"LET'S GOOOOO!!!!"

Barry's grand idea of 'how to bike with a sprained foot' was to bike one-footed and have Monferno supersede the weight on the other pedal, shrieking in excitement as he was jerked around in wheels of insanity.

In the saner part of the world, Luce carefully sets Prinplup on shoulders.

Stoically, they watch the duo zoom down the Cycling Path shrieking in fear and adrenaline, like a bunch of morons.

"Don't become like them," he signs to Prinplup, who nods. "Bad role model." 

The Cycling Path was quite a straightforward endeavour. The entire structure, which cut through the perimeter of Mount Coronet before rounding to Oreburgh, is about 10 kilometers. There are, of course, shortcuts and other dropoff points, including one in Mount Coronet, which can shorten the biking trail quite a fair bit.

The shortest route was a 5km straight path from Eterna to Oreburgh, the one that Luce and Barry went for today.

Luce finds himself biking down the trail as members of the public dodge out of the way of that rampaging bulldog of a boy. Each time he crashed into something or someone, Luce had to hustle over and shove him to the ground in deepest apologies.

Then he did it again, and at the end of the road, a cyclist came over and gave his condolences for Luce's future sanity. He might just cry.

All the while the egg rests in its incubator, snug in the crests of his backpack, warm, as little jostled as possible, and safe.

-

"Aaand! Back in Oreburgh! Man, I did NOT miss you, Coal Town!"

Luce sighs, exhausted already. "I thought you wanted to drop by Route 206 to train Sergeant?" he questions. "Did we have to travel the whole way to this city in a day?"

He feels as if he'd gone on a marathon, which isn't far from the truth. He wants to conk out right now. In fact, Prinplup already went back ahead, and the nocturnal Psyduck had come out to play, tottering about confusedly at the unfamiliar scenery.

An exhaust pipe bursts with steam, and Monferno squeals with excitement. Psyduck has found herself interested in the paved roads, hopping along the tile of the road with her little duck feet, trying not to step on cracks.

"Of course, to get you signed up for the Gym!" Barry says, like it's obvious. "You don't really want to go under the bridge, right? Then I'll go myself," he takes out a map, "Dad told me about a place called Wayward Cave down there and--"

"Wait wait WAIT. You want me to challenge two gyms two days within each other?!"

Luce is exhausted.

Barry squints, "what, you think you can't?"

Luce groans soundlessly.

They collapse their bikes and, after washing them down in an outdoor hose, they wheel them to the Pokemon Center bike perch, where they register themselves for a room.

"It sure is packed in here, huh..."

"Yeah," Nurse Joy signs back, slightly disheveled. There was a huge traffic of people in and out of the Pokemon Center, making the usually quiet building rather bustling in the midday. "There seems to be someone big in the city today, so lots of travelers came to see and talk to him."

Now that was strange. Or unusual, at least.

These things never happened in the games (was it this world's version of celebrities?) but logically, it's not all that crazy. He does wonder what sort of bigshot will come to a Coal Town, though.

"Here's your room key," Nurse Joy says, "try and get some rest, alright? You boys look exhausted."

Luce chortles at that, waving an OK as he hurried back to meet up with Barry.

-

The Gym Guide Jim runs up to Barry as they come in sight, boisterously giving his greetings in the form of a hard shoulder pat that almost bowled Barry right off of his crutch.

"Hey, kiddo!" he says, "what's up with you? Leg went out on ya?"

"Uh yeah, something like that," Barry says, smiling back. "This here's my pal, Luce! Luce, here's the Jim of this gym." He pauses. "Gym of this Jim? Jim's Gym. This gym's Jim... yeah you get it."

Luce holds back a chuckle as he bows out in greeting, Monferno launching up to his shoulder-- oh hell that's heavy-- to give a peppy greeting of his own. 

The egg incubator is clutched in Luce's arms now, as they've left the rest of their luggage in their room.

To Luce's surprise, Jim actually frowns at him, leading him to straighten nervously as if he's being judged.

"You're the friend this chap was waiting for last time?"

Luce blinks.

Then, he stops with horror, one hand shooting out to sign. "How long were you waiting for me?! You should've given up after I didn't show for hours!"

"Well you didn't exactly tell me you were gonna throw a tantrum for that long!" Barry snaps back, defensive. "Plus you usually take forever to cross a street anyways!"

Luce grumbles, "I do not," While Monferno and Jim look between them and their high-speed signing, unable to understand a single word. "you don't get the right to talk about how long I get to stay mad at you!"

"Why?!"

"You still hold a grudge from that time I drank from your cup five years ago!"

"My hot chocolate had extra marshmallows!"

"But did you have to colour-code everything we owned?!"

"I didn't colour code everything!"

"Yes you did look at--" Luce points at his red scarf and then Barry's green one, "--this!"

Jim clears his throat.

"Oh! Uh," Barry opts to change the subject. Reaching for his Poke ball, he let Prinplup out. "Come out, Admiral! It's Jim!"

Prinplup, unprepared for the unsolicited wake up call, lands on the ground crankily, glaring up to Jim for a long moment.

"Ohh, it's evolved, hasn't it," Jim muses, "you look tons stronger now!"

Prinplup huffs, looking proud of himself-- for about two seconds, really-- before he deflated and tottered back to Barry, tugging on his pant leg in a whining child's way of asking for permission to go back to his ball.

Luce takes the moment to take out his notebook.

[Gym Challenge Registration?]

He holds it up meekly.

"Ah, got it," Jim says, as Barry finally relents and allows the poor penguin to sleep in his Poke Ball. "We're a little held up today though, so I'll schedule for tomorrow, that alright?"

Luce nods, retrieving his badge case and Trainer ID.

When Luce releases Psyduck, she doesn't exactly rouse before coming out, which led to her being thrown out unceremoniously facefirst, collapsing with a sharp squeak.

Luce then had to get on his knees and profusely apologize to the duck, rubbing her poor new bruise on her forehead as the nearby challengers chuckle at the sight.

Luce finds his name on a whopping Number 53rd on the list. Yep, This gym is packed like a bank on taxes day. Good thing he registered early.

"I'll get on to Route 206, then," Barry says, releasing Starly, "you coming with?"

"I'm tired, so I'll stay to sightsee," Luce signs back. Seriously, they went on a whole two mile bike path today. "How do you still have energy to go out?"

"I am strong!" Barry says.

"Good for you," Luce signs back, giving him a flat look. Adjusting his hold on the incubator, he manages a weak smile. "Me and this egg have had enough for today. Have fun on your own."

Barry makes a dismissive huff at that. "I'll have you know, if I find anything cool in Wayward Cave, I ain't sharing."

"Suit yourself."

"Be a little jealous, geez!"

"No."

Come to think of it... isn't Wayward Cave the place where you could find wild Gible? Luce was just a little interested in that, especially after seeing Cynthia's awesome Garchomp up close, but he really didn't have the energy.

"Hey hey, hold on now, kiddo. You're headed for Wayward?" a Veteran says, crossing them as he's leaving the gym hall, "have you ever been there before?"

"Huh?" Barry turns to him and squints, "uhhh, no? Is it too dangerous for a two-badge trainer or sum?"

The Veteran sighs, tucking his Poke Balls into his belt, reaching for something in his bag. "Not exactly-- it's just notorious, is all..." and out comes a Technical Machine, "you'll need this. Or any fire Pokemon that can light your way."

"Wha-- oh! Thanks! You're giving me Flash?" Barry straightens. "This is rare! Thanks a ton... though, I don't have anyone that can learn it right now..."

"You can borrow Doozy," Luce offers.

"No no, you'll need her for your Gym Challenge."

"You'll be back by then."

"She needs all her beauty sleep is what I mean."

"That's a shame," the Veteran picks up the conversation from there. "If you have badges, you could rent a Luxray Flash. There's a station around the museum for people that are going into Mount Coronet."

"That's a great idea, but don't you need at least three or four badges to rent one?"

"Ah. They really should lower that."

"Bring a bike if you've got one!" hollers a Battle Girl in the distance, peeking her head out from where she was right about to enter the hall. "And tons of Repels!"

"And an Escape Rope in case you get lost," a Hiker says, dropping the item in Barry's hands. "People get lost a lot in there."

"You'll also need Rock Smash and Cut, but you've already got that, right?" Jim adds on. "You could rent a Lord Bidoof!"

"Ah yeah, I do-- dude, Lord Bidoofs need all the badges I don't have!" Barry swirls around, "why is there a crowd around us?!"

"Well, we were bored, you see," one says.

Another adds on, "there are two entrances because of an old cave-in, you can search for the other if you've got time!"

The helpfulness of people in this world was terrifying, and Luce was genuinely learning it now. Within seconds of their conversation, every eavesdropper in the vicinity had come by, handing Barry whatever he may need on his trip to Wayward Cave. It was scary.

"Please stop giving me repels!"

"Here is a Max Repel then."

"Stop!"

"Ooh, you've got an egg, lad? That's nostalgic!" one Hiker addresses Luce, "you should wrap it up in extra blankets and carry it by hand sometimes. The incubator's good for rough travel, but sometimes, nothing beats body warmth, you know?"

Luce blinks at that. That was an interesting take... he nods at the advice.

"And Pokemon with the Flame Body ability can help," a Lass says. "You could rent a Ponyta Ride. Those don't need badges, after all."

"Oh a Ponyta Ride!" Barry pipes up, "that'll make up for not being able to use Flash!" 

"Ah, that too. And are you sure you're going to Wayward Cave with that foot?"

Somehow, they'd garnered a small fuss at the lobby area of the gym, and Jim was nowhere to be found. Probably went to greet new guests or something, but Luce and Barry were hounded by older trainers in an instant, given way too much free stuff, and finally got out of the noise half an hour later.

Luce was somehow more tired than he was before he rested.

"We are never talking out loud in public ever again, Luce," Barry mutters, similarly exhausted. "Never."

Luce would sign back, but he didn't trust himself to have enough energy to free up a hand to sign out an agreement. He settled on a lifeless nod.

-

Luce was a little reluctant to let Barry leave alone when his foot was still sprained, but nothing he said would help change the boy's mind, so he let him be.

He wanders Oreburgh City, egg and incubator in his arms. Monferno walks along beside him, scampering forward, investigating paths, and haughtily clearing roads for the almighty Luce-and-Egg to walk upon.

Luce has to send passersby apologetic looks, but he's honestly so damn endeared he could cry.

The egg is a fragile hazard, but he supposed heading into the Oreburgh Mines would be fine as long as he stayed in the touristic routes. Monferno's keeping a lookout, after all. Nothing can hit the incubator without hitting Luce first.

(Just in case, he commissions the help of a Machamp Guard, a rental Pokemon who was usually employed to protect younger children on these cave tours. Better safe than sorry, after all.)

While Jubilife was a huge metropolis, Floaroma was a place of meadows, and Eterna was quiet and historic-- Oreburgh was just right, teetering the middle ground of bustling towns and natural monuments.

That's why Luce can see so many more instances of people and Pokemon living in harmony here, whether it be a family with their Machop carrying their shopping; or an occasional Ponyta leading the tourists to places they ought to be.

The Machamp glares at every person that passes them-- and there's a lot-- it sharply cut in between when someone drifted a little too close, and made short grunts when someone was about to wander too recklessly in their direction.

As a master of childcare apparently, the Machamp even made sure Monferno didn't wander too far out, barking at it to come back over when it tottered too far into other people's business. Monferno ended up climbing onto the Machamp's shoulders, squealing happily at the new view with bright interest.

Luce thought it was really cute.

(It is the Machamp's job, so Luce was grateful it took this so seriously-- but really, the way it just stood, vigilant as a royal knight, made Luce chuckle and thank it as many times as he could. The way Machamp nodded and assured Luce in return was endearing as well.)

"Oh! Sorry there."

Luce stops in his tracks when Machamp holds out a hand to someone backing up before him, the man quickly swirling around at the contact to move out of the way.

And Luce's jaw drops straight down.

Steven Stone hurriedly turns around to apologize, his hands raising warily to keep a berth between himself and the egg.

Beside him, a Beldum hovers curiously. "Hey hey, no," Steven tells his Pokemon, holding it back before it gets too close to the incubator.

Luce reckons it wouldn't harm the egg in any way, but the Machamp was almost growling at it. Luce also reaches up to set a hand at the Machamp's cheek, hoping it'd stay a little more at ease.

(Isn't this guy the... Hoenn...?)

A mere second later, there's a camera flash, and Steven's sleeve comes up abruptly, shielding Luce from sight.

"Hey! Who was that? No cameras allowed in the mines, I thought we made that clear?" Steven says, his tone a little sharper than before-- and Luce finally notices the hordes of people coming from the other direction, sporting recorders and notebooks-- all for Steven Stone to say something.

Ah.

(Ah, this is the bigshot in town that got the town bustling this week, huh.)

Impervious to Steven's visible annoyance, the reporters continued to press on, eyes shining with interest as they stepped closer, mics in hand, shoving around each other and the tourists for the newsworthy event in front of their eyes right now.

"Mister Stone! Please, tell us about the rarer stones you've found this week!"

"What brought you over to Sinnoh?"

"What made you come to Oreburgh before Canalave? Please, do tell us!"

Luce was treated to a front row seat of Steven slowly growing paler, more irritated-- and finally-- he turned around to face Luce and sighed deeply.

"I'm going to lose my mind," he says.

Luce smiles in sympathy. Then, he taps on the arm of his Machamp Guard, before pointing at Steven and signing out a quick "please get us out of here right now."

And Machamp, evidently also annoyed by the constant shove and grind of the awfully persistent fanatic crowd-- lets out a warning growl at everyone around him.

Then, in one smooth motion, Luce was scooped right up to its shoulder-- carefully, with the egg clutched in one of its many arms. And with another, Machamp hooks Steven right over, securing him under two arms.

Then, with an excited squeak, Monferno leaps around Machamp's neck, clinging on.

And then, with a loud roar, Machamp jumps.

Luce and Steven were left clinging on for dear life (Luce was honestly very in awe of the great height though) as Machamp leaps onto the steel girders, holding on with one of its still free arms, before climbing up and out of the reporters' sight.

Steven finds himself seated upon Machamp's other shoulder as the Pokemon hustles across tall steel beams (to the horror of some construction workers who hurriedly bark at them, because tourists aren't supposed to come up here Machamp you know that--) until they land on the roof of a tall building.

Beldum hustles back in a (rather slow to be honest) hurry, belatedly catching up and floating back in after them like a child that almost got lost in the crowd.

Monferno squeals happily, hopping off Machamp's shoulder to cheer and run around in circles, then tugging at Machamp in a way that, even without words, obviously meant 'do it again! Do it again!'.

Machamp barks at it like an angry mother, and Monferno deflates, bummed.

"Woah! Didn't expect to be carted off by a Machamp at my age," Steven says, letting out a breath. He's set back on the ground, quickly followed by Luce, who takes the egg incubator once again. "Thanks, kid. You really saved me there."

Luce smiles, "you're welcome," but he wasn't too sure if Steven understood it. The Hoenn champion seems undeterred, and he reaches out for a handshake.

"I'm Steven."

Luce hurriedly hands the incubator to Machamp, taking the handshake as he hustles for his notebook, one-handedly flipping to the page that said [Luce] with a nervous smile.

"It's nice to meet you too, Luce," Steven seems slightly surprised at first, but accepts it easily. "Sorry about it all. I do hope they didn't get a picture of you, though. They'd cook up some annoying scandal and I'd get chewed out by the Gym Leaders Association again..."

He sighs miserably, and Luce chuckles soundlessly.

Cameras weren't allowed in the Oreburgh Mines, because they'd startle the Pokemon inside-- but Steven's prominent presence made some reporters ignore the boundaries in hopes of a scoop.

Luce wasn't too worried about himself having an accidental cameo on the front pages on Sinnoh Daily's tomorrow-- he was more concerned that Steven would be banned from the mines because the miners just didn't want this all happening again.

"I mean, I was going to just go around quietly, as I always do... who knew someone would recognize me when I took the cruiser? I definitely didn't expect them to actually follow me all the way here," he makes a despaired noise, burying his face into his hands, "knew Wallace had a point when he wanted me to wear a disguise. Ah-- Wallace is this guy I know back in Hoenn. He's kind of a celebrity so..."

(Wallace is this guy he knows, he says, like he isn't talking about the current Champion of Hoenn or anything.)

And he's a little more talkative than Luce had imagined.

Now that he thought about it, Cynthia didn't mention she was the Champion either, did she? What's with these (former and current) Champion figures staying in the humble down-low like rich business owners being casually dressed in their own lobby?

"Beldum, the Iron Ball Pokemon," the Pokedex reads. "It keeps itself floating by generating a magnetic force that repels earth's natural magnetism. When it sleeps, this Pokémon anchors itself to a cliff using the hooks on its rear."

He takes out his Pokedex when it chimes to register Beldum. Okay, so it registers Pokemon not in the Regional Dex too, that's a good sign.

"Oh, you're a Pokedex Owner!" Steven says, brightly, and Luce jumps in surprise. Luce almost expected the same reverent spiel Cynthia went on before-- but Steven just smiles warmly and says, "I know another Pokedex Owner in Hoenn. You guys match, huh?"

Oh. Oh, okay, that's nice. (I guess.)

(...would they be May and Brendan, or Ruby and Sapphire?)

Beldum hovers over as they lean over the edge of the roof, watching the people down there erupt into chaos, wondering where the celebrity former Champion of another region went. 

They'd be stuck up here for a while longer, probably.

[Did you come here to search for stones?]

Luce hesitates asking for a moment-- it sounded like one of the many questions the reporters would've hounded Steven for already.

But when Steven sees it, he just laughs good-naturedly.

"I definitely did! Want to see what I found?" he turns around and sits down with his back toward the roof wall, beckoning for Luce to do the same.

Luce finds himself seated adjacent to the man as he produces a small mound of multicoloured stones, setting it all down before them.

Monferno jumps onto Luce's shoulder as the egg incubator sits in his lap. The Machamp guard watches warily for a few more moments, but soon sits down around them, facing away in an almost sentinel manner.

"Sinnoh's got a greater variety of stones than what I could find in Hoenn," Steven says, "or at least, they're bigger and more defined, and definitely less rare," he holds up a dark purple, murky-coloured stone. "See this one? It's a Dusk Stone. You'd never find one of this size in Hoenn. And this one..."

He's really going on a tangent.

It was like watching a usually introverted person find his groove on his passion, and launch into a bursting tirade about why he loved what he loved.

It was just something that drew him in and made him want to listen forever, even if he wasn't too interested. There was just some unspoken rule about it-- like it'd be a crime to stop him before he finished talking about all of these cool rocks he found.

And well... Luce had plenty of time today.

So he listened, and nodded-- and it was nice that his unwilling silence felt completely natural and comfortable for once.

Honestly... if those interviewers would've just taken a moment to leave Steven alone, they'd have gotten all the information they wanted without even trying, like Luce did now.

Well, he'll keep that to himself.