shigenadventures

[shigenadventures]

"I hope Riku-kun wakes up tomorrow. I didn't think his injuries were that bad. He seemed perfectly fine after that battle..." Kioshi muttered to herself.

Even if he still does not awaken you should take the time to train if you're planning on staying in this region. Dust looked up noticing the weather changing abnormally.

"Yeah yeah I know. Let's go meet up with Ren-kun at the center already. He's probably waiting with the rooms." The girl felt a drop of water fall on her and looked up to see more droplets beginning to fall. "Ah what the heck it was so clear earlier!" She took off the jacket wrapped around her waist and held it up over her head with her good arm and began to dash towards the center. Dust followed still looking at the sky. He wondered what was going on. It was clear that a pokemon used a move but then again this was the reknown battling city of the region so it could've been anything.

__

"Damn it that brat thinks he's so damn smart." Afra bit on her thumbnail as the rain began to pour around her. "He can't go far and it's clear he can't leave this city just yet since it looks like he has something to do here. I'll find you eventually and take you back you little shit." The irritated woman went off to find the best hotel in town to formulate a plan in finding the boy tomorrow.

[shigenadventures]

Minato closed the door after her, letting his arm rest on the ratty door frame. Bits of the peeling paint stayed on his sweaty hands, but the Shigen champion didn't mind, and instead Minato just wiped it on his worn jeans. Sugata had zoomed off after Kioshi left, picking up whatever was left by the girl and bringing them to the sink. Minato took his remaining tea and a new cup to bring up to his sick brother. He doubted Rikuto was awake right now – Yafude-sensei had heavily medicated his brother, and did some things that even Minato couldn't understand. But, at least Rikuto was healing now. Minato sighed, before setting the tea beside his brother once he reached the "room", pulling out a scrap of paper and scribbling something in spidery writing. The icy eyed champion glanced at his brother, before setting the note beside the mug. One of Rikuto's pokéballs jiggled, before releasing the eel like Pokémon from its shell. "...Tross?" Jor murmured quietly, glancing up at Minato. Minato shook his head, raising a finger to his lip, telling the Eelektross to keep quiet, before slipping the Pokémon a small key. Jor nodded, and began to lay down beside his slumbering trainer. Minato's lips quirked slightly, before turning back down as he made his way back to the main floor. He tapped on the wall, and the little Gible who was over the sink jumped in surprise. "Mina?" the Gible chirped questioningly, watching his trainer sign out a message. It didn't take too long for the Gible to understand, and Sugata jumped from the counter onto Minato's back. Minato glanced up the stairs again, before silently leaving the small squatter home, locking the door on his way. ---

Ren ran on the rooftops, before unleashing four of his Pokémon out from their balls. "Kyu-sama, may I ask a favour from you?" the former Iga heir humbly requested from the guardian of the clan. The silver Ninetails closed her eyes briefly, before looking straight at Ren. "May I have your blessings, Kyu-sama? May I have your protection?" The Ninetails gave a short nod, before washing Ren over with a green light – Safeguard, to keep his scent within the bubble. Ren hopped on the large Scolipede, before turning to the other Pokémon – a large and fearsome Tentacruel. "Shimizu, make it rain, please. Disperse the scent trails and wash away all evidence." If the woman was hoping to keep his scent, Ren wasn't going to make it quite easy for her. He was a shinobi, after all, and he specialized in disappearing, whether from sight or smell. The scent wasn't going to last forever, and Ren was going to do his best to speed that process. Taking off some of the smaller articles of clothing, like his socks, Ren gave them to his last unleashed Pokémon. "Yuu, I want you to spread this around the city, while it's raining. It should lead them off for a while, until I can find Syrene-sama." The little Banette nodded, before gliding away, using its abilities as a ghost Pokémon to melt into the shadows. "Kyu-sama, Fafnir, lets head to the nearest centre."

[shigenadventures]

Kioshi grabbed her tea and sweetened it as well as she drank and listened. “He must worry you quite a lot then huh.” Then why did you leave him behind? She thought to herself the last part. It was diving too much into business not her own if she did say it out loud. “But being kind isn’t exactly a bad quality. At least you know he’s living a life doing good rather than risking his life for more horrible things.” She finished her cup and stood up.

“I’m staying at the Center. A friend of mine grabbed a room for me already so I should meet up with him. I just wanted to make sure I got the right place and I'll come see Riku-kun when he's better. Thank you for the tea I’ll come visit again tomorrow! It was nice chatting a bit Minato-san. Bye to you too Sugata.” She smiled at both before heading out with Dust. 

___

“Maya! You crazy bitch!” Afra watched her Liepard fall to pieces under the girl’s blade and had to jump back from the attack swung at her. Sure Bouaku was a city of battle but this was just going overboard. It was too late for her pokemon and she couldn’t even get her in a coffin ball with this psycho in the way and especially not in that condition. “Seth retreat!” The red haired backed up some more.

“Sorry nutcase but unfortunately for you I need him alive.” She unleashed her Glalie who immediately used Icy Wind as a cover for them to get away. At the alley entrance she recalled her Glalie and Seth who was waiting for her before merging in with the crowd. At least she didn’t lose her Mightyena who still had Ren’s scent. Damn looks like I have to find more about that kid after all.

[shigenadventures]

Minato carefully poured the tea leaves into the kettle, letting them seep into the water. Rikuto's recovery wasn't really the reason why he didn't want anyone to know where he lived – not even anyone in the Syndicate knew of this place. They all assumed that he was a drifter, with no stable residence. "Is that so? Rikuto could never really shut his mouth." He poured some weak tea for himself, grabbing some honey and cream to mix in it like a coffee, before pouring Kioshi her own cup. "He's truly a friendly guy, Rikuto. Bleeding heart even – it terrifies me how much he risks himself. This isn't the first time he's injured himself over another person, though it is the first time the injury was bad enough to warrant a transfusion." He stirred his cup, watching the cream spiral into the tea. "Do you have a place to stay for the night?"

--- Ren twisted, sensing the movement from behind, immediately sidestepping and kicking the Mightyena – though the fangs did manage to catch the leg that was injured during the battle in Taihei, tearing the bandage open and making the healing wound even wider. He braced himself for the Thunder Wave, before glancing back, wondering why it didn't hit.

Chiyoka stood there, brandishing a giant cleaver that was wet with fresh blood. Her neck twisted, almost unnaturally towards Ren's attacker. "...Did you dare attack my Ren-sama...?" Scrape. Step. Scrape. Step. "... No one will kill Ren-sama..." With frightening ease, the tiny girl hefted the cleaver, before swinging it towards the front, easily destroying whatever had been directly in front of her. "NO ONE KILLS HIM BUT ME!" she roared, sweeping her blade once again, repeatedly chanting "no one no one no one no one".

Ren took this opportunity – he grabbed the wall's ledges, pulling himself up the tiny outcropping. He winced – parkour was not recommended on a bad leg. He glanced down, spotting Chiyoka still on a rampage. It was all his plan, really, for Chiyoka to come to his "rescue", he supposed. He needed to find out who exactly was following him, and with his assassin single mindedly determined to be the only one to murder him, it was the perfect opportunity (if he judged it right, that Chiyoka wouldn't allow anyone to harm him). Ren frowned, before pulling himself up to the roof and manoeuvring himself back down into the crowds.

He really needed to meet Syrene-sama, the matriarch of one of the major clans of Shigen. With all these people after him, he needed the safety of her clan. At least then, he could finally – finally stop running. At least Syrene-sama was going to appear at the tournament; Ren could probably catch her before then...

[shigenadventures]

“Tea would be nice thanks. I’ll visit again tomorrow then after I explore Bouaku a bit. So this is where you two grew up…” She looked around the home again. “I’ll be sure not to say anything. It’d be bad for Riku-kun’s recovery to be interrupted as well.” Kioshi smiled and then let out a small laugh. “But I’m sure Riku-kun is happy in a way from being sick like this. He gets to have his brother by his side after searching for him since you barely hung around back at Taihei. You were all he talked about when we met in Kaishi too.”

___

Maya jumped away but one needle still managed to hit her and she let a small yowl of annoyance. “Hoh~ So you’re a little better than I expected. But you don’t exactly know with who you’re dealing with either.” Afra didn’t let out another command, she didn’t need to. From behind Ren her Mightyena jumped out and aimed its Crunch attack at the teen’s leg. She had made him circle around as she entered the alley earlier so that he could cut Ren off if he tried to get away. At the front Maya let out another Thunder Wave.

[shigenadventures]

"Briefly, when Yafude-sensei came in to help." Minato began to fish some tea from the plywood cupboards, his other hands forming signs for Sugata to interpret. "He'll be sick for a while though. The treatments themselves aren't very pleasant. He might be up for visitors tomorrow though – his fever broke a while ago, so at least the worst is over. Tea?" The pale man set the ceramic mugs on the table, taking the kettle off the stove as soon as the water had begun to boil. "I think you can already tell, but please don't tell anyone where I live. Some people have been curious, though all my neighbours already know not to say a word." --- Ren sneered, jumping away from the sparks – some had landed, though it was nothing compared to the stun spore from earlier. "I guess you didn't do much research on who you're chasing, Miss." He pulled out a few other needles, tossing them with great speed towards the Pokémon. He wasn't playing fair, but there were no rules when it came to this. "I'll give you a hint, though." Ren allowed his fingers to brush on the feathers on his obi, before withdrawing a small wakizashi, concealed by his clothes. The wakizashi glinted, clan symbol briefly illuminated by the distant lights.

The symbol of the Iga clan, the long rivals of the famous Koga nin of Kanto, and the clan that never used Pokémon to do their battles.

The exiled heir of the ninja clan.

Ren withdrew a few more needles – unbeknownst to anyone but another Iga clan member, these ones were laced with lethal poison from the aconite roots. "Attack again," he threatened, raising up the needles, ignoring the slight rustling noise above him – it could only be Chiyoka. "And I'll aim to kill."

[shigenadventures]

Kioshi looked up at the building while she waited for an answer. She finally noticed it was pretty run down and wondered if she was at the right place after all. Minato answering the door proved otherwise. She was surprised when she was ushered in quickly but it made sense. He was the champion after all. A place like this would make others believe that he wasn’t here at all. The inside looked worse but yet there was a comfortable air in the place despite its raggedy looks.

“No the directions you gave me were easy to follow so I found this place right away.” Kioshi responded and sat down on a bench. Dust stayed standing leaning on the wall. “Oh don’t worry about it. I don’t know how to explain it but there’s a nice air about this place.” She felt relieved hearing about Rikuto’s condition being better. “Again I’m sorry I ended straining him and causing his condition to get worse. I’m so glad he’s alright.” Kioshi bowed her head a bit at Minato. “So he hasn’t woken up yet?”

___

Afra made sure not to lose sight of the boy and wondered if he was stupid going into the alley like that as if he was giving himself up letting her get a chance like that. Especially with this being the town of battle no one would suspect a little ruckus here and there. She was startled by the three needles that flew by her. So he wasn’t just some little kid after all. It’d make things a little harder but interesting. “My my didn’t mama ever tell you it’s dangerous to be playing with toys like these? Now be a good boy and just come with me. Thunder Wave.” The woman stayed in the shadows but her Liepard jumped out and sent out sparks towards the teen.

[shigenadventures]

A pale hand stretched out, touching Rikuto's sweating forehead. Minato sighed in relief. The fever had finally broken. Thank goodness he had made it to Yafude-sensei in time. The blood transfusion had indeed been rejected, and Yafude-sensei had rushed the sick man to his personal clinic, pushing treatments to allow Rikuto to take in the foreign blood. 'It was lucky I had already prepared this in case something like this happened,' Yafude-sensei had said, along with explanations why their blood wasn't able to take others, and the consequences if Rikuto ever required another transfusion. Minato could barely understand.

Minato frowned, spotting the black stone still hanging on Rikuto's neck. It was all that thing's fault. Everything. If she never had found it, neither him nor Rikuto would be stuck with these godforsaken bodies. Goddamn that --! The door knocked.

Minato stood up, nudging Sugata to follow him down. His hand immediately reached out to the peeling paint of the walls, carefully guiding himself down the steep steps. He ignored the bare concrete walls and the exposed plywood, jiggling the lock of the pathetically small and dirty home. It was that girl – Rikuto's companion, Kioshi. He ushered her in, quickly locking the door. This was definitely not the expected home of a region champion. It looked more like a squatter's living area; stained, filled with worn, mismatched furniture that seemed to have been pulled from a dump site, and dingy lighting. And the neighbourhood was just as bad – it was all slum living here. But, if Minato was honest, it was this kind of living that he was the most comfortable with. "Did you have trouble getting here?" he had asked, filling a worn kettle with some water and flicking the gas oven on. "It's not the best place at all, sorry about that." The dining area – if you could call it a dining area – was simply just a wood bench and a rickety table. "My brother is in the upstairs room, resting." Though, if you could call it a room. It was more like a space – there was no actual door to a sleeping space. The stairs themselves just lead to the "bedroom". "We managed to get to the doctor in time to fix what happened."

---

Ren waved, before pocketing his hands in his pants. He let himself follow the masses of the crowd – Jan had mentioned that there were two Pokémon Centers to accommodate the insane amount of injuries that both Pokémon and humans obtained during their stay. (The centers were also conveniently attached to hospitals.) Midway to the center, Ren let himself fall into the shadows of the nearby alley, tensing. He had been feeling someone following him for a while, since he had separated from Ito; and even while he was with Ito. For a while, he suspected it to be Chiyoka, but no. It wasn't – the person following him wasn't that discreet, nor did they even attempt to mask his or her presence. Chiyoka was probably following him right now. He couldn't sense her presence at all, which spoke at how much she had improved after he left.

With a flick of the wrist, three steel, six inch needles launched from the teen, embedding themselves into the bricks near his stalker. "Expose yourself." He crouched, drawing more needles from his sleeves – a remnant of his past life. Red eyes glowed.

[shigenadventures]

“That’d be great! Thanks a lot Ren-kun.” Kioshi grabbed his hand and smiled before letting go and running off. “Be careful then and see you later!” Dust nodded at Ren in thanks as well before following. The girl pulled out the paper Minato had given her and checked the address. “Hopefully Riku-kun is better now and I won’t be disturbing his rest.” It wasn’t too hard for the girl to find the place and she knocked on the door almost immediately.

___

Afra watched the two part and decided to stick with the boy. The city was crowded but when she found the chance she would strike and take the boy back to the base as soon as possible.

[shigenadventures]

"I can book a room for you," he offered. "You seemed pretty concerned earlier, and it's not too late anyways." He didn't really know the guy, but from the little conversation in Taihei's Center canteen, Aizawa-san was a pretty nice guy. A shame that he got really sick though. "I'm going to give Jan a call and tell him I made it safely. He's probably babysitting the phone right now, actually."

[shigenadventures]

Kioshi kept looking back as she followed Ren off. “Huh? Oh I’m fine yeah wondered what happened…” She didn’t want to worry him but it still confused her why anyone would attack her. She didn’t think she made any enemies. Well there was that one guy she punched in Taihei… but that wasn’t enough to go after her life was it? She was shaken out of her thoughts at the mention of Rikuto. “Oh right.  Hm… it’s pretty late already I wonder if it’s okay to visit… I think I’d feel better if I saw if he was alright before heading to the Center. Oh but the Center rooms may fill up fast with the tournament entrants.” Practically forgetting her near death encounter already she thought about what to do.

[shigenadventures]

The sudden shaking of the boat had Ren tripping – was that Chiyoka or something? No, they were all taught to be as discreet as possible. Chiyoka, unfortunately, wasn't an idiot. Ren glanced up, spotting a frazzled Ito. "Ito-san, are you okay?" he asked, watching as she adjusted her appearance. He quickly disembarked the ship though, and looked back. "Did something happen back there? The ship began rocking." Perhaps there was some faulty gas leak or something. The crew were panicking. Ren turned back to the crowd, merging into them easily, though making sure that Ito was still with him. "You mentioned yesterday that Aizawa-san was here with his brother, right? Are you going to visit them right away, or check in at the Center first?"

[shigenadventures]

Kioshi flopped back on her bed with a sigh. Rei was startled but then poked her new trainer a few times to see if she was alright. “Ah everything was explained yet it doesn’t really seem like we made up. But he did end up smiling a bit so I guess it didn’t completely fail…”

Well at least everything was cleared up. Things should be fine now. Kioshi let out another sigh. “Hopefully…”

___

When they arrived at the port of Bouaku Kioshi took her time packing and making sure she had everything in her coat pockets before heading out. The ferry was practically empty since she had stayed back. “I wonder if Ren-kun got off already…”

“Dark Pulse.”

“Huh Dust did you say someth-” Kioshi looked up and saw a dark ball headed straight for her. Dust quickly picked her up and jumped out of the way. Around the corner Afra bit at her thumbnail with a tsk from missing. “Damn Maya again.” From the shadows the Liepard attacked the girl hoping to incapacitate her or get rid of her so she wouldn’t be able to meet up with Ren. If he was alone he’d be an easier target. But the Gallade managed to maneuver around all the attacks and soon made it to the exit ramp. Afra had to pull back since there were too many people now and the crewmen began to search the ship from the sudden shaking and explosions.

Dust put Kioshi down when the enemy stopped attacking but pushed his trainer towards the exit while watching behind them. Whoever it was seemed to want to only attack in a less populated area. Kioshi spotted Ren and ran up to him. “You’re still here…” She stated surprised before shaking her head and remembering they should leave. “We should get off quickly with the others.” She fixed her glasses while trying to regain her breath from the sudden attack and nudged Ren to get off ahead of her.

[shigenadventures]

Ren cracked a small smile. "Thanks. But maybe you should start watching what comes out of your mouth. You don't want this to happen again, right?" Then again, he was being a hypocrite, saying that and then mouthing off that red bitch from earlier. "I'll be off." With that, and a silent close of the door, Ren left, leaving Ito to think about what had happened.

--- It was evening by the time the ferry had landed in the ports of Bouaku, yet the city was still bright and full of life. Ren had ended up watching the approaching city from the decks, after picking up a few pills and chatting with Matsuba using the on board phone system. He chose a fairly populated area though, to avoid getting attacked by Chiyoka in case she decided that she couldn't wait to kill him. Kyu had eventually joined Ren, dragging along his bag. In the end, Ren didn't end up seeing Ito for the rest of the trip, so as everyone exited the ship, he waited at the exit, hoping that she didn't get off before him.

[shigenadventures]

“But your eyes are pretty.” Kioshi blurted, blinked, then covered her face dropping her sling again. Dust rolled his eyes before they glowed surrounding her sling with energy and putting it on properly for her. It was really hard not to speak her mind, a bad habit she only realized she probably always had until now. “Sorry for everything. Traveling with others is just a big new thing to me and I seem to not be the best companion for others so far... See you later?” She hesitantly asked the teen. The question of still traveling together or not still unanswered.

[shigenadventures]

Somehow, Ren could understand why she was so hesitant of telling him. "People tend to be scared when they see something different, whether it's the ability to do telepathy, or even something as simple as a different eye colour." His voice was a little more bitter than he wanted, but it was a too late to take it back. Reflexively, he closed his eyes as he had said that, raising his hands, as if he was going to cover them. Ren lowered his hand, realizing his action. "... I was once teased because of my eye colour. It was said that all demons had red eyes." Ren didn't elaborate. He didn't think he needed to. "...I'll just leave you for now. I still need to head over to the infirm."

[shigenadventures]

“Um…” Kioshi sat back down having calmed down a bit. “Well instead of it being not normal it’s rarer I guess. I know some say many of the Legendary Pokemon can commune to humans through telepathy but other than them it’s rare for other common pokemon to. If a lot of them used telepathy to speak then it wouldn’t be so much of a concern. I always thought only more powerful psychic pokemon could use it. Dust and myself have somewhat tried to see if we could get other psychic pokemon to talk to me before but some really aren’t able to or probably like you said they choose not to… All I know is that whenever it was discovered that Dust could do it before not many good things came afterwards. Which is why he refrains from speaking with anyone else but me. He’s only spoke with my mom once during an emergency but even then she thought she was just hearing things or something…” Rei kept nudging her with the sling so she tried to put it back on again. “But um… I’m sorry for lying before… and causing a fuss I guess...”