Aries

So Much To Say (But Not Enough Free Will)

"Vermillion City!" Ash cheered as they stepped through the streets. It was still fairly early in the morning and light filtered through the buildings nearby. Steven was still quite twitchy, Ash noted, but he had tried to ignore it. His friend pushed a palm through his light blue hair and reached for some Pokeballs.

"Take Metagross, Skarmory and Armaldo for training for your next badge. I need to take care of something, and it's important I bring Aeris and my Claydol." Steven pressed the cold shrunken spheres into Ash's hands, who could only nod a little. Steven had already left though, at a speed that left Pinwheel a little concerned. Ash sighed, looking to Pinwheel.

"Yeah, I get it buddy. You're worried.. like I am." Ash muttered to himself, throwing Gale's Pokeball in the air. Gale flapped and stared down at Ash. "What's wrong?"

"Steven is being a bit weird so I want you to tag along with him, Gale. Just keep him alright, and notify us if something needs to be done." Ash explained to the flying type, who cooed in affirmation and flew off to keep an eye on the Steel-type trainer.

Ash smirked back at Pinwheel. "Okay! Time for training!"

-

Lance felt his stomach twist a little as he entered the meeting spot- a small, unassuming house in the Vermillion Outskirts. The other Eastern Region champions were there, of course, with Diantha acting as a mediator on his request. They had always had these meetings to keep everyone in line on the east and west sides of the world. Steven had gone completely off the radar recently, and for a man who was pretty much the poster child for smiling and acting professional, he had been acting pretty damn contrary to that.

He wore his ordinary cape and red jacket as he watched Cynthia enter and sit down beside Diantha first. She wore her black coat and had her blonde hair covering one-half of her face down to her stomach. She smiled sweetly at Lance, waving politely. Wallace was next, surprising Lance a little before the extravagant man sat down. He wasn't the greatest with his punctuality.

13:40. Ten minutes. Ten minutes late, Steven ended up being, accompanied by a Pidgeotto who definitely wasn't looking through the window. Lance couldn't make the time to point it out though, seeing as Steven was in certainly ... a "state".

Steven practically stumbled into the chair. Dark streaks were under his eyes, and his outfit was covered in burns and dripping wet. Mud coated his boots thickly and dust covered his entire attire. His hair was knotted, and he looked like he had been dragged through the mud on multiple levels. Wallace made an offended squeak as he reached to hold Steven up a little.

"Steven, what the actual fuck?" Cynthia began. She gestured wildly over to him, before throwing her hands up in genuine frustrated concern. "What the actual fuck occurred! Are you okay?"

Steven looked at Cynthia and said absolutely nothing as he pulled his chair out and sat down, idly tossing a Heavy Ball between his fingertips. Wallace shot a silent glare at Cynthia but didn't voice anything. Diantha looked kindly at least at Steven, trying to bring up the mood a little.

"Wellllll... I'm sure we all have suggestions and needs to bring up, riiight?" Diantha laughed softly, resting her head on her hands. Cynthia smiled, clapping her hands together as she looked to the group. "Sinnoh has been quite fantastic!"

"Hoenn is doing well, even with Steven on extended leave." Wallace replied soon after. "We're handling everything as we normally would."

"Johto is doing alright right now, but we're facing a few Team Rocket incidents as there seems to be a resurgence of it all." Lance began, sighing with clear exhaustion painted on his face. "I received reports of a so-called stray in the Safari Zone, but the Kangaskhan protecting the kid are very overprotective, so getting the kid to the safe zone is impossible."