Chapter 34 – Home Sweet Lava
Camping out on route 111 was a treat. The closer we got to Mt. Chimney the more the ground around us started heating up. Sleeping on this soil felt like taking a nap on an electrically heated blanket. I knew for sure that, just like me, my team appreciated feeling nice and toasty. The ranger corps route 111 recommendation to sleep during the daytime and travel at night seemed a tad over exaggerated.
The upcoming route 112 consisted of the entire base of Mt. Chimney. The route used to be off limits for travelers due to a local population of geodude, graveler and golem living on the slopes of the mountain. That species' favorite pastime is rolling down mountain slopes making the entire route seriously dangerous. The corps intervened and relocated all of them to the safari zone a long time ago. Nowadays you can still find a few geodude here and there but nothing coming even close to their previous numbers. The rangers’ justification for the whole ordeal was since the species aren’t technically native to Hoenn that they should be relocated to create more space for native Pokémon.
It did work somewhat but not like the corps intended. The mountainside was now being used by fighting types to live and train on. Specifically, machop but you had a few tyrogues and mankey in the mix as well. None of them being native to the Hoenn region like the rangers originally intended.
“Tini when we get to route 112 could you levitate me past the steep cliffs separating the route from Lavaridge town? I really don’t feel like taking the cable car all the way up to Mt. Chimney and hiking back down the other end.”
“Leave it to me!”
It was a blessing that I had Victini with me for this. Since Tranquill wasn’t big or strong enough to carry me all that far. As we got closer to the mountain and route 112 the vastness of the mountain range became clearer and clearer. Mt. Chimney being a massive active volcano it wasn’t strange to see vast clouds of soot drifting along the passing north wind. Route 113 was permanently caked in layers of soot which acted great as a fertilizer but left that landscape permanently gray and dour.
We finished trekking through the last part of the route finally ending up at the base of Mt. Chimney and the start of route 112. From here we were only around an hour’s walk away from Lavaridge Town.
“I can’t wait! Just a bit of walking left and we’ll get to eat grandma’s cooking again!”
After hearing the words “Grandma’s cooking” my oldest partner popped out of his ball.
“Rupt!”
Numsy was also a big fan of her cooking recipes. It’s been a while since anyone on my team had her Lava cookies. A few days after Victini joined the team we completely ran out of that fermented Pokémon snack. The folly of the old me thinking I could trust her to save some of the cookies for the rest of my team.
“We’re not there yet Numsy! But… since you are out you can accompany me the rest of the way. Julie’s ranch should be quite close and it’s around the time where she lets out her herd of Numel to graze. It should be fun showing off your new size over them.”
Julie is an ex-coordinator who recently took up ranching to pass the time. The league association pays her to keep this side of the mountain clear of weeds and bushes. Numsy was familiar with her herd of Numel, the two of us running into them quite a number of times while living in Lavaridge.
Just as expected about a hallway through our trek we came across a large grouping of Numel chowing down on some grassy leaves. The small camels acting starkly different from my own partner even before he evolved. Because these Pokémon weren’t being trained to battle and their diet consisted mainly of low energy foods like grass and weeds with the occasional berry gifted to them for good behavior, they were always either sleeping or eating.
Numsy, excited to meet up with his old friends again wandered off to give them a good scare. While he did his own thing I looked for a nearby rock to sit on. I’ve been walking all day so far and could use a bit of rest.
“Fuuuurrrett!”
“Hello to you too Furret, don’t mind the Camerupt Numsy evolved.”
Furret’s job was looking after the herd and making sure none of them wandered off. With how absentminded the typical Numel is Furret has to pay attention twentyfourseven.
“Heya Egon, we haven’t seen you in a while.”
Furret’s trainer followed behind her overly energetic Pokémon to come greet me.
“Is that Numsy? He’s gotten so big!”
“Yep, he recently evolved. We've decided to come back and visit Lavaridge while on our journey.”
Julie sat down with me to observe Numsy interacting with her herd of Numel. Numsy was showing off his stuff by play-wrestling with the little Pokémon. He used to be even smaller than them so now he was milking the situation for all it’s worth.
“The townspeople will be so happy to see you again. They might have complained about you and Numsy messing up their gardens, but your presence brought some liveliness into our quiet town.”
“Well… he’s too big now to sneak into anyone’s garden unnoticed.”
Julie used to live in Lavaridge town until she set off on her own journey. Nowadays she just visits occasionally to pick up supplies and gossip with the locals.
“Are you ready to make the walk down Jagged Path? Or did you manage to finally catch a flying type to carry you over the cliffs?”
“Something like that, one of my partners is a psychic type who is skilled enough with telekinesis to carry me aloft.”
“Hmm I figured you would exclusively train fire type Pokémon since you worked for Mr. Moore for such a long time.”
“I still do, I went overseas for a bit to look for team members abroad. Hoenn’s native fire types aren’t even enough to fill a standard team of six, and no way was I getting a professor issued starter. Mr. Moore did the same thing in his younger years he didn’t catch his Thyplosion in Hoenn you know.”
“Hooo… So, you are ready to amaze and astound the crowds with all your exotic Pokémon.”
“I am not a coordinator like you but pretty much yeah. At least my opponents’ ignorance on foreign Pokémon should help us in the qualifying rounds if we make it to this year’s conference.”
Numsy seemed to have had enough from all the brown nosing and decided to come say hi to Furret and Julie.
“Rupt!”
“Hello to you too, Numsy!”
“Furreeeett!”
Furret and Numsy touched noses for a while before the long-bodied Pokémon ran off to resume its duties.
“I’ll be around Lavaridge for another two weeks before setting off again. If you want to catch me beating Mr. Moore for a gym badge you should come visit at the last day.”
“If I have someone to babysit the Numel by that time I’ll come and cheer you on with Furret.”
We said our goodbyes to Julie before setting off again. Numsy escorting me the rest of the way, the eruption Pokémon looking awfully pleased with himself after getting praised by Julie’s Numels. All Pokémon admire strength, even the non-battlers.
“So… Did one of those pretty Numel ladies catch your eye?”
“Came… Rupt!”
“No need to get defensive, it’s perfectly natural. After evolving your body’s hormones are all out of whack and you finally started noticing girls. Aaaack!”
Numsy’s retaliation for me teasing him was swift. Expelling soot from his nostrils and covering me in it. His surprise attack left me completely disoriented, not to mention ruining the set of clothes I was wearing.
“No need to mess up my clothes! Numsy! That was just some good-natured ribbing. Great! There’s no flowing water around here, I’ll have to walk into Lavaridge looking like this. Let me use your fur coat to wipe off!”
“Rupt!”
“No way buddy! You can just scorch yourself clean. As a human I would suffer second degree burns if I tried that. This is your doing, just let me get the worst of it off of myself.”
Our disagreement turned into a racing match seeing as Numsy was not willing to let me wipe myself off of him.
“Stop running! I just want to give you a hug my friend!”
“Rupt Rupt!”
We kept racing like that until we finally hit the steep cliffs separating route 112 from Lavaridge town.
“Now what are you going to do Numsy…? There’s nowhere for you to run anymore!”
“Came!”
Numsy started covering himself in flames as if to warn me that any further attempts from me to cover him in soot would end up with me getting burned.
“Fine you win pansy. Return!”
I pulled out his poké ball and activated the return mechanism, placing him back inside his ball to give him a timeout. After which I quickly surveyed my surroundings noting that no one else was watching us. I called out Victini to come out of her ball and enact my master plan.
“Just like this?”
“Yeah, be careful though, this is the only body I got after all.”
Following my directions Victini levitated me off the ground and over four sets of increasingly steep hills. I was deathly scared since we’ve never done this before and also because I am afraid of heights. Being picked up telekinetically was a weird experience. Unlike being pulled up by my collar or other singular places on my body it was more like an all over type of bodily experience. Victini was psychically strong enough to crush me, but not once did I feel discomfort from her gripping me too strongly.
“You are doing great, Tini. You’ll be sure to get some extra lava cookies today when we arrive at my grandparents’ house.”
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After helping me get over the final cliff she retreated back inside my backpack. Eagerly awaiting the time of our arrival feast. The town’s main entrance was right in front of us. With a spring in my step I returned to the place of my birth.
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We were waiting in front of Lavaridge’s trainer school. When I entered my old town, I noticed it was around the time that the students would be let out. Since a friend of mine was currently taking extra curricular classes and it was a school day, I figured I might as well wait outside to surprise her. The school bell rang and one by one the students slowly exited from the school’s main gate to return back to their homes. This lasted for a while before I finally spotted my childhood friend’s signature red hair. She didn’t notice me at first probably due to the amount of soot marring my features. That lasted until I called her out.
“Flanny, wait up!”
“Egon…? You look terrible!”
“Why it’s nice to see you too. How have you been?”
“Miserable thanks to you! Grandpa wouldn’t let me go on my journey alone since he thinks I am too immature. I finally struck a deal with him to let me go if you accompanied me and then you bailed to go adventuring on your own!”
“Yea… sorry about that, but hey I caught a lot of new friends, and I am even looking after a Pokémon egg I received. Pretty cool huh?”
I showed her my incubator. Luckily glass is easier to clean than clothes, so it was easy to see through the glass and watch the red flecked egg within. I knew my distraction worked since Flannery temporarily stopped shouting at me. The timing was perfect as well since the egg started twitching a little as we looked at it.
“You…! It isn’t faaaaair!”
“Sorry! I’ve decided to come back to Hoenn and participate in the Ever Grande conference. You can still come with me I suppose. Do you want to come visit my grandparent’s place? I still need to clean myself up, me and Numsy had an argument and he sneezed over me.”
“Fine! But you’ll have to help me convince grandpa!”
Just like that we walked over to my grandparents’ house. Flannery kept asking questions about the egg the entire way over. How I got it, how long it’ll be until the egg hatches and more annoyingly. If she could catch the Pokémon for herself once it did. I was sincerely hoping she was just joking with that last one. I told her almost everything except for the species of Pokémon this little one belongs to. Since I was planning on having the egg hatch while in Lavaridge she could discover that for herself. That didn’t stop Flannery from trying to tease the truth out of me.
“C’moon Egon be honest! It’s a tepig right? The egg comes from Unova so it must be!”
“You’ll find out soon enough, and please take your shoes off before exiting the hallway. You know how my grandma gets.”
We walked up to the front door. I dug up the house key buried in grandma’s flowerbed for situations like these. I trusted Flannery well enough not to blab about our secret key hiding place. After turning the key over inside the lock, I stepped inside my childhood home.
“Grandma, Grandpa, I am back home!”
For a second, I thought both of them were out manning the store but then I heard gramps call out to me from the garden.
“Egon! We are in the garden!”
I rushed back out to the other side of the house and there they were, lounging about on lazy chairs. This would usually be around the time that at least one of them was taking care of the store. To see both of them here was highly unusual.
“Grandma…!”
“Now look at you this is no way to walk out and about. Go upstairs and clean yourself up, we'll talk after you look more presentable.”
Being told off like this was heartwarming and embarrassing at the same time especially so in front of Flannery. Grandma seemed set to destroy my mature image in front of the eleven-year-old girl.
“Can I leave my Pokémon here? I caught lots of friends and they’ve been excited to meet you.”
“Fine but then it's bathtime for you. Trekking all that soot across my pristine living room floor just what were you thinking?”
Having gained the tacit permission from my grandmother I unfastened my belt and dropped my backpack before individually prying off the poké balls latched onto my magnetized belt.
“Come on out everybody!”
In a flash of light my entire team materialized. Inside the small garden of our home. Numsy immediately bolted towards grandpa to say hello while Rena jumped on my Grandma’s lap eager to receive some female attention. Both of them had their own favorite grandparent and it showed. The rest of my team were eager to explore their new surroundings. Having heard much about this place from my night time stories. I assumed they would each try to introduce themselves after Numsy and Rena were done reacquainting themselves but before they had a chance to do anything Flannery jumped them.
“Oh my gosh is that a Darmanitan. You CAUGHT a Darmanitan! We don’t even have a single one at the gym!”
Flannery, who I had temporarily forgotten about, was standing at the garden’s backdoor when I released my Pokémon. Naturally she had to get all close up and personal with my newer teammates. She didn’t seem as impressed by Numsy’s evolved form but that was sort of understandable seeing as the gym took care of a dozen or so camerupt.
Victini remained in my backpack still a bit too shy at the prospect of meeting my family and friend. She would probably attempt to introduce herself once Flannery calmed down a bit. This was the first time I saw Flannery fangirling and it was a very odd sight. She kept poking her finger into Glove’s flaming eyebrows like she’s never seen anything similar before. I happen to know for a fact that she goes ponyta racing every weekend.
“Flanny, can you calm down a bit? And properly introduce yourself before you go touching. If Glove was a wild Pokémon you’d be in a heap of trouble.”
Properly chastised Flannery gave an apologetic bow before introducing herself.
“I am sorry! The name’s Flannery, future gym leader of Lavaridge Town. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Glove who was allowing Flannery to manhandle him up until this point just gave her a quick pat on the head to let her know that he was agreeable with her overenthusiastic ways. Glove has been working on his patience in preparation for the egg hatching, a scant minute of Flannery using his body as a playground was nothing to him.
“Lit!”
“Orin also says hello.”
Flannery turned around to watch my ghost type waving at her from the garden table.
“You also caught a Litwick?!!”
‘It’s going to take a while before she calms down. Do you want to go up to my room?’
“Yes.”
I left Flannery in the garden with Grandpa and Grandma while I set out to clean myself in the upstairs bathtub. I figured Grandma would keep Flannery from going too far with her antics, so I also decided to leave my team with them. Quickly undressing I slipped inside the warm water while Victini explored the rooms upstairs.
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After I was done washing myself, I opened my old closet and fished out some casual wear. Even without Numsy dousing me in nostril soot I would have taken a bath on the first opportunity regardless. Camping out in the wild with no flowing water in sight would make anyone have bad body odour. With me now finally presentable enough so that even my grandmother wouldn’t complain I made my way back downstairs. Victini floating behind me holding on to the back of my shirt.
The scenario I encountered in the garden was oddly quiet. Flannery was indulging Litwick by playing cards with him and grandma. Somehow or another grandma got Flannery to calm down enough to focus on playing the game without making too much noise.
I sat behind Litwick, on a lawn chair, content by quietly observing the game. The little candle Pokémon drew a good hand he should be able to win from here. Grandpa was busy combing out Numsy’s fur. It was his favorite pastime before we left on our journey, it reminded him of how he used to take care of his old Arcanine.
‘Darn now I am feeling sad, well there is one way to get myself out of this malaise…’
“Uhmm Flannery, grandma, grandpa there’s still one member of my team you haven’t met yet.”
“Nooo…”
I pulled out the floating bunny from behind me and presented her to my family and friend.
“This is Victini, she was feeling a bit shy before but now she wants to get along with all of yo… Wait.. where…?”
I looked around and Flannery was no longer sitting at the table playing cards.
“Victini is mine now!”
I turned around and somehow Flannery managed to grab a hold of Victini at such speeds that it didn’t register quick enough for my brain to comprehend what was happening in time. Flannery stood triumphantly behind the garden door holding Victini in both arms. Stroking her ears every way I thought imaginable and then some ways even I couldn’t.
“Vi Vi…!” “Don’t let her steal me!”
“Now calm down Flanny. Of course, Victini wants to be friends with you but firstly I have to explain some things about her circumstances.”
“What kind of Pokémon is this Egon? Grandpa told me all about fire types from different regions. He never mentioned anything about Victini.”
“Just come sit down and I’ll explain everything.”
A few moments later which involved following Flannery up the stairway because she refused to hand over her new bestest cuddle Pokémon. I finally got her to agree to sit down with Victini in the garden to listen to my story. Grandma was quite smitten with Victini as well but not exaggeratedly so like Flannery. She offered Victini one of her special surprise Lava cookies which Victini was now in the process of munching on as I tried to start this important and serious conversation.
“So, what do you know about mythical Pokémon?”
“Like Entei? Grandpa caught a glimpse once during his first year traveling Johto. He says feeling that Pokémon’s presence is what inspired him to only specialize in fire types.”
“Well yes and no. Scientists and the higher ups of the league association know that legendary Pokémon exist as they are oftentimes documented in old texts, and there are brief sighting reports. The distinction between mythical Pokémon and legendary ones is that the former have almost never been documented and there have been no sightings of them. Their existence is mere hearsay. Victini is such a Pokémon.”
Victini, now done with her cookie, started ballooning up with pride, obviously pleased with me acknowledging her specialness. I made it a point to always treat her as I would any of my other partners. Indeed, in my mind each and every one of my partners was just as special.
“Vi!” “That’s right! Acknowledge my Amazingness!”
This time the message wasn’t sent only to me but to Flannery and my grandparents as well.
“She is a psychic type?!”
“Well yes partly, she’s really good at levitating and she’s an expert at turning herself invisible but don’t let her play cards with you she cheats.”
“No, I don’t! Egon is just a sore loser!”
Flannery was obviously stumped by the knowledge that this little rabbit she was holding was that unique of a Pokémon. She quickly got over it though after stroking Victini’s ears some more.
“Egon we’ve got to show my grandpa! He’ll want to know that you caught such a special Pokémon.”
“About that Flannery… I am fine with showing your grandpa but it’s important that you don’t go around telling other people about Victini. If it becomes known that I am traveling around with her, bad people will show up and come to take her away forcefully.”
It was at this point that my grandpa injected himself in this conversation.
“That is true little lady. I've dealt with my fair share of Pokémon thieves while working for the police. The things they’ll do to little Victini here if they were to get their hands on her won’t be a pretty sight. Egon, who else knows?”
“Unova’s regional professor and his daughter, Phoebe, Phoebe’s friend Kira, a strange old hermit living in the woods, Champion Drake and now you three.”
“Hmm Champion Drake is known to be an honorable man and Phoebe knows how to keep secrets, but how come you told those other three?”
“Phoebe invited me to stay over at Kira’s house but it’s impossible to keep any sort of privacy living in a haunted house. The old hermit could sense Victini’s unique presence using some form of aura sight and I needed the professor’s help to conceal Victini. He gave me a legal unregistered poké ball but in return called in his daughter to come and observe Victini for a couple of weeks.”
“Also, I want Victini to be able to make more friends. She has lived a very lonely life. To make up for that I want her to make friends with as many people and Pokémon as possible.”
At my declaration the tension in the room eased. Victini was so embarrassed at my declaration that she pulled her ears over her eyes so that nobody could look her in the face. Naturally, that endearing sight had the exact opposite effect.
“Don’t you worry , Egon, Victini and I will be best friends!”
“Oh, dearie of course we already consider Victini as part of the family, isn’t that right Ralph?”
“Sylvia, let's not use our first names in front of the children we discussed this, but yes any Pokémon belonging to our grandchildren are automatically part of the family.”
Flannery automatically being considered friends with Victini has allowed her to do away with even more of her scruples. The eleven-year-old was now openly planning to go do all sorts of girly stuff with Victini. She didn’t get to act like a girl most of the time since her abrasive personality combined with the constant smell of sulfur surrounding her scared off most potential female friends.
“First, we’ll go clothes shopping and then we can play dress up in my room. I am sure grandpa won’t mind you staying over for a slumber party!”
Normally Flannery would never admit to strangers that she was into girly stuff too. The bonding process was happening alarmingly quickly in front of my eyes. In the end I considered this a good thing. I hadn't even thought about letting my female Pokémon have a classic girl’s night out. We were always roughhousing it in some part of the routes or training for upcoming battles.
‘I should probably send Rena along with them. She likes these sorts of things as well.’
I glanced at the sleepy vulpix still resting on my grandmother’s haunches. Her ears twitching a bit every time Flannery used the words dress up or shopping.
“Egon you might think that you have moved past me in terms of capturing more Pokémon but you’d be wrong! I have also gotten more additions to my team. Grandpa gifted me with two more Pokémon as well while you were gone.”
“Wait, does that even count as catching?”
“Shut up! When you see my new team members, you’ll be sure to die of jealousy. Come on out!”
Flannery hurled two poké balls out into the garden. One formed the all too familiar silhouette of a Ponyta I knew personally. It was the one Flannery used to prance around with, through town rubbing my face in the fact that I couldn’t have one. The other Pokémon that materialized was truly a surprise and not something I expected Flannery would be able to get a hold of.
“Chic?”
“Flanny, have your grades suddenly so drastically improved that Professor Birch decided to take you on as a fellow in his research projects?”
“Oh no not at all. Grandpa bought Torchic for me from the breeder who also gifts them to the lab every year. He said that if I earned my trainer’s license, he’d give me something special as a reward.”
“…unfair. I am sorry little Torchic you’ll have to put up with her for the unforeseeable future.”
“Tooor Chic!”
Regional starter Pokémon like this Torchic would cost an arm and a leg to any native Hoenn citizen looking to buy one instead of earning them the traditional way. This little one should be a boy. The league association kept a close eye on any trainer permitted to train a female starter Pokémon.
“Isn’t my little Torchic just the cutest? She is just as cute as Victini!”
‘She!? Well as the daughter of an elite four and gym leader of the region the chances of Flannery suddenly deciding to start breeding torchics for rival regions was little to none, but still… The power of money is fearsome indeed.’
“Now I have four Pokémon to your five Egon! Don’t think you are that far ahead of me!”
Unlike their trainer the released Pokémon calmly walked up to my team to introduce themselves. Mr. Moore must have picked out the more even tempered Pokémon for his granddaughter to balance out her hotheadedness a bit. It was starting to get a bit crowded inside the garden with the extra newcomers joining in and I still had some things to talk about in private with my grandparents. So, I gave Flannery the signal that it was time for her to head back to the gym.
“Why Egon? We are having a good time!”
“Your grandpa doesn’t know where you are right? It’s best to get back to the gym before dinner time. I’ll meet up with you shortly. I still have some things to do around here.”
“Can I bring Victini with me? I want to be the first to show her off to grandpa!”
“You can but only if I am there. Just wait for a bit, okay? How about giving Victini a tour of the gym? I don’t think she’s ever been on the inside of a volcano before. Just make sure the gym staff don’t spot her accidentally.”
“Okay!”
Without much preamble Flannery took Victini along with her out the front door. It was strange that she didn’t also want to show off some of my other Pokémon to her grandfather as well. The power of those big blue eyes must have distracted her by my estimations.
‘Such a kid…’
“Egon, she is rubbing me against her forehead now…”
‘Hold on I’ll come along just wait ten more minutes.’
I felt comfortable leaving Victini with Flannery because our mental connection could be maintained by her over long distances. If anything, untoward happened Victini could inform me within a second’s time.
I was left alone with my grandparents and the rest of my team. Talking about Zinnia in front of Flannery would put unnecessary stress on the girl. This was a matter that only concerned family members.
“Grandpa, Grandma, I want to take Zinnia back home.”