I decided to make Rosa 15 for now and Hugh 16.
I don't know how many times I mentioned her age in-story, but I could only remember one in "The Electric Gym, and Abusive Pricks" so I was able to locate and change it very quickly. I don't really feel like looking through the whole story right now.
Image by - Konekotaku on Deviantart
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"I should tell you why I brought you here." Professor Juniper stretched after exiting the plane, looking over at Rosa. The girl covered her mouth as she yawned, then nodded for the professor to continue. "Cheren told me that a group of people calling themselves Team Plasma are planning to use legendary pokémon to take over the Unova region. As you may know, in Unova, there are two legendary dragons – Reshiram and Zekrom..." Her eyes darted to the sky for a second. "But, two years ago, they each recognized a trainer as a hero. To this day, they should still be with them."
Rosa's eyes widened. "Are you sure?!"
Surprised by her sudden outburst, Professor Juniper nodded. "Well, as far as I know."
"Then Hilda is out there somewhere!" She was very much relieved to know her cousin could be alive and well. With a legendary pokémon at her side, she was safe, right?
"Hilda..." The older woman knitted her brows together at the familiar name, cracking a smile. "Ah, that's right. You're related to Hilda. You're... her cousin, right?" She guessed.
"Mhm!" Rosa frantically nodded, nearly breaking her neck doing so.
"But..." Bianca spoke up, a frown on her features. "How can Team Plasma take over Unova when Reshiram and Zekrom aren't even here? What could they be planning?"
"Well, there is much we don't know about those pokémon. That's why I want to hear what Drayden has to say about this." Juniper turned to Rosa to inform that the gym leader specializes in dragon-types, so he would surely know something. "But, Drayden is a strange man, he will only talk if you manage to defeat him in battle." She sighed, unamused. "So, I would appreciate it if you could defeat him and then tell me what he says...?"
"Me?" Rosa blinked, glancing to Bianca. "U- Um, alright. I don't mind helping out."
"Thank you!" The professor beamed. "It's not best to get involved with Team Plasma to start with, but..." She shrugged as her words trailed off.
The younger girl snorted. "Trust me, I've become too involved as is."
Juniper, for a moment, saw Hilda in this girl. She didn't seem at all afraid of Team Plasma, like her cousin. "Be careful out there anyway..."
Rosa understood the professor's worry. She was still a new trainer after all, and Team Plasma was a big thing. "I will." She promised, smiling reassuringly.
Her and Bianca headed into the town. "I'm heading off to the volcano. There's a rumor of a rare fire-type pokémon there." The latter explained, leaving Rosa in front of the Pokémon Center.
"I'll catch up later!" She called after her before going inside to heal Yomo and Komori, as he had defeated Skyla's own Swoobat. Rosa waited patiently while watching people pass by the building. She was excited to encounter pokémon she had never seen before to add on to the pokédex. It was particularly warm here, despite it being winter, so fire-type and ground-type creatures were likely to be seen. Thanking Nurse Joy, Rosa exited the building and headed in the same direction Bianca disappeared to, withdrawing her dex.
A swift shadow passed over her so she looked up to find some kind of bird wearing what she guessed was armor. She raised her device to the sky, allowing it to scan the pokémon before bringing it back down to see. "Skarmory?" It looked really cool. Rosa continuously did this, scanning pokémon she never saw until now. "That one looks exactly like the pokémon Zorua transformed into back at Team Plasma's ship, but smaller." She smiled as a Skorupi met her eyes before disappearing into the thickets behind a boulder. Since her eyes had been on the pokédex, she didn't notice where she was walking to, so once she looked up, the girl found herself standing in front of a house away from the town. Rosa found it strange, but it appeared rundown; no one really fancied an abandoned house in their town.
She started to feel compelled to go inside. Admittedly, it was becoming far too warm for comfort, which was why she decided to enter. She expected it to be cool inside, but not this cold. "How...?" She wondered, hugging her jacket closer. The brunette was taken aback upon seeing puffs of air in front of her every time she exhaled.
There were a few dusty furniture around, from couches to potted plants. 'Wait, did that couch just move?' Anytime she blinked, she swore one of the furniture twitched - or jumped. 'No, NO, it's nothing!' She reassured herself and continued to look around the house. It was a nice place, actually, and it would look better if someone took good care of it and painted the walls.
As it seemed, all the doors were blocked off, excluding one of the two stairs leading to the basement. Rosa wondered if it was even a good idea to go in the basement of a creepy, old house. 'There's nothing here. Well, likely ghost pokémon, and they like to spook people by moving things around.' She reluctantly made her way down the stairs. Ghost pokémon were fine, but human ghosts were a whole other story. She had her fingers crossed for there only being pokémon around.
"A library?" The girl found this to be a much better scenario than her walking into a dark, dreary, basement where she'd find bloody writing on the wall and an axe-wielding maniac behind her. To be sure, she craned her head, thankfully finding nobody there. Sighing in relief, Rosa checked the nearest bookcase for something interesting. All the books were dull-colored and plain, aside from one at the very center. She pulled it out and opened it. "There are pokémon called Hypno. Each one carries a pendulum that it can swing to make people drowsy." She turned the page, only reading the highlighted bits and bookmarked parts. "It has been said that a Hypno once hypnotized a child and took it away... welp..." She slammed the book shut and put it away before moving on to the other ones, the same blank books with a noticeable one in the center.
"There are pokémon called Drowzee. They put others to sleep and eat their dreams. Eating nightmares can upset their stomachs." Rosa ran over to a different bookcase, the book there explaining a move called Dream Eater, which she guessed a Drowzee could learn. She moved to the last two bookcases and removed the books from them, taking a seat on a chair. "Ok, let's see... there is a pokémon called Darkrai in the far Sinnoh region." This peaked her interest. "To protect itself, it drives people and pokémon away with terrible nightmares." She switched this book to the other. "Same text, but with Cresselia..." She noted and continued reading. "Its wings shine like the crescent moon and keep nightmares away... That's it?" The girl flipped through the book, every other text – aside from the highlighted parts – were either smeared or crossed out with pen or marker. This didn't help someone like her who wanted to read more - though she could possibly ask Professor Juniper. With a sigh, she returned the books to their rightful spot before moving on, finding stairs leading back up. "But this is," she found herself being able to return to the main room, "blocked off...?" Surprisingly, the furniture had been moved around, but she hadn't heard a thing from downstairs.
Rosa huffed. "Ghost-type pokémon, I'm sure of it. Haha! Very funny, guys!" Her eyes darted up to the second floor for a second until she quickly looked back to find a girl standing there. "I- I'm sorry, what??" She couldn't believe it. "U- Uh, excuse me?"
"An everlasting dark dream..." She spoke quietly that Rosa had to strain to hear. "An endless dream of darkness..." Though her eyes were covered by her bangs, her fearful worry was evident as she turned her head around the room, searching. "Dad... mom... A- Abra? Wh- Where are you?" With that, her form flickered, and then she was gone.
"Oh. My. NOPE." Rosa yelped and ran into the room nearest to her. Someone was already in here, so she screamed, greatly startling them. "Who and WHY are you here?!"
He laughed nervously. "Just exploring too, but hey, how about a battle to get your mind off of your unease?" The man offered, sensing her fear just by the scream a moment earlier. "I'm Boone!"
"I... alright..." She sent out Manami, the Eevee happy to battle. "Rosa." She added before issuing an attack once the man sent out a Numel. Manami's covet was her best move, doing a lot of damage to the opponent.
Boone's Numel fainted, then he sent a Sigilyph into battle. Manami took a gust but it wasn't enough to keep her down. Her bite, then another covet, ended the fight. "Wow, you're tough! How ya feelin' now?"
The brunette returned her pokémon and flashed a smile at him. "Thank you for the concern. I'm feeling better now."
"Hey," his eyes darted to a lamp in the corner, "this house... doesn't it seem like the furniture just moved itself?" Rosa narrowed her eyes at him.
"I really hope you haven't been pranking me."
"What? No! I swear it's not me!" Boone raised his hands in defense. He did seem sincere so she dropped it.
"Alright, I'm going to look around some more." Then, the girl up on the second floor was whom exactly? Rosa decided not to worry this guy and left the room.
Now she noticed that she had no choice but to explore the house, seeing as the exit was blocked off. She found the stairs that she took the first time were open again, so she returned to the library. Although, it seemed that the chairs had been rearranged, much to her unease. The brunette made her way through with some difficulty and realized too late that nothing was different down here. Sure, she got to check the bookcase she couldn't get to before, but it had nothing interesting. She decided to take the other set of stairs so she would not have to walk all the way back to the other side of the room.
Yet again, everything was moved around. Rosa noticed that the middle staircase was open and she slowly made her up, finding the girl from before waiting. She stared at the doorway ahead. "In the dark dream, I heard my dad's voice... Forget about the Lunar Wing, please stay here with me..."
"Wa–" Rosa attempted to call her, but she was gone. "Lunar Wing?" She raised a brow and entered the middle room. At first she was afraid that something would jump out at her, so she only stuck her head inside. Rosa hesitantly walked further in, noticing a feather on the floor just before she nearly stepped on it. "That was a close one!" She picked it up from the floor, admiring its beauty as the moonlight from outside peeked in through the dirty windows.
"Oh..." Rosa choked on a scream and spun around to find the ghost there, again. There's no denying it anymore; the girl WAS A GHOST. Just what Rosa feared was in this house aside from pokémon. "The Lunar Wing..." The other girl looked down at the feather, guessing this was it. "I can't take it now, but it'll be ok..." She cracked the smallest of smiles. "Please, return it to the pokémon. I tried waiting on the bridge so I could return it myself..." She trailed off, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
"What. In. The. World?!" Rosa finally exhaled, as the ghost's appearance had made it difficult to breathe. She observed the Lunar Wing - light green in color. "I mean, I don't mind returning it for you..." She hurried toward the front door, wanting to leave now. "But what bridge??" The brunette couldn't help wondering. There had to be four or five different bridges in the Unova region.
Rosa gently stored the Lunar Wing in an empty pocket of her bag before heading toward Reversal Mountain, or better known as volcano. She decided to remove her jacket once more, annoyed by the lingering cold from the house that had yet to go away, but the warmth of outside was slowly setting in. Although, when she entered Reversal Mountain, it became uncomfortably hot. She couldn't help groaning in protest.
"Hey, Bianca." She found the blonde as soon as she walked into another area of the mountain.
"Rosa!" Bianca was relieved and glad to see her. "I want to continue my investigation, but the pokémon here are tough and they keep getting in my way." She pouted. "Pleeeease help me??"
"Oh, sure!" Rosa offered a smile. "There's no need to plead!"
"Yay!" The duo moved in whichever direction, as it didn't seem to matter. "How's your journey?" Bianca curiously asked.
"I wish I could perfectly describe it, but I'd say amazing and... fun." She looked around with wide eyes, then huffed. "Too hot..."
The other girl removed her own jacket, stuffing it into her bag as best as she could. "Yeah... and I'm glad you're loving your journey. Mine was adequate, I loved it, but I realize it wasn't for me. I wasn't as good as Cheren and Hilda." She sighed sadly. "Being a pokémon researcher is nice too, but I'm not sure it's really what I want to do; although, when I do the work, I have lots and lots of fun!"
Rosa knitted her brows together. "But you do look like a strong trainer."
"Oh, you~!" The other girl gave her a push, flattered. "Maybe for a moment I felt like I was, because I managed to defeat Hilda at least once – sometime in our second battle. Honestly, her team seemed tired from a previous battle so I got lucky then." Rosa slowly nodded. "Don't give me that face!" Bianca sighed, offering a smile. "I am completely fine with the fact that I'm not as strong as most trainers, and my friends. Seriously."
"Ok, ok." The brunette gave in. The duo encountered some trainers along the way and she did notice Bianca doing her best, even if she was tense. Her Musharna wasn't the best speed-wise, but she really saved Jano multiple times, until the Serperior fell to a Swanna. "Jano..." Rosa admitted that she was paying too much attention to Bianca's battling.
"I'll heal him up for you afterwards." The older girl reassured before allowing Musharna to defeat one of their opponents – a Crustle.
"Thank you! Komori, heart stamp!" As soon as he was out, the Swoobat fired a heart from his nose at the Swanna, damaging it fairly.
"Psychic!" Musharna blasted a pulse of energy at the flying-type and ended the battle. The girls said their goodbyes to the men before continuing on through the cave. "Oh!" Bianca spoke up, running a little ways ahead. "Let's have a look in here!"
Rosa followed her gaze toward a hole in the ground, where the heat seemed to increase. "Well, uh, let's go." Though, she was unsure. The older girl led the way, the two of them carefully walking down rock after rock. It wasn't long until the path opened up to another cave area.
"What is this place? It feels very strange..." Bianca looked around and walked further ahead to find a dead end. "Could this be the place where Reversal Mountain started from – the lair of the pokémon Heatran?"
"Heatran?" Rosa raised a brow, reaching up to wipe the sweat trickling down her temple.
"It's a pokémon with magma-like blood flowing through it." The blonde explained before sighing. "There's nothing here though. Come on." They headed back out to continue exploring.
There was not much else now, but they found an exit to Undella Town. "You can go on ahead. I would like to stay and do more research on Heatran."
"Alright." Rosa was a bit upset to leave her.
"Thank you for sticking with me." Bianca beamed. "Good luck on the rest of your journey! I believe you're almost there!" With that, she left the way they came from.
"No problem! Bye!" The younger girl waved, glancing at her retreating back before leaving the cave. The cold night air gave her goosebumps at the suddenness. She needed to get a room at the Pokémon Center. Outside the cave was a construction site and one of the workers explained they were further developing the resort, and he was surprised the town connected to the volcano. The town held a peaceful air to it. It was small, simple, but still beautiful. She would love to live here.
Rosa looked up at the moon, being reminded of the Lunar Wing. She had another thing to do on this journey, but for now, she was too tired to think so she headed straight for the Pokémon Center. She could further admire Undella Town under the morning light.
"Zor!" Rosa's eyes shot open and she found herself facing a dark gray sky, lying on the ground. She swore she heard Zorua's cry. 'How did I even get here?' She wondered, sitting up to take in her surroundings. She was in a large clearing in a forest. It was chilly, colder than usual. Aside from the sky and the cold, the forest looked as if it was already summer. The girl gasped - there it was again. It couldn't be her imagination. Zorua's faint cry echoed from around her.
"Zorua?!" Rosa called him, eyes darting about to catch sight of the fox creature. "I'm over here!" She got no reply from him. "Seriously, what is this place? Is this a dream?" She uttered in confusion. Admittedly, her dreams were weird, but never like this.
Then, she had to hug herself for warmth once the cold increased and the ground rumbled slightly. Cries of other pokémon filled her ears. They burst into the clearing, fear in their eyes, running through her as if the human wasn't standing there. Rosa found that she couldn't speak anymore. She tried to shout and scream, but nothing worked in her favor. She wanted to help these pokémon. What had them so terrified?
To answer her question, the crackling of ice stood out among the cry of the wild creatures, followed by a beam of ice striking down just outside the clearing. Rosa narrowly had the chance to cover her face. She was shaken by the noises around her. Once everything died down, she allowed herself to look, seeing as she wasn't remotely touched.
She was surrounded by a layer of ice. The pokémon were unlucky, having not escaped in time, and now stood frozen with fearful expressions. 'No...' Rosa choked on a gasp, willing herself to move, but she seemed to be trapped in one spot as if someone dropped a narrow cylinder around her.
How was this fair?! They were all frozen except for her! The brunette silently wept for them, and turning around, her heart skipped a beat. Zorua was among the frozen figures. 'ZORUA!' She couldn't believe she missed him there. He must've not seen her, like the others. The situation hurt worse once she blinked and Hilda appeared beside him, also encased in ice. 'Why is this happening to me?!' Rosa fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks as she gazed upon her cousin and the pokémon she failed to watch over.
She forced her voice to work again. "W- Wake up!" It cracked uncomfortably, but she cared not. "Wake up, Rosa! Wake up before you find Hugh standing there too!! PLEASE!!" Her nails dug into her thighs.
With a gasp, Rosa shot up in bed, sweating as much as the last nightmare. She waited a moment to allow herself to regroup. Jano and Yomo were asleep on the floor and Rina was on the other side of the bed. Komori hung upside down from the ceiling, as that was how Swoobat normally slept. Shisa and Manami each occupied one side of their trainer. Seeing them all sleeping soundly made her relax, glad she hadn't woken them. Rosa carefully slid out from under her covers to get off the bed and walk over to the window. She pushed the blinds to the side to find that light was slowly returning to the town. It was just before dawn - the sun had yet to rise.
She lazily took her time to get ready in the bathroom. A shower would do. Ten minutes later, Rosa stood in front of her mirror while blowdrying her long, brown hair. She decided against doing anything with it, leaving it down. She simply wasn't in the mood. The girl realized, seeing her hair down, that it reached her mid-thigh, as opposed to what she told Bianca. She walked out of the bathroom to retrieve a yellow hair band from her bag, returning to the mirror for a moment to place it on her head. 'Wow!' She noticed Manami seated on the foot of the bed, watching her with wide eyes. 'I never saw you with your hair down before!'
"I wear it up most of the time since it gets in my way." Rosa explained, glancing one more time at her reflection before leaving the bathroom. "I want to cut it some day, but..." She remembered her reason for keeping it long.
'But, what?'
"Hugh likes my hair long. He said I looked pretty." She couldn't help the smile and the blush erupting on her face. "B- But I am still upset with him, s- so maybe I could get a haircut to piss him off."
Manami frowned. 'You two need to make up...'
'Yeah!' Shisa jumped up in bed to join in on the conversation. Rosa was about to shush him, but he had already woken the others. 'I don't like it when you and dad fight!'
His trainer groaned, covering her face now. She forgot the Growlithe referred to her as mom and to Hugh as dad. Thank god the boy couldn't understand Shisa. "Go back to sleep. I'm going to go for a walk around Undella Town."
Rina stood up and stretched. 'Nah! I've had enough!' She opened the blinds as best as she could with her paws and allowed light to pour into the room. The sun was in the middle of rising over the horizon. 'I can't wait for more battles!'
Rosa smiled at each one of her pokémon. They've all come a long way. "Fine. Stay here while I bring breakfast." They excitedly nodded at the thought of food.
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