Inigo & Bianca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inigo had been busy for the past few weeks, admittedly. His original plan had been to finish up whatever sponsorship crap he had to do in Paldea then return home in time for the start of the season. Unfortunately, things got delayed and he was expected to stay there for a few more weeks. He'd spoken to his sponsors that his work as a Gym leader came first before being a musician, but given his spot as a Minor League gym, he was pretty certain his voice went over their heads.
The first strike had been when he received word that Ryker, the Champion, had gone missing. He told his sponsors that he needed to head back to Galar to figure out what was going on, but they insisted that Ryker had just taken a surprise vacation and there was nothing Inigo should worry about nor anything he could do about it. Ryker wasn't the type to take surprise vacations, but they did have a point. Inigo couldn't do anything about it.
The final strike was when he heard about the attack at Postwick. After that, Inigo told his sponsors that they can resume their little events all they wanted, but he needed to head back to Galar. Now.
Much to their annoyance, the sponsors relented and Inigo booked the first ticket back to Galar. He sent a message to Bianca asking her if they could talk at her gym when he got back. Would be a shame to have to walk through the cold only for her to not be there, you know?
His trip landed him in Circhester; The snowy climate immediately sending a chill through his entire core. He didn't dress accordingly for the weather in his rush, but letting out Sahara, his Flareon, to hold and cuddle while he headed to Bianca's gym let him stay warm enough until he got there.
He entered the gym and looked around, hoping he wasn't interrupting a battle or anything.
Luckily for him, it was a slow day for the Circhester Gym.
Bianca emerged from downstairs, having helped restock the shops set up with the public ice rink. She held an empty box under her arm.
"I-I should really move it out somewhere more open..." she told herself with a huff. She glanced around at the main entrance in case there were any challengers that made it to her gym. But who she did see was, admittedly, a sight for sore eyes. Her face lit up in an instant. Bianca dropped the empty box and hurried over to hug Inigo (and Sahara).
"You're back!"It always warmed his heart to be greeted this way. Be it his brother, Bianca, or his Pokemon; having someone so happy to see him was enough to make his stoicism melt. He smiled and hugged her back with one arm, leaving Sahara to be sandwiched between them. The Pokemon didn’t squirm all that much because Bianca was a familiar face, but having two people enclosing on her personal bubble so suddenly wasn’t exactly ideal.
Inigo let Bianca go and placed Sahara down on the floor. He’d instructed her in the past to not run off melting anything, and so far, she’d done a very good job obeying him. Well to be honest, she never ran off anyway. Always stuck by him and was too shy to make friends with Bianca’s Pokemon. So, if she didn’t cause any trouble, he would let her walk around and make friends at her own pace.
”It’s good to be back. How’ve you been?” He asked her, then added.
They had quite a few things that needed to be addressed first. After that, he’d be happy to share his traveling adventures with her.
Bianca stepped back to give Sahara some space, clasping her hands behind her back with a smile.
"I-I've been okay! As for everything else, not so much..." Her smile turned crooked once she implied what happened to Ryker and all. It then dropped when she gave him a glance over, and her eyes widened in realization.
"Oh, but you must've been cold outside. Come on, the heater should be on upstairs." Bianca motioned for the two to follow her.
Glad he wasn't the one who had to put a damper on the conversation. He did make it clear what he needed to talk to her about to give her time to mentally prepare for it, so it was good to know she wasn't, you know, traumatized or anything. At least it didn't seem that way.
He and Sahara followed her upstairs to the lounge room; a familiar spot, it was added in for anyone who preferred to stay warm while watching gym battles, with windows looking out into the stadium rink. It was also where Bianca and Sloan take their breaks.
Needless to say, the warmth and the quiet atmosphere was what made this Inigo's favorite room.
He sat down on one of the seats, the smile he had before having fallen back to his usual stoic face. A shame they had to get serious for a second.
”I've heard about Ryker, and I've heard about the attack at Postwick.” He started. Best to get the conversation over with now than dance around it.
”Wanna tell me about Ryker first?”"Word does get around, doesn't it?" Bianca shook her head in distain, stepping aside to rummage through a nearby mini-fridge.
"The opening ceremony had to be cancelled. Someone broke into Ryker's home and kidnapped him, and his pokemon. Apparently there was a struggle, so we know he didn't go willingly." She began to explain.
"No one knows any further details yet. Mr. Hyacinth didn't want us getting in the way of the investigation. Want anything to drink?"Ryker and his Pokemon were kidnapped from his house...
”And no one saw or heard anything?” He asked aloud though didn't expect an answer. Even if it happened in the dead of night, wouldn't that much commotion alert someone?
”I hope the police or Mr. Hyacinth can give us an update soon. I can only imagine the shit that has to be dealt with right now.” He doubted the league would fall apart. Mr. Hyacinth would probably promote Hestia and move the gym leader rankings around to fit his needs, but that wouldn't stop the questions and theories of Ryker. How do you explain the League Champion disappearing overnight?
”Sure. Anything carbonated if you have it.” He responded to her question, then he asked his own.
”And what about the attack at Postwick?”"It was during one of Iris' gym battles." Bianca grabbed two cans of soda, closing the minifridge with her elbows and walking back over to sit down next to Inigo. She held one out for him to take.
"Some strange group of people, wearing tactical gear and gas masks were attacking the town with these." She pulled out her phone and showed him the picture of the Nido-Arcanine she saved.
"Fusions. Hybrids, Inigo. How they were created or who managed to do so aside, no doubt they were being used as weapons. Papa had a conniption when I told him about them. Hopefully he and Professor Hawthorne can get to the bottom of it." Bianca pocketed her phone and popped open her can of soda.
"Fortunately there were more of us than there were of them. They fled the scene before anyone else could get hurt. Hestia's Salamance ended up taking a nasty blow to his wing from them though, I stuck by her when we took him to a Pokemon Center. Poor thing..." She frowned.
"Holly ended up getting abducted too. I hadn't heard from her in a while, but I was hoping it wasn't, y'know, that..."Inigo took the soda with a "thank you" and followed along with her story, giving a few silent nods of confirmation here and there to assure her that he was listening. It was unsettling, to say the least. Seeing the Nido-Arcanine fusion she was talking about made him feel a bit sick to his stomach. How the hell did they manage to combine two Pokemon completely outside of their egg group? And on top of that, just what the fuck were they thinking? How could someone do something so heartless to their Pokemon?
”Nido-Arcanine hybrids...” He almost wanted to ask her if she was joking, but he knew better than that. Why in the world would she joke about something so... disturbing? Not just what they did to the Pokemon, but how they were using them. He hated anyone that thought these lovely creatures were nothing more than just
weapons.
”Not Holly too...” He had sincerely hoped Holly had just gotten scared and ran off, but that didn't seem like her... So they weren't just going down the line of gym leaders; they'd take whoever they wanted.
”What about you and the gym leaders? Are all of you okay? And the people of Postwick?”There weren't any human injuries, right? Or Arceus forbid, human casualties.
"Far as I can tell me and the rest of the gym leaders were in one piece. Though Iris probably has her hands full right now dealing with the aftermath of it all. Postwick didn't suffer any fatalities, but some people had to be hospitalized. Hyacinth told us they should be making a full recovery, thank goodness." Bianca took a sip of her drink.
Inigo took this opportunity to pop open his drink and take a sip. He could feel his teeth decay a bit, but at least his stomach was settling.
”Sucks for her, but I'm glad to hear there weren't any casualties, and that Salamence is okay too... I guess people are gonna be more cautious about seeing gym battles in person now.”At least Iris can do something other than baby her Pokemon.
”Have you taken precautions regarding your gym in case they come back? Well, you and everyone else.” He'd hate to see his friend end up in the same predicament as Ghost Girl.
Bianca seemed to freeze in place at that question.
"Oh goodness, that hadn't even crossed my mind that they could attack here next!" To think they could've hit Circhester instead, while she wasn't there to protect her home town no less!
"Not sure what everyone else is doing, but...hm...maybe I can add in a security system in case those people try to break in?" She glanced around the room.
”Better you're thinking about it now than during an emergency.” He reassured her. If Ghost Girl got attacked, what was stopping them from going after the other leaders?
Listening to her suggestion, he gave her an approving nod. It was definitely better than nothing.
”Security's a good idea. If you have any bird Pokemon, ice or not, you can have them fly above Circhester to keep an eye out. I can let you borrow some Fletchlings and my Talonflame if it'll make you feel safer.” He offered her. He was sure his Pokemon would love the little vacation anyway.
Inigo highly doubted the troublemakers would be aiming for the Minor gyms. If they wanted to be taken seriously, they had to fight the Kings and Queens. Maybe that's what they were doing...
"Bird pokemon? I'll have to ask Fiona for suggest-" Bianca's eyes widened as she looked back at Inigo.
"Y-You'd really let me borrow your Pokemon?"He returned her gaze.
”Of course. I care about you and your safety, you know? Besides, the birds at my gym were itching to get out and explore. You'll be doing them a huge favor.”With that, he took another sip of his drink. Inigo figured she'd feel less guilty about it if he reassured her that the birds wanted to be there just as much as she did. It's not like he was lying, anyway.
One could've sworn her rosy cheeks were a bit more pink as he reassured her. Once Inigo was done talking, she had set her drink down and wrapped her arms around him again.
"Thank you. I promise, I'll take good care of them!" Bianca grinned.
Inigo could feel his own cheeks grow a little warmer as she hugged him. He trusted her enough to take good care of his Talonflame and the Fletchlings. If anything, he was worried his Pokemon would become too stubborn to come back.
He moved his free arm so he could return her hug.
”Careful that they don't end up liking you more than me, alright?” He smiled. It wasn't difficult to bond with the Fletchlings, but it was easy for them to get attached. Especially to other trainers.
”Did anything else happen while I was gone?” Might as well catch up to speed with everything if possible.
"Hmm..." Bianca thought for a moment.
"Well, besides the usual meetup before the season started, Fiona did take me to see the Crown Shrine at the tundra."The Crown Shrine?
”I've never been there. How did that go?” If he remembered right, the sponsor guy said the place was a "barren wasteland" and to "not bother advertising there".
"It was pretty nice! Let the team out to stretch their legs for a bit." She told him.
"She said the shrine was dedicated to an ancient king, been meaning to look further into that. Did have a huge as hell tree at the center though." Bianca chuckled.
Inigo grinned at the mention of the tree.
”Sounds like a nice place. Did you get any photos?” What other place had a "huge as hell tree" in the center of it? Or a cool shrine dedicated to an ancient king? Sounded like the place was a little rural. Not like that was a bad thing.
"Crap, I didn't think to take any. I also helped Isaiah out at the clinic a bit, with Nyx and Fionn? Mister had the bright idea of escaping his pokeball again while we were there..." She mentioned with a comical look.
”It's ok. There's always next time.” Her mentioning the clinic did get his attention.
”And how'd that go? I hope he didn't trash Old Man Isaiah's place.”A tiny part of him hoped that was the case only because it made the story more entertaining.
Bianca practically snorted at the nickname he gave Isaiah.
"I did catch him trying to climb onto one of the filing cabnets, if that counts. But Izzy was fine with him being out and about so I let him off with a warning. The day he ends up causing more trouble than it's worth is the day I take a vacation, mark my words!"He chuckled at the thought. Bianca's Pokemon trying to climb the filing cabinets like a tree was a humorous little thought. At least the Old Man wasn't upset about a Pokemon going rogue.
Which reminded him.
”Speaking of vacation...”Inigo pulled out his phone and navigated it to the camera reel before handing it to her. There, Bianca would see pictures of a whole different region. Colorful towns in different climates completely took over his camera. Some were eccentric "in-character" selfies, others were just normal pictures, and a couple were regular Inigo selfies. In a couple of them, Inigo got photobombed by people in the background, only for the following pictures to be of him posing with those same people. Only a select few consisted of the strange Pokemon he encountered there.
”If you do consider going on vacation, try Paldea. It's gorgeous. They also really like sandwiches for some reason.”He never figured out
why, just that they were popular.
"I see!" Bianca said as she scrolled through the photos.
"I'm guessing the sandwich part is the region's niche? Like Alola's ruins and whatnot?" She suggested, giggling at the photobomb pictures.
”I guess so. Might just be like Galar and curry."He never quite understood that. Seemed like everywhere he went there were people camping with a big pot of curry being made.
”They had ice cream and churros over there too. One of the ice creams had a cube of salt they got from one of the Pokemon. I wish I could remember the name.”He was gonna be kicking himself about it later until the name came to mind.
Bianca rose a brow.
"Salt on ice cream? I'm no Nordrin, but wouldn't that make the flavors conflict with each other?"Inigo smiled.
"It wasn't that bad. It's like chocolate covered chips, or chips dipped in milkshake."Bianca knew about that, right? It wasn't
popular but it wasn't unheard of or anything.
"I'll tell him about Paldea's famous "sushi sandwich". I'm sure he'll get a kick out of it.""Hah, let me know how that goes."After a short moment of silence, she spoke up again.
"...I missed you."Inigo's look seemed to soften upon hearing that. He smiled at her.
"I missed you too. Paldea was fun and all, but it got real lonely out there. Couldn't completely enjoy it without anyone I cared about accompanying me."Maybe it was the fact he was there to work for some dudes in suits, or maybe it was because he needed to act like an idiot for most of it. But traveling on sponsorship money was really losing its luster. Yes, he got to travel to places he would have never seen before otherwise, but if there was no one to enjoy it with, what was even the point?
He knew he couldn't drag his friends or family away from their responsibilities, but even taking just one person would have made these trips way more enjoyable.
"Maybe the bosses will let me stay now. I like being here talking to you more than out there, anyway."Bianca was practically beaming back at him at this point.
"Y-Yeah, I really like this too. Shame you'll have to head out at some point, let everyone else know you're back and all..."He took another sip of his soda,
"Eh, I doubt they'll mind if I don't talk to them right away."It would definitely be nice to go and see the other leaders, and maybe get the story of what happened from their perspective, but talking to Bianca was always comforting.
"Oh right, before I forget. I know you're just thinking about precautions, but did the rest of the gym leaders say what they were going to do?""Besides doing their own investigating on everything and avoiding the press?" Bianca puffed a cheek out in thought.
"I'm sure they'll think of something. Mr. Hyacinth did suggest boarding with one another though.""Their own investigation? Aren't they ill-equipped for that kind of thing?" Police have to go through a lot of training for that, didn't they? He wasn't saying his friends were stupid; more that he wasn't sure if they know how to investigate better than professionals.
Her next words made him raise an eyebrow. The idea of Iris boarding with Fiona or Hestia flashed through his head. He could already imagine the chaos.
"Great way to keep an eye on each other, I'll admit. Isn't that gonna test a lot of friendships though?"If things didn't work out, they could always go home. But at this time, testing friendships was the worst thing the group can do.
"You planning to board with anyone?" He decided to ask out of curiosity.
Bianca shrugged.
"Not exactly? I mean, I won't force anyone to. If someone wants to be my roommate until this blows over, I won't exactly complain."Inigo gently put a hand on her shoulder.
"If you don't feel safe, you shouldn't be afraid to ask or let them know you're open to the idea. Especially now." He responded reassuringly. The worst that could happen is they say no or just not take her up on the offer.
"Besides, rooming is a two-way street. You wouldn't be forcing anyone to do anything."The thing was, Bianca didn't exactly have any ideas as to who to ask.
But then again? Maybe she did now.
"W-Well, in that case...maybe you could stay with me?" She asked Inigo.
"I-It's alright if you can't! I don't wanna ask too much of you, especially with you just having returned and all, haha!" She quickly clarified, her face turning a brighter shade of red.
Inigo was lucky he wasn't drinking from his soda when she asked her question; he absolutely would have done a spittake. His eyes widened a little out of surprise, caught totally off-guard by the question. He was sure she would ask Sloan or Fiona or any of the girls to room with her. Asking
him, well...
Inigo's hand covered his mouth and part of his cheeks, a tint of red creeping on his cheeks above his fingers as his face started feeling warm. It's not like there was anything wrong with it; more than it would probably raise questions. But they would cross that bridge when they got there.
For now, he took this opportunity to think about her proposition.
If Inigo were by himself, he'd say yes and that would be the end of that. But he had his younger brother and his father to think about. He couldn't leave them alone when there was risk of another attack. Bianca's safety was also important, and if she felt safer rooming with him, then he didn't want to turn her away.
Circhester was close by enough that Inigo could take a flying taxi to his gym and back. He could have his gym trainers keep an eye on things when he was gone and have them work in shifts. If necessary, he could use sponsor money to hire extras to work as security during the night in case the bastards decided to attack when the gym was closed.
Or, Bianca could stay with him and they work out arrangements for her gym.
"If your place is big enough to include my dad and my brother, then I'd be happy to. I'm sorry, but I can't leave them on their own. Especially with those bastards out there." He responded. The last thing he wanted was for those people to use his father or brother as hostages. He hoped she would understand.
"If it isn't, then you can stay with me in Spikemuth. Our place isn't big or grand, but you'd get your own room at least."He didn't tell her that it'd have Inigo sleeping on the pull out bed in the living room. Didn't need her feeling guilty about it.
Oh right, he didn't live alone!
"Damn, my place only has a spare bedroom. My apologies." Bianca pinched the bridge of her nose. She looked back at him with a softer expression.
"Spikemuth it is then? Hope your folks won't mind having me around." "Mhm. My dad and my brother won't mind. They usually keep to themselves in their own rooms. Just... if you have a Pokemon that likes to scare people, keep them away from my dad, please. He's got a weak heart."It was also why he told Iris and her misbehaved creatures to stay the hell away from his gym.
Bianca nodded.
"Weiss knows to behave herself around others, I know she won't be a bother. Hecate's on a tight leash." She said with a wry smile.
He gave her a few nods, looking a little relieved.
"Good. Don't worry about cooking or cleaning, I handle both of those. Just worry about getting settled in. Oh, and ignore any questions my brother asks. He likes to embarrass me when he can."Needless to say, living with him might not be
completely quiet. But at least she would have something to look forward to every day.
Member
