Life is an Adventure[Drake]

He hadn’t been expecting somebody to request to see him – particularly from somebody he’d never even heard of. Agh... he thought, making his way down the stairs through the abandoned League rooms before his. First Glacias, then Phoebes, then Sidneys. They all echoed with the sound of abandonment as had set in since Lux took control. He pushed his way into the entry hall of the Hoenn League.

The doors closed behind him and the old Dragon Master shoved his hands ungracefully in the pockets of his cloak. The Lux soldiers around him milled about lazily. Not that there was much to do in Ever Grande. ...besides wait for this lass... He’d told her to meet him in the League Entrance. Hopefully she would show up soon.

He remained entirely unmoving as he saw the figure stride through the entrance to the Hall with a certain, almost needed, confident air that automatically garnered a fraction of respect from him. He regarded the young woman silently unblinkingly. His black eyes softened very slightly when she approached. She didn’t appear to be a threat. If she was here, then she could be shot down instantly. If she was elsewhere, he felt he would be able to take care of her.

Lookit me. He grumped to himself, nodding slightly in response to her. Goin’ senile alredy.

”Ye haven’t.” he told her gruffly. Not to be rude, it was simply how he did things. ”This way.” He cocked his head in the direction of the way he’d just came from his battle room. ”We got a lot o’ stairs t’climb lass. May as well start talkin’ now.”

Drake was glad in that instance that his back was too her face and his old expression couldn’t be seen, for it twisted into an ugly, clearly less-than-happy one. A person aiming to be the “Champion”. He despised the title after it had been twisted around by Lux, especially with the rise of first the past Xander and Ardos. ”My position in th’ League currently is little more than being th’Administrator o’ Ever Grande. I keep it runnin’ how I see fit and let Indigo know anythin’ that’s amiss. If I don’ bother ‘em they’re pro’ly not gonna bother me. ‘ats how I like it.”

He pushed open the doors and started slowly up the stairs that would lead to the battle rooms, beginning with Sidney’s. ”Bein’ a member o’ the Elite Four though is somethin’ that had more glory in th’past than it currently does ‘cept in the eyes o’ those who knew what it meant.” He paused, leaving the both of them in silence as they climbed (or in his case limped) up the stairs before speaking again, ”An’ if yer curious ‘bout me, ask away.”

”Eh. It has its perks. But on an islan’ like Ever Grande ye get f’rgotten about.” he told her with a chuckle, glancing around Sidney’s room with a small, nostalgic smile before continuing onward, pushing open the doors that continued on to the stairs to take them to Phoebe’s room. ”I can’t remember th’ number o’ battles I’ve had in the past, lass, but I can definitely tell ye o’ some of th’ better ones…” He didn’t continue with that, though, implying he would tell the more “storybook portion” of her questions once they had a place to sit and chat over a cup of tea or something.

It was only after she spoke after her pause that her words truly halted the old man. He stopped abruptly in the stairwell, one foot on the next step he had been ready to take. He looked up at the door just feet from him now but turned around, a curious look in his eyes. ”Tha’s a notion o’ a Lux I ain’t never heard before, lass.” he stared at her levelly, his mind clicking key words together as well as other thoughts, ”I quite like th’ sound o’ it.”

He stayed staring at her silently for moments more, ”Fixin’ things would jus’ be step one. Ye’d have a ton more t’do an’ ye’d prob’ly feel like yer swimming beneath it all. Bein’ the Champion – in th’ sense that people know – would call ye t’ protect th’ region, and not draw lines between who’s Lux ‘r who’s Nox; ye’d have t’see Hoenn as what it used t’be – a proud region whose people had bonds tighter ‘n a knot with each other an’ their pokemon. Ye’d need t’ protect the region tha’ calls a truce from th’ rest o’ Lux, because they won’t stand fer it, ya hear? Nox an’ Lux wouldn’t exist anymore in Hoenn, an’ that’s the one thing that would help this region th’ most.”

He sighed, shifting his weight to lean against the stairwell as he thought more, ”Nox’s two Leaders – Sunderland an’ Akiyama. I’ve met th’ former personally, but the latter I’ve only heard horror stories about as o’ late. B’fore th’ war, though, when Wallace was th’ Champ, he’d mention her in his conversations. From what I know o’ both of ‘em…I’m willin’ t’say they both would go with yer truce if it meant endin’ the violence an’ rebuildin Hoenn.”

He looked at her for a long moment before nodding to himself, pressing off the stair rail and through the doors to Phoebe’s room.


[[you have no idea how much I basically jumped out of my chair and went "YOU NEED TO TALK TO ALYSSA, YUKI."]]

Drake stayed silent as they moved through Phoebe's room, processing what she said. "Trainers ye can trust...I get the feelin' ye won't have t'look as far as you think t'find 'em." He smirked slightly and hunched his shoulders, truding up the steps to Glacia's rom. "But I think ye'd be hard-pressed t'convince Lux they won't have use for somethin'. If it's land where people are, it's an opportunity." He considered her last point for a moment.

"As far as gettin' in contact with 'em...jus' find a free bird pokemon at Fortree, or go lookin'. Dunno many people wanderin' around Hoenn with white hair or one arm." He pointed ahead of them when he crossed the Threshold into Glacia's room. "There's a couple o' bird pokemon in my room, actually. I keep some of 'em in my room to write to people."

”There mos’ definitely will be others that’re willin’ t’follow ye.” he said, confident in his words. He puffed out his breath, seeing it float in front of him with the cold brought on by Glacia’s room. That woman didn’t know how to control a thermostat. ”Lux an’ Nox alike I’d be willin’ t’bet.” He smirked some. Finally there seemed to be a flash of hope for Hoenn.

He pushed his way through the doors leaving her room, happy to see to cold stay behind them as they started towards his room at last. ”Yer more ‘an welcome t’use the bird pokemon t’write t’people. Prob’ly the most exercise they’ll be getting fer a while. Give whomever yer getting’ in contact with a date, time, an’ place t’have ‘em meet ya.” He looked back at her as they climbed the stairs. ”No sense playin’ letter-tag with em, eh? Ye wanna get stuff done ASAP, yea? Lay yer cards down first, an’ they’ll follow suit.”

At last, he pulled open the stone doors that led into his room.

Drake laughed at her comment on the Earthquakes and Fissures for a greeting, knowing full well of the reputation of at least one of the leaders. ”Ah, I think they’d both have enough decency t’be more reasonable ‘an that.” He walked around the outside of the terrain-simulated design of his battle room, uneven to model the sides of a cliff-gorge from a mountain with water in the middle, deep enough for a Gyarados to swim in. ”Try Oldale or Fallarbor. Those are the only true neutral places left, yeah?”

Drake couldn’t recall if there was more territory than simply those two that remained neutral in this war, regardless of which bias they leaned towards. ”Those will probably be your smartest choices.” He finally reaches the side of his battle room where his single tea table and chairs sit, along with a small stove, cabinets, and a perch for bird pokemon.

Drake brings his thumb and forefinger to his lips and blows against them, an incredibly sharp whistle bursting from his lips to summon a bird pokemon from outdoors. As if on cue, not one minute later a Swellow zipped in and spiraled downward before landing on the perch, patiently waiting. ”Good girl.” He murmured to the bird, stroking its breast gently with his fingers.

”There be some ink, quill, and paper in there.” he says, pointing to one of the cabinets beside the stove. ”There’s also pens, if ye don’ know how t’use an ink and quill.” he adds with a gruff laugh.