wander forever ?

The next few days passes by in blur. As much as he wants to search for his son, Norman was in no condition for strenuous activities, let alone a prolonged flight through the region of Hoenn. His shoulder would take weeks to heal, and there’s a possibility of lingering damage. Nothing debilitating, but if he wants to minimize the risk of complications, he has to take it easy. Norman has patience in spades, but being unable to do anything meaningful is slowly driving him up the wall.

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     “Dad? Hello?” The connection is static-filled at best, likely due to his current height, but the device tells him the call has been answered. There’s a moment of silence, and — Brendan exhales audibly in relief.

     “Hey! Hey, you’re okay, you’re...” His hand is shaking severely, and he clamps it down with the other. Don’t you dare drop this, idiot. “I’m — I’m okay.” He laughs in DISBELIEF, almost muffled by the wind. “I know, it... It was reckless. But I had to do something, people were...” Lips purse together as he chooses NOT to say dying. “People were scared.”

     He can see Slateport to his left. The damage is difficult to assess without changing his course, and... No. It’s a big city. They must have resources.

     “I’m near Slateport,” he answers, turning his head to ( hopefully ) lessen the noise of the wind. “On Lanayru. She was too injured to fly this distance the first few days, but I’m... I’m heading to Littleroot. Are you and mom there? Is everyone okay? The damage to Sootopolis was immense, I... Please tell me everyone’s okay.”

     Brendan makes no attempt to mask the concern and FEAR that cracks through his voice.

 He’d been away from Mossdeep for far too long. Away from his home, filled with memories, and souvenirs of times from long ago. His house was practically a box of nostalgia. 

   The inside of Steven’s house was more or less… unexpected.

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     His posture collapses with RELIEF as the door swings open. He’s greeted with Steven’s stunned expression, frozen in the entryway.

     He looks near the same as the last time Brendan saw him. Dressed in business casual with a wild shock of steel-white hair and pale slate eyes. The familiarity is comforting. Brendan smiles warmly, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as his eyes meet Steven’s for a moment before sliding away.

starter for @rubyworn

Give a guy a cave, and he’ll be sure there’s an adventure to be found in some part of it, even if there’s only apparently one room to it. That was about Red’s dilemma now — find the most inconspicuous stone hill just minding its own business, and be met with indentations in each and every direction, the ones welcoming those from the wall opposite the entrance the only one seeming to have any sense to it.

Holeholehole, hole hole holehole hole. 

He stands, squinting as his torch runs along the strange pattern from top to bottom. 

“Do sideways digletts live here or something?”

At least the acoustics were nice enough to make his good joke audible in his own ears. 

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     One tip led to another, and Brendan now finds himself standing in the entrance of a rather conspicuous cave along Route 120. Strange, he thinks, that he’s never actually SEEN IT before. Or perhaps in the past he’d simply... ignored it? 

     Giant rock formation with a gaping hole in the center, surrounded with grass and puddles? Nope, must not be important.

     Copper trills at his side, circling Brendan’s feet.

     “...You wanna go in, buddy?”

plotted ahead with @rubyworn!

Leaf never thought she’d ever get to this point in her life.  She was only 22 years old, yet here she was at a speed dating event.  

After paying the absolutely outrageous 300 Poke to be here and having sat through a first round of men, she was starting to regret her decisions.  The giant ballroom was filled to the brim, and it was hot.  The refreshments were fine, but definitely not worth the entry fee.  Evidently this event was only for the most eligible singles in Hoenn, but she wasn’t really even from the region.  She was only there on a whim.  Kya was getting antsy, so Leaf thought a swim in her home waters would help her calm down.  She really didn’t even belong here, if she was being honest.  Worst of all, she felt like she had nothing to offer anyone here.  All of the guys seemed to be looking for something that… wasn’t her.  She didn’t even know what it was, but she knew she didn’t fit the bill.                        

The second round must’ve started.  More men were being rushed in front of her. She almost felt bad.  None of them interested her, so much so that she couldn’t even remember their names.  It wasn’t like her to be like this, but she wasn’t having fun.  After this next guy, she was probably going to leave.  

A poor guy with a fun looking hat sat down in front of her.  He at least looked nice, she couldn’t say that about some of the others.  She might as well try this one last time.  

“Hi! I’m Leaf.  I’m currently traveling the world with my Pokemon.  I’m looking to try and complete a League again sometime in the next year,” 

Bless this poor, poor guy.  

     This was all May’s fault.

     Really, a speed dating event?

     Brendan would be the first to insist that he didn’t need to date anyone, that he traveled far too much to even attempt to make that work, but when May paid the entrance fee and shuffled him in... Well. He could never say no to her for long. He’d let her have her fun.

     There were a LOT of people here, to say the least. And, unfortunately, quite a few recognized him. While it’d been years since the-end-of-the-world, Brendan had gone on to win the title of Champion — and his entrance to the Hall of Frame had been broadcasted. After all, he’d been the ‘ HERO ’ .

     A point May told him to play up. But it felt cheap to brag about a near-death experience. His League status, on the other hand ... fair game. Though, if he was honest with himself, no one he’d met here so far had been all that interesting ; a feeling only amplified by his disinterest in a relationship at all.

     But as he slides into the next seat — a woman with rich brown eyes to match her hair tone, an accent that places her out of Hoenn — Brendan can’t help but light up with a SMILE.

When Norman accepted the position as Petalburg City’s Gym Leader, never in his wildest dreams would he imagine that just a few months upon their move to Hoenn, the apocalypse bore upon the region. It certainly felt that way – heavy winds and rain that quickly made the ponds in the city overflow, forcing the citizens into evacuating to designated shelters. Petalburg isn’t necessarily a coastal city, but they were close enough to the sea that some feared of being swept away by a tsunami, had it occurred.

When Norman heard the news of the clashing titans, their fears were most definitely justified. 

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     Had it not been for the undeniable need for help in Sootopolis, Brendan would be long gone. Instinct urged him to flee back to Littleroot — back to his family. The inability to contact anyone outside of this city gnawed constantly at the back of his mind. Anything could have happened. And yet...

     Neither he or Lanayru were in the best condition to fly across the region. He’d pushed them both too hard to reach Rayquaza, and bore the consequence of strained wings and muscles. He spent a day in the Pokémon Center with his team before clearing out to make room for those in worse condition than him. The goal then became, with Steven’s help, to clear as much rubble as they could, with Pan helping to extinguish any lingering gas-line fires. It took a couple days for relief efforts to flood in, and for professionals to take over the slow work of cleaning up. It was only then that Brendan felt comfortable enough to leave, wishing the best to the people and city officials, promising to return after he finds his own family.

Now, here was an interesting individual. While he had been exploring, he noticed this person once before, twice, maybe even three times, to his recollection. Were they a traveler? Perhaps a tourist? His daily routine of working, teaching, and practicing had finally been over, so he had some time to escape to the nearby city of Veilstone, or at least, to hang around the route outside of it.

And there was that individual again, wandering around Route 215, not bothering to supply himself with an umbrella, nor wear shoes. It was as nature intended, to rain frequently here, so it didn’t matter to him what he’d endure. It wasn’t as though the winds were fast enough to knock him over.

He wondered briefly to himself how long he’d keep watching over this individual, like a little birdie perched on a tree. They seemed important, certainly, but perhaps it was time to introduce himself.

He was on a bridge higher above them when he jumped down to meet them, his staff extended to the ground to break his fall, hopping down the shorter distance to meet them eye to eye. “Well, hello there. I don’t mean to be rude, but I couldn’t help but notice you have a particular… air about you. Now, I’m not sure if it’s me picking up that you’re lost, or if you’re someone important, or if you’re simply interesting! It’s almost as though fate had us meet! I could feel it! What do you think?”

     There’s something refreshing about the rain ; he’s used to the oppressive humidity in Hoenn broken only by sudden downpours, but this was softer. COOLER. It’d started up not long after leaving Veilstone — urging him to stay in the woods where the smell of wet earth fills the air to the canopy. His breloom runs a good distance ahead with barely audible chirps, leaving shallow imprints in the dirt, getting bits of leaf litter caught between her claws. She loved forest rains more than anyone else on his team, and he smiles softly at her excitement. His clothes are thoroughly soaked by now — the canopy offers little shelter. 

     Sinnoh continues to surprise him at every turn. The climate varied greatly from Hoenn’s, but like his transition from Johto to it, he finds himself falling a little bit in love with Sinnoh.

     “Belle!” Brendan calls her back as she runs out of his line of sight, but his next words catch in his throat as his pace is forced to a sudden HALT.

     There’s a man in front of him. He dropped down abruptly from some tree, and Brendan reels back, blinking rapidly. A startled cry lodges behind his tongue and he swallows while ...

     What ??

     “Um — ” This is certainly a first. “I — important? No, I’m — I’m not lost.” He stumbles over his words, caught completely off guard. Belle trots up behind the other, stopping several feet back with a curious chiiiiiirp, and Brendan pauses a moment for his heart rate to STEADY.

pokemon | regions | HOENN