Felix's Kanto Gym Circuit Travelogue

[bestswordmaster]

WHO: Felix, Sylvain, & miscellaneous
WHAT: catch-all for Felix's Kanto gym circuit
WHERE: all over Kanto
WHEN: Spring/Summer 2022

Current Location: Vermilion City
Badges Earned:


[ooc: this is just where I'm going to put any thread with Felix that happens while he and Sylvain are out and about in Kanto; if you want to plan something, grab me on plurk @ theSSjuli or ping me on discord. I'll be updating this TL whenever he earns a badge or he and Sylvain arrive in a new place!]

Comments

-> Sylvain @ Saffron (forward-dated)

[bestswordmaster]

It's a brief 4-hour flight from Vermilion to Saffron for Felix, Sylvain, and Foudroyant the Vikavolt. Felix isn't planning to take on Sabrina until the next day, so the first order of business is to find a place to stay. Not difficult, in a huge city like Saffron and with the kind of budget Felix has (which is to say, no budget, because he can afford basically anything).

With Foudroyant back in her ball, Felix is frowning at a tourist map of the city. He's been here before, but he's never stayed in an inn here, and trying to make sense of where everything is and find specific buildings in this sea of skyscrapers is annoying. Especially thanks to all the crowds of people and Pokemon everywhere, which Felix loathes.

"Ugh, seriously?" To make matters worse, here they are stuck in a crowd waiting to cross a street until someone riding a Steelix is finished passing through.

[sonofagautier]

Brief is relative. Sylvain isn't used to this kind of traveling, and as soon as his- sea? air? legs are steady on solid ground again, he's pretty relieved. Yes this is faster, yes it's more practical, yes he would have preferred to ride his Rapidash instead. But for Felix, he doesn't argue it. Just gives an obnoxious stretch, until the satisfying series of pops down his spine finishes.

"Relax, babe," he drawls, watching the Steelix slowly crawl by at its leisurely pace. He doubts it goes any faster than that, given the size of it. He brings his arm around Felix's waist, and tugs the smaller to his side. There's a mischievous glint in his eyes, and Sylvain inclines his head towards a parting in the crowd.

"Who needs a map? Bet we could find something faster if we made our own route."

[bestswordmaster]

Felix shoots him an irritable glare, though whether it's because of getting manhandled or because of the dumb pet name - or maybe both - is unclear. Still, he lets Sylvain pull him close. That glare turns into a vaguely suspicious look at that gleam in Sylvain's eyes.

"Our own route, huh? You've never even been here before. How do you expect to find anything?"

[sonofagautier]

"Don't know yet," Sylvain chirps, and gives Felix a little tug like he means to take the opportunity. The damn Steelix is still meandering.

"But since when were you the type to sit around and do nothing? C'mon, this is our adventure, right? Live a little." Maybe he's just trying to rile Felix a little, get him feisty and challenged. Distract him from idle frustrations and the discomfort of the crowd.

[bestswordmaster]

"I didn't ask for an 'adventure,'" Felix grumbles, but later when he realizes what Sylvain was doing, he'll appreciate it. "But if we wait here we might be here until we rot. Let's go."

He turns to take the hand Sylvain has around his waist into his own hand instead. This is just to make sure they don't lose each other in the crowd, obviously, and for no other reason. Then he marches off toward the slight opening with Sylvain in tow as if this was his idea in the first place, glaring at people until they move out of the way.

[sonofagautier]

Sylvain has to laugh. Felix complaining about this distraction, yet look who leads them through the crowd. His hand squeezes Felix's back affectionately, very much aware that he's not about to lose Felix in a crowd. Or rather, there's no way Felix could lose him, what with Sylvain's height and shock of red hair.

"C'mon, you used to love my spontaneous adventures. Remember when we chased a bear cub up a tree? And then the mother bear chased us up a tree? Good times. I betcha we could reenact that with some Teddiursas one day."

[bestswordmaster]

Felix groans, facepalming to hide the way his lips twitch up into a smile. "Why would I ever want to reenact any of those foolish shenanigans you dragged me into? As I recall, we were stuck in that tree for almost two hours."

Eventually, they emerge from the crowd on a smaller, quieter street - although Felix doesn't let go of Sylvain's hand, and calls no attention to this fact - and Felix glances around with a thoughtful frown. "This looks familiar..." He tugs Sylvain down the street and around a corner, and smirks triumphantly. "As I thought. The Fighting Dojo."

Felix has been here before - in fact, most of his time in Saffron has been spent here - and although it's nowhere near the actual gym, Felix leads them around the building until he spots a smaller one of the same style nearby. A sign outside reads: Welcome to the Dojo Inn! One night's stay free to the trainer who can defeat the reigning Fighting Dojo champion!

Felix turns to Sylvain with a certain unmistakable gleam in his eye.

[sonofagautier]

Felix can try to hide it all he wants, Sylvain knows he's smiling by the sheer fact Felix makes any attempt to cover it. If they stumble across a Teddiursa, Sylvain's absolutely going to try to convince him of shenanigans again.

Right now though, he's got bigger problems; like that shimmer in Felix's eyes that tells him he's in for it now. Sylvain groans as he read the Dojo sign.

"I should have known you'd somehow sniff out a place like this. So, I know asking if were going to go for the free night is pointless. The real question is are you going to try, or are you gonna make me embarrass myself?"

[bestswordmaster]

"You're the one who wanted to 'make our own route.'" Felix might, maybe, sound just a little bit smug. Then he scoffs. "I'm not going to 'try.' I'm going to win."

Still tugging Sylvain along by the hand, he strides toward the inn with single-minded purpose.

[sonofagautier]

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you heard 'make our own torture.'" Sylvain laughs and while doesn't need tugging, he'll gladly follow. It's a nice excuse to hold Felix's hand in public.

The front entrance to the inn, as expected, is done up in various advertisements about the challenge, the spirit of fighting, something about 'warrior souls' and the like. Sylvain rolls his eyes at most of it. But well, a free inn is a free inn. He's got plenty of confidence in Felix. He leans on the reception counter while they handle the brief paperwork of the challenge.

But damned if he isn't about to tease him still-

"Do they make you only use fighting types here, you think? Or are you gonna self-impose that as a challenge too?"

[bestswordmaster]

If Felix is also using it as an excuse to hold Sylvain's hand, he's not saying anything about it.

Felix signs himself and his team up for the challenge and makes a brief stop at the PC in the corner. "It's the Fighting Dojo, Sylvain. Of course it's for Fighting types. A three-on-three battle."

And given that, he chooses his team carefully: Brandl the Lucario, Seteth the Hawlucha, and Pwyll the Gallade. Hey, no one said they had to be purely Fighting types. If this so-called 'champion' of theirs is any good, they'll have ways to deal with a Fighting/Psychic type - especially with all these turf wars in the city.

"Here." Felix hands Sylvain his Gear. "Take photographs, otherwise Dimitri will whine about missing this."

[sonofagautier]

"You didn't even read the paper... which means you knew about this challenge." Sylvain inclines his head, a knowing look making a brow arch. "You dragged me here on purpose, this was no happy accident."

The accusation comes with a fond sigh, and he accepts Felix's gear to fiddle with the camera function until he has it open.

"Fine, fine. Though I'm pretty sure he'll whine for the fact of not being here anyway. It's kinda cute though, like a puppy that misses us."