Chapter Text
Adrian walked through the streets of the smoggy East Gearen City, reaching the railings overlooking the polluted waters surrounding this new island they were shipwrecked at. They felt trapped, having been sent radically off course by a terrorist attack no one could’ve prepared for. Mom? Are you still alive? Are you there for me?
They stood overlooking the waters for a few seconds. Nothing came to them. A sigh. Adrian just walked away from the railing. I’ll just explore the city for now. This is an awfully big place to try and find that Melia person in , they thought. Knowing they still had a full day and then some to familiarize themself before finding her for the task at hand, they took out their only Poké Ball, their starter from the lab, and let out Cindy into the world.
“Baaaaan!” Cindy shouted happily, startling the novice, fish-out-of-water trainer. She jumped up onto their shoulder, looked around, then rapidly pointed northeast. “Ah!” she exclaimed, directing Adrian towards the Berry Shop. They chuckled lightly. “Okay, we’ll go,” the enby sighed.
“That’ll be 500,” the lady at the counter said as Adrian rummaged through their bag for the cash Mom gave them before… It happened. Another sigh escaped them as they handed over the money for their berries and left. Cindy shouted gleefully after having to have been held back from eating the berries off the shelves and started chomping. “H-hey, bud, leave some for me too, okay?” Adrian requested as Cindy stopped eating and looked up at them. She looked down at her half-eaten berry and held it up for Adrian, seemingly offering it to them. “No, you should probably finish that one,” they chuckled, grabbing another berry out of the pouch to munch on. They looked around the store, then saw a sign near the stairs- “Pokémon Salon- Get your Pokémon prim and proper!” They checked their wallet- still in the clear in terms of cash for the time being, thankfully- and walked upstairs with the bunny by their side, only to hear a startlingly-loud groan from the top. Oh no, no, no… Adrian panicked inside as they rushed to see what was the matter.
“Oh, did you accept my help request?!” exclaimed the lady at the top.
“Um, I’m sorry, I don’t know where I can find those, I just heard you while coming up for a haircut,” they frantically replied. The lady sighed, conceding, “My apologies. I shouldn’t have made my issue so public like that.”
“No, wait!” Adrian replied, embarrassed at how loud they tried to talk to her, “L-Let me help you!”
The woman introduced herself as Sasha and tasked them with investigating her Mom’s previous customers. After they walked into the cool AC-infused bask of the Aqua Apartments and wisely decided to not visit the third floor(that banging was REALLY loud and it felt like they’d catch on those destructive, seabound fires again if they went up there), they met up with the first customer, who directed them to the Velvet Apartments. It was getting late, and so Adrian was about to see if they could snooze on the lobby couch without anybody kicking them out(they deduced they had better chances asking Professor Jenner for help with that, but the comfort of sleep was too alluring even when put against their desire to stay out of trouble) when suddenly they heard quite the racket coming from upstairs. “Ugh, it’s happening again…” Adrian heard from the receptionist before taking the elevator up to investigate.
The next morning, Adrian walked out of the Velvet Apartments and back to the Salon to apologize for his lateness, with a very hyper electric squirrel in tow. They were profusely thankful that the receptionist let them stay the night after dealing with the issue- he didn’t know anywhere else to go, after all. Pachirisu was already becoming fast friends with Cindy, and they were certain that he would be a lovable companion to have along the way as they continued exploring this city. After continuing to follow the trail for Sasha, the two of them ultimately reconvened at a small warehouse at Oceana Pier. Adrian depressedly sighed at revisiting the place where they and Mom should’ve landed peacefully before they and Sasha entered the building.
“Like. I. Said," the brash and demanding Stella shouted out for all the customers of Sasha’s Mom to hear, “Follow my demands…” she started as she let her Lopunny out of its Poké Ball, “or this place gets trashed.”
“Stop this right now-” Sasha started, before her mom shushed her. “Just let me give her the haircut so this can end peacefully,” she replied before going to give the woman what she wanted. Adrian watched on with a pit in their stomach. Is this… really how it has to happen? they wondered, witnessing the satisfied, ugly smirk on her face. They clenched their fist staring at the sight in their way. Thoughts ran through the newly determined enby’s head- Can I really beat a Lopunny? I’ve only just started out, but… I need to do this! - before they started walking up towards the intruder on Sasha’s mom’s precious activity of goodwill.
“H-Hey you…” Stella suddenly heard, turning around to see the novice trainer stomping the way up towards her. They breathed in deep before shouting, “G-Get out of this place, NOW!”
“Oh, and you’re gonna stop me? A newbie like you stands no chance.” Stella taunted. “Lopunny, if you’d please?” she requested as her way bigger bunny strode up bored, towering over Cindy. Adrian glanced over to see Cindy near their leg, the young clearly intimidated by Lopunny’s sheer confidence and height. Cindy couldn’t win in a one-vs.-one fight in this case… but they glanced at the other Ball at their waist, hopeful that their new catch could pull this off.
Stella stood by dumbfounded as Lopunny was completely ran out of juice by the ultra-energetic Pachirisu. Its Charm attack, while called out by Adrian in a spurt of panic after Pachirisu was initially cornered, worked like- well, you know- and soon enough the adorable little squirrel was dashing circles around the normally stoic, bigger rabbit Pokémon until Pachirisu chipped it down, leaving everyone in the room dumbfounded.
“L-Lopunny! How could you lose to such a pipsqueak?!” Stella gasped as she promptly returned it to its ball. She trembled, facing the newly stunned-yet-happy novice trainer who somehow trounced her. “F-Fine, you win this one… but I’ll be back!” she attempted in retort. But Adrian grabbed her arm before she could run off.
“Not enough.” the trainer stated more firmly than she had expected, “Get Out. And. Stay Out.” The flabbergasted woman rushed off after they let go.
“Oh Mom, I was so worried about you!” Sasha exclaimed, hugging her mother tightly.
“I’m so sorry, Sasha,” her mother replied. “I should’ve told you about what I was doing.”
“Don’t worry, at least I know you’re safe.”
Adrian looked on with a warm heart and a soft smile on his face. And I thought I really bit off more than I could chew, they thought, looking down at the now pooped Pachirisu snoozing on the floor. They noticed Cindy looking up at him sadly and picked her up. “Oh, don’t worry, bud,” they said to comfort the little rabbit. “You’ll get your chance real soon.” Cindy let rip a big smile and hopped onto their shoulder happily as they picked up their yet-to-be-named Pachirisu and started to walk out, deciding to leave Sasha and her mother- her still alive and well mother- be in peace.
That’s my love for you, Adrian. A mother’s love. The last words she said to them rang in their mind. Sasha found her mom alive and well within the city, but what happened to their mom?
They gazed back at the family as the pair began walking out to go home. “Leaving already? We wanted to thank you!” the Mother said, before noticing something with their face. “Um, are you alright?”
As Adrian realized just how many tears were rolling down their face, they started panicking. “N-no, I’m fine! I’M SORRY!” they mustered as they ran out in embarrassment, with the barbers looking on in concern as Cindy nearly flew off their shoulder in shock.
“Should we go after them?” Sasha asked.
“I’d suppose they’ve suffered something similar for them to get this emotional,” her mother surmised. “Best to give them some space.”
A few hours later
Sasha was working the desk when the bell to the shop rang again. She began to call, “Hello, how may I help you?” when she recognized the “new” customer as the very same one who helped her before.
“Ah, you’re back!” she exclaimed. “Are you doing better? You ran off in such a rush.”
“I-Yeah, kinda,” Adrian mustered. “Listen, I-I’m really sorry for leaving so abruptly like that. Your reunion made me remember something and-” they continued, before quickly stopping themself. “Never mind, I shouldn’t be talking about this to someone I barely know.”
“Nonsense! If my mom were back here by now she’d hear out anything you need to talk about. She showed others compassion by giving the GDCers free cuts even when it brought us strife. The least I can do is spread that kindness too.”
“Ah, um, right, sorry.”
Sasha thought for a second before noticing the little Scorbunny’s hair having gotten all messy. “Hey, you came here for a cut right? What say I give one of you two a free trim or groom to mull things over? It’s the least I can do for making you deal with such a wild goose chase.”
Shocked, Adrian began to decline her offer to skimp on payment from crucial business. But after looking to see Cindy’s infectious smile hit their face, they couldn’t help but feel joy. “Wow, um, thank you so much!”
As Cindy hopped joyfully onto the comfy seat, Adrian sat down with a tired, yet for once, calm sigh of relief. Despite their embarrassing blunder following their shocking victory over a person who had tried to threaten innocents for their own gain, they felt happy in the end. They gazed out the window into the brighter afternoon, clouded in a seemingly usual pollution, thinking of the turbulent tide that had forced them into this new city. No sign yet of my mom so far… - they thought- but helping another find theirs is still more than worth the effort!