and, Disappears within the Dark

“I have pokemon who can weaken the Zubat for you!!” he said, waving his hands around wildly, “And besides, Woobats are too heart-y for you. Gligar and Gliscor just don’t fit your image. And Noibats!! No no no!! I already said we can’t go to Terminus Cave, meaning the other place we’d have to go to is Victory Road! And I don’t think my pokemon would appreciate that until they get stronger!! So the only choice left is obviously Zubat!!! Wahahaha!!”

The orange haired teenager hummed, pleased with his reasoning, before adding, “Besides I said you could evolve the Zubat. If you just raise it well you’ll get it to a Golbat in no time, and maybe even a Crobat soon after!!” 

Yes. The perfect plan. He, Leo Tsukinaga, was a genius in every way. 

“….I see.” A crobat… the idea of having a crobat does appeals to him at least a bit more than the zubat and golbat idea (particularly because he thought the other two were not elegant enough for his taste.) But nonetheless, he’s okay with a crobat, for now.

Sighing, Rei puts his umbreon back into his pokeball and put it into his pocket. Looking at Leo with observing eyes.

“O-kay!” the orange haired teenager said, more enthusiastic than usual, “Just hurry up!! I wanna hurry and get going!! I don’t wanna stay in a cave all day or even all night!” 

Camphrier Town was what Leo would consider far away from Reflection Cave. And, let’s be real, neither of the two teenagers had a very good sense of direction. Leo didn’t have a Pokemon that knew fly, and he was fairly certain Rei didn’t either. Not that that would help, since he had never been to Reflection Cave. Or at least, he couldn’t remember ever going to the cave. Maybe Rei had been there?

Pulling out the map to go from Camphrier to Reflection Cave, he showed it to Swablu, who usually acted as his guide. When he paid attention, at least. Hopefully Rei would pay attention to the poor Pokemon who dealt with Leo. Anyone who dealt with Leo for so long should probably win an award.

The first thing the vampire took care of, is summoning his liepard and houndoom back into their pokeball. Putting it into his belt, the second thing he do is of course, contacts his secretary to close the gym as he walks into his private room on the second floor of the gym.

Closing the Gym feature is however, easier said than done. His secretary yells at him and also shoves him with the fact that he, unfortunately, did not even know when will he be back ("You should be more responsible, damn you! At least calculate the time of your hecking return!"), but he manages to get his secretary to closes it anyway, because this journey is...... strangely, it is exciting him as well.

Getting his umbrella, stuffing it to his bag and puts down some healing potions and his lovely tomato juices as well, Rei walked down, exiting his Casino to meet a waiting Leo, putting up his usual smile.

@nightfall-wings

After a long journey filled with dozens of battles, many with his conscience or his friends instead of the pokemon battles he sought after, Slaine was finally finished. Rei’s Umbreon had collapsed, his own Growlithe shaking on tired legs. He’d earned his eighth and final gym badge with a battle so intense, he felt out of breath himself even though he hadn’t participated directly. He quietly thanked Growlithe for a good job and recalled him so that he could rest in his poke ball while he talked to the gym leader he was almost entirely sure he’d heard of before…

“That was a refreshing battle. You truly live up to your reputation.” Slaine lifted a hand to his breast and bowed slightly in a sign of respect, perhaps more formal than the situation called for but always playing the role of Count. “I wouldn’t have thought of it before I saw you battle, but you are an acquaintance of Wataru Hibiki, are you not? He’s mentioned you before, but it’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

His heartbeat are beating rapidly, even though it have ended. The battle was without doubt, one of the most intense he had in months. So exciting that, Without him realizing, he had lost his enigmatic façade somewhere in the battle, shouting excitedly at his Pokémon and being all fired up, even just for a little while.

Just like the old days.

The gym leader coughs, regaining his own composure and claps his hand, summoning his Umbreon back into his Pokéball. A smile on his lips as he offers the young count his hand for a handshake.

"Indeed. That was one of the most heated battle I had the chance to fought lately. I had to thank you for that. Congratulation in gaining the dark badge, young trainer." The Raven chuckled, putting the pokeball into the healing chambers.

However, he raised his eyebrows at the mention of his old friend's name.

"Oh? What a surprise. I'd never thought such a proper young trainer like yourself are acquintated with Hibiki-kun. If I may ask, how did you get acquintated with such a person?"

“I have pokemon who can weaken the Zubat for you!!” he said, waving his hands around wildly, “And besides, Woobats are too heart-y for you. Gligar and Gliscor just don’t fit your image. And Noibats!! No no no!! I already said we can’t go to Terminus Cave, meaning the other place we’d have to go to is Victory Road! And I don’t think my pokemon would appreciate that until they get stronger!! So the only choice left is obviously Zubat!!! Wahahaha!!”

The orange haired teenager hummed, pleased with his reasoning, before adding, “Besides I said you could evolve the Zubat. If you just raise it well you’ll get it to a Golbat in no time, and maybe even a Crobat soon after!!” 

Yes. The perfect plan. He, Leo Tsukinaga, was a genius in every way. 

"....I see." A crobat... the idea of having a crobat does appeals to him at least a bit more than the zubat and golbat idea (particularly because he thought the other two were not elegant enough for his taste.) But nonetheless, he's okay with a crobat, for now.

Sighing, Rei puts his umbreon back into his pokeball and put it into his pocket. Looking at Leo with observing eyes.

Leo’s Swablu lightly pecked the head of the orange haired teenager, trying to remind him that no, the zubat line was not the only evolution line with bat-like pokemon. Alas, Leo did not get the hint. Instead, he held out the maps he had once more, shoving them into Rei’s face. The Swablu let out a quiet irritated noise, but did nothing more.

“Which one do you wanna go to?? Come on Rei, don’t be shy!! We can go to whichever one you want!!” he said. He pulled more maps out of his bag, this time they were maps of the interiors of caves. There was, once again, music written on them, but Leo wrote music on almost everything. 

“Nevermind them, Why Zubat? It’s…” he want to say inellegant. Weak. Hey, he is a gym leader, give him credit? At least give him something like Golbat? Why must it be specifically zubat? “…inellegant.” with a sigh, Rei raises his hand, saying no to his umbreon, no, you can’t bite him yet. Not now.

The video was of someone catching several different pokemon without fighting and only using pokeballs. Once it was over, Leo began speaking again. 

“Can you think of a different bat pokemon? No? Exactly!! That’s why we’re getting you a Zubat! Plus a Zubat is perfect for you!! And you can evolve it later!! Wahahaha!” Leo’s Swablu seemed to take offense to this. Most likely because she had tried to remind Leo, but alas the boy was too…Too…absorbed in his own world. 

Then, he remembers about one of his gym's frequent visitors telling him about the... so called safari. Ah.

This must be a video of the safari, right? You throws them food or pokeball, then you can either luckily catch them, with a safari balls? Which... looks exactly like what it sound.

"Tsukinaga-kun, hates to break your bubbles of innocence, but.... this... is a safari Video. It is still impossible to catch a pokémon in the wilderness with just pokeballs, without damage." He sighed at the younger teenager, petting his head.

"Actually, I can. Woobat. Gliscor. Noibat... wait a second, I actually think of having a Noivern as a more appealing idea than a zubat or even a golbat. Can we catch a Noibat instead?" His umbreon looks like he's approving of his idea, wagging his tail as Rei pat the creature's head lovingly.

Rei’s gym was by far the liveliest looking building in all of Camphrier town at night, but that was more the casino theme to his gym than anything else. Just knowing from previous visits, Wataru knew that there weren’t always challengers in Rei’s gym, most of the visitors either wanted to gamble or appreciate the aesthetic of the gym itself. The rest of Camphrier town however, was quiet. Not to the extent of Lacunosa town in the years of Wataru’s youth, of course, but it was still quiet.

Rei had always known that his eccentric friend have a thing for dramatic entrance, so the rose petals everywhere was expected. In fact, he would even expect it if a dozen of pidoves were to escape from the magician's robe, or his mask would turns into a butterfree (not that it have NOT happened before, because Rei have, like it or not, witnessed much more amount of tricks from his friend. But again, that is a story for another day) with his umbreon on his side, Rei gracefully makes his entrance, the crowds cheering as he makes his presence known to the other, before the other brought out the topic... one that he have been avoiding for quite a time. 3 weeks...? No, perhaps more. He have been living solely inside his casino for 3 whole weeks.

You can't blame him. His Casino is a busy business, after all. Biting his lips, he forces a smile.

"Hibiki-kun. it indeed have been... quite a time since I did travel." Or gotten out at all.

Leo’s Swablu lightly pecked the head of the orange haired teenager, trying to remind him that no, the zubat line was not the only evolution line with bat-like pokemon. Alas, Leo did not get the hint. Instead, he held out the maps he had once more, shoving them into Rei’s face. The Swablu let out a quiet irritated noise, but did nothing more.

“Which one do you wanna go to?? Come on Rei, don’t be shy!! We can go to whichever one you want!!” he said. He pulled more maps out of his bag, this time they were maps of the interiors of caves. There was, once again, music written on them, but Leo wrote music on almost everything. 

“Nevermind them, Why Zubat? It’s…” he want to say inellegant. Weak. Hey, he is a gym leader, give him credit? At least give him something like Golbat? Why must it be specifically zubat? “…inellegant.” with a sigh, Rei raises his hand, saying no to his umbreon, no, you can’t bite him yet. Not now.

A green eyed teenager wandered around, looking around Camphrier Town. An odd colored Swablu was sitting on his head, a Serperior following them. Leo held a pokeball in his hand, throwing it up and down as he looked around. 

‘Now…where is…Aha!’ he grinned, spotting the building he had been looking for. He ignored the fact that it had taken him a few hours to find it. He had gotten lost while looking for Camphrier town, and it wasn’t as if he had been in the area before. 

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Leo’s voice could be heard from all around as he barged into the gym. His voice was a bit harder to hear inside the casino, but he paid no mind to it. He would not be stopped in his search for the vampire. 

“REI!!!!!” he yelled once more, this time inside the building. There were people staring at him. He ignored them. This wasn’t the time for that..! 

“Oi!! O~i! Fake vampire!! Where are you?” he continued to yell. Man, where were megaphones when you needed them? Leo huffed, although the two pokemon with him seemed amused.

Another shout. It startled the mawile-wielding gambler, that they accidentally dropped their card, causing the other gambler, the one with a black suit to discover their bluff and call a win against them, a smug smile on her lips as she call a full house, taking 300 chips from her opponents. It was amusing to watch the poor person glared at the teenagers afar from him, the nuisance Rei tried ignoring before. But then, the person with a mawile pulls down a gun, before the green-eyed teenager shout for him again.

Turns out Tsukinaga Leo were, in fact, persistent. Some of the casino’s visitor are looking in annoyance to the direction of the orange haired teenager. He tried to calm them down, that no, Gun is in fact, not allowed to be brought out inside this Casino. You are not allowed to stabs another visitor with a knife, either. With a sigh, he lets out his houndoom and liepard out as a damage control, Telling the visitors to calm down.

Honestly, where are his gym member to handle this instead?

Walking toward the other young man, Rei appeared from the crowd, his umbreon at his side, Hissing at the space enthusiast as he spoke.

The younger teenager grinned and pulled out a map. There were circles in different colors in different locations. There was also music written on it, but that was to be ignored. 

“Look!! I marked the places where caves are!!” he said enthusiastically, pointing to one of the circles. There were some weird looks in his direction from the customers, but once again he ignored them.

“We could go here…or here…or here!! Or if you want we could go on some long trip to a different region!!!” Leo hummed, taking out a few other maps with more circles. And more music written on them, but that was also to be ignored. 

“Lets go!!” the green eyed boy pulled on Rei’s arm, dragging him outside the gym with him. His Serperior waited for the two to exit the building, giving a smug look to the customers inside before he himself left. Most likely the look was for the people who had wanted to attack Leo but had not been able to. Which didn’t make sense, because that meant he was taking credit for Rei’s work, but hey, Leo wouldn’t question it. 

First of all, He is not aware of what is going on in the younger teenager's head. That being said, when he was dragged out, his first instict is to call back his main pokemon teams but release his Zoroark to be a substitute for him as the judge back at the Casino. His second instinct would be calling his secretary to Close the gym, before he realizes that he is not wrong, that there is, in fact, Lots of thing which is wrong from this, such as people are not normally to drags a gym leader out of his own gym without even stating his purpose.

Second of all, Leo did not even let him get inside to take his safety Umbrella (the fancy, frilly one, to protect him from the sun. He might also likes it a bit of fancy but that is a talk for another day.) from his room back at the gym.

Coming back to his sense, Rei tries to shook off the green eyed boy's hand with no avail, due to the great physical strength the other boy have. Honestly, compared to Rei, this man have a total strength of a wild, angry tauros...!

"Tsukinaga-kun." He called out quietly, only to be ignored by said boy. His umbreon running to catch up with them as he repeated, now in a harsher, louder voice. Hoping for the boy to hear him.

A green eyed teenager wandered around, looking around Camphrier Town. An odd colored Swablu was sitting on his head, a Serperior following them. Leo held a pokeball in his hand, throwing it up and down as he looked around. 

‘Now…where is…Aha!’ he grinned, spotting the building he had been looking for. He ignored the fact that it had taken him a few hours to find it. He had gotten lost while looking for Camphrier town, and it wasn’t as if he had been in the area before. 

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Leo’s voice could be heard from all around as he barged into the gym. His voice was a bit harder to hear inside the casino, but he paid no mind to it. He would not be stopped in his search for the vampire. 

“REI!!!!!” he yelled once more, this time inside the building. There were people staring at him. He ignored them. This wasn’t the time for that..! 

“Oi!! O~i! Fake vampire!! Where are you?” he continued to yell. Man, where were megaphones when you needed them? Leo huffed, although the two pokemon with him seemed amused.

Another shout. It startled the mawile-wielding gambler, that they accidentally dropped their card, causing the other gambler, the one with a black suit to discover their bluff and call a win against them, a smug smile on her lips as she call a full house, taking 300 chips from her opponents. It was amusing to watch the poor person glared at the teenagers afar from him, the nuisance Rei tried ignoring before. But then, the person with a mawile pulls down a gun, before the green-eyed teenager shout for him again.

Turns out Tsukinaga Leo were, in fact, persistent. Some of the casino’s visitor are looking in annoyance to the direction of the orange haired teenager. He tried to calm them down, that no, Gun is in fact, not allowed to be brought out inside this Casino. You are not allowed to stabs another visitor with a knife, either. With a sigh, he lets out his houndoom and liepard out as a damage control, Telling the visitors to calm down.

Honestly, where are his gym member to handle this instead?

Walking toward the other young man, Rei appeared from the crowd, his umbreon at his side, Hissing at the space enthusiast as he spoke.