Ann
(16/03)
“Hey, why are there so many people here?” I ask a woman as I approach the pokecenter on the western side of Mt. Moon. There are at least 100 people just sitting around.
“The escort personnel are getting ready to guide people inside the mountain.” She explained.
“What happened?”
“Don’t know myself. The Joy might know but it looks like you can’t go through the mountain without the guides so I am waiting for them myself. I got here about an hour ago.
“Ok…Thanks.” It took me a day of walking from Pewter to reach this place. I am starting to believe I should have taken the highway. It would have cost money but I feel like I could get stuck here for a while.
“Good morning. If you plan to go to Cerulean you should get ready to follow the group outside.” The Nurse Joy says to me as I enter the pokecenter. The place is strangely empty.
“Can you tell me what happened? Mt. Moon wasn’t ever dangerous enough for it to need profissional escort.”
“Big wild pokemon fight collapsed a lot of tunnels. Rangers are working over the clock to fix stuff and allow people to have a mostly safe passage they can take on their own.”
“Is it that bad?”
“The mountain is quite literally in risk of collapsing on top of people if we don’t take care.”
“Wow…One last thing. Have you seen this boy?” I ask as I show a photo of Himura from my phone.
“Passed here about 2 weeks ago. Is he your friend? I remember the police asking about him too.”
“You can say that. Well, I am lucky enough that my pokemon don’t need to be checked. I guess there is also no risk of wild pokemon attacks with the group, right?”
“The safe route they are using at the moment has no wild pokemon as far as I was informed.”
“Ok, thanks.” With that I left the pokecenter and went outside to wait for the rangers that would guide this giant group through the mountain. It took around 30 minutes for them to show.
“Alright, listen up! Mt. Moon is not safe at the moment and we will be taking you to the other side using an older tunnel. You are NOT allowed to battle inside those tunnels. You are not allowed to scream, to run or to eat there. The entire trip will take 2 hours, yes, it will be fast compared to the normal route everybody would know but it’s not safe under normal circumstances. We are allowed to use deadly force against anyone who put the group at risk intentionally.” A ranger woman said.
“So, as it was explained. SHUT THE FUCK UP AND FOLLOW US! NO MORE, NO LESS!” Another ranger, a man that looked to be in his 50 and made out of pure muscle said.
In silence everyone began to follow. I could see other ranges surrounding us. The inside of the mountain was not very illuminated, the rangers were using pokemon to light things up. It took less than 30 minutes to reach the tunnel but along the way everyone could see and feel how the rest of the mountain was faring. There were random holes on the ground or ceiling. Rocks were falling at every moment and wild pokemon were ignoring humans to fill said holes and protect their homes.
Inside the tunnel we began to walk a straight line east. I don’t know much about geology but I know when rock is weak. The tunnels are made of some sort of weak stone. People can quite literally crush a rock if their shoe soles are hard enough. This place was incredibly claustrophobic and if not for some very angry rangers around us ready to attack with their pokemon, I feel like some people would have freaked out.
When we finally exited the tunnel we were outside the mountain. Everyone cheered like they just survived a catastrophe. From this point forward everyone could go their own ways, except back to the mountain. Almost everyone took the direct route to Cerulean but I had a small detour.
Following the mountain east, north of the route, there was a small community of berry planters. They are known for having some rare berries and I want some to make sure I can make the best pokeblocks and poffins. If you don’t take care of what you feed your pokemon that stops being useful so good berries are a must.
It takes half a day to reach the place. Lunch was skipped but now that I see the place I think they would allow me to eat there.
“Hey, rare to see young folk around here.” A man, clearly a farmer, said as he was walking with his pokemon, a Gogoat.
“This is the Shining Moon Berry Farm, right?” I ask.
“Yeah. Looking for berries?”
“Yes.”
“Then go look for Sandra. I deal with vegetables, not that I sell them. I just grow them.” The man said humorously.
“Thanks and good luck with your vegetables.” I said as I entered the property proper.
“Good luck for you too, young lady.” The man said as he removed his hat.
I walked the property, seeing hundreds if not thousands of berry trees on one side of the property while I could see plantations of vegetables on the other side. in the middle of it all there was a big building that nobody stopped me from entering.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Welcome to the Shining Moon Farm. We sell berries and vegetables of the highest quality.”A tanned woman with long curly brown hair said from the other side of the wooden counter. The Entire building was made out of wood for that matter. It was like a giant wooden cabin but the size of a mansion.
“Hello, my name is Ann, I would like to buy some berries and eat something. I kind of skipped lunch.”
“Wow, how rare it is for someone to come here and so young too! Well, we have a kitchen here. Let me show you.” The woman quickly got up and guided me to said kitchen. I already had food prepared so I just needed to heat it up. As I was doing that I prepared the food for Sunny and Sparkly and sent them out to eat.
“Sorry for the delay, but it was safer than eating in the middle of the forest.” I said to my pokemon, who were clearly hungry.
“That was a very good choice. Things are mostly peaceful but there are also some really nasty buggers around that try to steal our berries here. So, what brings you here?” The woman asked very nicely after I ate a little of my lunch.
“I want to buy some of the more rare berries to make pokeblocks and poffins. I am participating in contests and I want to make sure I am doing everything I can.”
“Hmmm, well, good berries will help but just that won’t be enough.”
“Of course not. We train pretty much daily. I luckily won a contest already so I need to do everything to make sure I can at least compete in my actual rank now.”
“Super Rank?”
“Yeah, I won a normal rank one not long ago but I don’t think we are truly on Super Rank level yet…I need to make sure I can continue to compete. Any money will help, so making sure I am not disqualified in the first rounds will help a lot.”
“That is quite smart of you.”
“We will be superstars! You can’t become something like that if you don’t think about things thoroughly.”
“Oddish!”
“Pi!”
“Your two little cuties seem to agree with that too. No reason to not sell things to you.”
“Thanks?”
“No problem. When you finish, just go back to the front, I can show you the catalog.”
“Sure…”
A few minutes later, after I washed everything we used, I went back to the front of the store and she showed me the catalog of berries. They had pretty much all natural occurring berries currently known and a few home breeds that as much as they can prove that they are completely fine, their full effects are still being researched. Like there is a berry that is the cross breed between an Oran Berry and a Cheri Berry that 40% of the time have the same effect as the two berries while the rest of the berries don’t do anything special.
“Some of these are quite pricey… $3000 for a single Wetmel berry?” I ask in surprise.
“It is because we allow people to plant the seeds. Not that many people would actually try. Rare Berries are rare for a reason, you can’t just plant them like the others and wait.”
“So, anyone can buy berries and just replant them?”
“We are not that dumb, girl. Big corporations can’t, individuals can. There is a Berry Master in Cerulean City that has a small garden of rare berries, berries he got from seeds from our berries. He just makes juice out of them so there is no reason to do anything with him. But let’s say Silph Co. brought a full shipment of berries, they are not allowed to use those berries to open their own farm.”
“That makes a lot of sense.” I don’t think I will open a business for a good while if ever.
“So, anything in particular you are looking for?”
“I need berries for well rounded poffins and pokeblocks. You can’t just focus on one area anymore in contests. Not that people don’t try.”
“A good change in my opinion. At least for the whole World Contest Circuit. But I still see some old contests now and then. There are occasional ones in Hoenn, they are their own side circuit, if you ever go there, you should give it a try.”
“At some point, certainly.”
“Well, we actually have exactly what you are looking for. The problem is that it might be a little pricey but it’s worth it if you are serious.”
“What is it?”
“Contest package. Enough berries to completely ‘train’ around 10 pokemons for contests in every single metric. Comes with a special Berry Pouch that will perfectly preserve the berries for over 5 years. Don’t worry, you will get fresh berries.”
“What is the price?”
“$18,000.” That stung, it was almost all my money but if I buy it I wouldn’t need to buy berries for a few years, at least for pokeblocks and poffins.
“...Alright, it’s a good investment. I know people who pay way more than that to prepare their pokemon.”
“Like who?”
“There is Ruby, he is known to use a lot of money on his pokemon. Alice, our own Kanto Star Queen. She once paid half a million in food and helpers for one of her pokemon. The old contest king, Wallace, was also known to splurge money on his pokemon.” I said.
“Well, I will get your things ready. Anything else?”
“Can I stay the night? I don’t think I will be able to reach Cerulean before sundown.”
“Sure, I will ask someone to prepare a room for you. Enjoy the farm if you wish, just respect the workers.”
“Absolutely!”
I spent the rest of the time with some light training in an unused corner of the farm. The woman that sold me stuff was really nice but the farm required constant supervision so I didn’t see her after she showed me my room.
On the next day I woke up early, at least for me, that was just the normal hours for the people around here, got my stuff from another member of staff and left. I arrived in Cerulean just in time for lunch.
“Emergency news! Various tunnels on Mt. Moon collapsed. Authorities are now allowing trainers to use part of the highway between Pewter City and Cerulean City without a vehicle. What exactly happened is unknown but it looks like no person was inside the mountain when everything collapsed but rescue efforts for the pokemon inside will start as soon as possible according to what the rangers said.” A reporter said on the news over the TV.
“Hey, when did that happen?” I asked a boy seated on a table nearby.
“This morning. They are showing it non-stop today.” He explained.
“Thanks.” I said before continuing to eat my lunch. Before I was even finished, there was a big commotion coming from inside the pokecenter. My curiosity got the better of me and I went to watch what was happening but I was shocked when I saw the scene.
“Oh, hello Ann…” Himura said to me in a very weak voice. He was barefooted, shirtless and using only a pair of pants that if anything, was study and not what he used normally. He was full of bruises, cuts and even some blood on him. His bad also seem to have had better days. His pokeball belt was different, it was white. But that wasn’t what prompted the commotion. It was the two unconscious people and a few pokemon on the ground around him.
“Ann, Can I ask for a small favor?” he asked me, clearly exhausted.
“Yes?”
“Don’t let people try to take my pokemon out of their pokeballs until I wake up. It will not be pretty what will happen.”
“Ok, but…”
“Good, good…I will be taking a little nap now, goodnight.” He said with a weary smile on his face before collapsing on the floor. What the fuck happened?