Chapter 33 – Small City Goodness
“Thank you! for showing us the way to the city. If we are ever back in the area again, we’ll come visit you and the pack for sure!”
“Ruff!”
After sharing a pleasant meal with the electrike pack I decided it was time to head into Mauville city. The pack’s leader decided to escort us to the City’s borders in exchange for the pleasant meal and conversation we had. Not to mention the copious amount of ear scratches I gave him. Canine Pokémon really are man’s best friends.
‘I should totally catch a growlithe, houndour or a flareon someday. Rena does her best, but she has too much self-respect for belly rubs.’
“This is it Tini, Mauville the region’s capital and also the largest city in all of Hoenn. There are CCTV cameras everywhere so make sure to stay invisible at all times. We probably won’t be here for long; the gym should be swamped with matches. We’ll make an appointment of our own and be back in a couple of weeks.”
“It’s small.”
Mauville wasn’t as big as Castelia, not by a long shot. Unova had a much bigger population size for starters not to mention having the available landmass to accommodate that growth. Hoenn, just being an archipelago, a region consisting of a set of small islands circling around on a larger mainland, didn’t have that advantage. Victini, being used to the sight of Castelia and Virbank City from the perch of her lighthouse, wasn't particularly impressed by the opulence of our capital city.
I found out that I wasn’t much of a city person anymore after visiting Castelia. The crowded streets and the polluted air didn’t do it for me. Overall pollution wasn’t really much of an issue in this world. The league even left some contaminated zones dirty just so poison types had somewhere to feel at home. The koffing line were universally employed in all factories. Those little balls of joy loved taking in fumes and gasses filtering them inside their bodies and expelling it as clean air. You could find members of the koffing line in industry areas but also in places where volcanic gasses are naturally expelled like Lavaridge and its surroundings. It wasn’t weird to spot a koffing inside Lavaridge just wandering around looking for a sulfur vent.
The city’s gym leader Wattson had big redevelopment plans. A good chunk of the changes were already underway. Most of the older single-family buildings have been replaced by condominiums and most of the city’s amenities were being placed inside the large sprawling shopping complex. Rumor has it that leader Watsson was inspired after visiting Kalos on one of his journeys as a trainer.
Ignoring the hub and bub of this medium sized city I made my way towards the gym. A good chunk of the population roomed somewhere else while the city was being reconstructed so I had an easy time of it. The gym’s entrance was located in the shopping complex on the ground floor. Walking in I immediately made my way to the receptionist to make an appointment.
“Excuse me sir, is the gym still open for making match appointments?”
“You are lucky kid, just one more minute and we’d have closed up for the day. Trainer’s license and ID please.”
I handed over my personal documents to the receptionist and he got to work tapping on his keyboard. After half a minute or so he came back to me to work out an appointment date.
“We can squeeze you in sixteen days from now.”
“Can’t you make it any earlier?”
It wasn’t like I was too impatient to wait, but I still needed to earn all eight badges. If I had to wait for over half a month for each gym match plus all the additional travel times getting from one town to the next, I would never make it in time to qualify for the conference.
“That’s too bad, we are booked solid for the next two weeks. It’s the middle of the season kid, what did you expect?”
“I’ll take it. Could you book me for a fourth level badge match?”
“I am seeing here that you haven’t earned a single badge yet. Isn’t it a bit foolhardy of you to assume you are at that level?”
“Don’t worry about it, me and my team are ready.”
“You’re the boss, just make sure to bring at least four Pokémon to compete. If you want an edge, I suggest catching a ground type from the desert in route 111.”
“It's fine I already have a ground type on my team. Does that type of advice actually work for any matches higher than second level?”
“Usually, it doesn’t. Having ground types on your team definitely makes it easier on the challengers though. Wattson only has a few ways of dealing with ground types at the fourth level.”
I thanked the guy manning the reception for his sage advice before making my way out of the gym. With my appointment being made I followed the signs pointing me towards the Pokémon center. We didn’t get any serious battling done on the route since all the trainers looking to battle take to the cycling road, so there was no need for my Pokémon to get a checkup. I did however want a Nurse Joy to check on my egg’s progress, not to mention getting access to a computer and a warm bed.
I was walking with Glove out of his ball. He did garner some interested looks from Mauville’s local residents because of his status as a foreign Pokémon.
“You can’t wait for the egg to hatch as well, right Glove?”
“Dar!”
“It’ll be so cool taking pictures of the baby’s first moments out of the egg. Or seeing him or her fire off her those first sparks of ember. We need to get a video camera to record the hatching for sure.”
“Nitan!”
“We’ll be the best uncles ever!”
Just then the Larvesta inside the egg moved again, the egg slightly getting tilted to the side.
“It seems like Larvesta agrees with me. When we get to the center, I’ll ask nurse Joy for a checkup. And to see what options that Pokémon centers have for this one’s special day.”
Our excitement didn’t lower one little bit and actually grew bigger as we saw the distinct silhouette of the center building appearing into view. This center was placed right inside a large shopping mall squared around the middle plaza with a large fountain sporting a poké ball motif.
“Last one there is a rotten exeggcute!”
We both raced to get to the center’s doors first. Naturally being a Pokémon Glove overtook me quite easily. Even having to wait for me at the finish line. The passersby were easily startled by the six feet tall flaming gorilla sprinting in their direction. After I got there, I had to explain myself and offer an apology for our antics to one particular lady who stumbled over almost dropping her grocery bag.
“What are you doing!”
“I am sorry miss we were just too excited. You see my Pokémon egg is close to hatching.”
Showing her my incubator seemed to do the trick. She let me off without calling an officer Jenny to report me for reckless endangerment.
“Phew… that was too close Glove. Let’s just get inside before that lady changes her mind.”
Glove, having also been chastised during the dispute, gave me a soundless nod of his head before following me inside the center. This center was much larger inside than the typical storefront inside this mall. Being large enough to accommodate traveling trainers and all the medical equipment the staff might need. We wasted no time getting in line to speak with the local nurse Joy.
“Excuse me, Nurse Joy? Could you take a look at my egg please to check how it’s coming along?”
“Certainly, young man! We have screening equipment available to test the overall health of the Pokémon inside. Free of charge of course! If you would please hand over the egg to my assistant.”
“Chansey!”
A large round pink blob walked on over with open arms ready to receive our precious bundle of joy. I handed the incubator over to chansey, completely confident that this egg-bearing Pokémon would take great care of our little one.
‘You know I am pretty sure a chansey helped deliver me when I was born. If I were to ever catch a Pokémon that isn’t a fire type I am sure it would be a chansey.’
“Why?”
‘They are such joys to have around always nurturing and caring to those around them and I hear their eggs are super delicious.’
“Delicious eggs…?”
‘You probably wouldn’t know this since they don’t have chansey over in Unova, but their species grows a nutritious egg every day. In the wild they share that egg with Pokémon who are sick or injured. I don’t know how they developed that way in nature, but most Pokémon will refuse to attack a chansey.’
While I was having a mental conversation about chansey trivia with Victini and having left the egg secure with nurse Joy I made my way towards the computer room. I still needed to check for a response from the Fortree City gym and look at cute baby Pokémon videos with Glove. Luckily the computer room wasn’t overcrowded.
“Now let’s see if they’ve had time to respond to my email…”
Salutations Trainer Egon,
We at the Fortree city Gym would be happy to take care of Tranquill. However, due to our busy schedule we can’t go pick up the special lady ourselves. That’s why we would like for you to come visit us at the gym. Included within this email is a voucher for a single use teleportation service. We understand that as a traveling trainer you will most likely have other responsibilities so feel free to come visit us at your leisure.
Hope to see you soon,
Leader Winona
“Come on out Tranquill!”
I activated the release mechanism of my poké ball releasing our feathery friend in order to share the good news. Tranquill was quite miffed, being released from her ball while she was resting having flown around on route 110 all day.
“You see this girl?”
“Quill?”
“No, the letter on the computer screen.”
Her gaze shifted to the screen where the email was displayed. Before looking back eying me like I was an idiot.
“Oh yeah, sorry forgot that most Pokémon can’t read human script. Anyways, Winona THE gym leader of Fortree city is very interested in having you! She is the foremost expert on flying types in our entire region. If you manage to impress her, she might just make you a permanent fixture on her team!”
“Quill! Quill!”
“I know right, that's awesome! You’ll receive the best training hands down.”
“Quill…?”
“She is asking when we’ll be going.”
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“Hmm, we still have to go back home to Lavaridge first. After finishing my business there, we’ll need to come back to Mauville for my gym match. When that’s done, I’ll be free to go to Fortree City. So, in about two weeks.”
“Quill?!”
“It’s fine she said that they’ll be waiting for you. Which reminds me… I’d best print out that voucher before I forget to. In the meantime, how about I put on one of Winona’s gym matches on screen. That way you’ll have an inkling on what type of trainer she is.”
Before visiting the Fortree gym’s webpage I clicked print on the email containing the free voucher. Then I made the effort of finding a battle demonstration video showing off Winona in a higher-level match and left Tranquill to it.
‘It’s good that we found a trainer for Tranquill. Now I can rest easy knowing she will be taken care of by the experts of the Fortree gym.’
After watching the match together with Tranquill I had to quickly return her to her ball. The bird Pokemon couldn’t keep still getting all pumped up from viewing the televised battle. With that concluded I made my way back to the reception desk. Nurse Joy and Chansey are already waiting for us with the egg placed on the counter.
“Young man, the little one inside the egg is completely healthy but could you answer a couple of my questions? This is the first time any nurse in Hoenn has come across this particular species of Pokémon.”
“Okay…?”
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The following morning*
This Pokémon center’s nurse Joy was very eager to learn all there was to know about the egg and didn’t want to let me go to bed even after complete sundown. Naturally I could have refused her inquiries into the subject but so far, every Nurse Joy I’ve come across has been nothing but helpful and professional leading me to give her some slack in this regard. Since all nurse Joy share information freely between each other they were not limited to the usual interregional restrictions. This is what led her to look up the little ones information after confirming the species wasn’t Hoenn native. She finally left me to my own devices after extracting a promise from me that she would be allowed to see my Larvesta after it hatches. I was planning to come back to Mauville City in any case so it wouldn’t take much effort from me to fulfill that promise.
After having breakfast at the center dorms I wasted no time in setting out for Lavaridge Town. Seeing as we’d have to wait a bit more than two weeks to get that gym battle. The best use of my time would be spending some training hours at my hometown’s gym. I was also looking forward to seeing my grandparents again and meeting back up with some of the locals.
“Tini are you sure that you’ll be able to teleport us back all the way over from Lavaridge?”
“Maybe…? I think so.”
Victini got to practicing long distance teleportation last night while it was dark out and not as many people were wandering the center corridors. She managed to teleport from the center dorms all the way over to the nanab berry tree on route 110. Trained psychics usually need to acclimate to their teleport destination for a long time to make sure there weren’t any accidents, but Victini got the gist of it quite quickly. Wherever and whenever there’s food involved, she could get really focused. Having spent time under that tree enjoying berries might have fastened the acclimatization process.
To get from Mauville city to Lavaridge town one needed to cross both route 111 and 112. The former route had a completely paved road which wild pokemon tended to avoid. The route featured a lake but more importantly a permanent artificial desert in the northern parts of the route. Rumor has it that a colony of vibrava and flygon forcefully keep the desertified area in its current state with liberal use of the move sandstorm. When Pokémon came together like that to accomplish a single goal nature tended to bow to their whims. For this trip I wasn’t planning on entering the desert area of route 111 since it would take a significant chunk out of our training time. The overall trip towards Lavaridge would take us about two whole days if we didn’t get distracted.
‘I’d really like to check out that desert sometime though. It is a man’s dream to go digging for fossils and having an amazing story to tell afterwards.’
“Me too, I want to meet Regirock!”
“How long have you been snooping around in my brain for!? Nevertheless, the five legendary giants have been sealed by humans for a very long time. I don't think they'd be all too happy seeing me. Maybe if we get a bit stronger, we can come back to see if Regirock is actually living in that desert cave.”
Just like that we entered route 111, similar to all other route entrances this one had a warning sign informing passing trainers not to go into the desert without proper equipment and a pokégear. All pokégears had a mapping function helping the user navigate himself out of hazardous terrain like the perpetual sandstorm desert found on this route.
We made some good time traveling on the route until we came upon a large homesteading. The ambient heat from the nearby desert and Mt. Chimney makes it almost impossible to grow crops here, making me wonder what type of produce this farm churned out.
‘Summer squash, Sweet potatoes, maybe Okra?’
“You are making me hungry!”
“Oops! Sorry, let’s have a picnic right here. This farm makes for a very welcoming sight.”
Victini got out of her ball and helped set up the picnic blanket and bowls while I fished out the Tupperware boxes each labeled with the name of one of my team members. The only one who didn’t have his own labeled box was Orin on account of him not needing to eat. To keep my body in tip top shape for his twice per day feeding sessions I started eating slightly bigger portions. Nonetheless I called him out with the rest of my Pokémon to share in the pleasant weather and good company.
“Okay gang let’s eat!”
“Rupt!”
“Vuuul!”
“Nitan!”
“Vi!”
“Wick!”
“Quill!”
“Excuse me, young fella!”
I turned around to spot an elderly lady watching us from the windowpane of a nearby farm shed. Victini froze up and quickly turned invisible, while the peeping tom made her way outside to confront us. I quickly tried to diffuse the situation anticipating a reprimand for trespassing.
“Uhm sorry ma’am we didn’t know this was private property we’ll be sure to leave immediately!”
“Naw, I ain’t calling you out for that. As long as you are not damaging our family’s crops there’ll be no need for you to pack up and leave. Young’un how’s about you come inside our home and tell us all about your adventures. You are a Pokémon trainer, right?”
“Yes…?”
“My oldest grandchild is set to leave for his own journey soon. Would you care to give him some advice?”
“Sure? I am not an expert or anything like that. I’ve only earned two badges so far.”
“That’ll do. Your team seems happy and well cared for. Although… I am pretty sure I saw six of you just now.”
“That’s strange I only have four Pokémon plus this little one. No extra Pokémon over here that’s for sure.”
“Hmmm if you say so. The name’s Vicky Winstrate and this is our family’s farm.”
“Egon from Lavaridge Town. Representing the Lavaridge Gym this year at the conference. Hopefully.”
“Aww shucks young man this is your first year as a trainer, right? Most firsties don’t make it in their initial seasonal conference. Buck up and show some confidence!”
Vicky moved to sit down with us while I hurriedly try to hide Victini’s half eaten bowl behind my back.
“I see you have some unusual Pokémon with you. I don’t recognize most of these.”
My team, seeing as the old lady just wanted to have some casual conversation, went back to enjoying their meals. Victini went around my back and started eating from the bowl I had hidden from the nice old lady’s sight.
“Well, yeah there aren’t enough different native fire types in Hoenn to form a team. So, I set out to the Unova region. I just now made it back to Hoenn to start my actual conference run.”
“Good for you, not many trainers would have wasted their conference time trying to catch a full team first.”
“Since I am sponsored by the gym, if I ever were to catch more than six, my benched Pokémon would have to be taken care of by the gym. They only have the proper facilities to house fire types. So, I figured why not specialize since I was interning there.”
“Smart thinking boyo, my own grandson can just leave any extra Pokémon here to live with us on the farm and he doesn’t have any typing preferences either.”
Like that we started finishing up our meal with Grandma Vicky asking all sorts of questions about my Unovan team members. She was a retired trainer herself, most of her team members passing on or leaving to start their own families. The only Pokémon that was technically hers was the family Camerupt whose job it was to scare off any Pokémon looking to scavenge the farm’s crops.
Her mentioning their family’s own Camerupt made me think that It’s been a while since Numsy had the opportunity to graze and make merry with his same species members. I'd rectify that as soon as we made it to the Lavaridge gym. Cleaning up after breakfast was very simple. Each member of my team was responsible for cleaning up their own bowls arsonist style to conserve our drinking water while traveling. The bowls being made out of porcelain are a pain to carry but a totally worthwhile investment for easy cleaning. Rena didn’t mind helping Tranquill with her own bowl since she couldn’t produce any flames of her own. Once that was done and I stuffed the picnic blanket together with the clean bowls and Tupperware in my backpack we were ready to follow Grandma Vicky into her house to meet the rest of the family.
“So, my grandson just celebrated his tenth birthday, and my granddaughter is six years old. She is not old enough yet to be responsible for taking care of her own Pokémon. We’ve been looking to catch her something from the lake situated behind the farm. A water type would be real useful to have during the dry season.”
We walked through the front door and immediately came upon the family having breakfast at their dinner table. The only adult man was the first to greet me. Victor was his name after shaking the man’s hand he introduced me to the rest of the family. His wife Victoria, their eldest son Vito and their youngest a peppy little girl named Vivi.
The family quickly bade me to take a seat and encouraged me to tell of my experiences traveling as a trainer. I decided to regale them with the story of my stay in the relic castle. Leaving the sensitive information out of the tale.
“And that giant Cofagrigus was like really chill. Sure, it must have killed quite a few tomb robbers back in its day but as long as you make it clear that you aren’t looking to steal his treasure, you’ll be fine. Not that I’d encourage any novice trainer to enter such places alone. I had the benefit of having a more experienced trainer looking after me while doing so.”
As a useful visual aid, I pulled out my Pokédex and showed the family what a Cofagrigus looks like.
“Woooow…”
Vito was the one to get fired up the most by my story.
“Dad, I’ll do it! Me and Abra are going to find the mirage tower and…”
Before he could finish that sentence, he got clobbered over the head by his mother.
“Young man didn’t you hear Egon telling us he had a more experienced trainer looking after him?! When the season starts next year, you will be sticking to the official routes, no wandering around and getting yourself into any sticky situations!”
“Abra can just teleport us out if things get dangerous!”
I decided to back his mother in this argument. I wouldn’t recommend any other trainer my age pulling off any reckless stunts the way I have.
“Vito, ancient ruins like the relic castle or mirage tower surely have ghost types living in them. One mean look and you and Abra will be prevented from teleporting out. Ghost types are still one of the more dangerous types out there. My childhood friend’s family runs Mt. Pyre she can tell you that entering such places without a medium or spirit channeler by your side is a bad idea.”
Suitably chastised Vito let the subject drop before he got into any more trouble with his mother. I was also interested in finding the mirage tower for myself. So, to make sure Vito wouldn’t run off into the night I decided to make a deal with him.
“How about after this season ends, I’ll take you along with me to take a look around in the desert? I’ve heard rumors that there are fossils buried deep beneath the sands. Instead of braving dangerous detritus we could dig around the sands for fossilized remains. Fossils are just as cool as any other type of buried treasure.”
“Okay, I guess… Can you show me some of your Unovan Pokémon?”
Seeing as Glove was a tad too big for this crowded dining room, I released Orin instead. The litte Litwick hopping around the table for a bit obviously confused by the unfamiliar people seated at the table.
“This is Orin my Litwick. A ghost and fire type.”
“Lit…!”
Orin jumped on top of my left shoulder and waved to the rest of the family showing off his people skills.
“Now the thing about the Litwick species as a whole…”
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A good while later*
After having a pleasant conversation with the family. Vito still wanted to show off his abra to me and Victor invited me to come fishing at the lake with him. I agreed to one of the proposals since it wouldn’t take much time away from my schedule. Abra were known for sleeping eighteen hours a day at least and at this stage they couldn’t do much except project emotions. Seeing Vito fuss over the sleeping psychic type was a gratifying experience.
“Abra aren’t known to live on this route. Where did you two meet?”
“Our family went on vacation to Dewford town. Dad wanted to go fishing as always and mom had to watch Vivi, so grandma took me on an expedition tour inside the Granite Cave. Have you seen the large mural depicting those two giant Pokémon battling it out? That was an amazing experience. Even more amazing was meeting up with Abra. He was sleeping on the stone staircase leading up to the mural. Grandma had a spare poké ball with her and she allowed me to use it to bring abra along. We have been bestest buddies ever since then, isn't that right Abra?”
“Aaaabra…”
I wasn’t really sure if that response was Abra agreeing with him or just random murmurings the Pokémon made while still asleep.
I eventually bid the pair goodbye to continue on my journey. The Winstrates are a pleasant lot, and I wouldn’t mind going spelunking with Vito once he and Abra are a bit more experienced. Their family home was right near the desert so it would take no time at all to bring him along. Grandma Vicky was there to see us off.
“Now you come visit any time you like dearie. I am sure a trainer like you has lots more stories to tell.”
“Sure! Whenever I am traveling on this route again, I’ll come by to visit you nice folk. If any of you are ever in Lavaridge Town just give my name to the nice lady manning the lava cookie store and she’ll give you ten percent off.”
With that I continued on my journey through route 111. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon at the Winstrates so I still had plenty of ground to cover on my way to Lavaridge.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go fishing?”
“Not really, Victor told me that the magikarp in that lake are real sweethearts but with my horrendous luck fishing up water types… I’d probably manage to agitate one enough to induce an evolution.”
“Phooey!”