So apparently there are wild Abra sightings in these parts, though they are notorious to be harder to catch than a dandelion in the wind.

And yeah, Luce sort of knew that there were Abra around here, according to the game. They were usually available, except that they only knew Teleport so they were annoying to catch.

Very annoying to catch. 

(At least he now knows the route structures and general Pokemon population are the same as the games. He can begin building his Pokemon team like this, then.)

It's nighttime, so they came out around a lake, surrounded by silence and the almost melodious chitter of Kricketot in the night.

There were no trainers around, so they had to be quiet.

[One thing I've found as the strangest contrast from the games is that Pokemon don't quite directly come to you when you go through the tall grass,] he writes in his Journal. [They act up when disturbed, and get angry when rustled, but Pokemon usually only show themselves when you sit still and be silent.]

He sits by the shore of the pond, Barry having gone over to the other side to help him scout one out, not that it would be much help.

There's a Magikarp or three in the pond, but nothing else that's making much noise or presence. A Kricketot comes a little too close, but it doesn't seem to notice Luce before wandering away.

He keeps Chimchar in his Poke Ball, because he's a fire type with a trigger-happy flame on his butt, and he's too hyperactive to stay in Luce's lap for more than three seconds, so yeah.

And if he's trying to catch an Abra, attacking it won't do much good.

(A whistle in the air.)

Luce whirls around to catch a flash of yellow.

So he chases it, nearly tripping over a surprised Shinx (and getting electrocuted and falling into a pile of mud before running off as quickly as he can to the distraction of a disturbed Kricketot,) Luce loses the Abra twice more before he spots it on top of a ledge.

He'll need to be quiet and quick.

He briefly realizes he's lost his scarf at some point in the Shinx escape-- miserable, but he'll go back round when the Shinx is less agitated.

He sets a worried hand on his neck, caressing the scar around the right side-- and looks around, relieved that it's too dark for anyone else to realistically be around. 

He keeps the hand there, though.

Chimchar is now making angry noises inside the Poke Ball because he didn't get to fight the Shinx, so Luce shushes him and begins climbing.

He reaches up to the nearest branch of the tree just adjacent to where the Abra lay-- he hisses, realizing there's a scrape right around his elbow. Looks like he'll have to do this quicker, then. Or Barry will probably throw quite a fit.

The branch creaks under him and he panics.

The Abra stirs a little-- swaying in mid air, gently.

(According to the Pokedex and general observation, at least-- the Abra don't just look asleep-- they are. Its inane psychic capabilities allow it to sense when it's threatened, and those same instincts Teleport him away from hostile situations when necessary.)

So Luce has to be careful, quiet, and calm.

(Except, he can hear his own heart beat and feel it thrum almost too nervously in his chest.)

He fixes his hat and adjusts his grip on the empty Poke Ball.

(This would be Luce's first attempt, ever, at catching anything.)

And he's not feeling all too good about it. Maybe game mechanics don't work quite in the same way and it's impossible to catch an Abra without weakening it first-- after all Pokemon don't attack in succession in the real world. The quickest get an edge here.

He hesitates and reaches for Chimchar.

But the Abra, in its drift, has turned to face him.

(Oh no, it's going to notice him.)

Yelping soundlessly in surprise, he jolts backward and his mud-ridden soles slip right through the side of the branch.

His grip on the trunk doesn't quite make up for the loss of balance-- and it falls out of reach in barely a second, leaving him to the dread of falling facefirst down just a little too high with nothing but panic to brace himself for it.

He makes a strangled noise when he slams against the ground, pain assaulting the arm he barely got in front of his body to catch himself on. Kricketot and Starly scurry away from him, startled by the projectile from the sky.

Prying his face out of the painful, painful ground, he's assaulted by various senses at once. The agony in his head is one, then there's the gradually growing pain in his arm which is slowly becoming unbearable. That isn't good, is it?

Surprisingly, his nose hurts less, definitely not broken, just a little smushed and angry but it'll be alright after an ice pack and a moment of regret.

He looks up, and through the dizzy vision and the dim light, he notes that the Abra is gone. Of course it is.

He looks down and-- oh, that's why his face is the part that hurts the least.

A Psyduck honks, annoyed. 

It's splayed out on the ground, definitely because Luce, the absolute idiot, fell onto it. He panics, but the pain shoots up his left arm and he flinches.

He can't move his fingers well-- crap, that's bad. Very bad-- so he carefully maneuvers to a sitting position and holds it close to his chest.

The Psyduck crawls up, looking very annoyed. Luce tries to apologize-- only to remember, again, that he can't speak. That's getting a little old now. So when the Psyduck with its eyes set in a frown approaches him, he spins his only available arm to Chimchar Pokeball and releases it.

Which is a horrible idea, but it's better than being at its mercy. That Psyduck is angry .

Chimchar immediately hisses at it, his accumulated impatience bursting out as hostility. Luce tries to sign instructions-- but he doesn't want to fight the Psyduck-- he just wants to chase it away, and Chimchar doesn't know those signs yet.

And he can't focus well on the fight when his arm twitches with sharp pain every time he so much as breathes a little too far to the left.

Fortunately, after what was an almost minute-long staredown, the Psyduck turns away, a hand at its head, back into the tall grass.

Mercy, the Psyduck's a pacifist. Or maybe it was calling friends, he doesn't know. 

Chimchar manages another angry hiss before doubling right back toward Luce, a hand hovering above the paralyzed, purpling arm.

Luce has all his focus on it now. 

It hurts a lot-- definitely broken-- he discourages Chimchar from touching it, signing for Barry's name before signing for 'search'. Chimchar understands it after a moment, scrambling up the tree in four smooth hops.

Chimchar disappears for a minute before reemerging from a separate grass patch.

"Oh, god, finally found you," Barry says, sounding relieved. He's clutching a muddied red scarf to his arm, "geez, saw your scarf back there and thought you were dead! Admiral was searching through the waters--"

He falls silent.

Luce manages a weak smile, signing awkwardly for "I can explain."

And Barry absolutely loses it.

-

He got one hell of an earful from Barry, then the Nurse-- then his mom and then Professor Rowan over the PC... and hell, Dawn was the worst one of them all.

His ears are still ringing from it, actually.

With his arm in a cast, Chimchar looking absolutely depressed in a corner, and Piplup looking confusedly between them, Luce finds himself getting a staredown from his old friend.

His scarf was washed and dried and hanging by the towels, and Luce had the shawl over his neck. His hat is set aside, and Barry is staring him down.

Barry's been on the bed, arms crossed and glare fixed upon his face for the past ten minutes.

Their dormmates had woken up halfway through all the commotion, and were now keeping a wary eye on the two, wondering if they should say something and keeping quiet in note of the tension between them.

Luce reaches up to sign a question, only to remember halfway through that some signs are harder to sign one-handed. He twitches his other arm just a little too far at the shoulder and he's curling in agony once again.

Barry sighs, finally standing up to shove his friend into the bed.

"Look, that's enough out of you," he says, in the same defeated voice that Luce feels is so familiar, "you're sleeping that off or I'm not leaving for Oreburgh without you."

The double negative makes Luce do a double take, then he redoubles back again with a "wait, what?"

"I'm saying," Barry restates, "that if you're gonna be this much of a moron I'm escorting you through Oreburgh Gate if I have to."

Luce immediately returns with an absolute, " no."

He does not need a damn babysitter and they set off separately for a reason. He barely managed to convince his mom she didn't need to make the trip to Jubilife, he's not going to handle this .

"It's just a broken arm, I'm fine," he insists.

"People don't usually break their arm on day one, Luce!" Barry snaps, "we all know you'd have caught more Pokemon at this point if you could just--" his voice dies out, and he looks away, knowing exactly why he shouldn't finish that sentence.

("If you could just talk like a normal person and didn't spend so much time figuring out how to fight like a proper Pokemon Trainer.")

Luce doesn't wait another second to chuck the closest thing he could reach at the boy. Which, though he doesn't realize at first, is the TM27 Professor Rowan had given him just this morning.

It shatters on impact and Barry whirls right apart around, ire in his entire body language. "What the hell was that for?!"

Luce flips him off.

Barry bristles, lunging forward to grab him by the collar. "Look here, you--!!"

"Hey, you two!" their dormmates finally react to the violent action, getting up from their bunks. The first, a thin man in karate garb, scrambles out of the bed to keep them apart. "I know it's been a long day for the both of you, but calm down!"

The other steps over toward the shards on the floor, wincing at the sight. "You two, cool our heads a little. You're scaring your Pokemon, you know that?"

They turn to the Pokemon, and Luce cringes when he sees Chimchar.

The poor chimp looks near tears, guiltily looking between them like he knew he was the cause of this. Starly glares silently, and Piplup takes a step toward Chimchar, keeping a wary eye on the two fighting trainers.

Luce's mouth opens, and his voice doesn't come.

He reaches up and grabs at Barry's collar, bringing the boy closer than before. 

He makes an effort and the whispers come-- it's airly, inaudible, sharp, and doesn't sound like words much more than snarls from an untamed creature-- but he looks Barry right in the eye and hisses-- "I'm fine on my own."

Barry looks at him for a long moment-- bites back the frustrated tears-- and slowly, they let go at roughly the same time.

He didn't need to hear it. Whether it be with his furious gaze, his demeaning actions, or just simple lip reading-- he knew what he said. 

"Yeah," Barry admits, unable to look over. "I know you are. My bad."

Luce doesn't move after that.

They are separated and put on their beds, the two older teens looking over them. They clean up the shards of the broken technical machine, rub the Pokemon on the heads. Lopunny curls up around the starters, coddling and tender.

They apologize to their dormmates for all the trouble, and see them off as the two older trainers leave in the direction of Canalave at daybreak.

A little later in the morning, Barry heads toward Oreburgh gate with promises of conquering the next gym as quickly as possible.

Luce reaches up to him before he leaves, setting a hand behind Barry's head and bringing it down so their foreheads touch. He closes his eyes, because nothing else needs to be said here-- they've done this plenty of times. 

Barry freezes, startled for a moment-- then he leans in and hums back a response.

"Yeah, see you later."

Luce looks over to find Chimchar and Piplup staring at him in wonder, and Starly has his eyes squinted in their direction, in his ever-so-irritated manner.

Barry leaves with nothing more than a wave, and while Piplup returns to his Poke Ball, Starly flies along beside him. Chimchar waves back at him before climbing up to Luce's shoulder, seemingly forgetting all about last night's fuss.

-

With only one arm to sign, Luce decides to spend the day observing other trainers rather than battling on his own.

He trails off the route toward Oreburgh and heads north, finding himself on Route 204. There were many more ponds here, along with fences, bushes, and the occasional trainer taking a stroll along the blind spots of the route.

It's peaceful, the air is fresh and dewy, and there's nothing better than this.

For now, at least.

Luce downs the last of his honey tea from his flask, disappointed that he was unable to make more until-- oh, isn't Floaroma just ahead? Maybe he could stop by there to get some honey, and then double back toward Oreburgh.

But that just didn't sound right. If he makes it to Floaroma, he may as well head straight to Eterna. But that would be skipping the first gym entirely and...

(...and in hindsight, that doesn't matter in the long run of things. There is no order in gyms in this world, only the number of badges.)

(...so, should he go straight to Eterna?)

He points at the town on his map, and when Chimchar looks over it curiously, tilting its head back and forth and in absurd angles-- then it gets dizzy and whines-- Luce laughs and patiently teaches it again.

Chimchar signs for 'the Gym' with an expression that means it's probably asking. 

Maybe it learned the sign from Barry when they were leaving, and wanted to know what it meant. Or maybe it knew what it meant-- it just wanted to know why they weren't going there, too.

Luce gestures at his cast, and Chimchar deflates. 

He pats him on the head with a silent chuckle. With his arm like this, it's really better that they don't challenge the Gym just yet. Oreburgh's a dangerous road to go, so it's better for him to take it easy for at least a week.

(Sorry, Blair. I won't meet you in Oreburgh. But I'll wait for you in Eterna.)

'I am okay', he signs, slowly. He then thinks for a bit, and adds on, 'we are okay'.

Chimchar looks at it, arms folded as its head tilted aside again. Slowly but congruently, it signs for 'we' , and then 'me' , and then-- 'okay?'

'We are okay,' Luce repeats, 'always'.

-

It's slow, but Chimchar can converse with him now. And though he's had the drawback of not being able to speak at first, they've come one step further in being able to talk in a common language, to each other.

They wander Route 204, stumbling upon trainers and apologetically refusing battles-- to which they nod in understanding upon seeing his cast. They warn him of the wild Pokemon ahead, and he nods in gratitude.

They study how other trainers battle.

One Lass has her Bidoof run as nimbly as it can. Its impeccable footwork, especially for a Bidoof, dizzies the Kricketot. Slowly, surely, chipping away at its health with Tackles.

The Kricketot curls in on itself, soft chitters escaping as it squeezes its eyes shut, bearing with two more hits-- and then unleashes the Bide, blowing Bidoof back into a tree. The Lass stumbles back in surprise, but runs for her Bidoof quickly.

On the other side of the route, a Youngster with a Shinx pounces at a Machop, running with it in opposing directions. Tackles don't do much, so it Leers. Machop lunges at the Youngster, and Shinx snarls at it, drawing its attention right around back.

(But Shinx can't learn Taunt. Guess actual Pokemon don't quite follow the rules of the game, huh?)

Luce laughs when the Machop plunges into the water beside a confused Magikarp. Shinx swims like a puppy, raising its head over the water and--

--and, oh no. Luce runs away from the scene just in time for a deadly kamikaze Spark to set the entire lake into an explosion.

The Youngster seemed to realize his mistake a second too late, as his cheerful declaration of "Spark!" dies down near the end and he's left gaping at the sheer massacre he's committed.

"Hey now, young man, what the hell?!" a man near him snaps over to chastise.

"Use your head, kid!" a teenager raises his voice, "you could've killed someone there! And no! Don't touch the water! Stop!'

Machop floats on the water, and it's knocked out. Impressive for a neutral damage situation, but the water combination could probably knock any Pokemon out, really.

Shinx is still in the water, slightly charred but laughing at itself like the little brat it is.

It paddles doggy styled toward the shore, but the passers-by are stopping the Youngster from fishing it out just yet.

"You're going to electrocute yourself," a Picnicker warns him. 

She sends out her own Geodude, who stares at the electro-charged pond in resignation. Geodude lifts up Shinx and Shinx proceeds to shake itself dry, to the terrified yelps of everyone around him.

Luce watches as the boy and his Shinx get lectured by all the surrounding trainers about why you shouldn't throw your Shinx into the water and cast Spark. Geodude raises its fellow Geodude and a fainted Magikarp in their direction, as if to prove a point.

He doesn't realize for a bit until Chimchar is right beside the Shinx, reaching a curious hand toward the dark fur and-- of course, he gets electrocuted by the remnants of spark in it.

Chimchar shrieks and runs back handfirst, whining about the mild electrocution as if he'd been desecrated to the greatest degree.

Shinx simply laughs, and Luce picks Chimchar up with a resigned smile.

Luce finds something else interesting about the situation. His Pokedex-- people see it as something exceedingly rare in this world, seemingly just like the mangaverse rather than the anime or gameverse.

And you don't have to catch something to get its data-- just getting close enough works.

So he approaches trainers in the area and they cheerfully study the Pokedex entries together, learning more about their own partners and making an attempt at socializing along the way.

It's nice that everyone's so nice in this world.