Unbroken Disguise

As the group exited the Oreburgh Gate, N found himself wondering how any of the people who explored the caverns kept themselves from going insane.

The map of Sinnoh he was using showed it as one of the shortest paths through the caves of the Coronet Mountain range, but even that short trek through the darkness had seen them swarmed with Zubat flying overhead and tripping over all the Geodude.

One might think that, with as well explored as he was, he’d be used to such a thing. There was quite a big difference between the caverns of Unova and those in the rest of the League regions, however.

For one, the Roggenrola line was much more obvious against the background of its normal surroundings. Where a Geodude could easily be mistaken for any other rock on the cave floor while it rested, a Boldore or Gigalith was blue and covered in orange-ish red. Even Roggenrola at least had a yellow core.

But the tripping hazards could probably be ignored if not for the Zubats. Sure, a Woobat is just as lacking when it comes to the vision department. But Woobats also had giant noses that came with a strong sense of smell, as well as their secondary typing. A Poison typing might be great for weakening any prey they came across, though Brock had confusingly informed him that a Zubat was likely to evolve long before it learned a single Poison type move, but would that help them get around? Of course not. Woobat on the other hand was a Psychic type, able to form a mental image of their surroundings by either idly scanning the minds of those who did have vision, or by simply using their sixth sense as a discount form of vision. Not that any of them would ever refer to it that way.

But a Zubat? He had just learned that their only method for sensing obstacles in their surroundings was to use ultrasonic waves.

Supersonic after Supersonic had bombarded them, and much to N’s displeasure, he had found that both species of cavern denizens lacked the mental capacity to have a conversation. Where he could have asked a polite Woobat to leave him be as he traversed its territory, there had been no such luck here.

He loved nature, and he loved Pokemon, but perhaps this one a situation in which they would be perfectly capable of keeping humans away from them without his help.

To his relief, the other side of the mountain was much more pleasant than its insides. As he and his companions waited for the ringing in their ears to stop and their eyes to adjust to the new level of brightness, he took in the fresh air and the sights before them.

Nestled up against the towering cliff face was Oreburgh City. The buildings were a collection of light brown and grey, towering smoke stacks dotted throughout the area, and a faint scent that said industrial, even from this distance, all working to build a picture of what life was like here.

He didn’t think he was a fan, and he hadn’t even seen the Gym yet.

Not wanting to face the music quite yet, he allowed Ash and his friends to get swept up in a discussion about the city and his upcoming battle, taking the time to converse with his closest companion at the moment.

“If I never ‘ave ta see another Zubat again, it’ll be too soon,” the little ghost complained.

“I’m sure it will be quite some time until we need to again. Maybe we can even take some routes that avoid the caves?” N suggested, feeling a little guilty about agreeing with Mimikyu on this one.

“Nope. Soon as we’re done ‘ere, we’ll be right back in there.”

“What do you mean, no?” N asked, pulling out his map. “The next Gym is in Eterna City, if I’m understanding this correctly, and we can just take this road here straight from Oreburgh to our destination. Cut through a bit of route 207, and then straight up 206.”

“Right. Slight problem with that idea. Ya see this bit, right ‘ere?” A shadowy hand reached down from his shoulder, gesturing to a strange marking on route 206.

“What about it?”

“Ya know what this says?” Mimikyu pointed to a bit of text next to it.

“Saiku… cycling road? So it has a bike path, why is that a problem?”

“N, this isn’ just a bike path. Cycling Road is a full on raised road that ya must have a bike ta cross. There isn’ a way to get ta Eterna from the south side without one, and even then it’s so heavily sloped that yer bike is gonna wanna go south on its own just ‘cuz of gravity. Goin’ underneath is how ya get to Wayward Cave, which I’ll admit is a destination of int’rest, but that’s really only ‘cuz it’s where the Garchomp line have their breedin’ grounds.”

“You… are you telling me…” N gaped, not wanting to believe it as he considered the map with this new information.

“Yep. Ya wanna get ta Eterna? Yer gonna go all the way over ta Floaroma, through that there forest, and then ya can reach Eterna.”

“That’s ridiculous! Who came up with this route?!”

“N, I hate ta break it to ya, but Unova is prob’ly the most straightforward pathin’ there is in a gym run. Ta my knowledge, anyway. Sinnoh is full of backtrackin’, though I’m hopin’ we’ll get what we’re after without ‘avin’ ta run around the whole region.”

N clung to that one hope desperately. “Right! Of course!” he laughed nervously. “We just need to accomplish our goals before dealing with all of that…”

“Aww, cheer up, N! It ain’ that bad. Jus’ means ya get ta make all sortsa friends along the way.”

N glanced over to their supposed friends, the lot of them excitedly chattering about the upcoming blood sport, before turning back to Mimikyu.

“I meant more along the lines of that Cubone ya were hangin’ out with…” Mimikyu tried to defend himself.

N sighed. “Let’s just get this over with.”

As they approached the Gym itself, N resigned himself to the horrors he was about to witness. It was for the greater good. He just needed to get through a few of these and then he would have the key to ending it all…

But his mental preparation was interrupted by a kid who looked to be about Ash’s age walking out of the front door. Purple hair and a frown made him stand out.

“Woah, it’s Paul!” Ash exclaimed.

Knowing Ash also made the boy stand out, and N wasn’t sure if it was in a good or bad way yet.

“Do I know you?” Paul scowled at Ash.

It was a bad way then.

A man walked out from behind Paul, the Gym doors closing behind him. Olive green hair, a bit of stubble, and some garish yellow clothes. Could this be the Gym Leader?

“Paul, are these friends of yours?” The man asked.

“No way!”

A rude little brat then, enough that it immediately stood out even among all these trainers.

“You must have just fought a battle, did you get a badge?” Ash inquired.

“Hey, that’s none of your business.”

“Huh?” Ash seemed shocked by that answer.

“I’ll bet you’re here for a battle too!” The unnamed man spoke up.

“Yeah, my name is Ash and I’m from Pallet Town! This will be my first battle in Sinnoh, it’s great to be here!”

“I hope you’re ready to eat dirt!” Pikachu chimed in with a smile on his face.

“Damn, did not expect that outta the guy.” Mimikyu whispered to him. “More competitive than I thought, I guess.”

N couldn’t help but agree. Pikachu had been so kind and helpful to Mimikyu that he had started to forget that he was a trainer’s ace. All of those hours spent trying to teach the fairy the basics had made him lower his guard, but he supposed it was to be expected that going through so many Gym runs would leave him with warped views…

“Say, that’s quite a long trip all the way from Kanto. Welcome to the temple for Rock Pokemon, the Oreburgh Gym.”

“You mean this Gym is for Rock Pokemon?”

Paul looked just as dumbfounded as N felt. Did Ash really not know? Sure, they hadn’t exactly discussed it beforehand, but that information was in every guide of Sinnoh N had looked at since arriving! Why would a trainer like Ash not research that sort of thing before coming here?

“You got it, and our Gym Leader’s name is Roark.”

“Wait, then that means you must not be the Gym Leader!”

…Ash was a little slow on the uptake, wasn’t he?

“I take care of the Pokemon here, the name’s Ian, and Roark’s not here at the moment. I’m sure you’ll be able to have a battle as soon as Paul is finished with his.”

“Sounds great, thanks!”

“So until Roark gets back, I’ll be at the Pokemon Center.” Paul informed Ian before walking away.

“Hey Paul, let’s both give it all we’ve got!” Ash shouted after him, but the other boy made a point of ignoring him. “What is with that guy…”

“Jerk.” Pikachu muttered from his shoulder.

As Ian led the group inside and guided Ash through the process of registering for all the trainer stuff N couldn’t care less about, N found himself considering the purple haired boy. Someone with that sort of attitude taking on the Gyms? He’d seen it all too many times before. The details differed from case to case, but he was adept at recognizing the signs by now. The bastard was probably abusing his Pokemon right now.

N could go after him. Demand that he stop and release his Pokemon. Do everything he could to stop their suffering.

But it wouldn’t matter in the end. Not with the League in charge. Paul could simply report him to an Officer Jenny, fudge the details, and get him locked up for whatever false charges they preferred around here. Probably some garbage that compared him to Team Rocket. “I can’t believe it, he came up to me and demanded that I give up my Pokemon like some common Rocket thug!”

Going to Officer Jenny himself wouldn’t do much better. He might get the boy investigated for Pokemon abuse, but those cases rarely went anywhere. Normal people couldn’t understand the truth. Couldn’t see the victims of abuse going right back to their tormentor, convinced that they deserved it, that it was all to make them stronger.

The whole system disgusted him.

Paul’s time would come. N would make sure of it. It just wouldn’t be right now.

Hopefully the bastard’s team could hold on until then.

“Hey, you coming N? We have to go find Roark and his hidden treasure!” Ash called out to him as the group walked out the door.

He had gotten lost in his thoughts again.

“What’s yet opinion on revivin’ fossils, N?” Mimikyu asked as he followed behind the group.

A bit of a non sequitur…

“Why do you ask?”

“Uhh… jus’ wonderin’...”

“Sure was lucky that they had a shovel in my size!” Meowth said, waving the tool through the air as they walked through the dig site.

Jessie didn’t think it all that surprising, not with the number of Pokemon employed here. Even if most of them looked to be large Fighting types…

“Waaaahhhhba!” the blue buffoon cried out.

“Hmmm, I suppose you’re right.” James replied, a gloved hand on his chin. “I’m not seeing any other Pokemon your size around here, I wonder why they were keeping it?”

“Yes, how lucky that we might be able to make up for your failures!” she glared at the Normal type. “You two might be happy to dress up like this” she pointed to the absolutely hideous rags she had been forced to wear to blend in as a typical mine worker, “but I am not meant to be working for a living! If you hadn’t had your little incident when we had the twerps cornered, we could be living the big life right now instead of preparing to go dig through some dirt!”

Her precious hair was going to be absolutely ruined by this! Did these morons not understand how long it took to make it look this good? She had a lot of hair to work with! And that wasn’t even getting into all the makeup she had on right now! Her products weren’t exactly cheap, and sure, maybe that money would be better spent on food when they’d all but starved on the last route, but she was a woman! She had to look good, no matter the cost! James just wouldn’t get it, and that went double for Meowth!

“I didn’t see you itching to take a peek under the disguise!” Meowth defended.

“I’m sure you didn’t see much of anything since you passed out and then ran away!”

“The guy threatened to kill me! I saw the other side, Jessie! If I didn’t have nine lives…”

“You’re still here, aren’t you?!”

“Now, now, let’s settle down!” James interjected, side-eying all the people who had stopped to stare at the side show. “The past is the past, and it’s not like that was our first time getting bested by the twerps. Besides, I did a bit of research on that Mimikyu fellow since we last saw them!”

“You did? Well, spit it out then, what was that?!” Meowth cried out while Jessie glared at the actual miners so they’d move on with their day and stop gawking. She knew that she was beautiful, but still, have some shame!

“Well, for some reason it was a lot harder to track down information on it than I’ve ever had outside of… well, you know what.”

A chill ran down Jessie’s spine.

“Are you telling me that-”

“No! No, not at all!” He chuckled nervously. “Perfectly common in a few regions outside of the League, apparently.”

The trio breathed a sigh of relief.

“However…” James continued, making her and Meowth tense back up again, “...it would seem that taking a look underneath the disguise really is a bad idea. I couldn’t find any reports backing up the claims, but there’s rumors that seeing what’s beneath could end… poorly.”

“...do you think Mimikyu and the green haired ones are going to be long lasting twerps?” Jessie hesitantly asked, suddenly a lot more worried about encountering them again.

“Well, you never know with them,” Meowth started. “They’re always travelling with weirdos for days at a time, so it’s-”

“Excuse me!” An all too familiar voice shouted from behind Jessie.

Team Rocket turned to find the subject of their discussion only a few feet away from them.

Mimikyu was on the ground, and though Jessie couldn’t really see its eyes, she was certain that the thing was glaring at them. Luckily nobody else had recognized them yet, so the group quickly turned around, hoping they wouldn’t be recognizable from behind in these outfits.

“We heard that Roark was here, could you tell us where to find him?”

Roark? The name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place it. Should she just blurt out something, anything at all to get them to go away?

Luckily one of the miners called out this Roark guy’s name, taking the twerps’ attention off of them as they walked over to the guy.

As she dared to take a peek at them, Mimikyu turned around, a terrifying shadowy tendril pointing to its… eyes? Nostrils? It was hard to tell under that Pikachu cosplay, but pointing to them afterwards made the message clear enough.

“What do you guys say we ditch Oreburgh and try our luck elsewhere?” Meowth suggested, his voice shaking.

“I think that’s the smartest thing you said all week!” James answered.

“Wahhhhhbah!”

Jessie was all too happy to leave. There had to be easier targets, ones that weren’t infested with twerps and their creepy new Pokemon.

“Welcome, from your century to mine.” The man who Ash assumed to be Gym Leader Roark said as he rubbed the rock in front of him.

“Excuse me, Mr. Roark?” Ash tried to get his attention.

“Just a moment, I’m having a talk with this fossil right now.”

“You talk to fossils?” That was pretty impressive! He’d seen talking Pokemon, and people who could understand Pokemon, but this was the first time he’d seen someone who could talk to a rock! “That’s pretty cool! It’s sort of like-”

A hand on his shoulder stopped him, and when he turned to look, N was making a shushing motion. Did he not want the whole talking to Pokemon thing getting out? Ash thought it was something to brag about, but to each their own.

Luckily, Roark seemed too enthralled by the fossil to have caught that last part.

“I sure do, and right now it’s telling me all about the good ol’ days. I can still feel its warmth, its breath.”

Ash turned to Brock, wondering if that sounded as weird to his companion as it did to him. They were both Rock type Gym Leaders, or, well, ex Rock type Gym Leader in Brock’s case, but maybe it was just something that came with the territory? Though he didn’t remember Roxanne being like this…

Brock looked just as confused as he felt, though.

Rubbing the fossil, Roark continued. “One day I know you’ll come back to life, you can be sure of it.” Finally, he took a step back. “Alright, let’s get it to the museum!”

His employees pushed the cart away, leaving them alone with the Gym Leader.

“Now, what were you saying?” he finally turned towards Ash.

“I’ve come to the Oreburgh Gym for a battle!” He answered with a smile on his face.

“But someone’s ahead of us!” Dawn added.

Ah. Right… waiting was never fun, but at least he could see a decent battle and learn some of Roark’s strategies! Paul may be a jerk, but he wasn’t half bad when it came to Pokemon battles. He would make Roark put on a show.

“Well what do you know, I’ve got two challengers waiting for me!”

“You know,” Brock spoke up, “Ian told us when you’re digging for coal, you’re looking for treasure, too.”

“Treasure, huh?” The Gym Leader turned towards where the cart had been pushed to. A crane was lifting the fossil out of it and onto the back of a truck. “A lot of Pokemon fossils turn up while coal mining. I really enjoy my work as a foreman for the miners.”

“You’re the foreman?” Ash asked, impressed by that fact.

Being a Pokemon trainer kept him busy enough! He didn’t understand how so many Gym Leaders managed to balance keeping their teams at the necessary skill level to test trainers while also keeping up a second job.

“Sure am! But enough about that, if I’ve got two challengers waiting then we should probably make our way over to the Gym!”

Excited to get to his first big battle of the region, Ash followed behind Roark with a grin.

“While we’re walking…” Roark trailed off, looking towards N and Mimikyu as the little guy climbed up onto his shoulder, “I have to say, it’s a surprise to see you two here.”

N tensed up, but Mimikyu didn’t seem to care.

“You know N and Mimikyu?” Brock asked, looking strangely interested in the conversation all of a sudden.

Roark laughed. “I don’t know them, no, but it’s kind of hard to not know of them with how up in arms Cynthia has been lately. I swear, I’ve had to read through an extra 50 reports in the last week because of you two.”

It didn’t seem like that bothered the man too much, but that didn’t sound like a good thing to Ash. Reports were what he had to fill out when Officer Jenny got involved, and he always messed them up and had to redo them with Brock…

“Who is Cynthia?” Dawn asked. It didn’t ring a bell to him either, but he hadn’t exactly gotten to know all of the important people in Sinnoh yet.

“Cynthia is the Champion of the Sinnoh region.” Roark answered, as if that wasn’t an absolute bombshell.

“You guys know the Champion?!” He turned to N and Mimikyu. “Is she strong?!”

Steven was insanely strong, and he’d dreamed of beating Lance for a long time, so surely this Cynthia person must be on the same level!

N only grimaced, and Mimikyu shivered. Mimikyu! One of the scariest Pokemon he knew shivered at just the mention of her! Cynthia must be terrifyingly strong!

Ash couldn’t wait to battle her.

“...I wouldn’t say that we know her…” N eventually settled on. “But we’ve… met.”

“They’ve met, he says!” Roark barked out another laugh. “You must be a real wild guy!”

But his smile turned contemplative, and then a bit worried. “Hey, I’ve read the reports and I think I’m in the clear, but none of my team are gonna… you know…”

“You’re a Rock type Gym leader, right?” N asked as he pulled out Mimikyu’s pen and notebook.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Mimikyu scribbled out an answer. It was pretty impressive what Mimikyu was able to do. He wondered if he could teach his own Pokemon how to write…

”大丈夫です。もんだいない。” The notebook read when he turned it around for Roark.

“Huh. I guess you being able to write was in the reports, but seeing it is something else… Thanks for clearing that up for me though. I wouldn’t particularly mind if it was possible, but with Cynthia the way she’s been… might be best to wait on that.” He laughed again, apparently at ease.

“Mind filling the rest of us in?” Brock asked.

It looked like Roark was going to answer, but N cut him off. “We should wait until after Ash gets his badge. It can wait, and he needs to stay focused.”

“I guess you have a point there.” Roark agreed before turning to Ash. “I want you at your best when you battle me, really give it your all!”

“Of course! I wouldn’t have it any other way!” Ash easily agreed.

He would always give it his best in a Gym battle. But for the two of them to agree that it was something that might distract him from it… well, that worried him a bit.

But N was his friend now. He’d get to know whatever this secret was when it was time for it. If that meant waiting, then so be it.

He had a battle to win.