Isabel couldn’t help but reminisce about the day she’d come out to this very Route they were on right now with a pair of “borrowed” pokeballs to hopefully catch her very first Pokemon. It had been the day she’d met Kaleb, purely by chance and they’d got on well at first. Both of them were there to catch the same Pokemon and they’d spoken enthusiastically about what they agreed were the cutest Pokemon that could be found anywhere around Slateport, Plusle and Minun. They’d chatted about the paired Electric type rabbits together for what felt like hours.
It had been all fine until they did spot said Pokemon. In hindsight it had been a very silly thing to do going out into the wild area without any Pokemon to protect them, but the Plusle and Minun pair she and Kaleb had encountered had been very friendly and after befriending them the two teenagers had asked if they would like to go home with either of them and the Pokemon had miraculously agreed. It had been quite an argument they’d had about who got to catch them before they had figured out the two Pokemon wanted to come with one of each of them respectively.
And obviously both Pokemon couldn’t be kept apart for long. They were a matched pair of Plusle and Minun after all! So Isabel and Kaleb had agreed to meet up regularly so their Pokemon could see each other and the rest as they say, was history.
That was… a few more years ago than Isabel really wanted to admit but still, Route 110 held a lot of fond memories for them both. The forecast for today had said it would be a wonderful sunny day outside Slateport and because it was a weekend Isabel had decided she and Kaleb would bring the kids out for a picnic. He hadn’t taken any convincing.
Any excuse to come out and enjoy a bit of nature with their Pokemon was practically a tradition these days and there was a reason she’d married the man. Their love of Pokemon had brought them together and like a pair of Plusle and Minun they’d been inseparable ever since they’d caught those first pair of electric types.
Back to the present, they had left at nine o’clock on the dot and made good time to the start of Route 110. Kevin carried little Kyle on his chest, the same baby carrier they’d used for Timmy when he was a baby. Their adorable little boy only looked more adorably in his cute Pikachu onesie as he looked around their environment with wide eyes. Isabel was the one carrying their picnic basket.
“Can I let Elektrike out?” Timmy whined as they set off through the electric doors of the checkpoint.
“Hmm,” Isabel hemmed, looking towards Kaleb as she did so. She already knew the answer of course, but it was better that someone played the bad cop once in a while. Isabel knew full well that Kaleb certainly couldn’t manage it. The kids had their father more or less wrapped around their fingers and Isabel was torn between disappointment that she’d yet to have a daughter and relief that she didn’t. Because there was no way Kaleb would be able to say no to her if they did have a little girl one day.
“It can’t hurt,” Kaleb said, shrugging with a slightly cheeky look on his face as he knew exactly what Isabel was doing. She was the boring mum and he was the cool dad. The sun shone on his face and it made her heart flutter just a tiny bit.
“Alright then,” Isabel said as if she hadn’t planned for them to let their Pokemon out. “Let’s let them all out then.”
“Go Elektrike!” Timmy shouted enthusiastically, less than a moment later, throwing the Pokeball a bit harder than he really needed to. Isabel made a mental note to mention taking care of pokeballs properly to him later.
“Come on out everyone,” Isabel said, releasing her own Pokemon. Plusle and Minun appeared beside the green Elektrike which barked cheerfully in greeting and then he jumped up at his young trainer. Timmy laughed as the electric dog tried to lick his face. It’d only been half an hour since they’d left home.
“Haha, gerroff!” Timmy complained, managing to push the dog down who ran in a circle around him, little tail wagging furiously while Kaleb released his own pair of Plusle and Minun to join Isabel’s.
“Alright!” Isabel said. “Don’t go too far, make sure I can see you both,” she warned her son and his Pokemon.
“Okay!” Timmy said. “Race you Elektrike!”
Obviously the speedy electric type was faster than his trainer but that didn’t stop Timmy from trying.
The two parents set off together with their own four Pokemon frolicking around.
***
The boat to Slateport was much better than the one between Rustboro and Dewford, it had air conditioning for one. I got some time to sit down with some of the materials Roxanne had left me, which was kind of headache inducing but if I needed to know this stuff then I needed to know it. Just being a Gym Leader didn’t give me carte blanche and things like Building Regulations were still something I had to keep in mind, even if they were a lot more relaxed than in my first life.
Exactly how teleporting pads, electric forcefields, icy floors and other things I recalled didn’t constitute breaches in proper safety I didn’t know, but this universe had Pokemon which made things a lot different than a simple, mundane world. Pokemon that could heal most injuries easily probably made people a lot more relaxed about that sort of thing.
Roxanne had been pretty comprehensive about all the stuff she wound up dealing with as a Gym Leader and I appreciated what she had given me because trying to sort this all out on my own would’ve been a nightmare. This binder with everything in it would be my bible once it came to the point I was building my own place. I just wish there wasn’t going to be a test on it.
The sun was shining and it was hot, but not quite as unbearably hot as Dewford had been as we came off the boat onto the mainland.
Slateport looked like any other resort city I’d encountered. In the distance from the pier we came in on there was a great big beach stretching out towards the skyline and tall buildings dominating the land alongside it. Slateport had been built up tremendously and was one of the biggest settlements in Hoenn, giving me vibes like it was Miami or something like it. In the distance through a window I could see beachgoers and Pokemon with them. They were too small to really see but it looked very busy.
But we weren’t here to visit Slateport, just passing through. After making land I departed the boat and we got a taxi up to the northern end of town and from there it was time to make a decision.
Did I rent a bike and try to use the modern bridge over towards Mauville, or did I take the long grass and just walk it along the land trail.
The fast approach would be using the bike, but after spending the last few days around populated areas I had a bit of a hankering for nature, peace of quiet and a bit of fresh air too.
I set off north along the path of Route 110, leading north and to the nature trail that would eventually lead to Mauville. It was only a few miles and I figured we’d get there well before it was time for dinner.
The air was fresh, the scent of nature pervading the environment only dampened slightly by the giant cycle bridge overhead. It cast a shadow over everything but it didn’t do much to obstruct the natural flow of things.
I also decided as myself and Leah set off to pull out a couple of Pokeballs to bring out some of my other Pokemon. It wouldn’t be fair if it was just me that got to stretch their legs.
***
There were two paths they could take, either west towards Petalburg which was more forested and really a bit nicer or they could go east and towards the trail leading towards the other city. Mauville was nice, not as nice a place to live as Slateport for obvious reasons.
“Can we go on the path mum, pleeeaaase?” Timmy asked, his Elektrike helping with his best Lillipup eyes.
“It’s a bit of a walk, but we could always rent some bikes for the way home,” Kaleb suggested, already warming to the idea. She knew he really just wanted to see some wild Pokemon.
Isabel considered it for a few moments then nodded her head. They had their picnic prepared so they could have lunch part way across. It would be a bit late by the time they got home for dinner, although maybe they could order a takeaway. If they did walk all the way to Mauville and cycled back they’d, she’d, have burnt off enough calories to justify having something less healthy.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The exercise really couldn’t hurt either. If she could get back into that bikini before July…
“Alright, but you better promise to get your homework done straight away tomorrow morning.”
“I promise!” Timmy said. “Thanks mum!”
Isabel rolled her eyes but felt a smile creeping onto her face as they turned east towards the Mauville path.
A few minutes later they were surrounded on both sides by the placid waters either side of the path. There were railings to stop people falling in, but the water Pokemon around here were generally friendly so even if someone did fall in they wouldn’t be in danger. They passed a fisherman lounging on a foldout chair who waved but didn’t say hello. Isabel and Kaleb’s attention was focused on either their son and his Elektrike playing or the Pokemon around them.
There were Wingull and a couple of Pelliper flying through the sky. Isabel even spotted a few Wailmer bobbing up out of the water adjoining the path and quickly pointed it out to Kaleb. Kyle pointed his little hands forward, making happy noises as he reached for the wild Pokemon.
“Oh you like the flying types little man?” Kaleb asked. “Maybe we have a flying type trainer on our hands…”
“It’s a bit early to be pidgeyholing him, dear,” Isabel said humorously and her husband chuckled. But still as they continued walking she couldn’t help but admit their younger child seemed interested in the flying Pokemon more than others.
They eventually stopped for lunch along a grassy patch along the path. It was wide enough that they weren’t blocking the way so they weren’t worried about any other passersby being held up. It was a good spot for Pokewatching. They should’ve brought some binoculars, Isabel thought as she saw what might have been a Wailord in the distance.
“Oh thanks, I’m starving!” Timmy said before biting into the sandwich he was given. He liked Pecha berry jam and Isabel had made sure to make one for him.
They were probably six or so miles along the path by now. Not much further to Mauville and the family were quite happy under the warm midday sunshine. Their Pokemon were having a good time playing together and a couple of Wingull even came and perched on the railing which Kyle liked very much.
“See, he is a Flying type trainer!” Kaleb said as their little boy crawled a bit closer to the Pokemon. Kaleb was keeping an eye on their little boy so he wasn’t in danger, but Isabel still felt a little bit uncomfortable with him being so close to the water.
“Wing win win,” one of the Pokemon said, strutting along the railing and making her baby laugh. It was probably trying to get them to offer it some food, Wingull were like that.
Maybe they could get some Wingull toys for Kyle later. There were all sorts of plushies and such you could get in the markets and Wingull were very common in Hoenn, Isabel was sure she’d seen one or two before somewhere even if that Pokemon hadn’t ever been one she’d particularly liked the look of. Wingul weren’t exactly cute like her wonderful Plusle and Minun.
“Hey, who’s that Pokemon?” Timmy asked, pointing the other way suddenly.
Isabel turned around to look where her son was pointing.
“I don’t see anything,” she said.
“It flew behind the cycle bridge,” Timmy said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly and pouting.
“What did it look like?” Isabel asked with interest.
“Err, brown and white,” Timmy said. “It was kind of far away and I only saw it for a second. It was flying in the air”
“That narrows it down a bit…” Kaleb said. “Maybe you should scroll through the Fandex and see if you can find it.”
“Oh yeah!” Timmy said, accepting his dad’s Pokenav. It was one of the newer models with online access even out here. Timmy knew how to work the device better than his father and he was quickly scrolling through the official online PokeFan encyclopaedia, commonly referred to as the Fandex. It wasn’t a Pokedex, the scientific devices owned by powerful trainers and Pokemon researchers, but it had lots of information on Pokemon and there were forums for PokeFans to talk about specific Pokemon. Not a lot of people were really online with the internet only having just been set up a couple of years ago but the PokeFan community had got themselves a website pretty quickly so they could share their passion with even more people around the world.
“I think it’s one of these,” Timmy said. He held up the PokeNav to his mother and Isabel took a look.
He’d used the filters for colour and found two possible matches. Shiftry weren’t the cutest of Pokemon and that was understating it. They had coarse, bark-like skin, a mane of unkempt white hair and generally carried a pretty unkind expression on their faces. You could sometimes see Seedott which were pretty adorable Pokemon around the Petalburgh area so it wouldn’t necessarily be out of the blue to see a Shiftry even this far East.
The other possibility was a Whimsicott, a very rare Grass type Pokemon that some people thought might have a part Flying type, at least according to the information she saw scrolling down over its entry. There was some information on how to care for them and a bunch of pictures of an adorable little pokemon with a massive head of fluffy hair that resembled Mareep wool. Apparently Whimsicott liked to fly around in the air and were the evolved form of Cottonee, a fluffy Grass type Pokemon that could be found in the Petalburg woods.
“It must be a Whimsicott,” Isabel said, holding out the PokeNav to her husband who looked at the article with interest.
“Wow Timmy, that was a really great spot!” Kaleb cheered, bouncing Kyle on his lap. He looked around where their son had been pointing but it appeared the Pokemon was long gone. “Would’ve been nice to see it in person,” he said. “Those pictures here are really cute.”
They all crowded around the PokeNav as Timmy scrolled through the handful of photos that had been uploaded of the Pokemon. Isobel felt a tiny twinge of excitement. Maybe if they headed off straight away they could catch another glimpse of it.
Isabel was so caught up in her own thoughts that she almost missed someone walking past. She hadn’t heard anyone approaching and in her defence the man wasn’t particularly exciting to look at. He was young, in his early twenties at most but probably younger than that. He wore glasses, an outfit indicating he was an office worker or a teacher maybe. It was instead the two Pokemon with him that caught Isabel’s eye.
There was a Gardevoir, tall and svelte. It held onto the man’s arm, looking quite content as it practically drifted through the air, its dress flowing behind it elegantly.
Seeing a Gardevoir alone would’ve been enough to make Isabel’s day because they were very rare and rarer still to belong to a trainer, but she was rendered speechless by the second Pokemon walking on the man’s other side.
It had white and pink fur and what looked like ribbons coming off around its collar and ears and it even had a little bow on the front of its neck. The ribbons ended with sky blue coloured tips, several of which were wrapped around the man’s arm and torso. Isabel was completely transfixed as the man continued past.
“Hello,” the unknown man said politely, looking in their direction for a moment and nodding before setting his eyes forward again and continuing on.
“Sylv!” The Pokemon said hello with a brightly cheerful wave of one of its ribbons towards the stunned family of Pokemon fans. It smiled at them and Isabel fancied for a moment that its teeth practically sparkled before the Pokemon continued walking past them. The trio of trainer and Pokemon continued on their way completely unaware of the reaction they’d brought out in both Isabel and the rest of her family.
“Who’s that Pokemon?” Isabel asked softly, almost whispering as she watched its retreating form of the most amazing Pokemon she’d ever laid her eyes on. She silently applauded Timmy showing initiative in quickly activating the camera on the PokeNav to snap some photos of the retreating Pokemon and she finally managed to break her gaze to look at her family, hoping one of them might have the answer.
“I-I don’t know,” Kaleb replied, looking as dumbfounded as she felt. “Timmy, do you recognise it?”
Timmy shook his head, but his eyes were on the photos he’d just taken.
“It should be on here somewhere,” he said smartly, turning back onto the FanDex website.
Isabel looked back up to take another look at the Pokemon and was about to get up to her feet to give chase but then… they weren’t there.
“Where’d they go?” She asked. There was no way they’d have been able to walk out of view already, the path was pretty clear too.
“Could they have teleported?” Kaleb suggested, equally as surprised.
“Okay I’ve got the search page back up,” Timmy said, recapturing his parents’ attention.
Both the mother and father leaned over, baby Kyle not quite understanding what was going on but joining in anyway and Timmy quickly put in a search for the colour white, then pink, then even blue and each time as they scrolled through the FanDex list of Pokemon they didn’t find anything that matched the image of what they’d just seen. Half an hour later they realised that going through the whole unfiltered list of Pokemon that the FanDex had didn’t show up anything either.
“It’s not on the FanDex,” Kaleb said what they were all thinking. Those surprising words hung in the air for several long seconds because there was no way that a Pokemon that looked like that couldn’t have a FanDex entry.
“Get those photos uploaded. Someone has to know what Pokemon that is!” Isabel said quickly. There was an incredibly adorable Pokemon out there nobody knew about and everyone needed to know!
Timmy obeyed, just as excited as his mother and the family quickly packed up to hopefully follow after the stranger and the unknown Pokemon.
Despite hurrying onwards they didn’t find the man or his mysterious Pokemon and got all the way to Mauville before giving up the search.
Later when they got home the forum post was full of speculation about the mysterious pink and white Pokemon. Nobody knew what it was, but with every PokeFan in Hoenn now on alert for the mystery Pokemon, Isabel knew that it wouldn’t remain hidden for long.