Pidg was the only person in Konikoni that knew Reeda on an intimate level. Everyone else had known her as the beggar-battle girl. When she first came she tried working, but no one would offer her any services. It led her to battling on the streets for money and even begging. She didn't ask for much, but in the end she managed to live off what she had.
The way she and Pidg met was when she was battling a trainer in a double battle—Fang and Squeak, now a Pikachu, against a Haunter and Torracat.
"Fang, Hone Claws! Squeak, Agility to evade and distract!"
"Ember, Hugo!" the trainer shouted. "Gaspar, Shadowball!"
The Torracat aimed for Fang but was distracted by Squeak's speed, the Haunter desperately trying to hit it.
"Electroball on Torracat!" Reeda shouted. "Fang, Feint Attack on Haunter!"
They both landed their attacks with deadly accuracy and power. When the dust settled, the Torracat and Haunter had fainted.
The trainer returned them and paid up, complementing her battle style. She didn't say anything but left the field and returned to the docks. Pidg, curious, followed her and her pokemon.
There was an abandoned rowboat—one of the big metal kinds that hold up to 20 people—that was tied to the dock, in which Reeda lived in. It wasn't bad, but the jury-rigged roof, walls, and door didn't seem that stable to Pidge. There were two windows that he could see.
Squeak suddenly stopped, turned around, and leaped into a battled stance barking. Pidg froze, and tried to shush it but by then it was too late.
Reeda had already seen him.
"...You want to battle or something?" she asked. "If you want to I can't right now. It's too hot outside." She was wearing her brother's jacket over a black mid-drift shirt, a pair of fraying white jeans on her legs.
"Um..." Pidg blanked. "N-no... I just never saw you here before."
"Weird." Reeda shifted her posture, uncomfortable with the situation. "A lot of people know me here now... I'd have thought that everyone in the town knew or something."
"I work for the herbalist," Pidg said. "I don't really get out much."
"Huh."
Reeda suddenly started to sway on her feet, going down to one knee to steady herself. Squeak and Fang immediately at her side, trying to help her. Pidg came over and knelt in front of her. "Woah, you okay there?"
"I-I... haven't eaten in a few days... it's really hot out here..." She pulled the jacket on tighter.
Pidg helped her up. "Do you need any help?"
"I'm fine..."
Squeak, perched on his trainer's shoulder, nuzzled her cheek, obviously worried.
Pidg felt the same way.
"... Let's get you some food," he said. "My treat."
"I said—" Reeda's stomach roared, silencing her. "... Fine, I'll go."
They went into the restaurant, and Pidg let her order what she wanted along with food for her own pokemon. They ate together in silence for the most part as Reeda and her pokemon scarfed down food, life returning to them a little bit. After a while, Pidg decided to start up a conversation. "...so... how long have you been living here?"
"Why you asking?"
"I'm curious."
She leaned back, looking him up and down. "Three months... four?" She shrugged. "I don't really want to remember."
"So you're a runaway then?"
She sunk into her chair. "I don't want to be found out please, just call me a trainer."
"Trainers battle and take on the Island Challenge. Not battle and live in a boat."
"Sailors have to battle pokemon threatening their ship and lives, so... you're point?"
Pidg didn't know how to respond to that.
Reeda sighed and got up. "I need to head back to my place. If you want to battle ask me when it gets dark."
"I don't want to battle you," Pidg snapped. He followed her out of the restaurant.
"Then what the hell do you want?"
Pidg stopped, uncertain of what he wanted to say.
"Yeah, thought so." She continued walking with her pokemon, waving a backhanded goodbye.
Pidg didn't see her the rest of the day, but he came back that night he found her at the edge of the dock sitting by herself. Her coat was halfway off, exposing her shoulders and upper arms that were covered in scars. She was digging into one of them with a Razor Claw as he watched her, speechless.
He ran and grabbed her arm before she could dig into herself again. She yelled, trying to throw him in the water but he grabbed the Razor Claw out of her hand and tossed it away from them on the deck.
"I need that!" she yelled. He was now holding her tight to him. "You don't understand my brother gave that to me! I need that!"
She fought and fought until she was still, crying in outrage. Pidg sighed, picking her up in his arms. She fought again, breaking free this time and going back to retrieve her Razor Claw. She stared back at him, angry tears running down her face.
"... Fine." Pidg said. "Keep it. Just let me help you."
Reeda didn't say anything. Not when he came back over to her, picked her up and carried her inside her boat home, or when he treated her cuts. It was cluttered in her house, but cool. The floors were covered in old blankets, pillows, and sheets. There was a shelf holding boxes, a radio, and a strange souvenir that tourists would buy sometimes. Apart from that though, there wasn't much else. Squeak and Fang were in their pokeballs, resting on a pillow on Reeda's bed.
When Pidg had finished treating her cuts, he asked questions about her. Reeda answered them, explaining why she'd come here, how she bought the house boat and paid for it though battling, how she started hurting herself, and how little money she had to eat and keep clean. Pidg told her that he could help, but she was obstinate towards him about that. "Reeda, you can't live like this. Think of your pokemon."
"We've been okay so far, Pidg," she replied. "This isn't the worst that's happened to us. Trust me."
They talked for a while before, both tired and warm, fell asleep in her boat. Pidg's arm around Reeda, and her head resting on his shoulder.
After that, they were distant for a long time. Reeda's battles kept her busy, and Pidg's work with the herbalist kept him away. They would still visit here and there, and every time Pidg came to her boat he would bring food for her and her pokemon. He'd even take care of her cuts and stay with her the night he visited so she wouldn't hurt herself or feel alone. It made him feel better that she wouldn't hurt herself around him, but it also hurt him because—without a doubt—she would keep doing the same when he was gone.
Then, one day, she had vanished. Pidg had asked everyone in town where she had gone to but no one could say specifically. Only that she had been taken away by someone.
No one knew who except Reeda.
The day she left Konikoni, she was sitting with her pokemon between the restaurant and the jewelry store, holding a sign that said she'd battle for money. No one seemed to notice, and as the day wore on she began to get hot in her coat and pants. Determination rooted her to the spot though—she had a payment coming up and was close to having it payed off. She needed the money, even though Pidg said he could help chip in. She was so close.
Suddenly a shadow fell on her, and she saw a pair of shoed feet in front of her. The shoes were white and loose, with the cuffs of the pants tucked into them. The pants had white X's at the calf, and were baggy at the crotch. A pair of large hands gripped the waist, one arm with a watch, the other two black and white rubber bracelets, both arms sporting purple skull like tattoos. There was a white shirt, a black, hooded t-shirt jacket with white bars going down the shoulders and up the sides, black zig-zags trapped inside them. There was a thick gold chain attached to a gold skull. The posture was slumped.
The face was odd to Reeda. The chin wasn't sharp, nor the jaw line but they were pronounced. A frown was set just under a pointy nose. The eyes were dark grey and surrounded by too much white, all of which were emphasized by a set of dark rings around the eyes. Black eyebrows questioned her, and above them a while mop of wild hair that was shaved and black on the sides, making the ears look bigger than they should be. A pair of yellow rimmed sunglasses with black lenses rested on the head, one lens circular and the other a crescent.
Reeda glared at the person who was staring back at her. She watched as his expression changed from being confused to being pissed off. "Tch! Who taught you that starin' isn't decent?" the person snapped.
"I'd like to ask the same question since you've been staring at me longer," Reeda snapped back.
"Keep talkin' like that and someone's gonna smash you down, kid."
"I'd like to see you try."
The person laughed, a maniac laugh that seemed to bounce off the walls. "You don't know me at all do ya now?" He leaned into her face, eyes wild. "The hated boss that beats you down and beats you down and never lets up... don't that ring any Chinglings?"
Reeda spat in his face. He barely even blinked--just scowled at her. "... you tryin' to edge me on kid?"
Reeda glared back steadily.
"...Heh, just what they said," he said, smirking, "a real hard ass trainer lives here beggin' to battle just to keep alive."
All of a sudden, he grabbed her arm and pulled her up and along with him. She wrenched free. "There's no point in going anywhere for me," Reeda said. "I need to pay my docking fee. You might as well head back to where you came--"
The person dug around in a pocket and tossed a wad of cash at her. "That help?"
Reeda had to sit back down when she caught the money. In her hands was easily ten grand in hard cash. Two months worth of rent...
"... I still can't go." Reeda said, setting the money aside. "You numbskulls live in Po Town right? Ula'ula Isand?" Fang and Squeak stood on either side of her. "We're not going back there."
The person stood there, staring at her. She stared back, not showing anything.
"... Tch." The person went back over to her and pulled her up. "Don't want your reputation ruined there or something?"
Reeda said nothing.
The person mumbled to himself, frustrated. Eventually he turned around as if to leave. "...the kahuna over there said there was some kid that ran away to here because of some crappy lifestyle and isn't doing any better out here." He rubbed the back of his neck, slouching. "We ain't got the best reputation, but Po Town's blocked off and the sea keep people out of our business." He turned around and faced her. "Plus, you're looking at destruction in human form as an escort."
"Team Skull's boss," Reeda said, arms crossed. "Big bad Guzma, huh?"
"Your one and only boy." He smirked.
Reeda rolled her eyes. She'd heard about them before she ran away, and even more while living in Konikoni. They wanted change, being tired of the kahunas for some reason or other. She had even battled a few grunts here and there that harassed people at the docks and restaurant, sending them off with their tail between their legs. They told her that their boss would show her, and now she was looking at him, face to face, with an offer for a better life in Ula'Ula.
She looked at her pokemon. They seemed hesitant, but she noticed that they were getting scrawny and their fur patchy. Even if it was on the wrong side, they needed food and shelter and something that didn't seem to be in Konikoni. They needed a better life.
All three of them.
'Pidg is going to kill me,' she thought, absently. She motioned Guzma to follow her to her house where she gave the dock worker her pay, saying she'd be leaving right then and there. After she packed her things into the old bag she'd first ran away in, she left Konikoni.
She was now running back to Ula'ula, where her parents could never reach her.
And where Pidg could never get a hold of her for years, never having left any note.