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"Oh, here's something..." Sylvan says quietly to himself. He walks up to a tree and picks up an item underneath. He holds a small golden chain between his fingers and inspects a tiny, beaten-up pendant attatched to it.
He clicks his tongue, "It's just someone's old jewelry. If it's beat up this bad, it's probably not worth much, right...?" Despite his doubt, he pockets the necklace. It was one of the only interesting things he had found while searching for items in a forested area near Hoenn's Route 116.
As he stands back up to continue his search, there's suddenly an uproar of Pokémon roars and cries deeper in the forest. Sylvan, intruigued and concerned, cautiously follows the sound.
Once Sylvan gets close to the noise, he pauses for a moment. As quietly as possible, he takes a Pokéball from his backpack.
"I might need backup..." He says under his breath as he sends out his Espeon. Together, Sylvan and Espeon make their way into a small clearing where they find three aggressive Poochyena, one with an injured Skitty held in its fangy maw.
It's at this point that Sylvan wonders whether or not he should intervene. This... is just how nature works, isn't it? Even if it's disturbing to a human, it's just the way of the world...
Before Sylvan can put too much thought into this, the two unoccupied Poochyena turn to attack Espeon, who in turn blasts them with Swift. All three Poochyena then scurry away, leaving the Skitty behind.
Sylvan hurries to the Skitty, unconscious and limp. He gently places his hand on the Skitty's torso, feeling it move with each shallow breath. Now following his gut instincts, he scoops the Skitty into his arms and bolts in the direction of the nearest city, Espeon tailing behind him.
The world morphs into a blur as Sylvan runs through the route.
"Sorry, I don't wanna battle you!" He calls back to a trainer who'd tried to stop him and been left in the dust.
"Outta my way, I don't have time!" He says to another trainer in his way.
Sylvan hardly notices dirt and grass path of Route 116 transitioning into the brick path of Rustboro City. He also doesn't notice the man standing in his trajectory, and the man doesn't notice him. Not until Sylvan ends up running headfirst into him, nearly knocking them both over.
The haze dissipating from his mind, Sylvan stumbles backwards and looks at the person in front of him. He has an expression on his face that Sylvan finds unnervingly difficult to interpret.
"S... sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to- I didn't see- I-I gotta go! Sorry!" Sylvan stammers out before bolting again.
The man stares at the Skitty in Sylvan's arms, his eyebrows knitted together in concern. He turns and watches Sylvan as he runs off.
Finally, Sylvan arrives in the Rustboro City Pokémon Center, panting as all the running catches up to him. Espeon comes through the door behind him.
"Oh... Espeon. Sorry, didn't mean to make you run all the way here." Sylvan says between heavy breaths. Espeon responds with a somewhat reassuring yelp.
Returning to the matter at hand, Sylvan hurries to the front counter, holding out the Skitty to the nurse.
"I found this Pokémon in the wild." He tells the nurse. "Normally I'd leave a wild Pokémon to do it's own thing, but... this one seems really hurt, so..." he trails off as the nurse takes Skitty from his arms.
"Oh, yes." The nurse replies, inspecting the Pokémon. "It's a good thing you brought it here! It probably wouldn't have made it on its own... but I can help! I'll be back in a bit." The nurse takes the Skitty into a room in the back.
"Yeah... yeah okay." Sylvan says, glancing around for somewhere to sit. After he sits down, Espeon sits in front of him, making eye contact.
Sylvan pulls Espeon's Pokéball from his bag. "You want this?" He asks, turning the button towards Espeon. Espeon sniffs at the button before pressing it with its nose, returning to its ball. Sylvan grins softly as he watches this happen.
He's not sure how long he's been waiting. At some point he started spacing out, getting lost in his own mind. He regains awareness when someone walks into his vision. He looks up and finds a strange man glaring down at him.
"Um..." Sylvan starts, before something dawns on him, "Oh, wait. You're that guy I ran into earlier." He hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the man's looks at the time, but he recognized his stormy grey-blue eyes and distinctive pale green hair.
"Uh, sorry again. About that." Sylvan mutters, gaze switching back and forth between the man's face and a random part of the floor.
"I don't care about that." The man responds pointedly, "Why did you let your friend get injured so severely?"
"Wh... huh?" Sylvan replies. His confusion comes not only from the strange accusation but also from how fast this person spoke. Sylvan was hardly done processing what he said before he started speaking again.
"The small pink Pokémon you had with you. Why would you let that happen to it?"
"Oh, the Skitty...! That's- that's not my Pokémon!"
"Oh?" The man's expression shifts slightly, but it doesn't seem any better or worse than it was before. Simply a different flavor of frustration.
"It's a wild Pokémon, it was attacked by a pack of Poochyena! I know wild Pokémon can usually fend for themselves, but... the nurse agreed, things would've gotten worse if I hadn't intevened!" Sylvan rambles, not sure how much explanation would satisfy the person in front of him.
"It's true!" a nearby voice chimes in. Both men look to the source of the voice: the Pokémon Center nurse.
"Skitty is doing okay now." The nurse says, "But it needs to rest a little longer. Once it's ready, you can return it to where you found it."
"Okay, sounds good." Sylvan replies. He looks to the green-haired man. He seems to be thinking very hard about something.
"I'm sorry." The man says after a moment. "For jumping to conclusions. It's clear now that you didn't do anything wrong."
"Oh, it's... it's no big deal. You clearly care a lot about Pokémon."
The man smiles. Sylvan feels his heart skip a beat. What? Why is it doing that. Stop. Don't be weird.
"I do." He then says, pulling Sylvan's attention back to him. The wellbeing of my friends- that is to say, Pokémon- is very important to me."
"Wowza. Are you friends with every Pokémon...?" Sylvan asks somewhat jokingly.
The man chuckles, "I'd certainly like to think so, though I obviously haven't met them all. Oh, by the way, my name is N."
"Just 'N?' Huh... cool. Uh, I'm Sylvan." Instinctively, he holds out his hand for a handshake. But once he realizes he did so, he feels a bit awkward about it. Nonetheless, N seems happy to shake Sylvan's hand.
"I hope you wouldn't mind if I waited for Skitty with you. It would put me at ease to see it doing alright." N says, sitting down next to Sylvan.
"Oh, uh... yeah, sure." Sylvan replies, feeling strangely nervous having N right next to him.
A few moments of silence pass before conversation picks back up.
"So, are you from here?" N asks.
"From Rustboro or from Hoenn?" Sylvan asks, but doesn't wait for an answer. Instead continuing, "I guess it doesn't matter, because the answer is no either way." Sylvan says, laughing a little to himself. "What about you?"
"Oh, I came here very recently, after..." N suddenly pauses and looks around the room. "Well, I shouldn't talk about that here. Admittedly, I wasn't really sure where I would end up when I left. I just knew I needed to leave."
"Ah, I can definitely relate to that. I've been wandering around with no particular aim since I left home a few years ago. I just need to be... anywhere but Lacunosa. Or, that's how I felt when I left, at least."
This catches N's interest. "Did you say 'Lacunosa?' As in, Lacunosa Town, Unova?" He asks eagerly.
"Yup. That's my hometown. You've heard of it, I assume?"
"Yes, I have! I'm from Unova as well, you see."
"Oh, cool! I don't really meet a lot of other Unovans. Maybe I would if I talked to more people... anyway, what town are you from?"
N freezes. He visibly struggles to think of a way to respond, "Ah.. well... you see..."
In the midst of N's fumbling, a distinctive squeaky meow is heard from the front counter. Sylvan and N look over to see the nurse holding Skitty, who looks lively and energetic.
"Okay, Skitty is ready to go home now!" The nurse announces. Sylvan rises from his seat to retrieve the Pokémon. The nurse hands Skitty over to Sylvan and says, "This is the man who saved you, Skitty!"
"Oh, please. I was just transportation, you did all the saving..." Sylvan replies. Skitty meows and softly headbutts him.
"Both of you were crucial factors in this equation." N says, now standing behind Sylvan.
"I suppose that's one way to look at it..." Sylvan responds, before deciding to change the subject. "Well, I guess it's back to Route 116 with you." He says to Skitty. Skitty then rubs its head against Sylvan.
"I think Skitty has something else in mind." N speculates.
"Huh? What's on your mind, Skitty?" Skitty then meows cheerily and climbs onto Sylvan's shoulder.
"Skitty says it would like to be your friend." N says, perplexing Sylvan.
"What... what do you mean, 'Skitty says?'"
"Oh, I guess it never came up. I can understand the voices of Pokémon."
"You... you can what?"
"If you don't believe me, ask Skitty if what I said is true."
Sylvan looks at Skitty. "Is it true...? Do you want to be my friend?"
Skitty nods, meowing again.
"And... that is what you said, right? N wasn't just... I don't know, making a guess?"
Skitty once again responds affirmatively.
"Wow..." Sylvan looks at N. "That's pretty cool. Sorry for doubting you..."
"It's alright." N responds. "I realize it sounds quite improbable."
"Well, anyway, I guess I should, uh..." Sylvan crouches to the ground and takes off his backpack, Skitty jumping off his shoulder and sniffing the bag curiously. He pulls out an empty Pokéball.
"You ready?" He asks Skitty, showing it the Pokéball. Skitty runs over and hits the button with its paw, catching Sylvan off guard. A beam emerges from the button, turning Skitty into a bright energy and pulling it into the ball.
The ball shakes once...
Twice...
And....
Click!
"Alright!" Sylvan cheers. "I'm sure we'll be good friends, Skitty!"
"Congratulations on making a new friend, Sylvan." N says. He's smiling, but he looks a little uncomfortable, for a reason Sylvan can't discern.
"Maybe even two, if you'd consider yourself my friend..." Sylvan says somewhat sheepishly.
"Oh! Sure, I'd be glad to be your friend!" N replies, the traces of discomfort fading from his expression.
"R-Really!?" Sylvan responds, shaking his free hand in excitement. He wasn't actually... expecting that to work.
"Yes, of course... though I'm afraid this is where we'll have to part ways for now."
"Ah. Yeah, I... I guess we've both got things to do."
"I'm sure we'll meet again. Goodbye for now, Sylvan."
"Y-yeah, I... see you later, N...!"
Sylvan watches N leave the Pokémon Center, eager for their next meeting. He then looks fondly at Skitty's Pokéball in his hand, holds it to his heart for a moment, and then puts it in his backpack.
With that, he turns and waves goodbye to the nurse. He then leaves the Pokémon Center himself, and his journey continues.