“Mom, please, you’re embarrassing me–”
“Hush, now. My little flower is leaving for half a year, let me enjoy her while I can.”
I was trapped.
Two hands had my head grasped in a motherly hold. Mom kissed the top of my head a few times more, then finally released me from her tight embrace.
Looking back behind me, Hau and Lilliane were intentionally looking away from the embarrassing scene, the boy even whistling slyly. Phew.
It was a few days after the Festival that we had decided to start our journey through Melemele island, and here we were at our last stop before leaving Hau’oli city proper. Mom stood smiling on the doorstep of our apartment, almond skin gleaming in the morning sun, glasses pushing her long brown hair back behind her head and shoulders. Meowy the Meowth stood mournfully at her feet, making Lillipup eyes at my departing self.
“I remember when I left on my own journey, your grandmother had been way more embarrassing than this!” Mom said, contemplative. “Turn around. Let me affix your amulet.”
I turned my back on Mom, and felt as she tied the Island Challenge amulet on a loop to the back of my bag - the wooden charm had been carved, holed and painted by her, and it would identify us as trial-goers to the eyes of the Tapus. Four short strings of braided rope dangled from the charm, one for each island, and in the future we would attach beads to each for each Trial we overcame.
As she worked, Mom whispered to me, “We put some of Meowy’s hairs in the rope, so he can protect you in spirit. Your second pokeball is in your bag, and be careful with it, you only get two total until you finish the first trial. You remember how to make the stopper knots for the trial gems, right? Loop around and under, and–”
“And into one and then the other, yes. I remember. Thanks, Mom.” I huffed. I knew this stuff!
“I know. You’ll do well.”
I turned around to face her and took a step back. I could do this, right? Eight or ten months without my mom to help me out. I can do this, I thought to myself as I felt tears threatening to spill out the corner of my eyes. Before I could control myself, I embraced Mom once more and buried my head in her shoulder once more. Screw teenage embarrassment.
“Oh, honey…” she said softly to me, as she returned the hug. “Petal, I’m counting on you to keep an eye on her, alright?”
I couldn’t see it, but I heard the whoosh of my Oddish’s leaves and could just picture them frantically nodding in agreement.
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Off we went.
But before we did; we had a snack break.
Hau’oli city didn’t just end when the sign said “you’ve left the city”. There were still a few miles of berry and rice farms to go, as the landscape around us gradually changed from residential buildings to cliffside fields and farmlands.
We had found a nice spot underneath a nanab tree and had set up a large green and white picnic blanket. This gave us a view of the sea to our west, while we could keep an eye on the road to Route 2 still. Trainers our age could sometimes be seen in groups of three, making their way down the route at their own pace, some engaging in the traditional pokemon battles themselves. We weren’t in wild pokemon territory yet, but we could feel the hungry stares from the tall grass nearby, so all of our pokemon stood at our sides.
Petal had found a shaded spot to bury themself and their leaves were sticking out of the ground. Though they were ‘asleep’ and buried, I knew that they could feel more through vibrations in the ground than I could with my own two eyes. Loa the Litten, Hau’s starter, had found a spot in the sun to rest in, back turned to us and gaze diligently turned towards nearby bushes and tall grass. Stella the Cleffa took active part in helping us set up, as she set the blanket and cutlery with surprising dexterity. How does she do it with such tiny hands, I wondered.
We sat in a circle with our finished servings of malasada from the Savory Slurpuff because of course we had gone to the Savory Slurpuff. This would be our last fast food meal for a few weeks and practically none of us objected to filling our needs for greasy, deep-fried, berry-filled dough. Lilliane was the one exception, having politely refused and instead bought a salad for lunch; she at least did order one small malasada for Stella and fed it to her a spoonful at a time.
“Okay. Inventory check.” Hau said, wiping grease off his face with the back of his hand.
We were carrying around a frightening amount of equipment. Each of us brought our own individual folded-up tents and rolled-up sleeping bags. I had made the risky decision to bring along my crappy personal computer (along with a solar-powered battery charger) to see if we could watch some movies or play video games; I had it squeezed in between my change of clothes and my toiletries. Though perhaps I should wait a little bit more to see if they’d be open to the idea…
Hau was carrying his own stuff in what I could only describe as a colorful, precarious tower of old duffle bags. Dangling from one side, an axe and a mallet with carved wood handles clacked loudly with one another as he moved around. He had brought along more kitchen utensils than Lilianne and I had combined, including an entire spice and dried berry set.
“Hau, I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud, but,” Liliane said, looking at the boy’s hoard of kitchen equipment sprawled over the grass, “are you going to be fine carrying all of this?”
And so, unbelievably, it turned out that Lilliane’s singular barrel bag was of the Sylph Co. brand.
That sort of technology was still unavailable out there on the archipelago. Hau and I certainly didn’t want to look a gift Rapidash in the mouth and gladly stuffed pots, pans and electric stove in the opening and watched in wonder at the magic at work. Despite how overfilled the bag should have been, the bag kept its same shape and felt just as heavy as it had been while empty. Neat!
Finally, after putting everything back, I tucked my phone and pokedex in my pockets and I unfolded a map of the island on the grass. Restlessly, Hau and I started to plan our path.
“We just gotta follow the coast north for a week ‘til we reach Verdant Cave.” Hau traced route 2 and tip-tapped our destination with his pointer finger. “There should be a motel and a poke-center nearby so we can rest - then we book our trial, do the trial, bing-bang-boom we win, then we head back east through route 3 and land in Iki Village.” He leaned back, hand on his fists, looking pleased with himself. “Easy peasy.”
Lilliane looked over the trial with a pensive expression, then seemed to consider, “...And there’s no city between here and the trial? No human settlement on the way here and back?”
Hau responded with all the grace of a wrecking ball, “Nope!” and after a pause, followed it with “Well, we might stumble onto a tourist-y place but those aren’t really for trial-goers. Not a lot of civilization in northern Melemele I guess!”
I looked at Lilianne, thoughts clearly warring in the blonde girl’s mind– and perhaps I could help her. “Something’s got you worried, Lilianne?”
She considered her words for a while.
“Kalos isn’t like this at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Routes are… routes are short. Fenced. There’s a clear marked trail, and ranger posts every few kilometers. You cannot walk half a day without stumbling onto a roadside village.”
“Oho!” Hau remarked, “That sounds like you’ve got experience!”
She half-nodded, half-shrugged. “I’ve gone through a route and got a badge. That’s just a part of high school in Kalos.”
Hau and I both did a double-take at that, and Lilliane retrieved unprompted a pretty little silver case she opened to reveal her badge within. A butterfly-shaped pin glittered in the sun, and both of us oooh-ed at the implications.
“Well, damn, we got nothing to worry about then! We got this trial in the bag!”
Lilliane took the compliment with a blush and a smile, looking away in embarrassment. Stella in her lap gleefully patted her on the arm, seemingly sharing in her discomfort.
“Uh, there’s a few places that could be interesting to visit in the way, if we’d like to make new companions.” I said, then scrambled to point out a few locations on the map.”In route 3, there’s a path that leads to Melemele Meadow, and it’s a real interesting ecosystem, so–”
But Hau cut me off and excitedly poked at an earlier point at the map. “Wait, wait, I nearly forgot! When we get to the trial place, we gotta take a detour through Big Wave Beach - you guys are not gonna believe how fun mantine surfing is. I’ve gone there every summer since I was 6, it’s mental!”
I blinked repeatedly. I understood that mantine surfing was a time-honored tradition, but was that the best time to go make loops in the waves? “Hau, shouldn’t we worry more about training instead–”
“Pshh–It’s fine! We’ll be training the whole way, and besides, we got this in the bag.” He dismissed me with a wave of his hand, then his attention caught another traveling group making their way nearby, and he suddenly stood up and made big arm motions while going their way. “Speaking of– hey! You all! Y’all wanna battle?”
We watched in silence as the outgoing teen excitedly ran towards another trio, and his litten rose and followed suit.
Petal was listening in even while buried in the ground, I knew, because they suddenly lashed one of their leaves in annoyance.
“Selene.” Lilliane suddenly said.
I turned and looked at her. She hadn’t talked in a while, and her face maintained a neutral expression, but she wasn’t looking at me directly. She seemed to be mulling something over.
“The first trial. What is it like?” she finally said.
“From what I understand, uh– it’s some kind of survival exercise. We have to make our way through Verdant Cave and there’s gonna be obstacles. And we’ll be avoiding lots and lots of Yungeese.”
She started to hug herself with one arm, her hand clenching her other. “Lots of Yungeese?” I heard, her voice carrying incredulousness and apprehension alike.
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I nodded. “A lot of them. Loa and Petal are strong, though. And you got a badge already, it shouldn’t be too hard for your Cleffa.”
She did not add anything else to that.
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Hau lost one match, then won three more after that. Afterwards, he made it his personal mission to challenge every trainer he could spot, or offer me a spot for a fight - though I often refused. There were other ways I wanted to train, and I was more interested in observing the social dynamics of Route 2 instead.
Route 2 was the cliffside road that bridged the gap between south Melemele and north Melemele. The view of the ocean horizon to our west was a constant, and it was said that as long as you could keep the sea in your sights, you were still on the route proper. Detours could be taken through the Melemele jungle to our east but it was dangerous, as the heart of Melemele was considered off-route territory, even with the Tapus’ protection.
What made Route 2 fascinating to me was that it was a “capital R” Route. For teenagers my age or anybody undertaking the challenge, a Route was a mystical place, a land of adventure and mystery where one would pit their skills against the unknown. From the perspective of the pokemon, however, a Route was a meeting place. It was a neutral ground where one can encounter young human trainers and make their case at a partnership.
Living with my Oddish and figuring out our sign language had me wanting to know more about life as a young pokemon, and this was my chance to get some proper answers!
“Alright, Petal.” I turned to my Oddish, and they nodded back to me. “Ready?”
We stepped into the tall grass, and took a good look around.
A ways behind me, Hau seemed to be excitedly fighting a local Growlithe, while Lilliane stood not far, Cleffa held to her chest. In front of me, Petal and I beheld a large field of grass, patches of trees and bushes peppered through the terrain. The scent of the sea reached our nostrils as a gentle wind blew through.
We stepped forward.
A rustling sound to our left, and a squat yellow figure pushed through the grass to stop in front of us.
“Makuhita!” it bellowed.
“Oddish-dish.” Petal responded, and I followed suit.
“Uh- hi! Hello! My name is Selene, could I ask you a few questions– Eek! Wait! Hold on!”
But the little fighting-type hadn’t waited: they’d just rushed forward and clocked my Oddish in the face!
Petal stumbled back then righted themself, looking at the Makuhita and objecting with a “Oddish!” which was promptly ignored. The squat fellow simply continued forward, making palm strikes with their large hands that Petal tried their best to avoid or flee from.
“Now, if you could please–” A straight jab, narrowly ducked from. “Hold on just a second, we don’t want to fight–” A low sweep of their legs tripped my starter, and they barely avoided an attack from overhead. “If you could just listen!!” Then a mean hook landed with force, pushing my pokemon and making them cry out in pain. “Aw, come ON!! That’s it! Leech Seed and Poison Powder, Petal!”
With a stomp and a surge of power, the tall grass around came to life and knotted around the fighting-type’s arms, pinning them in place. They started to push with sheer strength against the plants, freeing their right hand - but not before a cloud of purple spores hit their face.
They stood there for a second, coughing and blinking repeatedly. Then they scoffed and grumbled, grabbed the grass trapping their other arm and tore it off, and they just turned and slipped back into the bushes away from view.
We waited tensely for a minute to see if they would come back; but the Makuhita was nowhere to be seen. The fight had only lasted half a minute.
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For better or for worse, we were certainly seeing the social dynamics of pokemon at play.
Multiple times after that encounter, we were met with other wild pokemon that saw us, recognized us, and then just left. Petal nor I couldn’t understand why.
Hau didn’t have the same issue, it seemed, Loa and him had stopped counting how many fights they’d had, and Lilliane was– Lilliane was nowhere to be seen. Nonetheless, I don’t think she had been looking to fight anyway, so it didn’t tell us anything about our problem.
It was only after finally scoring a proper fight that it dawned on us why.
My Oddish was dishing it out with a Smeargle. The normal-type was lithe and quick, moving in flowing, dancing steps, focused on avoiding Petal’s attacks and retaliating. They held their tail in their paw and traced the air with ink, drawing floating glyphs of scary eyes Leering at my starter or avian beaks Pecking forward at their leaves.
I had my starter block their sight with Sweet Scent or retaliate with Absorb when I suddenly ordered a Poison Powder - and as soon as the cloud of poisonous spores had come out, the Smeargle suddenly jumped back and gave us a wide berth, eyes bugging out. They seemed to consider the situation for a moment - then they bowed and they left.
“Uh– bye! I liked your art..!” I said into the empty clearing, and got no response.
Petal kicked a nearby mound of grass then sat on their bottom, pouting.
I leaned to pet and comfort my frustrated plant. If the pokemon of this route would give us a wide berth, fine. We would just make ourselves at home, then. I sat down, opened up a side pouch from my backpack, retrieved leftover masalada and an oran juice box, stuck a straw on top and took a sip.
Poison was the problem.
It made sense, thinking about it: life as a wild pokemon is one of survival, I had read, where food and health is a constant worry. Pokemon are drawn to fight one another but they do so in short spars, to test their opponent and hone their skills. Food is a matter of negotiation, trickery, or dominance.
To have a short scuffle is fine, as bruises on pokemon heal remarkably fast, but poison is long-lasting. It doesn’t hurt you in the moment, it slows you down, exhausts you and causes you to make mistakes and hurt yourself more; moreover, bouncing back from poison is tricky. For people of the city, curing toxins is as simple as spraying your pokemon with the right antidote, but for the pokemon of the wild, they need to rest for hours or find the right natural medicine, which they have to compete with others to get.
I put down my oran juice box on the grass nearby and leaned back on my hands, looking up at the sky.
I suddenly felt for my Oddish’s frustration tenfold. Poison Powder was my grass-type’s best source of harm, and the pokemon of this Route would not listen to me unless Petal beat them up properly. That felt unfair! I just wanted to have a talk. Was there anything else Petal or I could do to convince them that–
Sluuurp.
I whipped my head to the source of the sound.
My juice box sat just where I had put it, drops of oran juice dripping down one at a time from the straw. Behind it, a mound of disturbed earth that seemed to open up into a hole. Just before I had moved my head, there had been an additional noise: the sudden sound of grinding earth and the panicked squeak of some pokemon.
I stood very still.
There was a quiet crumple of dirt again, and a figure started to tentatively slither out from the hole: I first saw the glint of the sun on yellow and teal scales, then the edge of two large lidded eyes.
As soon as our gazes met, they cried out “Dun!” and drilled back down in a quick blur of the movement.
This had been, so far, the only pokemon that hadn’t attacked me or my starter on sight.
“Um. You can have the juice box, if you want,” I offered hesitantly. “I’m not thirsty.”
Silence, for a moment. Then frantic grinding once more, as dirt rose a few feet away. Earth erupted as a drill-shaped tail popped out, then a bulbous scaly body and a large head. The little Dunsparce turned to stare at Petal who had been very still this whole time, and the Oddish relaxed and gave a nod. The Dunsparce then slowly inched forward until they could get their lips around the straw - and started to sip from the juice box once more.
Despite all that had happened, seeing this couldn’t help but cheer me up.
“It’s pretty good, huh?” They considered it, then nodded repeatedly. “Mhmm. I have a little bit of masalada left too, if you want.”
Cautiously, they tilted their head left in confusion.
“Oh! I guess you wouldn’t know what that is.” I pondered, rifling through my bag for the promised snacks. “Have you always lived here?”
Their eyes, lidded as they were, pointed to the side as they considered the question, then their tail bent forward and rocked in a “so-so” gesture.
This wasn’t a no, and more importantly, this was a pokemon willing to talk.
“Could I ask you a few more questions?” I finally asked, clicking a pen, stars in my eyes.
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Later tonight, I would have to give plenty of kisses to the top of the head of my favorite plant for their fantastic behavior, and I knew they’d respond with giggles and hugs from their leaves. No way I could have done any of this without them.
Although communication with Dunsparce was not perfect and there was still only so much I could understand with Petal’s help, I had written plenty of notes.
First off, Route 2 was not just a meeting place, it was also the home of many.
Dunsparce described to me something like villages, or communities of pokemon that dotted the Route here and there - he was reluctant to tell me where or how to find them but at least admitted to their existence, and could tell me a little bit about how they worked.
A commune was the social group shared by the pokemon that shared the same sleeping spot, that cared for one another, that wouldn’t fight each other on sight. Often of the same species, but not always. A quick look through my pokedex and telling Dunsparce of the local seen species helped us define what kind of communities could be found around there.
Somewhere south of here was a community where Rattatas and Meowths were in cahoots, while north of here there were less of them and they tended to keep to themselves. Furfrou tended to stick together and were most present nearest Hau’oli City, while Growlithes often integrated other groups. Abra and Drowzee not only shared the same singular commune but their den was secret, and Dunsparce had been very embarrassed when I had that translated so I dropped the subject.
Unsurprisingly, to the northern point closest to Verdant Cave, there was two or three communes of Yungeese that sort of tolerated each other, but that everybody else despised. Why was that the case, our games of 20 questions couldn’t figure it out.
Finally, it clicked.
For some time, a group of Ekans had invaded the Route, and they were not welcome.
“Huh. So when I asked Petal to use Poison Powder… they were labeled a poison-type, and we were sort of...” I sort of winced at the realization, and touched the tip of my index fingers with one another, “...maybe labeled as an Ekans, or a friend to them, and we were singled out because of that.”
Dunsparce, gnawing on an oran juice box, nodded with a muffled “Dun”. He had loved the drink so much that I had given him a second one after the masalada, and even then he was trying to extract any drop of juice from the paper covering.
“Aww man - I really hope this rumor doesn’t stick. We really don’t need this...”
The little snake seemed to pick up on my distress and caught my attention with appeasing motions of his tail, then said “Dun, spar-dunce dun.”
Petal seemed to consider his words, tongue sticking out in concentration, then they turned to me and signed with their leaves [Now] [Yes] and a pause, then [Later] [No].
I let out a breath “Uh- so it’ll pass then?”
Dunsparce smiled and nodded.
Phew. “Okay. That’s good to hear.”
At least I had that mystery figured out. Though there was still one question popping into my head. “Say, Dunsparce. What commune do you belong to? One you mentioned, or maybe a Dunsparce one?”
He seemed surprised, and blinked with his lidded eyes, then shook his head twice.
“Oh. Do you belong to… any?”
Another shake of his head.
“...Can you not join one?”
He looked downcast for a moment, and made a slight head nod motion I started to associate with a shrug.
Petal looked at me, and made a motion with their leaves I understood as “go on”.
I looked at the sad little snake and really considered it.
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I returned to Hau and Lilliane, holding a newcomer in my arms, Oddish leading proudly in front.
Hau looked properly exhausted after the day of battling he’d had, and Loa the litten was probably back in her ball to rest. He and Lilliane seemed to be in the process of setting up their tents, and when they saw me and the second pokeball I had placed on my belt, they stopped what they were doing to join me.
“Hey guys.” I said, sheepishly. “So, uh, I made a new friend, this is-” and the Dunsparce in my arms noticed the two teen human strangers heading our direction and decided that escape was the immediate option. “Oh! Uhh– OJ! Calm down, please! Stop wiggling, OJ!! Oran Juice, UHHH, ORAN JUICE PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR DRILL, STOP IT!!”