Broken Souls

The Long Way Home

"So, where to next?"

Fang asks first, tail wagging, and I can sense his eagerness to put as much distance between him and Pisces's deathbed as possible. If anything, I'd suspect that this would be the best place to grieve, given the cheery demeanor of the houses and the kind, almost too pleasant nature of the locals, but I guess the road heals all wounds. I'll admit that I've ran away from my own share of problems. Still, Reginae's amber eyes at the edge of the bed catch my attention. I want to give him a few extra days, but Fang has a point. We need to move on.

"No clue," I admit, as a compromise, throwing the debate back their way. "You have somewhere you need to be?"

"At the next four gyms before the end of the world." Minerva growls from her resident corner of the room, where she drapes herself over the chair like an angry fur rug. Her tails fall over all the edges, like dead snakes, but there's live venom in her voice.

"Good point." I say, getting onto my own feet. "Speaking of stuff we need to do, I have... business to attend to with Ten and Ethan."

"Blast," clucks Ten. "Have I done something wrong?"

"Ethan?" asks Reginae, lifting his head from the bed.
"Nothing wrong, but I've given you more than enough time to sleep on your past. As for Ethan, I was thinking we could try him out on the road, once we're out there." I shrug. "We can't wait forever. He and Hycanith should be close in level, shouldn't they...?"

Hycanith shakes her head. "She needs a little more training than that." Reginae agrees. "Didn't Ethan one-hit Lance's Charizard and Bella? I wouldn't call that 'close in level' to any of us."

"I don't know what's going on with him. That's why we need to get training. Ten hasn't fought in a while either, and though the switch-in method works great for Hycanith, it's not doing a thing for him at this point. Powers, no powers, he needs to get back in there before it becomes a problem."

Ten ruffles his feathers. "Are you sure...?"

"Still haven't answered the question. Where's our next stop?" Fang yells over Ten's worried clucking.

I check the map for nearby gyms and our next stop becomes obvious. "Fuschia Town. The only way there's through the Cycling Road, so we'll take that today."

"Do you have a bike?" asks Reginae.

"Psh. That's just a name." I wave him off. "Some tourist bullshit."

After breakfast, when we get to the entrance to the route, which is nestled up at the edge of town, I'm displeased to know that it is tourist bullshit but I'm going to have to deal with it. The left side of the post is shut down, with admission granted solely to those on bicycles.

"Come on, man, let me through." I say, looking at the closed metal screen over the route entrance with a rueful expression. I've considered walking around the post, through the forest, but I've been on the run from the law enough times to know that won't end well.

A lean, sharp looking man leans over the counter with an expression that conveys perfectly the fake kind of happiness one must master with retail jobs. As if explaining to a child (okay, I might look like one, but I sure don't feel like a child anymore), he explains: "Ma'am, you need a bicycle. If you'd like, we can rent a bicycle to you for your trip... it'll only be a low, low cost of 4000P."

I laugh it off. "Excuse me? Did I hear you right? Sir, I've been to hotels that charge less than your bike rental."

The man laughs back, a sick, fake sound. "This is a discount. Bikes normally go for 9999P."

Frustrated, I slam my hands onto the counter. "You know what this is? This is highway robbery."

"No, ma'am, this is a bike path."