Six hours later, and we arrived at the Fieldlands Camp. It was a tiny base of operations surrounded by tall cliffs, bisected by a route that stretched either west to Jubilife or east- deeper into the Obsidian Fieldlands. White tents were scattered around the circular clearing, complete with a banner featuring the Galaxy Team’s insignia along with a workstation and a small fire pit.

Akari wordlessly claimed one of the tents- seemingly at random. Her Oshawott dutifully hobbled alongside her with its stubby arms in the air. She had released it during the last hour of the journey to walk alongside her. The tiny Pokémon was rather cute, I found. Much easier on the eyes than the fierce Samurott it would eventually evolve into. The small thing confused me, however. The Samurott future-Akari wielded was obviously some sort of Hisuian variant, but her Oshawott was indistinguishable from the Unovan variant. It had the same blue-white colours, the same stubby conical ears, the same big nose and dotted freckles on its cheeks. Not even the shell it had attached to its stomach was different.

“We’re the only ones here,” Clarissa broke me out of my staring. She dumped her personal travel pack onto the ground with a relieved sigh, “so pick whatever tent you like.”

I gladly did so, and was rewarded with a mere twenty minutes to rest my feet before Akari came for me. “Come on,” she demanded with a disdainful look. “Let’s get this over with.”

I stood and resigned myself to my trial. Akari, however, stopped me with a hand to my chest before I could brush past her. “Take these,” she thrusted six Poké Balls into my hands before I could blink. “Bidoof, Starly, and Shinx. Catch them in whatever order. If a wild Pokémon attacks you, I’ll bail you out with Oshawott. You have… two, maybe two-and-a-half hours before sunset. After that, you’ve failed. Run out of the Poké Balls, and you fail. Got it?”

I had never caught a Pokémon before. I had only seen it done on TV, but that had been with a partner Pokémon to wear them down and prevent escape. I only had a few ideas on how to approach this, but I bluffed an immovable confidence regardless. “Sure thing.”

Two minutes later, and we had walked the downhill path towards the Obsidian Fieldlands enough to start encountering wild Pokémon. I was a little bit distracted by the view, I had to admit. A bright blue sky littered with fluffy clouds cast the scene over a hilly environment with lush green grass and smattering of trees. A river cut horizontally through the terrain at the bottom of the hill- the pathway leading towards a small wooden bridge and- “Hey,” Akari had noticed my blank staring. “Focus.”

“Sorry.” I snapped to it.

“See the Bidoof?” she pointed out the tiny brown Pokémon frequenting the tall grass just off the beaten path. “I’d say you’re lucky, but they’re the only species bold enough to get this close to our campsite. You know what to do.”

I had six Poké Balls bundled in my arms. There was no way I could accurately throw any of them like that, so my first action was to bend down and place four leaning against a jutting rock to stop them from rolling down the hill. I hoped they would stay. Or that Akari wasn’t cruel enough to ‘accidentally’ kick them down.

With a Poké Ball in each hand, I started to creep towards my target.

I thankfully knew about Bidoof. They were land-based Pokémon that were found around rivers. They often travelled in small colonies lead by a Bibarel, but the evolved form of Bidoof was not in sight in my case, thank goodness. Most likely, they were taking advantage of the plentiful grass. Almost all of them were gnawing on the shrubbery with their oversized buck teeth. They all had webbed feet and dense fur, especially surrounding the face. Beady black eyes stared vacantly at nothing in particular and their button noses twitched occasionally when searching for food. In the wild, they always fled immediately upon noticing humans. Which meant I needed to be stealthy.

And so, I had crept slowly towards them, careful of my footfalls as to not alert the colony to my presence. My hands tightened around the Poké Balls. Sweat pooled in my palms. I bided my time. I had plenty of it. The Bidoof weren’t going anywhere…

A snigger from behind me had broken my concentration. Thankfully, the Bidoof didn’t react, but I certainly did. I turned and shot Akari the most venomous glare I could muster. Who did she think she was? Maybe it was all fun and games for her. But my survival depended on this. I was facing having my chance to reach the space-time rift snatched from my hands and she was laughing at me?!

Unperturbed by my glowering, Akari spoke up in an amused voice. “What are you doing?”

There went my chances of being stealthy. I stood and had to force myself to not crush the frail looking Poké Balls in my hands. They weren’t the same Poké Balls as we had in Sinnoh. These ones looked handmade and were made of some sort of stone as its lid with a wooden base. A small black latch secured the balls tight unlike the buttons we had in modern times. “What are you doing? You’re ruining my chances of sneaking up on them!”

Akari burst into laughter. “What?! What do you mean?”

I just gave her a stony stare. “Okay,” she recovered somewhat and strode completely normally up to the colony of Bidoof nearby. “Look. Why are you sneaking up on them?! Bidoof don’t care.”

She was right. One was practically gnawing at the grass next to her sandals. It didn’t even seem to notice she was there. Why were the future Bidoof so timid compared to these?

Almost disbelievingly, I approached another Bidoof without the pretence of stealth. It looked up at me with an unassuming glance for a moment before getting right back to its foraging. I could hardly believe it! “Well?” Akari mimicked throwing a Poké Ball down at the Bidoof next to hear. “Do the thing.”

I did the thing. It felt wrong dropping a Poké Ball onto the Bidoof. I worried it would hurt it. But as the Poké Ball bounced off of its head, it simply blinked in surprise before it was sucked in with a flash of red. The Poké Ball bounced as if alive before settling down on the grass. I heard a slight hiss.

“There you go!” Akari exclaimed with a mocking enthusiasm. “Well done, you. Maybe you aren't worthless after all.”

I scowled, ignored her, picked up my new Bidoof, and put it next to the four empty ones I had lain by the rock. I then retrieved a new empty Poké Ball to carry with me. “Next you’ll tell me Starly aren’t scared of us.” I muttered sarcastically when I noticed Akari had followed me.

“What?” now she sounded genuinely confused. “Are you sick or something? Of course they’re scared of us- even the villagers know that. Give yourself away and they’ll fly off before you can blink.”

I couldn’t get anything right, apparently. “Okay…” I muttered lowly before skulking off down the hill.

I got about halfway down before hesitating. There were Bidoof everywhere, but I wasn’t at all interested in them anymore. The field expanded outwards left and right though my view was dappled by the occasional tree. I could see Buizel playing and splashing by the river. A bridge ahead of me was guarded by both a Galaxy Team member and a woman with sharp black hair spilling over her face. I couldn’t tell who she was- certainly not part of the Security Corps. I paid them little mind after my initial observations, however. I had my own task to deal with and the two on the bridge were talking in a pretty relaxed manner. “Don't even think about crossing that bridge,” Akari snidely commented a little ways behind me. “We’re not allowed past there.”

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I hadn't planned on crossing anyways. My next goal was Starly, but when I saw a pride of Shinx led by a sole Luxio to the left, I decided to get that particular task out of the way first. The Shinx were tiny with giant eyes and big fluffy ears. Luxio was a lot larger and had a mane of black hair around its blueish fur, though it did share a star-tipped tail with the young ones. I strode quietly into a patch of tall grass to hide myself and decided to wait while I figured out what to do. The Luxio looked to be the head of the pride. It was joining tails with one of its five Shinx companions and sharing electricity, from what I could tell. Isolating a Shinx from its pride was going to be really tough. How to approach this…?

“You’re going to separate a poor Shinx from its family?” Akari asked with a false tone of surprise, having followed me into the tall grass. “Cold…”

I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to play mind-games or not. But she did have a point.

Eventually, I came up with a plan. It was a stupid plan. But I was growing more and more anxious at the sun slowly drifting towards the distant hills. I let out a slow breath to soothe myself and worked my shoulders to loosen them. I started to creep slow towards the unsuspected pride. A quick glance to Akari revealed her hanging back in the tall grass. She was frowning- likely confused at what I was doing.

I remained low and silent, but it was inevitable that one of the Shinx would happen to turn to me. And when it did, I blurred into action. I immediately leapt to full height, spread my arms out wide and screamed at the top of my lungs while charging perilously towards the pride.

The second I heard the Shinx’s cry of alarm, I covered my eyes and braced. When disturbed, as many of you will know from Rowan’s research, Shinx use their stored electricity to create such a dazzling glow with their fur that it temporarily blinds anything around it. I remembered reading about it in a travel brochure since newbie trainers kept getting themselves in danger after blinding themselves in the middle of routes. Even behind my closed eyelids and a protective forearm, I still saw the yellow-tinged flash. When I dared lower my arm and opened my eyes, the entire pride save for a single lucky Shinx were completely stunned. I let the lone able Shinx run away. The Luxio was on its back and swiping at the air with its glowing claws and feral growls. Definitely don’t want to get near that. Two of the other Shinx looked unconscious while the last two were stumbling around in a blinded daze.

It was shockingly easy in the end, excuse the pun. I had simply approached one of the ambling Shinx and dropped one of my Poké Balls on its head. A single shake later and I heard the same hiss as when I caught my Bidoof. I retrieved the newly caught Pokémon and dashed back to Akari before the others could recover. Two down.

“My eyes…” Akari had moaned when I reached her. She was clutching them with her palms and had a pained look on her face. “I’m seeing stars.”

I let out an awkward laugh, though there was a hint of satisfaction. “Oops?”

“You could’ve warned me, you idiot,” she hissed through her clenched jaw. “How did you get them to do that? Only lone Shinx usually use Flash like that.”

Flash. That was the term she used for their anti-predator move. “Ah. If you surprise one enough, it’ll Flash even when near others. And once the other Shinx are suddenly blinded, they’ll Flash out of pure panic.” I shrugged.

Akari blinked rapidly and seemed to recover somewhat. She eventually managed to look up at me. “I thought you didn’t know anything about Pokémon?”

“I don’t, really,” I scratched the back of my head. Her question sounded more like an accusation, and it was hard not to feel a tad defensive about it. “But I do know nuggets of information- like how to avoid the dangers of really common Pokémon.” It was part of Veilstone’s education that the local government forced its children to learn- regardless of whether or not they wanted to become trainers.

Akari took a moment to respond. “Alright.”

I let my stare linger for a moment before moving on. Starly was next. Unfortunately, my stunt with the Shinx had scared off almost every Pokémon around the field, meaning I’d need to relocate to find a Starly. I therefore did just that. I returned to the hill where I’d started to leave Shinx’s Poké Ball next to Bidoof’s. With two fresh Poké Balls in hand, I descended the hill once more and headed right this time.

More tall grass met my eyes- a sight I was grateful for. But this area was a lot more forested than the left side. I figured Starly would like trees. They nested in trees, after all… right? So, I crouched low once more and slowly stalked around.

Unfortunately, there were loads of Shinx. Like, loads of them. All led by a Luxio that could probably take me out in a single swipe. Being spotted would probably spell danger. I didn’t know at the time how fast they could run and I knew Akari’s Oshawott wouldn’t be able to stand up to electric types. The girl was continuing to follow me, but gone were the remarks and her smug look. She instead looked thoughtful- distant.

I eventually found a Starly in a relatively Shinx-less area. They were obvious with their tell-tale grey and black feathers and the small tuft atop its head. They had black eyes with large white pupils and sported a dainty white crest on their breast. The Starly was alone and pecking at something below a berry tree. I had thankfully found it with its back to me, but the Starly was ridiculously skittish and would constantly pause to scan its surroundings. It even moved and shifted a lot with small hops as if aware someone would try and throw something at it.

It was too alert. There was no way I could get close enough for an accurate throw. With the sun’s waning rays peaking through the tree leaves, I arched my right arm back and attempted a long-throw.

I watched the Poké Ball sail through the air. It landed with a slight thud about a foot away from the Starly and the Pokémon immediately took flight. I watched it fly off in despair. That was a failure.

When I reached the berry tree to retrieve the dud Poké Ball, I noticed that the latch had snapped open and wouldn’t shut again. Broken. One Poké Ball down. But I still had the second in my left hand. I wracked my brain, trying to figure out an approach. Starly weren’t at all common on the ground, and I certainly wasn’t about to try and lob Poké Balls to the ones I was spying high in the tree leaves- they were too obscured by the branches to accurately weave a Poké Ball through. It was only when I subconsciously leaned against the trunk of the berry tree that an idea sparked.

“Akari,” I tried once I had returned to her hiding spot in the grass. “I need your Oshawott.”

There was no mention of being unable to use Pokémon to aid me.

Akari scowled back at me. “Why?”

“Get it to Water Gun that berry tree.”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

With a long-suffering sigh, she stood and released her Oshawott from its Poké Ball. “Aim for the berries, please.” I asked of her.

She relayed my request to the little water type who dutifully ran out of the grass and shot a thin jet of water at the tree. I sneakily ran out towards it when I saw three berries drop down. I thanked Oshawott and inspected my haul. Three oran berries. Perfect.

It took forty minutes of wandering from grass patch to grass patch before I found another Starly, and I had worked myself up so much at this point that I almost gasped in relief upon sighting it.

The tiny bird Pokémon was a lot more mobile than the last. It was hopping all over the place while foraging underneath rotting leaves. I tore a small chunk off one of the oran berries and held the mushy flesh between my fingers. Akari was looking at me like I was insane, but she thankfully remained silent. With a slight flourish, I threw the chunk towards the Starly.

It landed softly a small distance away, but it was enough to terrify the tiny Pokémon. It leapt into the air and flapped its wings, but thankfully calmed down and landed again. I watched it cock its head inquisitively at the berry piece. Please go for it. Please go for it.

The Starly hopped towards the berry and started to peck away at it. It used its beak to grab at it before violently shaking its head to tear off even smaller pieces it could swallow. It was still pausing to dart its gaze around, but I noticed it was looking more skyward than anything now.

Just as it was about to finish the first piece, I tore off another chunk and threw it nearby. This time, the Starly flinched but was faster to take the bait. And, more importantly, it hopped even closer. I remember smiling to myself. This was actually working!

Another Starly flew over my hiding spot in the grass and landed next to the first. I recall feeling so terrified that they would start to fight each other. But the two seemed content to share, thankfully.

A third throw, and the two ventured even closer. This was my shot. The newer Starly had its back to me. It was so close that I could make out its individual feathers. But I only had one Poké Ball. If I missed, I might not have time to retrieve more from the hill and find another Starly. I clenched my left fist, accidentally crushing the oran berry I was holding, and then let loose with my right.

The Poké Ball flew.

It collided directly into Starly’s back and it had just enough time to let out a surprised squawk before it disappeared in a flash of red. The first Starly immediately grabbed the rest of the oran berry on the ground and took flight, disappearing above the trees. The ball shook harsh. It bounced higher than it did for both Shinx and Bidoof and, for a second, I feared Starly would break free. But with a slight hiss, the Poké Ball then settled.

I had nearly fallen onto my back with relief. The sun was barely visible over the hills by that point, but I had done it. Three Pokémon to my name. And I had passed the trial!

Akari was dumbfounded. She looked as though she’d seen a ghost. But I didn’t care. I whooped and pumped my fist into the air.

I’d done it! I’d done it!

Yes!!! One step closer to going home!