islandshore | 40 - video/action for Vermilion;

[It was kind of strange, really. After their match in the tournament, Riku hadn't seen hide nor hair of Xion. He thought he might've kept missing her and that she was somewhere in town; the city's huge, after all, and with so many trainers, it'd be easy to lose her in the crowds.

But when he tried contacting her over the Pokégears, he got no response. Then, when he checked his PC, he caught several familiar Pokémon inside what would've been an empty box (the others were safe at the TC, after all). Then there was that note... Really, it didn't take much to add two and two together.

So, when he addresses the network, it's with a somber expression. There's an Arcanine bounding around in the background, but Riku doesn't pay him much mind. Making it to the semis in two cups is worth celebrating, sure, but not when he's lost a close friend.

He hesitates before, finally, he speaks up.]

To those of you that knew her, Xion's gone. I've got Bahamut and a handful of her other Pokémon, but if anyone else wound up with some her roster, could you let me know?

She probably wouldn't want us to worry about her. If anything, she'd probably want us to keep smiling, but I know she made a lot of close friends here. It's only fair of me to give you guys a heads-up.

[There's a pause, followed by a sigh.]

And good luck to everyone else in the tournament.

[With his message complete, he shuts off the gear and wanders out to the docks with Flare by his side. It's still mind boggling to think about. After over a year, he hadn't expected her to just... vanish. And after he beat her in the tourny, too.

How ironic... depressingly so.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Man, if only I had Fault with me. He'd probably wanna see her.

[Because derpy Excadrill affairs, doncha know? But, hey, at least she's in good hands.]

I probably don't have to ask you to take care of her, right?

[Atsuro seems like a chill dude, after all.]

[Aubade looks over at Atsuro. Did she just hear Fault's name?]

Yeah. Don't worry about her, I'll take care of her for Xion. [He notice her look.] And I think she'd like to see Fault again as well.

[Heh. Well, that's reassuring.]

Well, you guys can always drop by the Training Center in Celadon. Fault usually hangs there with the others.

I'll make sure to swing by. After the tournament, I might drop by during my travels around Kanto.

[Man, he's really in this region for real. It's both exciting and interesting to see how the region's real looks compare to the games.]

Hah. I'm glad to hear someone's taking the initiative to travel here. Too many people stick to Johto.

Johto's nice and all, but I feel like a change in scenery's what I need.

I just think Johto's too... familiar, honestly. Plus, what people don't realize is that you can get Fly much faster if you head to Saffron instead of Cianwood.

It'd be better if people know about that earlier. It's not exactly advertised as much, so people would most likely keep bringing up Cianwood.

If nobody else mentions it, I might have to make a PSA at some point. Cianwood's only real draw is the Safari Zone, anyway.

And the local beach, if it's your thing as well. The Safari Zone's a few days away from the city by foot, if they want to put in the effort for the Pokemon.

Yeah, but there are other beaches, too. Olivine, Vermilion, Cinnabar...

Haven't check out the beaches here at Vermilion or over at Cinnabar yet. But yeah, compared to other cities, Cianwood got less stuff.

[It's just very...local.]

And that's before we bring up how far it is from the rest of the region.

Doesn't help that newcomers have to surf for a few days just to get there, either.

There's the ferry, if you don't want to surf and tire out your Pokemon. But it still take a few days to get there.

I didn't bother with the ferry. It was too slow, and... I wasn't in the mood to take it easy.

[Not when Sora and Kairi left, anyway.]

So you just want to keep on moving.

[He gets that. Atsuro would prefer diving into his work first before travelling.]

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