Pokemon: Fate's Path

Chapter 7

Soren Rivers

I finished healing up Finn with some berries before walking over to where the others were taking care of their injured pokémon and talking. Ivan had been a great opponent to battle against, though I was sure Freya would've been left to deal with both Lillipup and Shinx on her own if his electric type had been a high enough level to have an electric type move. I glanced over at Jay, she was still off by herself drying off Curse, didn't she want to get to know Freya's friends? They seemed like good people, and not just because it was fun to train with them.

"We should probably get going." Rita spoke up as she returned her buneary to its ball. "I want to go find some more pokémon to use in the next contest."

"Why not look around here?" Josef questioned, seeming comfortable leaning against the tree.

"We need to find out where the next contest is being held too, that's why." Rita gave him a slight glare and I got the feeling the two didn't get along on the subject of travelling.

I sat down on a fallen tree. "Well, most contests in Drucan are held on Oasis Crescent but there are some that take place on Tranquil Isle or Pearl Island, but those are for people newer to the contest world."

"I've already gone through the Sinnoh and Hoenn contests." Rita responded. "I mean, I didn't win and get famous but I was really good at them, I'll probably catch a boat and head on over to Oasis Crescent then."

"Now?" Ivan looked down at the pokéball in his hand. "But I was going to work on getting some gym badges."

"Yeah, I mean, who cares about some stupid ribbon anyway?" Josef scoffed.

"Excuse me, but it isn't a stupid ribbon." Rita growled.

I thought about speaking up to ease the building tension but it was Jay who stepped forward. "This group is getting too large anyway, if you want to go do contests and they don't just go off on your own... it'll be less annoying anyway with less people."

Did she just call all of us annoying or just them? I wasn't that annoying... right? It was hard to tell at times if I annoyed people but I was pretty sure I wasn't the reason she was irritated at the moment.

"Good idea." Ivan acknowledged. "I'll stay here with these guys and you can go do your contests, win-win right?"

Esme walked over to Rita. "Is it okay if I go with you? I-I don't really like gym battles."

"Of course." Rita smiled and stood up. "I'm ready to go whenever you are."

Jay took out a pokéball and handed it to Esme. "If you're leaving you better take Poochyena with you, he is yours after all."

"Oh, yeah... " I swore she took as long as she could to reach out and take back her pokémon, the poor thing was probably going to be dumped with the professor as soon as they hit the next town.

"Bye Esme." Freya stood up and walked over. "See you next time we meet."

"Bye." Esme responded and waved as she walked away with Rita back the way we'd came from the day before.

She looked happier now that she was with a person who shared her less violent ways of training pokémon and I was glad she wasn't around to complain and worry anymore, as bad as that sounded. I walked over to my things and finished packing before I said anything along those lines, I was sure Freya would defend her friend with punches and kicks if I said anything bad about Esme behind her back.

"I'm going to go on ahead and see how far we have until we get out of here." Jay called out and I looked up to watch her leave for a moment before finishing my packing and walking back over to the others.