[ POV Change ]

" The rest was pretty much anti-climactic, you know." Austin almost chuckled. " Lucario decided that he'd join me."

Cynthia arched an eyebrow. The two were having a quick chat via the PC technology. Ever since she had departed from Sulphur Island, she had kept in regular contact with him, having called him thrice already in the next two weeks that followed. This was their fifth long-ranged conversation so far.

"You know, a Lucario in a Trainer's team is a sign that they are good people."

" So, was I not a good guy in your eyes before ?" Austin asked sarcastically.

" With how good your villain laugh is, could have fooled me ?" Cynthia jabbed back.

"Wasn't my laugh a 6.9/10 in your books ?" Austin asked with a raised eyebrow.

" Never said you would make a great villain," Cynthia answered back as she drank her hot cocoa.

" I beg to differ."

" Enough of the jokes, where are you now?"

"I am in Fuchsia City and I got my Soul Badge. It's been a rather long couple of days to be exact."

"I thought you were in Rota," Cynthia observed coolly.

" I was a few days ago and I took a direct flight to Fuchsia City from Rota."

" Did you meet with your friends ?" Cynthia asked curiously.

" Kinda, we all decided to go our paths. I am currently traveling with Yellow."

" Oh," Cynthia said with a blank expression on her face.

" Anyways, did you get the souvenir I sent you ?"

" Yeah, but I was expecting more than a flash drive."

" Did you look into the flash drive?"

" No."

" Come one, open it. You are surprised."

" Ok," Cynthia said as she was confused by Austin's excitement.

Plugging the flash drive into her Laptop. She opened the file to find it loaded with pictures and videos.

Opening one of the videos, Cynthia saw a video of sparse wispy Cirrus-type clouds parting into the fair blue sky, the bright luminous Sun slowly descended low over the horizon to stretch shadows long and cool in the historic and now lively city of Rota, a cultural center of beautiful and historic proportions.

The city was a strange contradiction to itself, and yet that is what made it balance out well and lent to its charm. Old architectural structures such as old Gothic churches, and later buildings of Neo-Classical and art deco styles such as the Castle of Rota, the Rom

Rotanian Athenaeum and the statue of Aaron coexisted beside more modern yet somewhat drabber and less impressive architecture, most being from the days of Communist rule of much of Eastern Kanto a few hundred years ago. Mixed among them were also more contemporary architecture such as the Shopping Center and the Skytower that was part of the Rota City Center, all drawing tourists of every kind from around the world.

Cynthia's breath was taken away as she looked at the smirking Austin.

" You shot this."

" Yep," Austin said with a pop in the end.

" How ?"

" Well, I strapped a camera I bought onto Fearow's crown and had him fly over the City of Rota."

" No, that's not what I meant."

" ?"

Seeing Austin's confusion, Cynthia couldn't help but sigh. Sometimes this idiotic friend of hers was so quick and sometimes he was just so dense.

" How did you know how to do this ?"

" Well, I have taken a few classes in cinematography and photography."

" When ?"

" Before my journey," Austin said with a smile as he remembered how he had begged his parents to let him take the classes since he wanted to be a photographer at his brother's wedding.

He had seen so many YouTube videos on the subject. After the wedding his Brother and Sister-in-law had his photos printed out and framed around their room so when he saw the camera on sale in Rota, he didn't hesitate to buy it.

Pikachu and the others enjoyed posing for the camera especially Fearow despite how much he denies it.

" Impressive work." Cynthia complimented her as she went through the photos showing so many places in Rota with Austin and Yellow.

Cynthia's smile faltered as he looked at how close Yellow and Austin were in these photos.

Her chest felt caged.

" What is your favorite?"

" Oh, that has to be the photo of the Church of Mew."

" Church of Mew ?!"

" Yeah, took me by surprise when I first saw it. Are there any churches of Arceus in Sinnoh ?"

" Austin, There are a lot of churches formed for legendary Pokémon, as many believe perceive them as nothing short of deities and this culture remains in many parts of the world but who is this Arceus you speak of ?"

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The next day when Austin and the others arrived at the Safari Zone the following morning, there was already a long line of Reporters waiting to get in. They were beginning to wish they visited the Safari Zone first so they wouldn't have to deal with all of these other people.

"This place is nuts, hehehe" Austin commented as he looked around.

"If there is a Dratini, it certainly isn't going to show up with all of these people here," Yellow agreed.

As the group looked around, they spotted Paul a short distance in front of them in line. Paul felt someone was watching him and turned around. Upon seeing the duo, he frowned before closing his eyes and turning back around with his hands in his pockets. It looked like he was just going to ignore them.

" Why is Paul here ?" Yellow asked to which Austin just shrugged his shoulders.

Austin thought that Paul must have a ticket to legally catch pokemon in the Safari Zone like them.

After being in line for almost twenty minutes, they finally made it to the Safari Zone gate where there were several people in a ticket booth. It was clear they had extra workers today.

"Hello. How many tickets for you today?" the man asked somewhat tiredly.

Austin took out the Black Ticket and handed it over to the tired man whose eyes widened before nodding at the duo.

" Please go into the third gate to the left." The tired man said as Austin, Yellow, and Lucario just nodded.

Some of the reporters and guests looked at Austin and Yellow curiously.

" Hey, why do they have to go through a different gate ?"

Someone in the line shouted out as everyone turned to the tired man.

" They are from the league." The tired man lied back causing everyone to lose interest except Paul who looked at his Black Ticket embroidered with golden pokemon.