Seven Days to Eterna City
The footsteps had been tailing him for twenty minutes before Orion finally acknowledged them.
They weren't subtle. Whoever it was either didn't know how to walk quietly or didn't care. Probably the second one. The steps didn't slow when the brush thickened. They didn't hesitate at elevation shifts or pause at the occasional snapped branch left in Orion's wake.
In short: either this person was confident, clueless, or both.
Orion didn't turn around. He just kept walking. Turtwig glanced back once, then looked up at Orion like, You hearing this too?
He nodded.
Tyrunt, up ahead, slowed slightly, keeping his weight on his back legs. Not a full alert. Not yet. But enough.
The woods curved down a slope and into a clearing where the trees thinned and the sun poured in like it had better things to do. That's where the footsteps got faster.
Then a voice called out.
"Hey! Wait up!"
Oh, good. A social one.
Orion didn't stop.
"Hey, I said wait!"
He sighed and finally turned. The kid jogging up behind him couldn't have been more than fifteen. Tallish, skinny, mop of hair doing its best impression of a bird nest, and a jacket two sizes too big that flapped around his arms like he'd stolen it from someone older. His smile was big. Fake. Friendly like a hunting trap.
"You heading toward Eterna?"
Orion stared. "Is that a question or an invitation?"
The kid blinked. "Just trying to figure out if we're going the same way."
"Nope," Orion said, already turning. "I walk in circles for fun."
He kept walking.
The kid kept pace. "You don't talk much, huh?"
"You've been following me for twenty minutes."
"Only because you're ahead of me."
"Right. Just coincidence that you started speeding up when the terrain got open."
The kid laughed. It was sharp and loud and bounced off the trees in a way that made Orion's teeth clench.
"Man, relax. I'm not trying to mug you or anything."
"Wow. Super reassuring. Thanks."
The kid tilted his head. "You're traveling alone?"
Orion narrowed his eyes. "You always ask strangers if they're vulnerable, or is today special?"
He gestured vaguely at Turtwig and Tyrunt. "Also, no. Clearly not alone."
"Those yours?"
"No, they follow me because I hand out free rent and motivational speeches."
The kid grinned wider. "Tyrunt's cool. Don't see those around much."
Orion's stomach twisted.
There it was.
"Yeah," he said flatly. "Super cool. Rare fossil type. Very expensive. I keep him out so people like you know to leave me alone."
That made the kid pause for a beat.
Then he smiled again.
It didn't reach his eyes.
Orion hated that smile.
"Hey, I've got an idea," the kid said. "Why don't we battle?"
"Why don't we not?"
"Come on. Just a quick one."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't like you."
The kid laughed again.
Orion kept walking.
"You really don't battle strangers?" the kid asked, following. "That's kind of the whole point of traveling, you know."
"No," Orion said, "the point of traveling is to get places without being stabbed in the kidneys by some over-caffeinated teenager who thinks a roadside battle is a shortcut to relevance."
The kid clicked his tongue. "You're kind of an asshole."
"And you're kind of following me. Guess we both have hobbies."
Turtwig shifted positions again, now walking on Orion's opposite side. Tyrunt didn't turn around, but Orion could see the way his claws curled deeper into the dirt with every step.
He was picking up the scent too.
"Seriously," the kid said, "just one match. No money, no pressure. Just for fun."
"Fun," Orion repeated. "You think this is fun."
He gestured at the forest.
"At the constant fear of wild attacks, at people going missing off-trail, at starvation rations and tent mold. You think this is a damn game?"
The kid shrugged. "You make it sound dramatic."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I should be more like you—yelling at strangers, pushing for fights, and pretending you're harmless while you hide a Poké Ball behind your back."
The kid froze.
For half a second.
Then that grin came back.
But his fingers twitched.
Orion's voice dropped.
"You so much as flinch toward your belt and I will break your hand before your Pokémon hits the ground."
The kid blinked. "Whoa. Chill."
"Stop following me."
"I'm just—"
"No. You're not 'just' anything. You've been testing my distance since you caught up. Trying to find out if I'm slow. If I'm dumb. If I'll let you walk behind me until you feel brave enough to jump."
The kid opened his mouth.
"Try it," Orion said. "Try it, and see how fast that fossil type eats your leg."
Tyrunt finally turned around then.
Not a growl.
Just a look.
Cold. Direct.
The kid stopped walking.
Orion took one more step, then paused.
"You get one warning. This was it."
He didn't wait for a reply.
They made it another two kilometers before Orion let himself relax.
Sort of.
The sun was overhead now, turning the trail into a bleached path of shifting shadows and pine needle carpets. The air smelled like dust and bark. No footsteps. No voices.
Still, Orion didn't stop.
Turtwig seemed back to neutral, but Tyrunt kept looking over his shoulder every few minutes.
Which meant Orion wasn't imagining it.
That kid hadn't backed off.
He was circling.
Waiting.
Orion stopped at a bend near a tall rock formation shaped like a slumped chair and crouched low.
"Okay," he muttered. "New plan."
He gestured to Tyrunt, pointed at the trees to their right, and made a loop signal.
Tyrunt's head tilted.
Orion repeated it slower.
Flank. Sweep. Come around.
Turtwig, he kept at his side.
If this was going to turn into a real fight, he needed an anchor.
He didn't know what that kid had on his team, but the confidence reeked of someone with a backup plan. Which meant traps. Or strength. Or the kind of desperation that looked like a laugh but tasted like blood.
Orion wasn't going to wait to find out which.
He crouched by the trail, one hand on a smooth rock the size of a melon, and waited.
And waited.
And—
Crunch.
The softest shift of leaves on the trail behind him.
Not loud.
Not fast.
Just there.
Close.
Orion stood.
Turned slowly.
And came face to face with the kid again.
This time, he wasn't smiling.
This time, his hand was on his belt.
And there were two Poké Balls already unlatched.
Orion's mouth curled up at one corner.
"Oh," he said. "You're even dumber than I thought."