarina, Roserade and Fearow watched the others as Romi sprayed them down with healing salve. Shimmer, who hadn't battled, came last, the Musharna blinking up at Romi as they petted her. Romi briefly made the introductions, although none were truly needed. These Pokemon had battled each other often enough.
"Awesome," Taka said.
As Romi recalled each of their team and prepared to head off, they wondered again why they had accepted. They hadn't brought enough supplies for more than one person, they weren't even sure where the Gym was, and they were still angry. But there had only been one real choice. And once made, Romi was immediately sure it had been the right one.
It had been the closest thing Romi had ever seen to hope on Taka's face.
~~~~~
Tourmaline Desert was scorching hot, a fact with which both Taka and Romi were well acquainted by the end of the day. It had been a lot of trudging, fanning themselves off, and adjusting their clothes to keep sand out of their eyes, and more than once both of them had gotten a foot stuck in a patch of softer sand and nearly twisted an ankle. And through it all had been the unrelenting sun that beamed down oppressively.
At least their pace was comfortable, each finding the periodic pauses to deal with wild Pokemon enough of a rest that they could continue walking otherwise.
By the end of the day, though, a new fact was making itself known to them. Tourmaline Desert was hot by day , but as the sun sank gently behind the mountains, the air cooled to warm, then comfortable, and then chilly. And the wild Pokemon that had been so abundant throughout the day retreated, though neither saw where they went, and Taka and Romi began to notice Flygon and Cacturne instead against the fiery horizon. Taka seemed comfortable enough, but Romi grew cold, and after one battle with a pair of Hippopotas they withdrew a sweater from their bag.
"Hey, you okay?" Taka asked them. "It's cold out here at night. I mean, I’ve only been here since yesterday, but last night was pretty cold. You all good?"
Romi nodded, pulling the sweater over their head.
"Okay, cool. By the way, do you have any food in there? I don't actually know what time it is, but I'm kind of hungry. Aren't you?"
Romi paused, then opened their bag again. About a minute later, they brought out a pair of paper-wrapped sandwiches and handed one to Taka. "S'not much."
"Hey, it's better than nothing," he replied happily, ripping off the wrapping and opening his own bag. "Here." He held out a bottle of Fresh Water, and grinned as Romi took it.
"Thanks." They carefully unwrapped their own sandwich and sat down in the sand to eat it. Taka shrugged and did the same.
The pair ate mostly in silence, each too hungry after the long day to devote any energy to conversation. Taka finished first, and sat quietly drinking his water while Romi finished their sandwich. When that was finished, Romi gathered up both sandwich wrappers and stuck them in their pockets, and the two carried on.
The horizon dimmed, and stars appeared in the clear sky. The two continued walking, and the moon rose, a thin crescent of opal against the deepening blue. But it was not enough to see by, and eventually Romi stopped and turned to Taka, who was trailing slightly behind them.
"Should we stop?" they asked.
"Uh. Here?" Taka looked around and saw nothing but open sand. "There's... no cover, they could find us... Do any of your Pokemon know Flash? We could get somewhere safer."
Romi thought about it, then shook their head. "What about this?" They pulled out their Pokegear, and aimed it toward the ground. A faint white glow poured out from the screen.
"Again, better than nothing," Taka shrugged, and they continued walking.
After another hour, however, they were forced to admit defeat. The only thing they had found that wasn't sand or wild Pokemon was a boulder, roughly as tall as Romi and twice their height across. Taka immediately gravitated towards it.
"This'll work," he announced, inspecting the boulder and the area around it. "Not as good as the ruins, but it'll hide us a bit. Come check it out!"
Romi did, shrugging. It looked like any other boulder to them.
Taka slung his backpack onto the ground beside it and sat up against it, stretching his legs out. "Man, I didn't know how tired I was."
Romi was tired, too, though they didn't want to admit it. They stood against the cool stone, letting it support them as they reached into their bag and withdrew a Fire Stone.
“What’s that for?” Taka asked.
“It should keep us warm,” they replied. Fire Stone was set aside as Romi withdrew the paper wrappers from their pocket and arranged them in a small circle on the sand. They placed the Fire Stone within the circle, and looked back to Taka. “Stand back.”
He stepped back, still watching curiously, and Romi took a deep breath and blew on the stone.
The papers erupted into flames, and Romi stepped back as well.
“...Well, gotta admit I didn’t see that coming.” Taka said, staring at the small fire. “Where do they teach you that, anyway?”
“Camping,” Romi said, a hint of a smile on their face. “I bought a few for the trip.”
“I mean, someone might see it, but… better than freezing to death, I guess.” He yawned.
"I'll take first watch," Romi said.
"Wait- really? Uh. Okay, thanks. Wake me up when you get tired." He unwound his scarf once and tucked the end under his head like a pillow, then curled up against the boulder. "...Dang, this sand is hard ."
Despite that, it was less than ten minutes before Romi heard a quiet snore, and looked down to see Taka sound asleep.
They smiled for a moment.
The night passed without any sign of either danger or comfort, for either of them. Taka jolted awake several times, sometimes with a yell, and every time he did so it startled Romi, who kept awake by tending the fire. The low flames kept them warm enough, and it seemed to discourage the lurking Pokemon from approaching, but it was not an easy task to keep it going. Romi, who had not been camping since early childhood, kept accidentally letting the fire die and having to relight it. And fanning the Fire Stone was itself tiring. When Romi caught themself nodding off for the second time they woke Taka, who despite waking up on his own several times was not an easy person to rouse. He slept through whispering, calling and nudging his foot, and did not wake until Romi carefully shook his shoulder.
He yawned. "Oh hey. Thanks, Romi."
They were not sure exactly what time it was, or how long it took them to get to sleep. Later, Romi was fairly sure they had not so much fallen asleep as passed out. But their sleep was dreamless, and they did not especially notice the discomfort of the ground as they slept.