Chapter Text
Arven would have never asked Nemona to come with him if he had a choice, yet here he was, wandering around the South province with Nemona, someone he couldn’t stand at times. She was the only person he could think to ask to accompany him. He sure as hell wouldn’t be able to get anything done on his own, he sucked at battling to put it lightly. Nemona walked beside her newly acquired Koraidon, occasionally throwing it treats and berries. “So this herba mystica stuff…it's healing right? And you're totally not getting me to collect illegal drugs with you right?” Arven turned his head. “No, of course not! The Herba Mystica is gonna help a lot of people. And pokemon.” He thought of his Mabostiff, who he was doing everything for. He didn’t plan on telling Nemona about Mabostiff, or at least not about his sickness. He didn’t need any pity points, especially from her.
Arven squinted and spotted their destination in the distance. “Nemona! Over here!” He began running towards where a “titan pokemon” was said to be. “Alright, I’m coming!” She called out from behind in an annoyed tone. The two of them didn’t exactly get along. Their personalities clashed like oil and water. “Woah… what the hell is that thing.” Nemona stared wide eyed at a cliff of stone, it was obviously something Arven hadn’t noticed because he asked “What? What are you looking at- OH MY ARCEUS.” He looked up to see a gigantic Klawf scaling the side of the cliff. “That must be the-” “TITAN!!” Nemona threw a rock at the pokemon's back, which caused it to leap down from its spot on the stone. “SHIT SHIT SHIT!” Arven had to dive out of the way to avoid getting crushed by the ‘Stony Cliff Titan’ as they called it. “You’re real smart aren’t you.” He asked in a sarcastic flat tone. “Aw! Thanks for noticing!” He grumbled something to himself.
Klawf let out a loud and booming cry that made the ground shake. “Alright! I’ve been waiting for a good battle!” Nemona pumped her arm up and tossed a pokeball from the backpack she brought. “You’re up Pawmot!” Pawmot let out an adorable little battle cry and stood awaiting instruction. “Uhh… Go Naclstack!” Arven threw out whichever one of his pokemon’s balls was in reach, not really paying mind to type advantages. Maybe that's why he wasn’t very good at battling. “Use Thunder Shock!” “Rock slide?” They commanded their pokemon as they attacked the intimidating titan. It suddenly looked very weak after Nemona’s attack, it stumbled back and scurried its way back up the cliff and out of sight.”You're welcome. Hey where you goin’?” Arven started walking away, stuffing his pokeball back in his bag. “We gotta follow it. It's weak. The sooner we catch up to it the better. Let's keep moving.” Nemona stretched and called her Pawmot to return. “I guess you're right, we do have to find the drugs you're looking for after all.” Koraidon stood from its spot where it watched the battle and panted happily like a dog. “They aren’t- Whatever. Let's just get this over with.”
They finally… After 20 minutes of climbing and running trying to find the stupid thing, they met with the Klawf once again. It turned its back to them and crushed the stoney wall in front of them, revealing a cave with something glowing inside. The Klawf ate the shiny thing and seems to get some sort of power-up. It let out another horribly loud battle cry, turning back to Nemona and Arven. “Okay,here we go again!” Nemona dusted off her pants after calling Koraidon back into its ball. “One more time! Let's Go!” She was not out of breath, unlike Arven who didn’t have some dinosaur to ride on. “Arceus… I cannot wait for this to be over.” He released whichever pokeball was closest once again, this time it was his Hitmontop. “Tackle!” Hitmontop charged at the titan and Arven couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for making such a small pokemon go up against that thing.
“Alright Pawmot, Use slam!” A few moves later the Klawf is stumbling and missing its attacks. (mostly the work of Nemona once again.) “Quick! Let's attack together! We’ll finish it this time for sure!” Arven nodded and they both exclaimed; “Use Close Combat!” Their pokemon attacked from either side, successfully defeating the Klawf. Nemona stretched her arms out and smiled wide. “Alright! Now let's go get your magic weed!” She put her arm around his shoulder and he shrugged her off. Arven ignored her comment and entered the cave, spotting what looked like the Herba mystica from his book. He gave himself a mental high five and kneeled beside the plant. He opened his notepad and smiled to himself while writing. He plucked some of the herb off the stem and inspected it.
“So it is drugs.” Nemona said right beside his ear, making him jump. “ ‘Drug Dealer’ is not gonna look good for my reputation as a champion.” Arven looked over his shoulder and glared at Nemona who was bent over with her hand on her knees inspecting the Herba Mystica. “Suddenly I’m wishing I hadn't asked you to come.” Nemona faked an offended face. “I’m awesome, I couldn't possibly fathom why anyone would not want to spend time with me, Nemona, The Champion, Personal friend to La Primera-” ''Yeah okay I get it.” Arven couldn’t help but smile a bit at Nemona's banter, even if she was still being pretty annoying. “Oh wow! Look at that! I got you to smile!” She sat up and smiled back. “Cállate, tú tan molesto a veces.” He bit back another smile.
“Wow Arven, so mean..” she said dramatically. Arven stood up and unpacked his sandwich supplies from his backpack. “What are you doing?” “Making myself a sandwich. I would make you one too but we don’t want the champion getting high off my mysterious drugs.” Nemona suddenly remembered how hungry she was. “Oh, come on! I was just playin’!” Arven smiled again, he planned to make her one anyways, it would have been rude not to, he was the one who asked her to accompany him after all. He finished their sandwiches, one for him and one for Nemona. He handed it to her and took a bite of his sandwich. It was salty from the Herba Mystica. Maybe a bit too salty but he was too hungry to care.
Koraidon let itself out of its ball and sniffed the air. “You seriously need to teach that thing to stay in its ball.” Nemona gasped dramatically. “He is not a thing, he is the cutest!” she crossed her arms and Koraidon looked upward dismissively to match Nemona’s attitude. “Arceus, just eat your food please.” Koraidon leaned into Nemona's sandwich with interest. She looked at her sandwich, then koraidon, and gave it the entire thing, which he ate in one bite. “Hey! I made that for you and you just give it to Koraidon?” He glared at Koraidon, even if he didn't understand anything that was happening or why Arven was upset. “Aww, don’t be mad at him. How could you be mad at that face?” She pet Koraidon's head and it let out a small chirp.
Koraidon let out a loud cry and its body glowed in power. “Woah. Arven your drugs are fucking magic.” Nemona's rotom phone flew out of her bag and chimed. “Koraidon has gained the Dash ability.” She smiled wide and threw her arms around Koraidon's neck in a hug. Arven’s eyes widened with hope. “It must've been the Herba Mystica! Yes I knew it would do something!” He was so happy he could have screamed. “Alright! Which titan are we going after next?” Nemona Lifted herself up to sit on Koraidons back. “Ah, the Open Sky titan, why don't you wait for me outside? I want to do some more looking around this cave.” “Alright partner, don't take too long!” Nemona left the cave and Arven sighed, Leaving him to call Mabosstiff out of his ball.
Mabosstiff was in rough shape, Arven sat on the floor next to his buddy and fed him the rest of the sandwich he made. Mabostiff huffed and leaned into Arvens hand. “It’s okay buddy, I’ll find a way. Mabosstiff, return.” He returned to his ball and Arven held back tears. He knew it was unlikely Mabostiff would suddenly get better after one dose of herba mystica, but the disappointment was still real, the disappointment in himself. He put the rest of the herba mystica in a tiny plastic bag, (jeez it really did look like drugs now) and started to walk out of the cave before picking up a shiny rock. Nemona would like this right? Nemona was leaning against a rock, playing fetch with her rockruff. “Go get it girl! Good job!” Arven remembered when Mabostiff was just a little Maschiff and they would play like that.
Arven handed Nemona the rock and she gasped. “A Smooth Rock! I’ve been searching for one of these! Thanks Pepper!” Arven raised an eyebrow at that name. “Pepper?” “Yeah, when your mom used to come to the academy to give presentations, that's what she called you, right?” Arven smiled fondly at the memories of his mother embarrassing him during class with that dumb childhood nickname, but his face quickly dropped. “Yeah, she did.” Nemona called her Rockruff back into her ball, “Sky Titan now, right? We should head back and set out in the morning.” She smiled her wide, confident smile.“right.”