Fast Times in Jubilife City II Touya & Red
Touya’s presence in Jubilife City could be traced back to a robed figure that had popped up in the middle of the Dirftveil market one fine day. Touya was out shopping for fresh supplies at said market when his attention was drawn to the white flowing robes. The man underneath the robes greeted Touya warmly and introduced himself as a Mysterious Alchemist, emissary to Driftveil City on behalf of his Mysterious Alchemist brethren.
For a full ten minutes, the alchemist regaled Touya with tales of mysterious alchemy and alchemical mysteries, at the end of which he provided Touya with a tiny pouch. When Touya opened it, he found that the tiny pouch contained a copper key. Later on Touya would find out that these pouches, of which there were many, might have also contained a golden key instead of a copper one, leaving Touya feeling quite ripped off for getting the obviously cheaper variant … but that moment of discovery hadn’t arrived yet.
Instead, Touya followed the Mysterious Alchemist’s instructions and used the copper key to unlock a treasure chest. Inside the treasure chest was a cardboard box. Inside the cardboard box was a leather bundle tied up in a string. And inside that bundle was… a Mystery Gift.
It was all so very video game-y!
Touya, who always styled himself as the sort to never fall for such blatant marketing schemes, found himself eagerly making his way to Jubilife City following this blatant marketing scheme. A small card attached to the locked gift box advertised the TV Station at Jubilife as the place to go to in order to cash in one’s Mystery Gift, and Touya fell for it.
The young man had planned to visit Sinnoh sooner or later anyway, to fill up his pokedex some more. There was no harm in getting a free Mystery Gift along the way.
Marching down the streets of Jubilife with the Mystery Gift snug inside his bag, Touya paid absolutely no attention to his Xtransceiver. He’s had the gadget for years (upgraded it three times), knew every feature of the communicator inside and out (except how to block people), and mostly used it for practical purposes instead of novelty purposes (except for the nondescript “Maps” folder that contained very obviously non-map pieces of art). In other words, Touya had long since learned to take his Xtransceiver for granted.
The Trainer Pass feature was no exception. It was entertaining in the beginning, and when Touya first learned about it he spent hours with his wrist in front of his face, drawing endless amusement from having his device notify him that he just passed by yet another fellow PKMN TRNR. Then the endless entertainment reached an end. There was only so much fun to derive from the thing when every other person Touya passed happened to be registered as a trainer on their device.
So ever since then the feature had been left muted, its notifications disabled.
What wasn’t muted was the ringtone. When his device started ringing, Touya’s footsteps slowed as he tilted his wrist and glanced down at the screen. Then he came to a complete halt, heart skipping a beat at the sight of UNKNOWN # filling the display.
Girls seemed to have a knack for obtaining Touya’s number, Kris and Janine being just two examples, and the young man feared someone else had managed to dredge his contact info up from the ‘PLEASE DON’T CALL ME’ registry, with the purpose of… calling him. Ulp! Did he really want to answer it and find out who was on the other side?
Did he really?
…yes… yes he did. Curse you, Touya’s insatiable thirst for the truth. Curse you.
Answering the call, Touya waited a second, straining his ears in trepidation… then, when all he heard was silence, offered a cautious, “Hello?”
His efforts were greeted with further silence and the young man tried again, a bit louder, “Hello?”
“Hello?”
Touya’s features perked up. Contact had been established! And it didn’t sound like a girl at all. It sounded like a guy. And best of all, it didn’t sound like Hiker Andy. Thank goodness!
"Yes, hi," Touya affirmed the caller’s implied question. "Who is this?"
But despite the established contact, no answer was forthcoming from the other end of the line. Touya waited, a scowl developing underneath his hairline. “Hello? You still there?”
"This never would have happened with the Pokegear.”
"Whuh??" Touya stared at his communicator, flabbergasted and somewhat agitated by the utter lack of sense the caller was making. "What are you talking about?" The young man demanded. "Who are you? How did you get this number? Hello? Hello?!"
“PLEASE DO NOT CALL ME”
"What the hell!" Touya sputtered, almost falling over due to the loud voice. "You called me—”
“THIS IS A PRIVATE LINE”
"Whaaat?" Touya was scandalized. Yes, it really was a private line - TOUYA’S PRIVATE LINE. Grr!
That was the point Touya would have hung up in the man’s face, labeling him as little more than a phonetroll. But before Touya could, his brain realized that his ears had been picking up a curious echo all the while. The words he heard didn’t just come from the speakers in his communicator. They also came from… somewhere to the right?
Touya looked up and turned his head, staring straight at Red as the older trainer sat on a bench, looming over his own Xtransceiver.
There was a bit of a pause before Touya’s bewildered frown was converted into words.
Taking a deep breath of his own, the younger trainer called out, “Is this a joke?”
The situation was simply not improving.
Red grew more frustrated with every moment elapsing under the time indicator. He could be heard hemming and hawing over the receiver as he mashed buttons, switching apps and opening files, all under the assumption that he was ending the call. It was then that Touya raised his voice.
Tipping his head to the left Red spots the object of his unjustified frustration. Dark brows knit together, not recognizing Touya as the victim of his unintentional call. Who was this guy? Red makes no effort to hide his sweeping glances around, hoping that the stranger was addressing someone else. Alas, they were alone in the little shaded area. His lips press together tightly, eager to just ignore the little remark.
Like the (still elapsing) time on the call Red didn’t falter, staring Touya down blankly, deciding how to handle this.
During the standoff he took time to scrutinize the trainer before him. The outsider was youthful, but not much younger than himself. The brunette was about his height and a bit stockier. He looked inexplicably plain, a welcome change from the garish salespeople that often approached him trying to sell him some useless and overpriced trinket, like the Xtransreciever – Hey this kid had one of those too!
Red’s mouth forms into an ‘oh’ shape. “Uh, no?” He tips his hat back, voice still echoing in Touya’s Xtransreciever. The tone had changed to one of mild sheepishness. The Kanto Champion sits up, no longer hunched over the device. There was something vaguely familiar about his features and the small yellow rodent that was still eyeing Touya from behind the man’s thigh curiously. Of all the things Red noted about Touya he found one specific detail particularly interesting.
“Nice hat.”
Clearing his throat Red adjusts the brim of his own travel worn hat. A moment of stroppy silence falls between them. His hat? Really? That was all this guy mentioned? He was undoubtedly a sparkling socialite.
Yes, this stranger had passed Red’s all encompassing test of first impressions; all thanks to the hat Touya’s mother had gifted to him at the beginning of his journey. Red’s hands fumble with the watch device, holding it outwards as if Touya would automatically infer what he was trying to say by doing such a thing.
“Are you the one that, uh, called my Cross-trains--…. Pokegear?” He holds the device awkwardly by the strap as if carrying trash. “It’s okay but could you just.. uh.” His eyes narrow, it’s hard for him to ask for things from a stranger. “..I don’t want to receive calls.. can I turn that off?”
He jostles the Xtransreciever, an action akin to days gone by to when hitting a device could often ‘fix’ it. “You look like you know how to use this.. thing.”
He smiles trying to sweeten the deal but it just makes him look more uncomfortable. This technology-impaired fellow was evidently not good at masking his feelings. And still believed Touya to be the case of this misunderstanding. “In fact all I really want is to use the radio.. where is that?” -Oh no- Red would be befuddled and bereft to discover that the only ‘useful’ feature of modern communication devices didn’t function on the Xtransreciever!
Thankfully - at least for now- the ex Champion didn't know that.
Unfortunately -for Touya- it seemed like he'd be the one to try and explain that to him.
"We don't have junk like this in Kanto." he explains as if that knowledge would be obvious to Touya.