Story Notes:
The story has been finished, the follow-up will be written soon, and it will the be called: The Primal Spark: Another Time, Another Place.
Chapter 34 (Oreburgh City, a trade...)
(Lucas's P.O.V)
"leave? well...where's the next stop?" Zoey asked, looking on curiously
"we should be arriving in Oreburgh next..." I responded, nodding slightly
"so, how long do you think it'll take us to get there?" Seena asked, sliding off the bed
"given the distance... I'd say about an hour..." I responded, as I leaned down and pulled the stone Matt gave me out of my bag, "I still wonder what this is, but, I guess we'll find out soon enough..." I said, before putting it back
"so..." Jacob started, getting my attention "what happened at Amity square?"
"not much" I started in response, folding my arms "but Eliza and I DID meet someone who knew Terese, so that was interesting"
"Oh?" Seena cut in "who was it?"
"A Wigglytuff named Wendy, she also said she was about twenty..."
"so she knew Terese..." Seena started, as I continued her statement
"the whole time she was here, yeah..." I responded, looking around at the others, their expressions remained unchanged, but I expected nothing else, none of them had even MET Terese... I then turned my attention back to Seena and asked "so, how is your back feeling?"
"it feels fine, Lucas, it shouldn't be a problem anymore..." she said, as I slowly made my way over to her
"well, would you like this gauze removed, then?" I asked in response
"yeah...they feel kind of constrictive..." she said, turning so her back was facing me
"constrictive? you didn't say anything about that before..." I responded, as I traced my eyes along the gauze, looking for the small hook-like clasp holding it together
"well, it didn't feel constrictive before, that's why..." she started "do you think something's happened?"
"it could be any number of things" I said, spotting the clasp "bones growing, weight gain..." I then unhooked the clasp, before unwrapping the gauze, it soon all fell off, showing that her back had healed up completely, after it was off, Seena turned back to me and that's when I noticed it, I blushed slightly before pointing at her chest and sayig "I think THAT might be the reason, though..."
Looking down, Seena's eyes widened slightly "they're...bigger?" she asked, bringing a hand to one of her breasts
"if only slightly..." I started, through a confused expression before continuing "but it's still noticeable..."
"do you think people will know I'm half-born now?" she asked
"maybe, but I'm not sure if that's something most people are comfortable talking about publicly..." I responded
"what do you mean? is there something strange about us?" she asked, in a concerned tone
"no..." I started, shaking my head slowly "but, our kind of relationship has become less and less common over the past few centuries..." I continued, before sighing lightly and saying "I'm sure there are some people who would disapprove of us being together, but, to me, love is what's truly important..."
"thanks, Lucas..." she said, before hugging me, I returned her embrace as I smiled happily... after we broke the embrace, I turned to the others and said
"anyway, I think I've talked long enough, we should probably get going" when I finished saying this, I slung my bag over my shoulder, before opening the door, the others followed after me, as I made my way out to the main area, I placed the door key on the desk, saying "thanks again for letting us use the room"
the Nurse turned to face me and responded "oh, you're welcome..."
"anyway, we're going to head over to Oreburgh, do you know of anything we should be wary of on the way?" I asked
she paused slightly before answering "it's just the normal, look out for overly territorial pokemon, and, if you're heading through Mt. Coronet, be wary as any compasses will be thrown off by the mountains high magnetic ore deposits..."
"magnetic ore deposits?" I asked, I hadn't heard of this before
"yeah, the mountain has large deposits underground, the people at Oreburgh have been conducting experiments relating to magnetism in there, too..." she said, nodding slowly
"I'm actually trying to find Roark, the Oreburgh gymleader, would HE be inside the mountain, too?" I asked
"no, no" the nurse started, shaking her head "he's pretty busy, most trainers taking the league challenge have to face him, first..."
"so" I started, folding my arms "a lot of young trainers have to go through him then?" I asked
"yeah..." she responded "but if he's not in the gym, try the mining area just south of the City..."
"thanks again" I said, before turning back to the others and saying "alright, let's head out, then"...
...after we left the pokemon centre, we headed down to the area we entered the city from, as the checkpoint leading west of Hearthome was there, too...
we soon passed through the checkpoint, getting a strange look from the guard
"aren't you only allowed to take six pokemon with you?" he asked
"I'm not a trainer, the limit is only set for legal pokemon battles, anyway..." I responded, before passing through
on the other side of the checkpoint, we walked through some grass leading up to a small series of bridges, as we started across the first bridge, Zoey flew up beside me and said "Lucas...I'm actually feeling pretty tired..."
"would you like to take a break, maybe sleep inside a ball?" I asked
"that sounds refreshing..." she responded, before sighing lightly
"well, alright then" I said, pulling a spare ball out of my bag, before asking "are you sure? I don't know when I should next bring you out..."
"I trust your judgement..." she said, before flying slightly closer to the ball, I held it in my palm, moving it upward for the activator touched Zoey, she then dispersed into a red light, before disappearing inside the ball, after shrinking the ball down, I put it back in my bag, before saying "if anyone else would prefer to be in their ball, just let me know, I won't force you to stay out of them, either..."
I didn't get a response, so I just continued on, we soon reached the cave leading to Oreburgh through Mt. Coronet, as we walked through the cave, I said "this place feeks kinda foreboding..."
"what do you mean?" Seena asked
"I just feel like there's more to this place than spear pillar" I responded, while looking back over my shoulder
"well, there's no need to worry about that now..." she said, as we continued through the mountain hollow...
...we soon found our way out, into a rather open area, leading through to Oreburgh, Looking towards the buildings, I said "looks like we're close now..." as we continued through the rocky area, down to Oreburgh...
...when we reached Oreburgh, I saw a large building, I wondered about what it could be, so I went to investigate it
"hmmm...the mining museum?" I asked out loud, before turning back to the others, looking around at the rest of the City, I saw the familiar design of a Gym and headed over to it, saying "come on, guys, let's go see Roark..."
as we made our way to the Gym, I heard Garudan ask, "what's a Gymleader like, anyway?"
"well" I started in response "gymleaders are a great many things, they could be considered something like a local hero, or celebrity, but most of all, thy're milestones for trainers, beating a gymleader is considered the first true test for a trainer, maybe I would've become a trainer myself...if we had a gym in my town..." I said, sighing lightly
"do you regret not becoming a trainer?" he asked in response
"no, I don't regret that decision, besides, if I did become a trainer, I doubt I would've met any of you guys..." I responded, looking back to the group
"just think what would've happened to all of us if you didn't come along when you did Lucas..." Seena said, before continuing "I'm glad you were there..." she then moved forward and hugged me from behind
"I'm glad I met you..." I said, looking down, before looking back to the others and continuing "all of you..." Seena then let go of me, before I continued through the doors of the gym...
it was large, the roof was high off the ground, and there was a single path, leading to a plateau, and another path winding around the straight path, I could see three people in the gym, so I decided, I could just go and talk to the gymleader, I walked up to the first trainer, a child, and asked
"hi, is the gymleader in today?"
"yeah, he's here" the boy responded, before asking "are you a trainer? there sure are alot of pokemon following you..."
"no, I'm not, I only wish to talk to the gymleader..." I responded, before asking "is it okay if I just go up and talk to him?"
"well, there isn't someone currently battling him, so it should be fine..." the boy responded
"thanks" I said, before continuing up the stairs, there was another boy standing to the side of the next part, turning to him, I asked "you heard what I asked, right?"
"yeah, yeah, I heard it..." he started, folding his arms before continuing "Roark's right up ahead" he said, tilting his head to his right,
"thanks" I simply said, before turning and walking up the stairs, when I saw Roark, he said "oh, hello there" he sounded kind of nervous
"is something wrong?" I asked, reaching the top of the stairs
"oh, it's nothing you should concern yourself with, it's a family thing" he said, before becoming embarassed and continuing "sorry, I should stay focused, anyway, who are you?"
"maybe Candice has told you about me, I'm Lucas, Lucas West..." I responded, smiling softly
"so YOU'RE lucas...yeah, Candice told me about you, but she only mentioned your name, but she did say you'd have something I'd be interested in..." he said, adjusting his glasses
"oh yeah!" I started, slightly surprised, before putting my bag down and rummaging through it
"so..." he started, leaning forwards, looking at my bag, "what is it?"
"here it is..." I said, before pulling it out and handing it to him
"this is...a Dome fossil?" he said, before inspecting it closely "no...it looks somewhat different...could this be?" he then looked back up at me and asked "where did you find this?"
"well, it wasn't just me, Maylene and Candice were there too, but, we found it in Snowpoint temple..." I responded, looking on curiously
"follow me, we need to take this to the museum to get it properly identified" he said, before moving past me, pulling my bag back onto my shoulder, I said
"well, okay, then..." before turning back to the others and continuing "I guess we're going to the mining museum after all..."...
...we followed Roark to the mining museum, he seemed to be slightly excited about this fossil "maybe it's something special..." I thought to myself as he went in to the large building, I followed him in, as he made his way up to a counter, placing the fossil on the desk and asking
"could I have this properly identified?" the man behind the counter took the fossil and said
"sure thing, Roark..." I walked up to the desk, before asking
"what's going on? why are you so excited about this fossil?"
"I think it may be a new species, but I can't be sure..." he said, not breaking attention from the desk
"I don't think a fossilized pokemon can really be considered a 'new' species, Roark" I responded, smiling slightly
"well, if you gave me permission, it can be..." he said, looking at me
"what do you mean?" I asked, folding my arms
"I mean, we have a way to clone pokemon from fossils..." he responded, smiling
"that sounds incredible!" I said, surprised
"yeah, my dad has one of these pokemon, too..." Roark started "he found the fossil while he was mining..."
"okay..." I started in response, before looking back at the group, and thinking to myself, "I don't really NEED anyone else with me, and Roark seems like he'd really appreciate this..." I then turned back to Roark and said "you know what? you can have it..."
his eyes widened at this statement "really!?"
"yeah..." I started, looking back at the others "it's difficult enough looking after nine others, and besides, something tells me you'd like having one of these 'fossil' pokemon more than I would..."
"Candice told me you were kind...but I never expected something like this, please, there must be some way I can repay you..." he said, looking slightly confused
"well...what did you have in mind?" I asked, unsure of what to expect
"we have some extra exhibit pieces...stuff we already have on display..." he said, looking around at the glass cases
"what kind of stuff?" I then asked
"we have all sorts of stones used in evolution and other things, take a look around, maybe you'll find something you like..." he said, pointing at the cases
"well, alright then..." I responded, before making my way to the exhibits, when I reached the first glass case, I peered inside, seeing what looked like normal stones,looking down to the plaque below the display, it showed "common stones found underground..." there were multiple of each distinct kind of stone in the case, to exemplify how common they were...none of them held my interest, as I moved to the next case, Roark walked up beside me and said
"you know...that Eevee could use an evolution stone..."
"it's alright" I started in response "she hasn't taken to the idea of evolving just yet, and I wouldn't make her, or any of them, do something they didn't want to do..."
"oh yeah, I almost forgot that Candice said you could speak with them..." he responded
"you seem unsurprised..." I said, giving him a curious look
"well, in a sense, communication is always possible, there's a lot that can be said without words, you know?" he started in response, while folding his arms "as a gymleader, I do my best to understand the wants and needs of my partners...I guess that might be what excels me beyond a standard trainer..."
"I suppose, but we won't be so different soon..." I responded, smiling slightly
"yeah...I suppose not...well, anyway, take a look around, tell me if you see anything you like"
"sure..." I said, simply...
...after I had looked at all of the items on display, I saw a red, gem-like rock
"what is this?" I asked Roark, getting his attention
"oh, that? that's a Star piece, why? did you want it?" he asked in response
"just a second, it's not just my opinion here" I said, before turning to Seena and asking "what do you think? does this look nice?"
Seena looked at me through a confused expression "why do you ask, Lucas?"
"you'll find out, Seena..." I responded, through a smile, before continuing "do you like it, though?..."
"It's lovely, truly..." she responded, I then turned back to Roark and said
"that's all the confirmation I need, I'll take it..."
"alright then, it's really the least I could do after you gave me that fossil" Roark said, opening the case, and pulling out the red stone, before handing it to me
"that reminds me..." I started, while putting the Star piece in my bag, and pulling out Matt's stone "I wanted to get this identified, for a friend..." I then held the stone out for Roark to see...
"oh, that's an easy one, it's an everstone..." Roark responded, inspecting the stone
"so THIS is what an everstone looks like..." I started, before realizing something "wait...what does this mean, if the friend I speak of, is a Machoke?"
"well, this may seem strange, but I've heard some cases of pokemon evolving from a sudden lack of an everstone..." he responded
"what do you mean?" I asked, becoming slightly concerned
"I mean...your friend may not be a Machoke when you next see them, an everstone absorbs evolution energies, so a withdrawl effect to the sudden lack of something like this, may be unexpected evolution..." he responded, bringing a hand to his chin
"well, knowing Matt, he'd probably be happy to be stronger..." I started, before turning back to Seena and asking "what do you say we go and see them again?"
"you mean like, right now?" Seena asked, becoming slightly concerned
"why not?" I responded, shrugging slightly, before continuing "I DID tell Matt we'd return after we came here, afterall..."
"yeah, I guess that should be fine...hopefully Terese won't try to start anything this time..." she said, before sighing lightly.
"I won't allow it, if she even looks at you the wrong way, tell me, okay?" I asked in response, before turning back to Roark and saying "I guess we're done here, but, treat this new pokemon well, okay?"
"don't you worry, I can ask my dad what his one is like, and treat it in a similar way..." turning back to face the exit, I responded
"maybe we'll meet up again, but if not, Candice could probably keep you informed..." I then walked past the others, waving them after me...
...after we left the mining museum, we headed up to the rocky area we entered from, I then turned back to the others, saying "well, I guess you guys are going to be in your balls for a while..."
"it's not a problem, Lucas..." Garudan started "I think I can speak for all of us when I say I trust you..." the others seemed to nod in agreement...
"well, I'll bring you back out as soon as possible, alright?" I said, before pulling the balls out of my bag...
after everyone except Gordon was in their balls, Gordon asked "I guess this is the time to ask...will you really be okay with this?"
"Gordon..." I started, sighing, "I already told you, nothing has changed between us..."
"well, okay then" Gordon responded, allowing me to climb onto his back...
...about 10 minutes later, we had arrived back in Celestic town, hopping off Gordon's back, I said "you have gotten much better at flying, you know..."
he blshed slightly at the compliment "thanks, Lucas..." he said, as I unclpped his and Seena's balls off my waist
"I'll talk to you later, okay?" I asked, getting his ball ready
"yeah, I'll see you then" he responded, before I dispersed his form into a red ight, returning him to his respective pokeball, before releasing Seena from hers, she seemed a little dizzy, almost falling
"I swear, I'll never get used to that..." she said, shaking her head
"well..." I started, while turning to my house, "let's go, shall we?"...Chapter End Notes:okay, next chapter will all take place at Lucas's home in Celestic..
"leave? well...where's the next stop?" Zoey asked, looking on curiously
"we should be arriving in Oreburgh next..." I responded, nodding slightly
"so, how long do you think it'll take us to get there?" Seena asked, sliding off the bed
"given the distance... I'd say about an hour..." I responded, as I leaned down and pulled the stone Matt gave me out of my bag, "I still wonder what this is, but, I guess we'll find out soon enough..." I said, before putting it back
"so..." Jacob started, getting my attention "what happened at Amity square?"
"not much" I started in response, folding my arms "but Eliza and I DID meet someone who knew Terese, so that was interesting"
"Oh?" Seena cut in "who was it?"
"A Wigglytuff named Wendy, she also said she was about twenty..."
"so she knew Terese..." Seena started, as I continued her statement
"the whole time she was here, yeah..." I responded, looking around at the others, their expressions remained unchanged, but I expected nothing else, none of them had even MET Terese... I then turned my attention back to Seena and asked "so, how is your back feeling?"
"it feels fine, Lucas, it shouldn't be a problem anymore..." she said, as I slowly made my way over to her
"well, would you like this gauze removed, then?" I asked in response
"yeah...they feel kind of constrictive..." she said, turning so her back was facing me
"constrictive? you didn't say anything about that before..." I responded, as I traced my eyes along the gauze, looking for the small hook-like clasp holding it together
"well, it didn't feel constrictive before, that's why..." she started "do you think something's happened?"
"it could be any number of things" I said, spotting the clasp "bones growing, weight gain..." I then unhooked the clasp, before unwrapping the gauze, it soon all fell off, showing that her back had healed up completely, after it was off, Seena turned back to me and that's when I noticed it, I blushed slightly before pointing at her chest and sayig "I think THAT might be the reason, though..."
Looking down, Seena's eyes widened slightly "they're...bigger?" she asked, bringing a hand to one of her breasts
"if only slightly..." I started, through a confused expression before continuing "but it's still noticeable..."
"do you think people will know I'm half-born now?" she asked
"maybe, but I'm not sure if that's something most people are comfortable talking about publicly..." I responded
"what do you mean? is there something strange about us?" she asked, in a concerned tone
"no..." I started, shaking my head slowly "but, our kind of relationship has become less and less common over the past few centuries..." I continued, before sighing lightly and saying "I'm sure there are some people who would disapprove of us being together, but, to me, love is what's truly important..."
"thanks, Lucas..." she said, before hugging me, I returned her embrace as I smiled happily... after we broke the embrace, I turned to the others and said
"anyway, I think I've talked long enough, we should probably get going" when I finished saying this, I slung my bag over my shoulder, before opening the door, the others followed after me, as I made my way out to the main area, I placed the door key on the desk, saying "thanks again for letting us use the room"
the Nurse turned to face me and responded "oh, you're welcome..."
"anyway, we're going to head over to Oreburgh, do you know of anything we should be wary of on the way?" I asked
she paused slightly before answering "it's just the normal, look out for overly territorial pokemon, and, if you're heading through Mt. Coronet, be wary as any compasses will be thrown off by the mountains high magnetic ore deposits..."
"magnetic ore deposits?" I asked, I hadn't heard of this before
"yeah, the mountain has large deposits underground, the people at Oreburgh have been conducting experiments relating to magnetism in there, too..." she said, nodding slowly
"I'm actually trying to find Roark, the Oreburgh gymleader, would HE be inside the mountain, too?" I asked
"no, no" the nurse started, shaking her head "he's pretty busy, most trainers taking the league challenge have to face him, first..."
"so" I started, folding my arms "a lot of young trainers have to go through him then?" I asked
"yeah..." she responded "but if he's not in the gym, try the mining area just south of the City..."
"thanks again" I said, before turning back to the others and saying "alright, let's head out, then"...
...after we left the pokemon centre, we headed down to the area we entered the city from, as the checkpoint leading west of Hearthome was there, too...
we soon passed through the checkpoint, getting a strange look from the guard
"aren't you only allowed to take six pokemon with you?" he asked
"I'm not a trainer, the limit is only set for legal pokemon battles, anyway..." I responded, before passing through
on the other side of the checkpoint, we walked through some grass leading up to a small series of bridges, as we started across the first bridge, Zoey flew up beside me and said "Lucas...I'm actually feeling pretty tired..."
"would you like to take a break, maybe sleep inside a ball?" I asked
"that sounds refreshing..." she responded, before sighing lightly
"well, alright then" I said, pulling a spare ball out of my bag, before asking "are you sure? I don't know when I should next bring you out..."
"I trust your judgement..." she said, before flying slightly closer to the ball, I held it in my palm, moving it upward for the activator touched Zoey, she then dispersed into a red light, before disappearing inside the ball, after shrinking the ball down, I put it back in my bag, before saying "if anyone else would prefer to be in their ball, just let me know, I won't force you to stay out of them, either..."
I didn't get a response, so I just continued on, we soon reached the cave leading to Oreburgh through Mt. Coronet, as we walked through the cave, I said "this place feeks kinda foreboding..."
"what do you mean?" Seena asked
"I just feel like there's more to this place than spear pillar" I responded, while looking back over my shoulder
"well, there's no need to worry about that now..." she said, as we continued through the mountain hollow...
...we soon found our way out, into a rather open area, leading through to Oreburgh, Looking towards the buildings, I said "looks like we're close now..." as we continued through the rocky area, down to Oreburgh...
...when we reached Oreburgh, I saw a large building, I wondered about what it could be, so I went to investigate it
"hmmm...the mining museum?" I asked out loud, before turning back to the others, looking around at the rest of the City, I saw the familiar design of a Gym and headed over to it, saying "come on, guys, let's go see Roark..."
as we made our way to the Gym, I heard Garudan ask, "what's a Gymleader like, anyway?"
"well" I started in response "gymleaders are a great many things, they could be considered something like a local hero, or celebrity, but most of all, thy're milestones for trainers, beating a gymleader is considered the first true test for a trainer, maybe I would've become a trainer myself...if we had a gym in my town..." I said, sighing lightly
"do you regret not becoming a trainer?" he asked in response
"no, I don't regret that decision, besides, if I did become a trainer, I doubt I would've met any of you guys..." I responded, looking back to the group
"just think what would've happened to all of us if you didn't come along when you did Lucas..." Seena said, before continuing "I'm glad you were there..." she then moved forward and hugged me from behind
"I'm glad I met you..." I said, looking down, before looking back to the others and continuing "all of you..." Seena then let go of me, before I continued through the doors of the gym...
it was large, the roof was high off the ground, and there was a single path, leading to a plateau, and another path winding around the straight path, I could see three people in the gym, so I decided, I could just go and talk to the gymleader, I walked up to the first trainer, a child, and asked
"hi, is the gymleader in today?"
"yeah, he's here" the boy responded, before asking "are you a trainer? there sure are alot of pokemon following you..."
"no, I'm not, I only wish to talk to the gymleader..." I responded, before asking "is it okay if I just go up and talk to him?"
"well, there isn't someone currently battling him, so it should be fine..." the boy responded
"thanks" I said, before continuing up the stairs, there was another boy standing to the side of the next part, turning to him, I asked "you heard what I asked, right?"
"yeah, yeah, I heard it..." he started, folding his arms before continuing "Roark's right up ahead" he said, tilting his head to his right,
"thanks" I simply said, before turning and walking up the stairs, when I saw Roark, he said "oh, hello there" he sounded kind of nervous
"is something wrong?" I asked, reaching the top of the stairs
"oh, it's nothing you should concern yourself with, it's a family thing" he said, before becoming embarassed and continuing "sorry, I should stay focused, anyway, who are you?"
"maybe Candice has told you about me, I'm Lucas, Lucas West..." I responded, smiling softly
"so YOU'RE lucas...yeah, Candice told me about you, but she only mentioned your name, but she did say you'd have something I'd be interested in..." he said, adjusting his glasses
"oh yeah!" I started, slightly surprised, before putting my bag down and rummaging through it
"so..." he started, leaning forwards, looking at my bag, "what is it?"
"here it is..." I said, before pulling it out and handing it to him
"this is...a Dome fossil?" he said, before inspecting it closely "no...it looks somewhat different...could this be?" he then looked back up at me and asked "where did you find this?"
"well, it wasn't just me, Maylene and Candice were there too, but, we found it in Snowpoint temple..." I responded, looking on curiously
"follow me, we need to take this to the museum to get it properly identified" he said, before moving past me, pulling my bag back onto my shoulder, I said
"well, okay, then..." before turning back to the others and continuing "I guess we're going to the mining museum after all..."...
...we followed Roark to the mining museum, he seemed to be slightly excited about this fossil "maybe it's something special..." I thought to myself as he went in to the large building, I followed him in, as he made his way up to a counter, placing the fossil on the desk and asking
"could I have this properly identified?" the man behind the counter took the fossil and said
"sure thing, Roark..." I walked up to the desk, before asking
"what's going on? why are you so excited about this fossil?"
"I think it may be a new species, but I can't be sure..." he said, not breaking attention from the desk
"I don't think a fossilized pokemon can really be considered a 'new' species, Roark" I responded, smiling slightly
"well, if you gave me permission, it can be..." he said, looking at me
"what do you mean?" I asked, folding my arms
"I mean, we have a way to clone pokemon from fossils..." he responded, smiling
"that sounds incredible!" I said, surprised
"yeah, my dad has one of these pokemon, too..." Roark started "he found the fossil while he was mining..."
"okay..." I started in response, before looking back at the group, and thinking to myself, "I don't really NEED anyone else with me, and Roark seems like he'd really appreciate this..." I then turned back to Roark and said "you know what? you can have it..."
his eyes widened at this statement "really!?"
"yeah..." I started, looking back at the others "it's difficult enough looking after nine others, and besides, something tells me you'd like having one of these 'fossil' pokemon more than I would..."
"Candice told me you were kind...but I never expected something like this, please, there must be some way I can repay you..." he said, looking slightly confused
"well...what did you have in mind?" I asked, unsure of what to expect
"we have some extra exhibit pieces...stuff we already have on display..." he said, looking around at the glass cases
"what kind of stuff?" I then asked
"we have all sorts of stones used in evolution and other things, take a look around, maybe you'll find something you like..." he said, pointing at the cases
"well, alright then..." I responded, before making my way to the exhibits, when I reached the first glass case, I peered inside, seeing what looked like normal stones,looking down to the plaque below the display, it showed "common stones found underground..." there were multiple of each distinct kind of stone in the case, to exemplify how common they were...none of them held my interest, as I moved to the next case, Roark walked up beside me and said
"you know...that Eevee could use an evolution stone..."
"it's alright" I started in response "she hasn't taken to the idea of evolving just yet, and I wouldn't make her, or any of them, do something they didn't want to do..."
"oh yeah, I almost forgot that Candice said you could speak with them..." he responded
"you seem unsurprised..." I said, giving him a curious look
"well, in a sense, communication is always possible, there's a lot that can be said without words, you know?" he started in response, while folding his arms "as a gymleader, I do my best to understand the wants and needs of my partners...I guess that might be what excels me beyond a standard trainer..."
"I suppose, but we won't be so different soon..." I responded, smiling slightly
"yeah...I suppose not...well, anyway, take a look around, tell me if you see anything you like"
"sure..." I said, simply...
...after I had looked at all of the items on display, I saw a red, gem-like rock
"what is this?" I asked Roark, getting his attention
"oh, that? that's a Star piece, why? did you want it?" he asked in response
"just a second, it's not just my opinion here" I said, before turning to Seena and asking "what do you think? does this look nice?"
Seena looked at me through a confused expression "why do you ask, Lucas?"
"you'll find out, Seena..." I responded, through a smile, before continuing "do you like it, though?..."
"It's lovely, truly..." she responded, I then turned back to Roark and said
"that's all the confirmation I need, I'll take it..."
"alright then, it's really the least I could do after you gave me that fossil" Roark said, opening the case, and pulling out the red stone, before handing it to me
"that reminds me..." I started, while putting the Star piece in my bag, and pulling out Matt's stone "I wanted to get this identified, for a friend..." I then held the stone out for Roark to see...
"oh, that's an easy one, it's an everstone..." Roark responded, inspecting the stone
"so THIS is what an everstone looks like..." I started, before realizing something "wait...what does this mean, if the friend I speak of, is a Machoke?"
"well, this may seem strange, but I've heard some cases of pokemon evolving from a sudden lack of an everstone..." he responded
"what do you mean?" I asked, becoming slightly concerned
"I mean...your friend may not be a Machoke when you next see them, an everstone absorbs evolution energies, so a withdrawl effect to the sudden lack of something like this, may be unexpected evolution..." he responded, bringing a hand to his chin
"well, knowing Matt, he'd probably be happy to be stronger..." I started, before turning back to Seena and asking "what do you say we go and see them again?"
"you mean like, right now?" Seena asked, becoming slightly concerned
"why not?" I responded, shrugging slightly, before continuing "I DID tell Matt we'd return after we came here, afterall..."
"yeah, I guess that should be fine...hopefully Terese won't try to start anything this time..." she said, before sighing lightly.
"I won't allow it, if she even looks at you the wrong way, tell me, okay?" I asked in response, before turning back to Roark and saying "I guess we're done here, but, treat this new pokemon well, okay?"
"don't you worry, I can ask my dad what his one is like, and treat it in a similar way..." turning back to face the exit, I responded
"maybe we'll meet up again, but if not, Candice could probably keep you informed..." I then walked past the others, waving them after me...
...after we left the mining museum, we headed up to the rocky area we entered from, I then turned back to the others, saying "well, I guess you guys are going to be in your balls for a while..."
"it's not a problem, Lucas..." Garudan started "I think I can speak for all of us when I say I trust you..." the others seemed to nod in agreement...
"well, I'll bring you back out as soon as possible, alright?" I said, before pulling the balls out of my bag...
after everyone except Gordon was in their balls, Gordon asked "I guess this is the time to ask...will you really be okay with this?"
"Gordon..." I started, sighing, "I already told you, nothing has changed between us..."
"well, okay then" Gordon responded, allowing me to climb onto his back...
...about 10 minutes later, we had arrived back in Celestic town, hopping off Gordon's back, I said "you have gotten much better at flying, you know..."
he blshed slightly at the compliment "thanks, Lucas..." he said, as I unclpped his and Seena's balls off my waist
"I'll talk to you later, okay?" I asked, getting his ball ready
"yeah, I'll see you then" he responded, before I dispersed his form into a red ight, returning him to his respective pokeball, before releasing Seena from hers, she seemed a little dizzy, almost falling
"I swear, I'll never get used to that..." she said, shaking her head
"well..." I started, while turning to my house, "let's go, shall we?"...Chapter End Notes:okay, next chapter will all take place at Lucas's home in Celestic..