Chapter 6

Here's a question, what's a 'Canada'? I had this drink earlier; it was called Canada Dry. I'm sure there are plenty of drinks with strange names, but this one was especially weird. I'm also not sure how it's pronounced. Is it can-uh-dah or can-ada? Personally, I think the latter makes more sense, considering how the drink is served in a can. Galar keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Did you know that Galarians spell gray as 'grey'? Isn't that weird? Another thing I noticed: people here really like their hats. The only people not wearing one are Professor Magnolia and me. The other day I saw someone wearing the stupidest-looking hat I've ever seen; I didn't even know what it was called. Apparently, they're called deerstalkers; an appropriately weird name for a weird hat. It had two brims and a ribbon hanging off the top of the hat. Why would you even need two brims? Maybe it's just a fashion choice, in which case I still hate it. Maybe I'm just projecting my own problems onto Galarian culture, but that's fine; they deserve it.

Anyway, that's enough deerstalking; let's get down to business. After much deliberation and no consultation, I've come up with a name for Sobble. Are you ready?

It's Agent!

If you don't like it, keep that shit to yourself; I like it. I think it's cool.

I got around to buying some berries for him. Sadly, the Pokémart does not double as a grocery store. The nearest store that sold berries was a forty-minute walk from the laboratory, which reminded me how horribly out of shape I am. I was huffing and puffing only twenty minutes in. But I sucked it up; this is the price of friendship. I don't know much about berries, so I just bought a few bags of Oran Berries and shoved them in my backpack. Why did no one tell me how fragile Oran Berries are? Walking around with them in my bag was scarier than a mysteriously disappearing olive tree. Luckily, I managed to make it back to the laboratory without incident. So that's how my day has been.

I was planning on introducing Rocky to Agent in the lab, but the more I think about it, the more that seems like a terrible idea. With how easily scared he is and Rocky being what he is, I can see that ending up in disaster. You know what that means? More walking for me. The area where Rocky knocked over that boulder should be plenty open enough for this. Luckily, finding the bridge that led out of Wedgehurst was much easier now that I don't have to look for it. Unlike last time, when I wandered aimlessly for an hour before realizing it was right next to the professor's laboratory.

Somehow, someway, the sun gods had received my prayers and blessed me with the sweet sensation of warmth. For a while, I thought that Arceus was smiting Galar for its crimes against humanity; I'm glad I was wrong. If I was lucky, this would last until I got back from my little excursion. But as you probably know by now, I am anything but lucky.

It seems my previous assumption was wrong; nature does not fix itself, not in a week at least. The rocky terrain was still loose and dislodged, and that boulder was still very much there. Whoopsie. I had explained the situation to Rocky on the way here; I had to remind him several times not to do anything stupid. I'm not sure that will stop him, though. I decided to recall him and release Agent before they met; it's only fair that he knows what a shithead Rocky is first. I released him a good bit in front of me so as not to startle him. He did his usual survey of the environment before turning to me.

"Got you some berries." I had already taken them out of my backpack before I released him. "You want?"

He nodded, "Here."

I tossed him a few. I guess not even Pokémon are safe from the curse of Galar; his face was covered in berry juice by the time he was done. He cleaned it all off using his surprisingly long tongue. I explained to him my plan. I told him all about Rocky and what a prick he could be. I promised him he would be on his best behavior, though I can't really enforce that. Hopefully he has enough decency to not scare off his new teammate. He seemed hesitant, which was fair, but he was ready. I clicked the button on Rocky's Pokéball and watched him materialize in front of me.

"Don't be a dick." I said.

He brushed me off and turned his attention to Agent. He was on high alert, like when I first met him a few hours ago. Fin pointed straight at the sky and eyes ready to start bawling. Rocky said something in their strange Pokémon language; this seemed to put him more at ease. He slowly walked over to the lizard; maybe I judged him too harshly. He did what I think was supposed to be a bow, but it certainly didn't look like one, and eagerly raised one of his pincers. Agent winced and covered his eyes; oh my god, he's adorable. He seemed a bit embarrassed once he realized he was just offering a handshake. He accepted, and Rocky was just a little bit too firm with it. But all in all, I'd say that went as well as it could have.

I recalled both of them before anything went awry. Quit while you're ahead, as they say.

So, now with that out of the way, I have one last event before taking the train to the Wild Area tomorrow, and it's just about the most terrifying thing you can think of. A Galarian dinner 'party.'. party in quotes because there's only going to be three of us. Me, Stella, and the professor. Her granddaughter was supposed to attend, but I guess she got caught up with whatever work aspiring professors have. I haven't met her, but at least I know her name now. It's Sonia, and I only know two things about her: she's a horrible driver, and she's aiming to be a Pokémon professor like her grandmother. Unfortunately, I probably won't get the chance to meet her until much, much later; she works in Circhester, all the way up north. Yes, I've been familiarizing myself with Galarian Cities. I'm looking forward to visiting Hulbury, apparently it's supposed to be warm up there, can you imagine? Stow-on-Side and Circhester, not so much. I can't think of two worse qualities in a city than sand and overly cold weather. Can it really get worse than here? I shudder just thinking about it.

----

"Who are you?"

Why did I have to fall asleep? I find myself back in the same café from a few nights ago. The same people, the same Pokémon, the same voice speaking into my ear. This time, I spend no time on the details. I looked straight at the girl. She had her hair down this time, no hat.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Who am I? Who are you?" I demanded.

"Not important." She said nonchalantly, "Who are you?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know?" I raised my voice, but no one seemed to care. This place is artificial; the only real things here are me and her.

"That is a good question." She backed up, "Take a good look at yourself, whoever you are."

"I thought—you don't know my name?" Maybe she isn't as real as I thought.

"Well, that depends."

No, not again.

"On. What?" I hesitantly asked.

"Who are you?"

My eyes open against my own will. I wake up, drowning in my own sweat. It's quiet; it almost makes me miss the incoherent ambience of the café. It's earlier than it usually is when I woke up, but I can't go back to sleep, not after that.

As opposed to literally every other morning here, this one was fairly uneventful. I woke up, realized I was hungry, checked the fridge, and got depressed when I saw that it was empty. I said it was uneventful, not good. What a start to my last day in Wedgehurst, for now at least. With my luck, I'll probably end up here again one day. Anyway, I need to eat something, and since this is a day for celebration, I'm going to treat myself. Not with anything fancy, lord knows I can't afford it, but with something simple.

I don't have that much money, but anything sweet will do. There's this dessert shop next to the Pokémart that I've been eyeballing since the first time I saw it, and I will happily spend whatever is left in my wallet for a chocolate cupcake.

One 20-minute walk later, and as you can probably guess, I did not end up getting a chocolate cupcake; they were all sold out. Can you believe that shit? Sold out? I mean, can't they just make more? No, apparently not. I know this because I asked the employee at the register how long it would take for them to make more, and he responded with, "No." That's not even a real answer! I hate Galarians; am I not even allowed the simple pleasure of a chocolate cupcake here? Absolutely ridiculous, preposterous even.

See? I'm even using their words now; the word preposterous wasn't even in my vocabulary a week ago. So, I had to settle for a normal, boring cupcake with white frosting. Honestly, it was still pretty good; I gobbled it down in like a minute flat, which made the walk back to the laboratory all the more depressing. So, that was the cupcake debacle. I hope you're enjoying my misery. On the subject of misery, waiting. It sucks. You know that thing people say, 'You'll never miss it until it's gone'? Yeah, well, I think I get it. I'm bored out of my mind right now; I wish Stella was here, may she rest in peace, fly high sister.

Seriously though, it is mighty surprising that I haven't seen her all day. She's usually here every morning and nighttime too if she has nowhere else to be. I'm not entirely convinced she actually has other places to be, I think she just likes pretending to be busy. I guess we're similar in that way, except I can't pretend for shit; I'm just a bum. At least I won't be bored for much longer; the train for the wild area leaves in a few hours. Then, instead of being bored, I'll be dying of exhaustion. Actually, being bored doesn't sound that bad anymore. I do have some sleep to catch up on, but my dream friend can wait another night to see me.

Who are you?

Stupid-ass question. Damn it, now I can't think straight. Maybe I should let Agent out—

"Bell!"

Fucking finally. I just about jumped to my feet and made my way towards the door where I heard Stella's voice. Her voice came from the right, next to the rickety bridge leading out of Wedgehurst.

"Yeah?" I yelled back.

"Get the fuck over here!" She curses a lot. Do I do that?

She could be in the middle of a murder, and I wouldn't care; anything is better than sitting on my ass for the next... however long it's going to take that train to get here. No, I'm not irresponsible with time; you are.

"What's up?" I asked; it only took me about 30 seconds to get to where she was. She and Scorbunny were staring up at a Rookidee and a Galarian Zigzagoon (those things are ugly, by the way) fighting up on a tree. The ugly black raccoon is a lot bigger than the small bird. The bird, however, is a lot more slippery. But it's clear that this isn't a battle of attrition, it's only a matter of time before the Zigzagoon catches it.

She spun around. "How'd you get here so fast?"

"You won't believe how bored I am."

"Mh."

"So, what's going on?"

She pointed at the Rookidee. "I can't stand watching it get killed by that animal, and Scorbunny's aim isn't good enough to shoot it out of the sky—"

He started pouting, "You know it's true." She turned back to me, "That's where you come in."

"Oh, you want Agent to shoot it—"

"No, I need your Dwebble to make him a stone." She cut me off; I really wish she'd stop doing that.

"A stone?'

"Yeah, to kick."

Oh, that makes sense. Not more sense than just letting Agent do it, though. But whatever, her wish is my command to give to Rocky.

Rocky tried to gloat our win against Scorbunny in his face, but the rabbit could not give less of a fuck. And honestly, I respect the shit out of that.

"Just make the rock, asshole." I told him.

He frowned but obliged. He closed his eyes and summoned a pretty sizable rock from the ground beneath us.

"Multiple, please; his aim isn't very good." Scorbunny glared at her. "You know it's true."

Rocky hesitantly agreed and raised two other rocks from the earth.

"Your turn."

Scorbunny stepped up to the plate with flames emanating from his feet. He took a deep breath and locked onto the Zigzagoon. He dribbled the first rock between his legs, making it catch fire with each successive kick. Why didn't they do this during our battle? Maybe it's a technique they just figured out. He kicked the ball of flames at full speed towards the Zigzagoon, sending the other two flying in quick succession as well. The main fireball missed it by an inch, which was a shame, but the other two hit it right in the side. It went limp and tumbled down the tree, getting caught on a branch right before falling to the ground.

Stella patted her partner on the head, "Good job."

The Rookidee emerged from a small hole in the tree to get a better look at its saviors. It's missing a few feathers above its eyes and has a few scratches, but other than that it looks relatively unscathed. It chirped and flew down to us. I recalled Rocky because I don't like his face.

You can probably imagine my surprise when the bird landed on Stella's shoulder instead of, I don't know, the ground.

"Oh, I—"

The bird chirped, cutting her off. How's it feel, is what I wanted to stay, instead I just stood there awkwardly watching.

"You're welcome?" She said, more of a question than a statement.

It flew down next to Scorbunny and nudged him.

"What is it doing?" She whispered to me.

"I think it wants you to catch it."

"What, no way." She said, "I don't even have a Pokéball."

I reached into my backpack; I probably should have taken it off first, but whatever, you reap what you sow. I struggled with the zipper for a moment before pulling out a red Pokéball and handing it to her.

"Go for it."

"Um," she fiddled with the Pokéball, "Okay."

She bent down to the birds level. "Am I reading this right? You want to come with me?"

Jeez, way to be thorough. The bird let out a small chirp and nodded with it's whole body.

"Are you sure? Because I can..." Oh my god, what is she doing?

Where was this Stella when I wanted to ask for directions? Where did this careful, gentle Stella come from? Tired of waiting, it headbutt the button in the middle of the ball and let itself be captured. It only shook once. She picked up the ball in disbelief; Scorbunny jumped around in excitement.

So—"

"Hah!" She shoved it into her pocket. "Now we're even."

And she's back.

"Are you serious—"

She turned her back, "Shut up, meet me at the train station in four hours. I'm not waiting for you if you're late."

Aaaaaaand she's gone.

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A/N: Short chapter, I know. The next one won't take so long, and it also won't be so short.