It took a while to finally get away from Gabby and Ty. She had had plenty of questions for me, some of which I had answered and others I had avoided. One or two had come awfully close to hinting that I was on the journey to become a new Gym Leader, if I’d answered them correctly. She had been more interested in the brief battle against the Graveler and Happy had cheerfully taken up the majority of the cameraman’s attention.
Interviewing wasn’t something I’d ever done before. But if I was going to become a Gym Leader then I was going to have to have a public profile now. Gym Leaders were major entities in their local sphere, technically a government institution, and I couldn’t just hide from the less palatable obligations that came with the job.
Having to change a part of what had been my lifestyle up until now wasn’t enough to put me off though, I had known this would happen, just not so soon. I… also knew that introversion wasn’t exactly good for me, it was too easy to get stuck in my own head sometimes. people. My team were family, but a bit more human interaction would probably be good for me.
“Do you think I’m rushing this? I mean about the Gym Leader thing,” I asked my Pokemon.
Leah, Robin and Happy were still out, Robin insisting on staying out to keep an eye out for any other surprises and Happy just because he wanted to stay out and keep us company. He liked being with us and I enjoyed his weight on my shoulder.
My sudden question elicited a bit of surprise from them. Leah was the first to respond with a shake of her head and a murmured noise of encouragement. Happy replied in his own tongue, something that I felt meant he agreed with Leah while Robin thought on the question for a bit longer.
“Ribbo,” he said, shaking his head slowly. He had always been the more thoughtful member of the team so his agreement with the other two Pokemon meant a lot.
It was at that point that a couple of Marill appeared out of the tall grass. Upon seeing us the two small Pokemon froze.
“Marilll!” Happy called from my shoulder, waving his hand. “Marill Mar!”
That was odd. I didn’t think you could find Marill out this far north. Maybe if we’d stayed a bit closer to the lake we had passed before, but not all the way out here where there were only a few streams and brooks to provide moisture for Water types.
The two Marill unfroze a second after Happy’s greeting. They turned and approached and Happy jumped down to say hello. But it was clear in the following exchanges that the wild Marill were left confused and then uncomfortable by my Pokemon and not long after we’d met them they fled back into the grass as if they’d never been there at all.
Happy slumped slightly in response to the rejection. I slowly approached and picked him up before setting him back on my shoulder.
“Hey don’t worry about it buddy,” I told him as he settled back in place. “Once we have the Gym set up I’m sure we’ll make lots of friends with the local Pokemon.”
Marill were usually very docile and not eager to battle unless they had a trainer behind them. I knew it didn’t need to be said that Happy was definitely an outlier in terms of strength.
Innate abilities like Overgrow or Blaze were difficult to pin down the cause of, whether they were quirks of biology or effects akin to the attacks and other feats Pokemon could perform. Happy as best I could tell definitely held the True Power ability, or whatever its name was. My memory wasn’t exactly perfect unfortunately. Not that the actual name mattered. I wouldn’t have known the likely cause of Happy’s strength unless I’d spent some time trolling through build calculators and such back in my previous life. Regardless that it made him strong, it was that ability that I felt had left him something of an outcast amongst his own kind.
Happy cuddled my head in response to my reassuring words but was still uncharacteristically solemn for a while as we approached Mt Chimney. No doubt that encounter had brought back some unwanted memories. I originally found him alone out in the wilds in Johto, battling random trainers. After befriending him, I’d learnt he’d left his old home, or been forced to leave. Regardless that Happy’s supposedly unnatural strength had made him an outcast amongst his own kind, he was part of our family now and that wouldn’t be changing as far as I was concerned.
The grassy terrain gave way to harsher rock and gravel and the air became a bit more warm and dry. This was not just a mountain, it was a volcano, one with real laval at its peak. At least as far as I was aware. I remembered the big pool of lava you get to see in the games and I knew that Mt Chimney regularly chucks up a load of volcanic ash into the atmosphere on the regular.
“And there’s the cable car,” I said, spotting the coloured cars making their way up the mountain slowly.
There was also supposed to be a cave somewhere, with Machop and a few fire types but I didn’t see any signs indicating an entrance or anything. I might’ve chosen to go and take a look but we were kind of on a timetable and after a relaxing stroll so far today we needed to get a bit of a move on. It wasn’t like there would be anything particularly interesting there anyway.
There weren’t many people beyond the staff when I entered, which meant that we could all hop into a cable car on our own. It travelled slowly up the mountain, wobbling a bit but not so much as to be uncomfortable and going a bit higher above the ground, over the sparse trees that dotted the side of the volcano and we reached the point where I started to feel a pit of discomfort in my belly.
It was the height that was the issue. It gave me vertigo, something I’d never been able to shake off even after being reincarnated in this life. Intellectually knowing it was safe didn’t help, the swaying of the cable car made me instinctively tense up at the idea of finding ourselves falling, regardless of the fact that even if we did, that Leah would be abel to safely teleport us away in seconds.
My Pokemon were obviously made of much sterner stuff than I was and didn't show any signs of discomfort. I felt Leah’s hand on my shoulder, offering silent support. I offered her a weak smile in return, partly embarrassed and also annoyed at myself. I just wanted to force myself past this. The memory of once being stuck in a sodding tree, only a few metres above the ground coming back to me. I’d been seventeen at the time, at some group activity thing with my college and I’d had an audience for that particular fiasco.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to ignore the vertigo as best I could and forced myself to instead of dwelling on what was directly beneath me to look out across the landscape, which for whatever stupid reason didn’t have the same effect.
It was indeed an impressive view and my Pokemon all leaned up against the glass in front of me to get their first real view of the Hoenn landscape.
From our elevation we could see much of the southern and eastern landmass that belonged to Hoenn. There was the desert to the east and further on lush forests and waterways leading to Fortree. To the south were the more flat plains leading to the ocean and the metals and greys of the human occupied cities stuck out clearly from the otherwise natural landscape. Despite that, it was clear that Hoenn, like much of the rest of the world, was predominantly unoccupied by humanity. This was a Pokemon world, we just happened to live in it too.
It was eventually time to get off and I felt myself relax now I was back on solid ground. The cable car had come to a stop somewhere near the top of the volcano and we vacated our arrival point and began the trek down the mountain towards Lavaridge.
There were more trees here on the southern side. I knew Falarbor town did a lot of planting of trees and Lavaridge probably did too, which I imagined was meant as a means of stopping potential landslides.
We began the fairly slow hike down. Maybe if we had hurried we could have reached the town before nightfall but we weren’t really in a hurry. It wasn’t even raining ash from the volcano right now. So we found ourselves a nice little patch of flatter earth surrounded by the sparse trees which helped reduce some of the wind coming our way. Then it was time to set up the tent.
“Come on out everyone,” I said, releasing my other three Pokemon to help set up the camp.
My Marill, Gardevoir and Ribombee were soon joined by the other three. Ielle looked around with interest at our new environment while Kira’s eyes lit up upon seeing me and the Sylveon’s ribbons immediately began to wrap around my limbs and torso. It was something I was well used to right now.
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The sixth member of the team bounced up in the air, looking around excitedly.
“Whim!” called out Bud, my Whimsicott. She jumped up into the air, her incredibly light weight and the big bob of cotton on her head allowing her to take to the air currents easily when she wanted to. I’d found that it was less her always being lightweight and more something she chose to do. Whimsicott had some innate ability to decide that gravity didn’t apply to them when it didn’t suit.
Bud floated up, looking around the new environment and quickly spotted Robin who was being responsible and scouting the area for potential trouble.
“Ribbo!” Robin said to the other Pokemon, flying away from her quickly as Bud approached with a big smile on her face. Robin was the one who handled Bud’s antics the least well out of all of us. My Whimsicott was a prankster and Robin had never quite figured out that she probably wouldn’t bother him as much if he stopped reacting to her.
“Come on, let’s set up the tent,” I reminded everyone else why we were here.
My tent wasn’t too big, enough for four people to lie comfortably, or one person and several small to medium sized Pokemon. If it weren’t for the more exciting technology of this world I wouldn’t have been able to carry it with us the way I did. I’d have needed to dress for travelling properly, with a backpack and everything else.
The tent and most of my other camping gear was easily stored in fancy capsules that acted as storage containers, or perhaps they would be better described as being like the capsules from Dragonball but either way I knew it was some adaptation of Pokeball technology that made it work.
The tent popped into position in a burst of light not unlike a Pokemon being released from thor Pokeball. Ielle’s Iron Head worked like a hammer to put the pegs deep into the ground and guarantee we wouldn’t be blowing away and that was pretty much it.
The tent set up, it was time to start thinking about food. Fairy types liked sweet things, or at least strong tasting things as long as there was an element of sweetness to them. Each of my Pokemon had a meal plan tailored for them and their species, all of them having a secondary typing that required specific nutrients. Because of all that it was often fairly simpler to prepare one larger meal that was predominantly sweet tasting to cater to their Fairy typing and then make a few smaller changes to each individual meal.
Leah and Ielle began helping me, Leah because she was genuinely a helpful and sweet Pokemon, Ielle because it meant she could sneak a few nibbles of extra food when she thought nobody was looking.
Kira was a lazy bones and contented himself by rubbing up against my side, ribbons continuing to wrap around me affectionately. Happy meanwhile was bouncing up and down, cheering as he watched the impromptu aerial game of tag going on above us.
“Whiiim si cooot!” Bud shouted excitedly, chasing after Robin who looked increasingly annoyed as he tried to scope out our surroundings, not that I fancied there would be many Pokemon willing to bother a group as large as ours or one this high up on the mountain.
Then Robin’s patience apparently wore thin and my Pokemon shot out a controlled Silver Wind attack at the Whimsicott.
Bud’s eyes widened in sudden surprise as she was pushed away, but not just that. The Silver Wind pushed her up and over the treeline and once she was out of that protection the natural wind coming around the mountain was strong enough to carry her away.
“Whiiiiiim!” Bud shouted in sudden panic. I sighed, this was why I tried not to have both of them out together. This sort of thing just kept happening… Bud wouldn’t leave Robin alone, Robin’s temper would inevitably wear out and Bud was a drama queen.
I was about to intervene and remind Bud that she could summon an actual hurricane if needs be to push herself back down to us, but the crisis was averted for me when the faint shimmer of Psychic energy surrounded the Pokemon and it was Leah who pulled Bud back down to earth. Bud wailed dramatically, putting on crocodile tears as she hugged my Gardevoir. She seemed to be making it out like Leah had just saved her life, instead of helping her avoid having to save herself from a predicament that was really of her own making and one that wasn’t actually that serious given the circumstances.
Leah stopped helping me with the food preparation to wrap her arms into the Whimsicott’s soft hair, patting her head affectionately. Leah mildly chastised the contrite looking Robin and I tactfully ignored the stink eye which I spotted Bud shoot Robin from her position in my starter’s arms. It was all harmless antics and I knew Leah wasn’t so blind as she pretended, she’d scold either of them if they were really getting at each other. So I concentrated on finishing the meal preparations instead.
“Who’s hungry?” I asked, capturing the attention of six pairs of eyes. Bulk storage tech made it fairly easy to prepare lots of food in advance and even keep it mostly warm, meaning it was pretty quick to get our meals ready.
Not too long later and with six voracious appetites sated, alongside my own less voracious need for food, we stopped to relax as the sun moved closer and closer to the horizon. I spent a little while reading through Roxanne’s notes on Gym management and legalese, but the setting sun left it too dark after a while and I abandoned the task for the time being to sit and relax properly with my team, who were already gathered pretty close.
With six Pokemon, one who was particularly fluffy, the bits of wind that snuck through the trees didn’t bother me at all as the seven of us gravitated together.
I wasn’t necessarily going to miss every part of travelling around the way we had been. But moments like this I was going to miss. The peaceful quiet of being sat here in my own little bubble with nobody to bother me, just my Pokemon for company. Being able to lie here and enjoy the night sky above us for a little while before heading inside the warmer confines of the tent and going to sleep. That I certainly would miss.
***
“It’s him! Mum, look!”
“There’s no need to shout. Your mother’s right here,” Kaleb reminded his son but he too looked excited as they beheld Mr Harry Hemming, the man with the mysterious pink and white Pokemon they had encountered a few days ago. “Go get the PokeNav, it’s on my bedside table.”
“Right!” Timmy replied, jumping up and racing through the house, something he shouldn’t be doing, but Kaleb would let this one go under the circumstances.
“So not only does he have a special Pokemon but he’s a writer too and of all things Trainers Colliding,” Isabel said thoughtfully, bouncing baby Kyle on her knee.
“Do you know it?” Kaleb asked. He vaguely recalled the name but it wasn’t something he’d read.
“Sandra recommended it to me but I never tried it,” Isabel admitted. “Lola and Chandler’s mother,” she said, apparently realising that Kaleb didn’t know who she was referring to.
They must have been some of Timmy’s classmates but Kaleb honestly couldn’t recall them either.
“Oh yeah, I remember,” he lied. Kaleb had been married long enough to know there was no reason to reveal even more ignorance about something he should know. otherwise it would only annoy his wife. But in his defence all the other mothers sort of blended into one another after a while, especially when you only ever saw most of them just once or twice a year.
Timmy hurried back in, carrying the PokeNav which he offered to Kaleb and Kaleb took it from him, quickly unlocking it and opening the webpage with the FanDex.
“Okay I’ve updated the forums,” he said a few minutes later. “If he’s on Route 111 then he must be on his way to Falarbor or Lavaridge and that ought to be just under a week of travelling by foot. Hopefully someone there will see this and spot him.”
“Ohhh!” Isabel squeed, hugging Kyle up against her bosom while her Plusle and Minun watched with a tiny bit of jealousy in their expressions. “I can’t wait to find out about that Pokemon!”
“Me too!” Timmy said. “Do you think it’s strong?”
Their son’s Elektrike barked in excited agreement with his trainer’s question.
“Who knows,” Kaleb replied. “But remember it’s not just about how strong or cute a Pokemon is. We should love all Pokemon regardless of either of those things.”
Timmy nodded, not replying verbally and Kaleb knew his son wasn’t really listening to the advice. It was the sort of thing you say to children younger than him now and it was a bit of a holdover from back when he was little. Timmy was old enough now to form his own opinions about what he personally liked in a Pokemon, it’s why they’d let him get an Elektrike of all things even though they were supposed to be quite the handful to look after on account of being so energetic. Elektrike needed exercise at least two times a day.
“But his Marill is very strong considering what species it is, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this mystery Pokemon is strong either way,” Kaleb admitted as Isabel replayed the recording of the battle again, having rewound it on their Tv. That was really one strong Marill. The strongest Marill he’d ever seen had been in one of the local contests and despite a type advantage it’d still been knocked out by a Combusken in the finals. Losing a contest battle by knockout didn’t often happen, which is why it’d stuck in Kaleb’s mind.
His Plusle jumped into his lap and Kaleb distractedly scratched him behind the ears as they watched the Marill on the Tv knock out both of those wild Graveler again. It was something which had Timmy watching with interest. Cuter Pokemon weren’t often considered strong. It was the big scarier types that were mainly seen in the battling scene.
And it wouldn’t be top long now until Timmy became a teenager, Kaleb thought wistfully as they rewatched the interview with Harry Hemming on the Tv. Then Timmy would probably decide he was too cool to play games with his dad anymore and everything else that went along with puberty. He’d probably also want to go on a Pokemon journey too. It was both an exciting and worrying thought. Kaleb had never gone on a Pokemon journey, not everyone did, but Timmy definitely would want to.
Well as long as he was safe, Kaleb thought to himself. If Timmy did go out on a journey he’d also be able to go out and meet a bunch of interesting and cute Pokemon too, so there was that a least.
By the end of the evening there hadn’t been any response on the forums, but Kaleb knew that now they had identified its trainer, they were now one step closer to figuring out what the mystery Pokemon was!