Chapter 38 – Lost and Found
The proprietress of the Wooper Inn was excited at the prospects of using Larvesta silk for her face masks. She went ahead and sent the batch we gave her to the silk manufacturing company she usually buys from. Since larvesta silk had a different texture and make up than regular wurmple silk the company let her know that it would take a while until they’d have all the kinks worked out. Not to mention all the product testing they still had to do to make sure the product functioned as intended. If the Larvesta silk ended up being a big deal, we would stand to make a pretty penny. Especially since there weren’t any Larvesta living in Hoenn.
My final week in Lavaridge came to a close with Mr. Moore giving me the last day off to prepare myself for my first Hoenn gym battle later that day. I wasn’t particularly anxious since I’ve watched Lavaridge gym battles play out for years. Keegan or Eli would be my opponent and since I’ve studied under them, I knew what was expected of a fourth level gym badge challenger. Mr. Moore may have forbidden me from using Glove during this upcoming battle, but it would make very little difference in the end.
“Okay you guys for this battle I’ll be sending out Orin first to let him get some experience battling serious opponents. After that I’ll be relying on Numsy and Rena to clean up the rest of our opponent’s team of Pokémon.”
“Are you up to the task Orin?”
“Lit!”
“Now going into this I want you to know that I am not expecting you to perform a miracle. Since we’ll be facing off against other fire types, burning our opponents won’t be possible. The steam battlefield is set up in a way that your smog attack will be mostly ineffective. Without a status condition your hex won’t be at full power. Whatever happens after this you’ll be going through some extra training to catch up with the others.”
‘Phoebe should be back in Hoenn. I'll ask her for tips on training ghost types.’
We still had a good chunk of the morning and afternoon left before our gym battle and not wanting to tire my Pokémon out before their debut in the Hoenn circuit I decided to help the family business by picking berries on Jagged Pass. The grounds around Mt. Chimney are extremely fertile due to the non stop volcanic activity in the area. My grandparents would usually hire passing trainers to do the picking for them but since I am now qualified to take the job I figured I would do it by myself this time.
“Okay gang my grandparents shop relies on a steady stream of berries to keep doing business. So, let’s head out! Anything that can’t fit in our bags is for us to eat.”
“Vi Vi!” “No more diet!”
“Today is your cheat day Tini, you get one every month. Still… don’t go too overboard, okay? If you feel bloated or full, stop eating.”
“Vi Vi!” “I always have room for berries!”
Jagged pass was hard to traverse if you didn’t have a flying type Pokémon or decent hiking equipment. My plan was to rely on Victini to bail me out of sticky situations like if I had to climb over steep edges, or a loose rock gave in under me. The Pokémon living on the mountain’s edge were mostly peaceful although the fighting types living there were known to initiate battles against traveling trainers. Luckily almost all fighting type Pokémon wouldn’t immediately jump you like some dark types would. Their innate code of ethics demanded they first announce themselves before issuing a formal challenge, fighting types are cultured like that.
The trek to the mountain’s edge was a short one. From my grandparent’s garden door to the jagged pass only takes ten minutes if you keep an even pace. Most of my Pokémon were out with me following along. Halo hitching a ride on top of Numsy while Orin was standing on the top of my head. My Larvesta made it a point to ride on Numsy while both of them were out. She felt it important that her retainers did the jobs she assigned them to.
“Mt. Chimney, the biggest volcano in the entire region, maybe even the world. A prime location for hikers looking to challenge themselves and us berry scavengers of course. Now keep your eyes open and your noses clear, this is prime berry territory.”
I wasn’t planning to go to the top of Mt. Chimney mostly because the best places for berries to grow are at lower altitudes. My grandparents handed me an old-fashioned paper map depicting a nature trail that we should follow for the best berry picking results.
“Okay so we should head left past this rock there we should come across our first berry tree.”
“What kind?”
“Aspear. Most berries that can be found on this trail aren’t that exotic it's great for filling up my quota though. Grandma is an expert at making even cheap berries taste great when incorporated into her lava cookies.”
Just like the map said we did come across an aspear berry tree. What I didn’t expect was the Pokémon trying its hardest to jump high enough for a bite to eat.
“Spooink!”
The bouncing Pokémon was startled by our group’s arrival was already making a move towards the nearest bush in an effort to disappear.
“Wait! We are not here to pick a fight with you Spoink. You need help reaching those berries, right?”
“Spoink?”
Encountering a spoink in the wild was pretty rare. These little piglet Pokémon were quite elusive and rarely found on the routes. To say I was interested in its backstory would not be an exaggeration. Usually, psychic type Pokémon like Spoink would use confusion to dislodge edible berries from the treetops meaning that this one was either very young or sick and injured. My guess was the former since the psychic type didn’t appear to be suffering from any visible wounds.
“You are a hungry little fellow, aren’t you? Don’t worry we’ll share some of the berries with you.”
“Spoink!”
I pulled Halo off of Camerupt’s back and placed her in front of Spoink. The bug type obviously confused at my actions turned a questioning gaze at my direction.
“Halo will you keep Spoink company with Rena while the rest of us pick some of the ripened berries off this tree? It’s important for royalty to know how to connect with the common Pokémon.”
“Vess…”
Lately I have been using that line of reasoning to get Halo to do stuff she normally wouldn’t be inclined to. Like socializing with other younger Pokémon and washing her bowl clean with ember. Stories of her mother also generally worked to motivate her to pursue healthy practices.
“Spoink, I want you to know that you can tell us if something is bothering you. We are all good listeners.”
Hoping that Spoink would open up to Halo I proceeded to direct the rest of my team to pick some of the berries on the tree. Numsy couldn’t help much in this regard, but he was the one carrying all the saddlebags where the berries would eventually end up in, so it all evened out in the end. The rest of my team got to work, Tranquill keeping watch from the skies just in case we ticked off any territorial Pokémon with our berry picking ways.
“Only the mature ones! They should be bright yellow and smell stronger than the unripened aspear berries. The other berries should be left on the tree for future passerby.”
My best berry picker is Victini since the rest of my team didn’t have a way to get high up the tree and inspect the goods themselves. Orin managed to learn confusion through osmosis with the rest of my team and Glove was just tall enough when standing on his hind legs to get to the lower hanging fruits. The little ghost type was having a tough time of it, but she managed to spry one loose after some encouragement. Meanwhile Victini was cleaning house, getting the group nine ripened berries against Glove’s two and Orin’s one.
“Great job guys. We can set aside five for our own consumption and the rest of them can go to grandma. Here you go, spoink, you can have one as well.”
“Spoink!”
Spoink was having some trouble getting past the berry’s skin as was Halo, so Rena was peeling the berries for them with her claws. Laying out the sliced pieces on a clean piece of rock for all of the little ones to enjoy.
The psychic type managed to come out of his shell after some sideways banter with Rena and Halo. As we were eating, Victini listened to their conversation with one ear. Informing me that spoink is waiting for his parents to come pick him up after a teleportation accident. Mt. Chimney was some kind of safe haven for his species in case something went awry or if they were at risk of being discovered by poachers.
Which reminded me that their species’ circumstances weren’t the best. Spoink and grumpig pearls were quite valuable to the criminals in Hoenn society. On the black market Spoink pearls fetch quite a pretty penny. It was also very hard to distinguish between legit clamperl pearls and those stolen from a spoink since the two types of pearls were literally the same.
Spoinks aren’t born with their pearls, their parents somehow manage to get wild clamperl pearls to give to their progeny. How they do it remains a mystery since clamperl can only be found deep within the ocean’s depths and grumping aren’t known for being good swimmers. When asked a grumpig will refuse to answer any questions on the topic treating it as its most important secret and they will defend that information to the death.
Spoinks without their pearls are unable to use any of their psychic powers and will quickly grow sickly and lethargic if the pearl is not returned in a timely fashion. The clamperl pearl trade is heavily regulated for this reason. When one gets caught with a clamperl pearl without the right documentation they best be prepared for a long stint in prison. It is rumored that grumpig do share the secret with their human trainers when their shared bond becomes strong enough. Naturally there was no way to verify these rumors.
“A teleportation accident… and you need to stay in this spot? That’s a tough one… would you parents be able to find you anywhere on the mountain? If so, you can come with us for a bit. We are on a berry run and will walk by this same tree on the way back.”
“Spoink!”
Quick to give his assent the psychic type hopped behind us as we were walking to the next berry tree on my preplanned route. It was rough for the little Pokémon to keep following us across the uneven terrain, but he managed it. The energy provided by the berries sustaining him as we walked further along the mountain trail.
The second tree we came across bore oran berries. It wasn’t until we came across the third tree on our route that we encountered another Pokémon.
“Chop!”
“A Machop and it seems to have marked this figy berry tree and the surroundings as its training hub.”
The tree had sustained significant damage as there were multiple knuckle indentures spread across the bark. This of course was a sad sight to see, trees that had their bark significantly damaged would slowly die out. The bark was a vital part of a tree since it protected the vascular tissue underneath from environmental factors.
“Hey you! Stop that!”
“Maaaachop!”
The Pokémon who was busy punching the figy tree seemed miffed that I interrupted his training exercise, but I wasn’t in a mood to humor him.
“Machop, trees need their bark to hold up against the heat and cold. Also there’s a thin layer of phloem under the bark that transports important nutrients up the tree. Pokémon rely on that berry tree for their survival. So please, from now on avoid practicing your punching moves on berry trees.”
“Chop!”
“He says that he’ll stop if you give him a good fight.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“So, you want to do this the hard way. Too bad for you I have an important gym battle coming up. Anyone on my team who is qualified to give you a proper fight needs to save their energy.”
Normally I wouldn’t mind indulging this wild Machop for a bit. He’d make for an excellent opponent against Orin. ‘Hmm how do I resolve this issue…’
“Machop, how about a punching contest? You can choose any of my Pokémon who are able to perform a punching move and if they leave a bigger mark on this slab or rock. You will stop punching berry trees from then on. Spoink here is a wild Pokémon. He will be our impartial judge.”
“Spoooink!”
“Chop!”
‘Okay it seems like that worked.’
Machop took his time deciding which of my Pokémon he felt comfortable challenging until his eyes landed on Victini’s small frame.
“Chop Chop!”
“Victini? Well, okay I guess…”
‘Are you confident in your fire punch?’
“I am the best! Magmar praised me for having the best punch out of all the Pokémon living at the gym!”
Looking at Victini I kind of figured why Machop would choose her as his opponent. Those scrawny arms and small paws didn’t inspire much confidence in her ability to punch. What Machop didn’t know was that he just picked out one of the strongest members on my team.
“Spoink Spoink!”
“Machop will go first.”
The small superpower Pokémon briefly flexed his muscles before standing in front of his punching target. His dominant arm glowing white before unleashing his attack.
“Chop!”
A large crater the size of a melon was left behind once the dust cleared. Machop, feeling supremely confident, flexed his punching arm aggressively towards Victini.
“That was rock smash, a move specifically designed to clear out rock debris left behind during tunnel excavations. You must have quite the knowledgeable master having learned that move in the wild Machop.”
“Maa Chop!”
My earnest praise for his skills caught the fighting type off guard. Conflicted by my generous praise Machop quickly offered up another proposal for our contest of strength.
“Maa…”“Machop is offering to let Glove take my place in the competition.”
“That’s okay, Machop, Victini is stronger than she looks. Besides, it wouldn't be fair of us to back out of the agreement.”
Victini took her place in front of a second slab of rock. Doling out some air punches with her tiny paws to warm up her muscles. She gave me a quick nod to let me show she was ready.
“Tini use fire punch!”
“Viiii!”
Boooooom!!!*
Instead of cratering the rock, Victini’s fire punch hit with such force that shards of half molten rock went flying everywhere. I didn’t need to look at the target to know the results of our friendly punching competition.
“Vi Vi!” “I did it! We won!”
“Spoink!”
“Maa….”
Machop was completely blown away. His expectations for the match obviously leant towards him winning against my one feet tall rabbit. I took this opportunity to pad the musclebrain on the back.
“Victini is pretty strong right? Looks can be deceiving.”
“Chop.”
“Anyways… Machop have you seen any grumpig around? This little one is looking for his parents.”
“Spoink?”
“Maaa chop chop!”
“Spoooink!”
“He did!”
“Really you did?! Can you point us in the right direction?”
The superpower Pokémon obliged me by pointing at a gathering of bushes whose branches had snapped. This direction clearly led to a recently used Pokémon trail.
“Thanks a lot Machop! If you ever feel the need for a rematch, me and my family live in Lavaridge town. Let’s go guys, we are hot on their trail!”
“Spoink Spoink!”
“Vi Vi!”
“Rupt!”
“Vuuul!”
“Ves!”
“Quill!”
“Nitan!”
My team, just like me, was eager to reunite Spoink with his parents.
“Rena, you have the best nose out of all of us. Can you track spoink’s parents? They should smell similar to our little friend here.”
“Pix!”
With Rena leading the way I was sure we would find the wayward couple. Rena’s nose has only gotten better over the years at this point I would put her only one step below dedicated tracker Pokémon used in the ranger corps.
As we waded through bushes and the difficult terrain, I made the tough but fair decision to recall most of my team. The only ones staying out were Tranquill who was keeping a look out from the air and Numsy and Rena the former still carrying saddlebags loaded with berries. Rena was quick to pick up the scent of the Pokémon that had waded through these bushes.
“Pix Pix!”
“You got it? Lead the way girl.”
The next part of our chase was why I was always reluctant to leave established routes and beaten paths. I was wading through the underbrush without shin protection seeing as my khaki brown pants only went down to my knees. If I was unlucky enough to brush past some poison ivy or hogweed my entire day would be ruined.
‘Reuniting children with their parents has higher priority than your comfort, focus Egon!’
Since none of us was interested in wasting time we ignored any wild Pokémon and kept following Rena. Numsy was big and intimidating enough to keep us from having to deal with any riffraff looking to prove their mettle. We passed by a family of Mankey swinging from the treetops, which would normally be a very bad idea. The species of Pokémon being well known for their temper tantrums at the slightest provocation and if one does become enraged so do the rest of its colony. Luckily these ones seemed to be in a benign mood letting us pass without much fanfare.
After passing a lone Tyrogue who was in the middle of a workout session Rena finally led us to the origin of the scent.
‘Man, I didn’t know so many exotic fighting types lived on this mountain. The rangers are going to have a field day with these ones. It’s a wasted effort really. These Pokémon have been living in Hoenn for long enough to have completely adapted to the environment. But since I am on a spree anyway… Arceus please let the next fighting type we come across be a monferno.’
Contrary to my prayers the next group of Pokémon we saw were our intended targets. A pair of worried looking grumpig. Our temporary travel companion excitedly bounced up and down after finally seeing his parents again, hopping with crazy amounts of newfound energy.
“Spoink Spoink!”
“Piiig!”
“Aww look at that. Truly this is a heartwarming scene.”
Victini, unable to control herself, forcibly released herself from her poké ball to enjoy the moment with us. Spoink was in the middle of regaling his parents about his short adventure without their supervision. After the kid was done elucidating his parents on his acts of bravery the pair of grumpig addressed us to give our group their thanks.
“Gruuum?”
“They want to give us a gift for helping their child find his way back.”
“Well, refusing any gift would be rude. Ask them if they know of any super special berry spots inside the jagged pass. We still need to fill up our saddlebags after all.”
“Vi Vi?”
“Piig…”
‘What’d they say?’
“Their family doesn’t live on the mountainside, so they don’t know. The father did offer us to have a look at his secret stash of valuables and pick one object.”
Victini didn’t sound as enthused at the prospects of picking up a shiny marble or piece of quartz, but I didn’t mind. At least it would make for a cool souvenir. After agreeing to the couple’s proposal, the male grumpig lifted up an unassuming rock with his psychic powers. The hole underneath held some of the family’s collection of shiny objects.
“Let’s see here…”
The most numerous items inside the secret stash were clamperl pearls of various sizes the family must have collected in case the little Spoink ever got a new brother or sister. Those pearls would net me a pretty penny if I picked one but since I didn’t have any documentation that would prove to be a most foolhardy idea.
‘Seashells, shards of various colors, a small nugget of gold, a sapphire Wow they even have a moonstone tucked inside here. A marble the size of an adult fist with a strange helix pattern inside.’
“Is that…?!”
‘Yep, that should be a mega stone, I wouldn’t know for which Pokémon it is intended though.’
After completing my survey of Grumpig’s treasure hole the first thing I did was praise him for his expert shiny collecting skills.
“This is quite the collection Grumpig. For a good number of these items human collectors would go crazy over. Especially the differently colored shards you know, there is speculation that those shards are leftovers from an ancient civilization.”
“Piig!”
‘This is a difficult choice hmm. On the one hand if I pick the moonstone, I’ll have no problems selling it to a shop in Mauville. The only place you can find buried moonstones in Hoenn is inside Meteor falls, so there’s a pretty large markup for them. On the other hand mega stones should be even rarer although their worth hasn’t been established yet. What do you think Tini?’
“Do we need money?”
‘Well not right now, Mr. Moore is going to start providing extra funds to take care of Flannery. You are right… let’s pick the mega stone at least this way we’ll hold onto their gift instead of selling it immediately for some quick cash.’
“Can we have that large green marble with the red and black swirly pattern inside?”
----------------------------------------
After returning to Lavaridge*
Spoink and his parents saw us off when we left the Jagged pass. I offered them an open invite if they ever wanted to try my grandmother’s famed Lava cookies. The family could visit our store if they ever passed by the area again although my grandmother would be pretty miffed if the grumpig tried paying her in goods instead of pokédollars.
“Hopefully grandma can make do with only aspear, oran and figy berries. We could have stayed longer if we didn’t get sidetracked.”
“Vuuul!”
“Yes, it’s all thanks to you that we found that wayward couple. This achievement is going on your good deed list.”
We put the mega stone inside my own backpack right next to the one I bought at Mt. Pyre.
‘At this rate I might start a collection. Trainers all over the world are going to badger me for mega stones after the mega evolution phenomenon becomes public knowledge.’
After making it to Grandma’s store I dropped off my half-filled saddlebags on the counter and quickly sped off to the Lavaridge gym. We still had that gym battle scheduled for today and it’d be best not to leave the gym trainer who was picked to face me waiting.
“At this rate we won’t make it. Tini, would you mind teleporting me to the gym?”
“Leave it to me!”
Victini clamped onto my arm before using the move. Instantaneously I found myself standing on top of the gym’s caldera battlefield. Luckily, Mr. Moore wasn’t there to see us appear out of nowhere or else I would’ve gotten the scolding of a lifetime.
“Why here? We are scheduled to battle on the steam battlefield.”
“This is the place inside the gym where I spent most of my time.”
“Okay, I guess that does make it safer to teleport to this location. Let's meet up with today’s receptionist to let them know we are present.”
The caldera’s gate is almost always locked up for safety reasons, but it didn’t take much effort on Victini’s part to wiggle the lock open with a dash of telekinesis.
‘Make sure to lock up behind us after this. We don’t want to get into trouble for sneaking around.’
“What about the Pokémon living inside the magma?”
“They have their own tunnels that lead outside.”
After closing the gate behind us we walked at a brisk pace towards the reception desk. The staff member manning the hallway today was Keegan. That meant that my opponent would most likely be Eli.
“Hey Egon, are you ready for your gym battle? Our leader is busy helping Flannery pack up for her journey. So, it will be just you and Eli duking it out.”
“My team’s all fired up! I have seen all of Eli’s tricks. We got this in the bag.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure if I was you. He might decide to swap in higher leveled Pokémon based on what you are deciding to field.”
After some more bantering while Keegan was putting me in the system, we left for the steam battlefields. Keegan would have come with us, but he was stuck behind that desk for another two hours. As we entered the giant room containing most of the gym’s battlefield we spotted a familiar face.
“Heya Egon, I could take the day off.”
“Julie! It’s good that you could see me win my first Hoenn gym badge.”
“You are all fired up. I like it! Hey, did that egg of yours hatch yet? I bet it did and that it’s a cutie.”
“Furreeet!”
“Yes, she is, I won’t be having her fight in gym battles for a while yet. Hey, how about she stays with you while watching the match?”
“I’d love to, but Eli asked me to referee the match since the gym’s short on personnel. How about leaving the little cutie with Furret?”
Not needing any further encouragement I released both Glove and Halo. Since glove made it a sticking point to always be allowed out his ball at the same time halo was.
“Woow! You weren’t kidding about her cuteness. I don’t recognize her species at all.”
“Halo here is a Larvesta, a bug and fire type Pokémon from Unova.”
“Vess!”
“Furrreeet!”
After a quick meet and greet where Julie’s Furret attempted to make nice with my Larvesta by casually introducing herself to both Glove and Halo. The three Pokémon climbed up the stands to have a good view. This was Halo’s first time watching an official gym battle so it would be important for her to observe the proper procedures of sending out and recalling during league officiated matches.
I took my designated place on the battlefield. Eli was already there waiting for me at the other side. Our local ranger that also doubled as a gym trainer was someone who liked to test visiting trainers' preparedness by surprising them with unknown variables.
“You ready for me, Egon?”
“Bring it!”