Opal & Topaz

S1 Ep6: Familiar face

After another week or so of travel, he'd finally made it to the outskirts of Slateport city. Apparently the place was full of scam shops. Frankly, he couldn't care less. Anything would do, he just wanted to eat something proper for once. Sparks trodded alongside him, pretty tired from all the repellant duty he'd been on. It had been Sparks's job to roar every hour or so to keep Pokémon from jumping out, but they'd run out of water a couple hours prior, so his throat must've been getting pretty dry. Overall, they were exhausted, and he couldn't wait to find a hotel somewhere so they could crash before travelling again.

Sparks grumbled as a shrub rustled close to them. He could see a flash of blue disappear into the undergrowth. That Froakie had followed them all the way from Dewford. He'd tried to coax it out with pokepuffs, but Sparks seemed to have a grudge for whatever reason. He wondered if Sparks was just jealous, after all he'd never had another Pokémon before. Though, he'd developed something of a soft spot for the thing. It had jumped out to fight the occasional bug Pokémon for them, and from the few interactions he's had without Sparks interrupting, it had made itself out to be oddly endearing to him.

His only concern was that it didn't seem like much of a fighter. After all, this whole gig he had was centred around battling, so to drag it into being his Pokémon and forcing it to fight seemed cruel. Then again, it did seem smart. Smart battle-wise, at least. It knew when to stay out of trouble, but it wasn't the best at common-sense. He'd seen it trip up on twigs multiple times already, never mind the fact that it seemed to have barely any spatial awareness. He shrugged, he supposed he'd just have to see what happens.

As the general store came closer he could hear Sparks groaning impatiently. Clearly they had the same priorities as him right now. So, he took what little money he had in his pocket still and started counting. It would be tight, but they should be able to afford some food and water. A small ding rang into the store as he walked in, besides that, the incessant chatter of a customer. One with an oddly familiar Charmeleon. Great. This guy again.

Hank tried disappearing between the display racks, but he'd turned to see him already.

"Oh, hey! I wasn't expecting to bump into you so soon!" Deimos waved, giving him an oddly friendly smile before turning back to the cashier. Flint, however, walked over to them, a determined glare on its face. It walked past him, stopping to face Sparks down, before puffing out it's chest and standing on the tips of its feet to seem taller than them. Sparks, seemed more amused than anything, however they played along and bared their teeth, letting out a low growl. Flint flinched, before trying to puff his chest out more. They had balls, he'd give them that.

"Sorry about him. He's been acting weird since Littleroot." Deimos retrieved Flint into the ball. However, his sudden appearance next to him made Hank jump a little.

"You don't say." He tried playing it off, taking a water from the display. Shockingly, it cost 1'400 yen. No wonder this place had a bad reputation of scamming tourists.

"The prices here suck ass, huh?" Deimos put the pokeball back on his belt. "Don't worry, I'll spot you 'till your first pay check rolls around."

Hank, taken aback, stared at Deimos, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know, the saving the world gig?" Deimos was a little too nonchalant for Hank's liking.

"How do you know about that?" He narrowed his eyes, feeling Sparks's head brush against his fingers.

"I recommended you into the program, I mean, it's not everyday you find someone who's Pokémon can take out... What, four, five guys with no effort?" He grabbed a couple more bottles off the shelf, walking backwards for a couple seconds to talk to Hank on the way back to the register. "I'm just saying. Besides, isn't it nice to be outta that town?"