With his travelling companions gone off to do their things, Glenn pondered what was he to do in the meantime. Picking up supplies would be a good idea - He did end up using some of his during the training sessions of the last few days. He still had four of the five PokéBalls that Professor Rowan gave him - enough for now. He preferred to focus on a few partners for now rather than train a full blown compartment of creatures. Metalica's diversity should be rather useful against the greater challenge ahead - the Gym Leader of Eterna, confirmed to specialize in the Grass-type by the guidebook - and he could pick up a bug-type or a flying-type somewhere in Eterna Forest to back the Steel-type up, just in case.
Eterna Forest. That was the more immediate challenge, the one that he had to plan for even before Eterna's gym became an issue. Crossing the great, ancient forest would be a long and daunting task, one that would take at least a day and a half - possibly even two - to accomplish. He heard the paths through the woods were marked well, but that it was still easy to get lost. He'd have to plan a route that would allow them to see the sights but not spend weeks wandering and emerge near some phantom train station to the spirit world or something.
"Well, at least Sieg and Elvia would feel right at home." he murmured as he made his way to the PokéMart - where he purchased another med-kit, just in case - travelling through a forest for days did not have the benefit of PokéMon Centers - he should be prepared for any eventuality. He also took care to purchase more food ingredients - travelling and camping out and away from PokéMon Centers would require setting up some actual food every once in a while.
"Thank deities for Item Balls," he thought to himself momentarily as he organized his food-type purchases into a cooler-type container, absorbed it into an Item Ball and placed it in his guitar case's front pocket with the rest of his supplies "I wonder how trainers got by without them in the past."
With supplies acquired, there was just the matter of planning a route. He needed a place where he could think.
~*~
He found that place in the Floaroma Meadow. There, sitting on a wooden bench and surrounded by flowers, he sat down to plot a route. Using his satellite-tracking map device and whatever loose information he found in his guidebook he slowly set up markers on the map, zooming it in as much as he could - prospective campsites, areas of particular interest, the works - while keeping up as much openness for flexibility. Eventualities could always happen - territory squabbles of PokéMon, falling trees, sudden weather conditions, migrations of voracious flying man-eating Magikarp swarms - you could never tell, really.
Well, except for the bit about flying, man-eating Magikarps. Those only happened on alternate Tuesdays and even so, only when absolutely no one was watching.
Content - for a while, at least - with his route, Glenn Hendrix stretched, taking out his guitar and striking a few soft notes. There was something in the meadow that made him peaceful, and the nature of the melody that followed was peaceful as well. Even Siegfried - who was, for the moment, displaced from the guitar again - did not seem to particularly mind handing the instrument over.
Glenn's melody went on for a while longer before a soft humming caught his ears and he paused, turning a gaze to its source.
The source of the hum was a young woman who sort of jumped the moment he noticed her, blushing softly - the light redness that came to her face rather contrasting with the general green theme she seemed to have. Her eyes were a radiant green and she had very long forest-green hair, done back in what looked like a very thick braid - and seemed to have much natural volume. She was clad in a mix of greens and dark browns - dark brown leather knee-high boots and what looked like a complex dress composed of a long, forest-green pleated skirt - only slightly more muted than her hair color - and a dark brown blouse with thin black stripes on it - over which she wore some kind of a lighter green, white rimmed over-jacket that buttoned once at the base of her neck. She looked a little like she could be a dryad of some sort - and Glenn could not deny to himself that she was very pretty.
"I'm sorry, I did not mean to intrude..." she said - she had a soft voice, a nice midrange in pitch "I just let my mind wander, that is all."
"It's okay. You just caught me a bit off-guard, that's all." Glenn chuckled nervously "I wasn't expecting an audience."
"I wasn't expecting a soundtrack." she giggled softly — it sounded almost like crystal bells hanging on branches "My name is Cheryl."
"Glenn. Glenn Hendrix." Glenn replied with a smile — the initial awkwardness at the meeting slightly easing. "Are you from around here?"
"Not exactly," She said, "Though I come here often. It's a good way stop before - and after - travelling through Eterna Forest."
"That's where we're heading tomorrow, me and my travelling companions." Glenn smiled brightly "We're on a journey, currently en route to Eterna City. Do you know the forest well?"
"I've come to know it very well, yes." Cheryl replied confidently, her voice melting into a little blissful sigh, eyes looking distant for a moment, as if she was traversing the forest in her mind at that very moment "It's a beautiful place, full of roads less-traveled and wonders to be discovered..."
"I don't suppose you'd mind taking a look and seeing if there's a better route to go through than the one I planned?" Glenn asked the woman, his voice lightly shaking her from her little trance "I'd appreciate any sort of input right now."
"Well, let's have a look." the woman said. She shot a quick look to the bench, and Glenn nodded, moving a bit to the side to offer to girl more room to sit down. She nodded a silent thank-you, and sat down by his side as he handed her his navigational instrument.
"Hnn." she said, looking at the map and pointing out locations on it as she talked "Seems like the route I normally take when I'm just crossing the forest - though if I were you I'd take this road over here, rather than this one. I know it sounds crazy because it's longer - but then, if you take this junction, it takes you to a perfect little campsite that not a lot of people know about - and the path from there leads directly to this point - which I can see you've already marked - and gets there faster."
She turned her eyes to him "So I'd say it's worth it."
"Sounds excellent to me." the trainer smiled brightly at the woman. She handed him the device back - and he added the new alternative route to the map. "Thank you very much, Cheryl."
"You're very welcome, Glenn." she said, smiling back just as brightly. The trainer could feel himself blushing a little — the woman's gaze along with her smile made her look even prettier.
They just sat there for a little while in silence — the slightly awkward silence of people trying to figure out what to say next.
"So, um, this tune you were playing. Is it, er, one of yours?" the green-haired woman eventually asked "I've never heard it before."
"Yes, it is." Glenn replied "Sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing. I do that when things inspire me and I let my mind wander. I don't remember half of the things my mind comes up with later..."
There was a strange synthesized-sounding chirp from nearby, which made Glenn turn his eyes to the ground. Suddenly, Siegfried levitated, shooting Glenn a little semi-frustrated glare — the sort of "Sigh, it went like this look — and then transforming into the swirl of orange-and-blue energies and flowing into the guitar's amplifier port. Slowly, the melody filled the air again - with slight variations as the Rotom enjoyed adding its own touches. The girl was surprised for a few seconds — but then giggled softly, humming along for a moment.
"I see your companion is equally talented." she grinned.
"He tends to be." Glenn chuckled a little nervously "That would be Siegfried... My first PokéMon, partner in music, resident guitar dweller, background music provider and... well, as it appears, a part-time recording studio. Do you have any interesting partners?"
"Well, I have a Chansey." she said "You don't see many of those around, at least, not with people who aren't Nurses named Joy."
"No relation, I assume?" Glenn tilted his head sideways
"Not at all." she giggled, lightly touching her hand to her heart "I'm actually from a family of treasure hunters - so I'm on the road a lot. Actually, my latest adventure took me to a few really interesting ruins near Solaceon..."
~*~
They spent a while longer discussing their adventures - Cheryl recounting her journeys throughout the region and giving Glenn some very useful information that would help him plan his journey ahead - and Glenn talking about his journey so far and his companions - both human and PokéMon. Eventually, they decided to introduce each other to their respective PokéMon companions. Metalica seemed to take an immediate liking to the woman when they were introduced, though it was harder for Glenn to identify what the the woman's Chansey thought about him - like the rest of her species, the Chansey was very cheerful, very friendly and most of all, very pink. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Glenn always wondered if the species secretly had plans for world domination and used their advanced medical skills as an excuse to get closer to the heart of humanity so they may one day overthrow them and lead the world to a new age of pink, fuzzy terror.
Time flew by - and eventually even the two of them realized it. Finally getting up, Cheryl and Glenn walked together towards the exit from the meadow. The two decided that they should certainly sit down and chat again if they ran into each other, and exchanged PokeDex IDs - so they could have at least some form of contact. They parted with a little hug — initiated by her, to his slightly surprise — and went their separate ways.
Glenn's way, specifically, led him to the PokeMon Center. He had a rather uneventful dinner, and then he made a line to the Vidphones — he hasn't talked to his parents in a few days, and he figured now would be a good time — especially since he was going to more or less vanish off the grid for a day or three.
The phone rang once or twice, when it was suddenly answered by a rich baritone voice that was still offscreen.
"Be there in a minute!" the voice said, and then assumed a dangerous tone "I got you now, fuzzball!" There was a sound of frantic squawking, and something large and feathery zoomed past the camera and landed on the floor with a THUMP.
The thump clearly got the vid-phone on the other side off-balance as its camera swiveled lightly downwards to reveal the identity of the thing — a large and particularly frazzled-looking Male Dodrio, its three heads expressing what looked more like confusion, frustration and resignation than the typical happiness, sadness and anger — and its legs bound together by a rope that was clearly just slung. A man's silhouette walked into the frame, casting a shadow on the large bird "Now, WHAT did I tell you about charging into the house, hmm?" said the voice "Do you want to go back in the ball?"
The bird's expressions all shifted into a look of horror — whoever the man was, he was staring down all three of the bird's faces — definitely not an easy task.
"Now don't give me that look." He said in a voice — stern, firm, but obviously holding back amusement "Just calm down and say you're sorry."
The bird paused, its heads exchanging confused looks, before finally shifting into an apologetic, almost pathetic expression. The three heads squawked one after another — bowing their heads down. From the bird's fallen vantage point on the floor, it looked almost comical.
"That's better." Said the man's voice — and he bowed down to untie the bird's legs — getting into the frame for a moment, turning a steel-blue gaze to the camera to notice the slightly amused trainer's face "Oh, Hello, Glenn. How's your journey going?"
The man was Stephen Hendrix, Glenn's father. The family resemblance was immediately apparent — there was much similarity between their faces — the same steel-blue eyes and olive-ish complexion (though Stephen's was slightly deeper), and a generally similar facial structure. Glenn, however, inherited his mother's nose and eyebrows — Stephen's nose had a bit of a steeper curve and had the characteristic kink formed by a broken nose, and had wilder eyebrows. He also sported a trimmed beard and moustache, and his hair - long and done in a ponytail, with a pair of long bangs falling along the sides of his face — was darker and more reddish than Glenn's.
Their general build was similar as well — though Stephen was a bit more top-heavy and broader shoulder than his son's. He was clad in dark jeans, combat boots and a black, sleeveless shirt. His ponytail was held in one piece by an intricately carved wooden bracer — with a similar carving style to that of Glenn's — and hanging loosely by a leather string around his neck was a large fang — a Gyarados fang, as the matter of fact. All these and the intricate tribal-looking tattoo on his right arm gave him a bit of a fierce look — a bit like some kind of a barbarian warrior. His taming of the large bird added even more to the impression.
"Going just fine, Dad." Glenn chuckled, waving "WTF still giving you problems?"
"Well, ya know, he was never entirely right in the head. Heads." Glenn's father replied, petting the bird's heads, ruffling their white-patched red feather-crests as if to reassure them. The bird's expressions registered annoyance, a sneer, and a 'Hmph', all at the same time — but the trainer knew that the large avian wasn't really offended.WTF was simply always like that.
WTF was not the bird's actual name — the Dodrio did not have an official singular nickname, because its heads could not agree on one. One of Stephen's oldest companions from his original homeland of the Orange Islands, the large flying-type was simply full of personality — sadly, it was too full of personality to keep it in one piece, and so it opted to have three instead. Stephen came to jokingly refer to the Dodrio's heads as 'Whiskey', 'Tango' and 'Foxtrot' - and the names stuck. Sooner or later the bird just came to accept it.
"So. What's been going on?" Stephen helped the large avian up and readjusted the camera — emphasizing just how ridiculous the situation was — Stephen was by no means a short man, but the bird was at least a head taller than him, and that wasn't even with its necks fully extended. "Where are you? What'd you start with?"
"Floaroma. Sorry for not calling earlier — had a few really busy days. What did I start with…Believe it or not, a Rotom." Glenn began, recounting Siegfried's capture to his dad, who couldn't help but burst into a deep laughter "Now, THAT sounds like a battle! Reminds me of the time Tango decided he could make the rest dance."
"Oh deities, I remember that alright." Glenn laughed "Mom was furious. Speaking of which, Where's mother?"
"In the reverse fish-tank, where else." Stephen said, rolling his eyes "Honestly, they've been keeping her there too long lately. She says that she's starting to get tired of seeing Lumineons."
Glenn's mother, Camille, was a scientist, specializing in advanced scientific instruments - currently employed by the marine research institute of Canalave — a large underwater observatory, which Camille and Stephen both tended to refer to as the "reverse fish-tank" ("We're a glorified aquarium, with people in the tank and the fish are outside watching US to pass the time.") Her analytical nature and quick observations made her quite a valued member of the staff — and lately, her job has been keeping her in rather late due to a large migration of Lumineon through the area.
"Still?" Glenn rolled his eyes — it's been a few weeks now "Are they SURE the Lumineon aren't going around in circles just to spite them?"
"Could be. Red-eyed bastards, probably stoned." Stephen rolled his eyes "I remember in my day, we didn't worry about fancy neon-fish who can't decide where they want to be — we were more worried about having our boats rammed by vicious territorial Seakings and…"
"Yes, yes, I know, rabid man-eating Magikarp off the port bow." Glenn chuckled.
"I was thinking more to the line of giant mutant Tentacruel, but yeah." Stephen grinned. "So. Your Guitar-Hero of a Rotom aside, what else?"
"Well, I got a Mawile in Oreburgh Gate, somehow…" Glenn replied "And I beat Roark. And now I'm travelling around with these two girls, and we're hitting Eterna Forest tomorrow. How've things been back home?"
"Well, you know this house — never a dull moment." He patted the Dodrio's back slightly "But the old gang have been mostly calm. No stampedes all over Canalave quite yet!"
"Good, keep it that way. I'd like to have a home to come back to when we get there. Besides, I think the creepy guy with the purple beard might be offended if your guys left giant holes all over his city."
"I think he'd love these holes, but then, how am I to know what the crazy bastard thinks?"
For a second, Glenn had a terrible sense of déjà vu, but he stifled it.
"Well, dad, I should probably get some sleep… Got a long damn day tomorrow. I'm navigating." He said.
"Of course you are." Stephen grinned "You're my son, after all — you have my almighty sense of direction!"
"And the common sense of my mother — that's why I'm relying on a satellite-tracking map. Wouldn't want to end up taking the left turn at Alamos and end up in Hoenn through some contrived plot device involving a pod of Lugia and a berserk Haunter."
"Aww, you've heard that one before." Stephen mock-frowned. "And it was a Gengar."
~*~
Bidding each other good night, the conversation ended. Glenn checked into a room and crashed as soon as his head hit the pillow. He had to wake up early tomorrow… The next leg of their journey was afoot.
OOC: And somewhere in the real world, the person who wrote this post groaned at the pun he made himself. Also at the epic length of this post. SEVEN BLOODY PAGES, Stel, what the Hades.
