Don't forget to drop some power stones!
*****
"Zzz...", The sound of peaceful snoring could now be heard. Ricky was still on the veranda, enjoying the evening breeze. The constant echoing of car horns driving around the streets of Viridian City never seems to end. Even though it was well after 9PM now, Viridian City's nightlife was buzzing about. It was a very large city, so it made sense as to why it was always active.
If Ricky compared Viridian City to his past life, considering Gen I to Gen IV was based off his home country of Japan, then Viridian City was equivalent to Tokyo, it's capital city. Tokyo was much, much larger in comparison, and had several districts. Viridian City likely wasn't even a tenth of how big Tokyo was. But even then, Viridian City was one of the largest cities in Kanto, with Celadon City being a close second.
Hundreds of thousands of people lived here. Ricky was but a mere droplet of water in the ocean, as one would say. That didn't make Ricky feel insignificant. He didn't want to really stick out after giving this second chance at life. He didn't consider himself a protagonist or anything of the like.
"I can leave all of that story progression nonsense to Ash, haha! I'm just out here enjoying life. And with the ones I love.", Ricky said to himself as he saw the platinum-blonde haired girl snoozing away. Her head was tilted sideways, resting on her own shoulders.
"Still, I didn't expect you to be such a light drinker, Lillie. You really are out like a light, eh?", Ricky said, continuing to observe the woman before him. The two became comfortable after entering their hotel room for the evening, making their way to the outside veranda, which offered them an excellent view of Viridian City. Ricky and Lillie cracked open a bottle of wine kept away inside the hotel room to celebrate their next steps.
The two were able to have a short conversation during their drinking but it didn't take long for Lillie to pass out. Ricky even tried waving his hand in front of her, but she was checked out for the entire evening. Quite literally.
But at the same time, Ricky felt a feeling of release. He was able to kick back and relax for the first time in who knows how long. Until leaving the Alola Region, it was either him focused on his work at the Aether Foundation, taking care of Lillie as her personal caretaker, or working with Professor Kukui to advance his studies as a Pokemon Professor.
It was a very fulfilling lifestyle, but Ricky never had felt like he was truly free until now. There was an unknown path ripe for him to take and explore to his heart's content. He didn't have to wait for the Pokemon World's protagonist, Ash Ketchum, to go out and grasp it.
"That doesn't mean I won't come across Ash and his pals. He'll be setting off a couple months later. I'm sure he'll have several new Pokemon by the time the three of us cross paths with him. It would be a good opportunity to see how Ash fares in battle. He does make it all the way to the Indigo League, right?", Ricky tried to recall how the original story progressed in the anime.
And Ricky guessed things will continue to progress more in line with the anime, compared to the games. Ash doesn't exist in the games, but he does here. That was why Ricky had such a line of thinking.
Taking a moment, Ricky saw the glass he still had in his hand. It had a tiny bit of red wine inside it. Swirling it around, Ricky raised the wine glass to his lips, and finished the rest of it in one go.
"Man, that was pretty good wine. I'll have to thank the hotel staff later. For now, I think someone needs my attention. If I leave you out here, you'll catch a cold.", Ricky said. A smile appeared on his lips, taking another look at Lillie.
Placing his wine glass aside, he shifted his body and reached his arms out. With a single push, Ricky placed Lillie on his shoulders. He couldn't leave Lillie out here outside. Once Ricky saw Lillie over his back, to his surprise, Lillie smiled, and unconsciously wrapped his arms around his neck. He could still hear her snoozing, but perhaps this was already second nature to her.
Doing something like this wasn't Ricky's first time, being her caretaker and all that. He had placed Lillie down for bed countless times, whenever he found her sleeping in her room. To Ricky, this was just another one of those moments, so he wasn't bothered by it.
He proceeded inside the hotel room, and saw Amber and Snowy now cuddled together, sleeping. He didn't want to disturb them. Ricky glanced at the nearest clock, and read the time. It was now 1030PM in the evening.
"Time passes when you're having fun, eh? Didn't think it'd be this late already. I would normally check out for the night soon too, but I need to stay up for another hour at the very least. There's also the car ride back too. I probably won't be sleeping anytime soon...", Ricky uttered to himself.
Taking one more moment, he went to the second bed without Amber and Snowy on it, and opened its covers. Placing Lillie inside the bed, he reached down and kissed her on the forehead.
"Thank you...", Lillie's soft voice suddenly said, causing Ricky to pause his motions.
"Sorry, did I wake you?", Ricky asked, keeping his voice low.
"No. I only just woke up as you placed me in the bed. I know you have to pick up Serena still, so take care okay?", Lillie asked him. Ricky smiled, and reached his hand out, ruffling her hair.
"I will. Have a good sleep, Lillie.", Ricky uttered back. Hearing that, Lillie smiled back, and placed the covers over the rest of her body. Shifting her body to the side, Ricky heard Lillie start snoozing again. Lillie probably woke up after feeling him place her body inside the bed, but hearing her snoring now, Ricky knew Lillie was asleep. He didn't have to worry about her anymore.
Instead, Ricky turned his body toward the room's entrance, beyond the kitchen. There was a bathroom attached to the side, making Ricky go into his own thoughts again. He realized both he and Lillie went the entire day without washing up.
"I should have time to hop in and take a quick shower, right?", Ricky wondered. It was 1030PM now, he needed to be at the airport by midnight to pick Serena up. That was when her flight landed, and even then, the taxing would take some minutes. Ricky figured he still had some time to spare.
He was on his own for now with Lillie out of the picture. She quickly entered dreamland as Ricky heard her snoring grow louder.
"There should be enough time. I'm probably pretty smelly after going through all that travelling. Especially what we did in the backseat of the car too...", Ricky uttered to himself. It was a shame he couldn't take Lillie to wash up together, but Lillie could do that later. She had all the time in the world now, they weren't bound by any duties or tasks. They could start taking it easy during their adventuring.
Not too easy though, Ricky had eight badges to collect. He had to do that within the next eight months to register for the Indigo League!
With a hopeful outlook appearing in his eyes, Ricky decided to spend some time cleaning up. A constant stream of running water echoed around the hotel room, making it a nice and steady sound to listen to. The sound of flowing water didn't disturb Lillie's sleep. Before he realized it, Ricky was all clean again, and was soon ready to start the next day. He felt some clarity return inside his mind, despite the long day already.
The glass of wine from earlier did make him feel drowsy, but the nice hot shower stirred Ricky's mind awake again. He felt like he had enough energy to drive to and back from Viridian Airport again.
"Having a shower always feels refreshing.", Ricky mused. He realized he was entirely naked as he walked out of the room. Thankfully Lillie was asleep, so she didn't have to get bothered by that. Proceeding toward his bag, he got out a spare set of clothes while drying his hair off. Ricky mostly kept polo shirts, as they were very easy and quite comfortable to wear. He also grabbed some black pants. He took a moment to put his clothes on.
Getting all cleaned up and ready, Ricky saw the time again, and saw another half an hour passed. It was 11PM now.
"I made pretty good timing. Should have plenty of time to arrive at the airport. I don't have anything else keeping me away, so let's go on down to the garage.", Ricky concluded.
Ricky knew he was in Viridian City now, and he was about to head out in the dusk of night. Most folks don't go out and about around this time, and he was aware that Team Rocket was a threat if he turned the wrong way. He didn't plan to take his Trainer Belt and Item Pouch with him, but he could never be too careful here. So Ricky grabbed them and took them.
Ricky was careful and vigilant when he made his way down toward the Viridian Heights' Garage. Thankfully he was parked close to the elevator. There was no one around but him, which made sense. It was after 11PM now. Unless someone had a particular destination to be like Ricky, most were in their hotel rooms, beginning to fall asleep, like Lillie.
Seeing Ricky next to his car, any fleeting worries left him as he got in. Just like how he first arrived here, he inputted the airport destination, and it calculated his time. He would be expected to arrive no later than 1145PM, so he would only have a few moments to waste around. He didn't have any plans to head inside the airport, just remain out on the curb to pick Serena up. He had already sent Serena a message beforehand. It was just a simple pick up, so he didn't see a need to go inside.
Knowing that, Ricky let his self-driving car do its thing. It sped off, joining Viridian City's night-life.