CHAPTER 246

I slept for so long that I woke up the next day.

My stomach rumbled, and my throat felt horribly dry. Pain pulsated through my ankle, and it took me a split-second to remember that it was broken. That would take a while to get used to.

"Water—"

Arceus, my voice was croaky, as if it wasn't actually me speaking.

My foot froze mere inches from the ground. I'd been about to put my full weight on it. I carefully shuffled to the mini fridge and poured myself a glass of water. I'd been so tired yesterday that I hadn't even released Buddy and Sweetheart before sleeping. In fact, I'd been so focused on getting myself to a doctor that I hadn't even told my friends that I'd made it to Pastoria. Strangely enough, since I'd flown there instead of walking, I was actually the first of the group to make it to the city. I'd even arrived before Louis, Maeve and Justin. I sent a text explaining that my ankle was broken, explaining that a Carnivine had done it, and opted to tell Melody the same thing so Poketch would know. I sat back on my bed and downed another pill for my pain. The label said once every six hours and a maximum of twice per day, so I needed to be careful about that. After taking a picture of my cast to send to the others, I groaned and considered what the hell to do today.

"Exploring would have been fun if I hadn't been crippled," I sighed, gripping my bedsheets. Not only could I not put too much weight on my foot, but I couldn't leave it hanging in the air either. Both hurt like hell, although the painkiller was kicking in and was turning the intense pain into a duller ache. "I guess I could have Angel carry me."

I was sure the grass type was healed since he hadn't suffered too harshly. Honey and Sunshine were the only ones who would have to stay longer. The Nurse Joys were probably a little taken aback by the fact that I owned an Electivire, but I was sure that very little surprised them after everything they saw through their career and training. I'd have to ask them not to say Honey's species out loud when they handed him back to me while I picked up the others, though. I wanted to wait a few more days for the reveal, and I was sure they'd understand.

I released Jellicent into my room and told him about my broken bone and the time it'd take to get better. The ghost simmered with hate toward Ariel, but I touched his cheek in an effort to calm him down.

"It's going to suck, but we'll be stronger for it," I gently said. "Don't think about Ariel for now. Want to go hang out outside? Angel can carry me around, and I have a few spots I want to check out."

Of course, Buddy wanted to keep me confined to my room as much as possible so I could rest up and heal, but I didn't want that, even with a broken bone.

"I used to do that without being injured," I said, standing up to grab my crutches. I placed them under my armpits and took a few tentative steps. "Uh… these are a lot less intuitive to use than I thought, but I guess I'll get used to it. Anyway, back in Jubilife, I was kind of a shut-in. Did Princess ever tell you about that?"

He shook his head. Princess didn't really talk about my faults from the time before I'd gone on a journey, only the good memories. I leaned against the wall and struggled to open the door.

"I've got it," I quickly added before Buddy could help. Hiding my frustration from not being able to do mundane things was going to be a challenge. "Anyway, I'd get home from school and stay in my room all day except when I'd go on these father-daughter dates with my dad. I had some friends at school, but none of them were really that close like the ones I have now. None of them have tried to contact me, funnily enough. I think I prefer it that way."

The water type squeezed past a few trainers, and then stopped me with a small click. I'd been going toward the stairs instead of the elevators. When I turned back, he asked if any of them were trainers today.

"I haven't really looked," I shrugged. "Like I said, we weren't close. I sat next to them at lunch, and we'd speak a little. I wasn't really invited out because I was sort of a weirdo, and either way I think I would have said no because I preferred being home and watching whatever show or battle was on TV."

Buddy hummed, saying that I didn't really watch TV any longer except when the kids wanted to watch cartoons.

"Yeah, I mean I do the real thing now," I smirked. "Oh, there it is."

The elevator dinged, and I slowly entered it. Luckily, since it was morning, there weren't that many trainers out and I didn't have to wrangle to enter, because that would have been an entire dilemma. I picked up Princess and Angel's Pokeballs from the Nurse Joys, confirmed that they'd keep Honey's status anonymous, and released them after I grabbed a quick breakfast and exited the Pokemon Center, along with Sweetheart. Every single eye darted toward my cast.

"Morning guys," I smiled, wanting to appear strong. "So yeah, I'll cut to the chase. As you can see, my ankle's broken."

Sad or angered grunts ran through the team. Angel patted me on the head and ruffled my hair.

"It's going to take a month and a half for me to be able to walk without crutches, and even longer to actually do things like jog and run. It's going to suck. But we're going to tough it out, alright? Princess, don't be so mopey. I'm fine!"

I was not fine. But I had to act like I was. I hadn't lied in so long, I realized. It felt so wrong. Like I was speaking a different language that I didn't actually understand. I knew from the way Princess squinted at me that she saw through me right away, and she snitched to the rest of the team, who all yelled at me for lying.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I'm pissed," I said. I clenched my fists around my crutches and bit my lip. "I hate this. But it's already done, okay? Let's make the best out of it. I want to go out and about while the painkiller's still in my system and I can actually do things. Angel, could you carry— woah!"

The grass type wrapped a vine around my waist. Sharp pain panged in my ankle when he lifted me off the ground.

"Gently! Do it slow."

He plopped me down on his head, strapping me in with more vines like a seatbelt. He dragged the crutches out of my hands and planted them inside of him. They still stuck out a little, but at least they'd be easier to carry. He also carried my backpack and my piano, so he was basically doing everything, which I appreciated greatly. His vines were very convenient for things like this.

"Okay, just walk around wherever you want for now," I said as I grabbed my phone. "Sorry Sweetie, but you're too slow and you'd probably damage the streets, so I'll have to recall you, okay?"

The rock type didn't yell like I'd expected her to. Instead, she just nodded, even though I could tell she was annoyed. Was she behaving because I was hurt? I thanked her again and she disappeared into her Pokeball. Soon enough, we were on our way… wherever we wanted really. Princess hovered a few feet above my head. It was important not to go too high because otherwise she'd be breaking the law and the last thing I needed was a fine.

The good thing about Pastoria was that with streets this wide, traveling with a lot of my Pokemon was so easy that it was a wonder every trainer wasn't doing it. Oh, I saw some traveling with multiple, but others kept them all in their Pokeballs. Funnily enough, the town Pastoria reminded me of the most now that I wasn't practically delirious from the pain was Solaceon, only a little bigger in every single aspect. We passed by a home with a pool, where a Wooper and her trainer were enjoying their morning. Every house looked almost the same, with brown rooves and dark, different-colored bricks, although there were unique ones sprinkled once in a while that stood out.

"Uh… okay, here goes."

'Pokemon activist groups in Pastoria.'

Those were the exact terms I typed on my phone. Jasmine's words had been harsh—

Well, they hadn't been harsh. Just unexpected. I needed and wanted to get involved in the scene and actually talk to people with similar goals that I had. It was about time that I took action instead of just thinking about doing this. Granted… I'd probably better get the okay from Melody first.

I wondered what Jasmine would say if she saw me like this? I quickly thought. I hadn't sent her a message because she'd probably laugh and say I got off easy.

"Better call Mel," I muttered.

Angel's vine tightened around my waist in his usual 'what are you talking about' way.

"Don't worry about it, baby. It's just sponsor stuff," I scrolled through my contacts and called her. She answered immediately. "Hi Melody—"

"Grace! What happened to your ankle?!" She asked, stressing the last word.

"I sent you a message! I told you, we were attacked by a Carnivine!" I yelled, feeling slightly defensive.

"Oh. Did you? I'm so used to having to find out things about you through other people that I didn't even check. What's the damage?"

"You should have more faith in me. It's broken."

"Shit. Let the company know if you need anything. How long will it take to heal?"

"One month and a half to walk. Longer for everything more advanced than that," I explained.

Angel waved at a couple of Pidgey, who screeched at him when he tried to touch them. Buddy chided the grass type and told him to keep his vines to himself.

I continued. "I'll be okay. I was calling to know if me getting involved in a Pokemon Rights group was an issue or not?"

Melody paused. "That depends on a multitude of factors, Grace. And isn't your ankle broken? What are you doing, looking into things like that? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Buddy said the same thing," I chuckled. The water type turned at the mention of his name, his tentacles shifting slightly. "Mel says I should stay holed up in my room."

He nodded and strongly reiterated his stance.

"Yeah, I'll rest up soon. I've got a few hours in me," I said. "So, Mel, what are these, uh, factors?"

"Send me a list of names, and I'll give you the ones you can look into and maybe join. It would depend on their history, if they're non-violent, their leaders, what those leaders had said in the past… then I've got to send it to the higher-ups. It'll take a few days for the decision to come back. The sanctions have them quite panicked and busy."

"A few days?" I grumbled. "Okay. I'll do some research and send you some names."

"And you absolutely must not be seen anywhere near them until we allow you to, okay? Don't associate yourself with any until we give you the approval."

"Yes, I get it. I'll just find something else to do today."

"Like resting?"

"Later. I'm hanging up now, okay?"

"See you soon, Grace. Keep your leg still!"

I blew a raspberry and stared into the sky. That was a no-go for now, then. I kept scrolling through my phone as Angel took us wherever he wanted. He was having quite a lot of fun, since it was the first time he actually decided on where to go for the entire group. Even then, he kept his walk steady so my ankle wouldn't move around, and he had a few vines keeping my tibia against his body. He brought us to one of those forest-parks that was relatively empty save for wild Pokemon. The grass type waved at an Aipom hanging by a tree with his tail and settled down in the shade. I caressed the top of his head, knowing that he would have much rather been sitting in the sun, but had decided otherwise since I was sitting on him.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I'd settled on two organizations that looked legit enough for what I needed. One was a lot larger than the other and was called the United Pokemon Advocacy Network, or the UPAN for short. They were the biggest organization in eastern Sinnoh and was actually one Mallory from the SGNC had been a part of before she had moved onto Team Plasma. They had a branch in Pastoria, and the address was somewhere next to the port. They were known for their moderate and incremental demands. Most recently, they had started lobbying politicians to ban another wave of Pokemon humans wouldn't be allowed to eat, but of course that had gone out the wayside with the numerous political crises Sinnoh was dealing with at the moment.

The second was called the Pokemon Freedom Alliance, or the PFA. The PFA was a lot more localized to Pastoria and was considered more radical, with demands like having a psychic stationed at every Pokemon Center to ask trainers' Pokemon if they were treated right or wanted to leave. Their key goal, however, was to end the Great Marsh. They called the Safari Zone a cage where Pokemon were essentially 'farmed' for trainers to catch them.

Honestly, they appealed to me a lot more. I sent Melody the two names, emphasizing that I'd rather look into the PFA if possible. Their demands weren't actually that bad, despite the internet framing them as this horrible thing. Granted, I wanted to learn more about the Safari Zone for myself before coming to any conclusions, and I'd go there whenever Cecilia arrived in the city.

Would I even be able to with my ankle the way it was? Would Angel be able to carry me through the marsh? Or maybe I'd have to hover slightly above ground on Princess. Walking in a swamp with crutches would basically be impossible.

PFA's psychic Pokemon in every Pokemon Center idea, though? I agreed wholeheartedly! It would make abuse so much more difficult to hide, and maybe they'd be able to use the Rangers to return the Pokemon to their homes too.

A slight, earthy smell filled my nose as I settled down on Angel's head. I was almost sinking inside of him with how comfortable he was, and had I not slept for twelve hours straight, I definitely would have gotten drowsy. The soft cries of Kricketot and Burmy rang out throughout the park, and my lips stretched into a smile. Yeah, I was miserable, but this was kind of nice. I released Sweetheart, since we'd stopped walking around for now, and the rock type calmly swayed in the forest. A few wild Pokemon approached me after I told Buddy and Princess to stop being so overprotective. They were becoming unbearable because of my broken ankle, asking if I was okay every two minutes. I knew they meant well, but I preferred to focus on other things. These were just two Kricketot— friends, most likely.

"Hi little fellows," I whispered, touching Angel's head. "Baby, can you put me down?"

Angel gently placed me back on the ground, placing the crutches under my shoulders by the time my healthy foot touched the forest floor. I let them go for now and crouched next to the two bug types. The first Kricketot was a little bigger than the other, and he was also a lot more outgoing. He let me touch the little strings on his stomach and then cheered.

Come to think of it, I internally said.

I sat on the ground and asked Tangrowth to hand me my piano. I dragged the electric keyboard out of its casing and turned it on. I'd practiced a whole bunch, both in Sunyshore and on the way to Pastoria. Of course, I was nowhere near good quite yet, but at least I was sort of okay. I pressed on a key, and the two Kricketot shivered in excitement. Their antennas twitched and the smaller one touched one of his strings on his stomach.

"Uh, you two should lead. I'm not good at coming up with stuff," I said, turning to Buddy, Princess and Sweetheart. "You three sing."

The water type shrunk— which was one of his ways of scoffing.

"Yes. Sing! Come on, give me something! I have a broken ankle, so cheer me up! Pretty please?"

The Kricketot slowly began to play a melody with their stubby little arms, along with slamming their antennas together in a gentle rhythm. The strings sounded like violin, and the antennas like... xylophones? Smiling, I joined in soon after. It was a clumsy thing with mistake after mistake. My fingers would slip, or I would press down a note that I thought would sound good, yet did not, or I would press on it for too long or too little.

And yet, it was beautiful to me. We were all trying our best.

Princess tapped the back of Buddy's head with a wing and told him to start singing. The water type blinked, his eyes dimming as he resigned to his fate. My eyes widened when Princess sang. Her voice was far deeper than her usual tone, which went perfectly with the song we were playing. Jellicent added some clicks and whistles at regular intervals— a little like a beat that he got more and more into the longer the song progressed. Sweetheart was a lot less uniform, yelling as loudly as she could until I managed to help her find a good tempo and volume. Angel started twirling— breakdancing, for lack of a better word. Spinning on himself and using his vines to keep his momentum.

My hands sped up as much as they could, and the song reached its apex. It was a brutal, frantic rhythm that I had no idea two little Kricketot would be able to make, but I followed them as best as I could. When the song ended, the same Aipom we'd seen clapped with a wide grin, and a few other Pokemon that had gathered to listen left after giving us their thanks. A Spinarak pulled herself up back into her web. A Petilil floated off into the wind and behind some trees. We'd been seen by plenty of people.

"That was awesome. Thank you both for joining us," I dipped my head at the Kricketot, who nodded in return and left after gesturing at my leg. Healing wishes, maybe. "Thank you. Stay safe," I said. I wriggled my fingers over my piano and smiled. "Playing music for others feels good. You three sang great!" I turned to Angel. "And your dance was awesome,"

Buddy huffed, turning away from me. If ghosts could blush, I thought with a smirk. Meanwhile, Princess did a smug pose, saying that she hadn't even tried, and Angel just kept… doing whatever that cute dance was. Had he seen someone dance like that on TV and wanted to replicate it?

"Wish Honey and Sunshine had been there to see it, though," I said. "We can come back here when they're all healed up. Angel," I stopped to snort. He'd spun so much that he was dizzy and barely standing straight. "I wanted to talk to you in particular about a new technique."

I waited for the grass type to return to his senses, and he focused on my voice. I could tell he'd wanted to wrap a vine around my ankle in that moment, but he quickly moved on to the other one. His usual one was broken.

"Carnivine could manipulate the grass as a whole, right?" I explained. "She made it wrap around things and had it regenerate nearly instantly. Only Sunshine could burn through it fast enough. I was thinking, what if you could do the same thing?"

Tangrowth shifted his entire body.

"Not with grass. With vines."

His entire body wriggled as one.

"You've been working on Solar Blade and using your powder moves through your vines, of course, you'll keep working on that. This is more of a long-term thing… it's a lot harder than it looks, and there are going to be a lot of steps. You'd have to teach yourself to extend your range so you could cover a lot more of the battlefield, but you'd also need to lean into regeneration a lot more so you can keep churning out vines without running out. Without Giga Drain, that's a lot more difficult. And I know that you're great at multitasking, but managing an entire field of vines would be impossible for you, at the moment."

I paused and called over Princess, who allowed me to lean on her. A Pidgey above us screeched and nearly got caught in Spinarak's trap before escaping with a small gust of wind.

"But just picture it," I continued with a wild grin. "The field. Your field, covered in your vines, each one independently controlled by you and regenerating continuously. Ten of them stab into your opponent with Solar Blade while another… hundred just grab them to keep them still while you finish them off. Doesn't that sound awesome?"

Angel shivered in excitement and nodded, waddling around as happy as he'd ever been.

"That sounds like an Elite-level technique to me, and it'll take a long time for us to get there. There are a lot of steps to take before we reach its full potential, but that doesn't mean we can't create proto-versions of it or start working on it now."

And of course, the technique wouldn't be usable in an all-out brawl like the battle with Carnivine, or at least not on that large of a scale. I'd have to wait for the entire family to be there to start brainstorming on that. We at least needed a Band-Aid until a psychic joined us and made things a lot easier.

"First, you've got to start working on regeneration, I guess. Does anyone have a good guess at how the hell Carnivine was regenerating so quickly? It wasn't only Ingrain, although that was part of it. Maybe a passive Synthesis?"

Princess shook her head, giving up on finding an answer. Jellicent hummed, then nodded after thinking about it for a while. Angel brought up two vines and mimicked a shrug with them while Sweetheart followed whatever Buddy said to appear smart.

"It was pretty sunny. Not that many clouds were out yesterday, so Carnivine's regeneration would have been pretty strong if it was Synthesis. And I guess that applied to her plants too. Angel, you can learn both moves, although I guess Ingrain would be a lot easier for you."

The thought of Angel potentially becoming an absolute monster like Carnivine was quite pleasing to me, and I felt a tingle run up my spine.

"We'll get started soon. For now, you finish up on Solar Blade, and then we'll move on to Ingrain. I guess Buddy was teaching you Acid too. Think you can handle that?"

Angel nodded without a moment's hesitation.

"Great! After that, we'll work on the range of your vines, but that's far off. Anyway, let's just… relax here for a little while, yeah? The weather's nice, and the company's nice too. I hope those Kricketot come back soon."

—

Pastoria's port was a lot bigger from the ground than it had felt like in the air. The floor was paved completely white, and the smell of the ocean clung to my nostrils. Angel carried me along the private part of the marina, where a dozen luxury yachts sat unused. Personally, I didn't see the appeal of a yacht when the ocean was so deadly, but if I had to guess, the owners never ventured too far from the coast. The waters around Pastoria were routinely patrolled by Rangers to ensure no accidents took place. This was a stark contrast to the more industrial parts of the port. There, I saw people holding signs that read 'Laid off' or 'Lost my job' and that were asking for money. I handed as much as I could, but there was no way I'd be able to help everyone.

The effects of the sanctions were already being felt. A lot of sailors that would have been on ships going to Galar were laid off, it seemed, and this was only the beginning.

I munched on a ham, cheese and lettuce sandwich as I observed the luxurious marine front. I was technically not looking for anything, but my eyes were drawn to the hotels and five-star restaurants. Pauline and Emilia would love it here, I said, jotting down the location in my long-term memory. It was hard to ignore the strange looks I got due to Angel carrying me on his head. What did surprise me was some kind of commotion when I largely left the port and passed by Ranger Headquarters around fifteen minutes away from the marina.

HQs were different than outposts. The outpost was where Mudsdale would be, but this was just where all the offices and the paperwork were run. A small protest was taking place— a protest of trainers. There couldn't have been more than thirty people there, but it was a striking image nonetheless. Usually, trainers didn't protest. It wasn't really in our culture, even if times got really bad.

But times were worse than bad here.

They were demanding action from the Rangers. 'DOWN WITH THE POACHERS', 'DO-NOTHING RANGERS', 'MY POKEMON WAS STOLEN' and similar slogans were etched in red into signs, and despite there being so few trainers, this place was louder than anywhere I'd seen on the bustling port.

Five Rangers had been stationed at the door to keep the people out, but it didn't look like it would actually hold. They were pushing in, and even the press was there, filming, interviewing and taking pictures. I asked Angel to take a wide berth around the street to avoid getting in any shots, but I did ask him to stay to see what would happen. These poor trainers had lost Pokemon dear to them, and they deserved to be heard. If I had one of my family members taken away, I'd be going head-first into route 212 to slowly kill whoever was the culprit in the most agonizing way possible, but not that many people had the capacity to do that, so this was their next best option.

I stayed there for another few minutes, and the trainers didn't actually breach into the building. It appeared they got reinforcement both from Rangers with actual Pokemon Teleporting in from the outpost in the marsh out west and law enforcement setting up a barricade around the building.

"It's truly a tragedy what's happening here," someone said beside me. He was a boy with a pretty high-pitched voice.

"Hmhm," I hummed. "The League has other priorities, but I can't help but think they could send…"

I didn't finish my sentence. Surely a squad of fifteen ACE Trainers would be enough to deal with these poachers, but then again, they hadn't even found their hideout yet somehow. If Abel was helping, that would certainly make a lot more sense. I didn't know how much experience he had with hideouts, but the fact that he hadn't been caught by either the Unova or the Sinnoh League spoke volumes. I turned to the boy who'd been speaking to me—

"Uh…"

The blond teen adjusted his green scarf with a look a lot more serious than I'd ever seen him described with.

"I wish I could do something for them," Barry Lane said.

"Right," I nodded with a shaky voice. I had not expected to see him here. "But we're just people, right? It'd be difficult to strike them down, let alone find their base of operations."

Had he forgotten about me despite Denzel introducing us in Veilstone? I questioned in my head. Not that it bothered me at all.

"I tried to get Professor Rowan to speak to the League about it, but he said it was out of his hands," Barry said. "I've got to keep toughening up. One day, I'll be strong enough to deal with things like this on my own. My old man could come down here and fix it in one afternoon! Although I guess he'd have to find their base first. What's your name?"

I blinked. "Grace Pastel."

He tilted his head, staring up at me and Angel. "That rings a bell… oh right! You're Denzel's pal! He told me about you after you fought in Sunyshore!"

And he introduced us in Veilstone, I internally screamed. "Right. I didn't know about that. And I also didn't think things like this would interest you," I said, turning back toward the protest. It had largely dispersed, now, but I had no doubt it would start again somewhere else. "Denzel said you were a lot more scatterbrained."

"I can focus when it matters," he said. "Either way, I need to go. I've been training day and night to fight Crasher Wake, and then I'm off to fly for Snowpoint! I want to be the first first-year with eight badges!"

"Honestly, you'll probably make it," I resigned.

"Denzel said you were pretty strong," Barry said, poking at Angel, who poked back. "Maybe a battle would be nice. I've been lacking a rival— not that you could be my rival! You and your friends are all far too slow for that!"

I scoffed. "We have the same number of badges!"

"For now," he shrugged.

"Uh, could you wait until my other two Pokemon are healed?" I asked, tempering my need to accept right away. A big battle would be a perfect way to reveal Honey to the world. "We got into a nasty run-in with a wild Pokemon off-route, and they got really hurt."

"And your ankle too," Barry noticed. Now that we had moved on to a less serious topic, he started speaking a lot faster. "I can wait a few days, but not too many. Then, you'll just slow me down!"

"Two days," I specified.

"Two days stretching it… gah! I don't want to turn into a Slowpoke, but fine! Six-on-six with three switches! I want to fight your Turtonator."

"Sounds like a deal," I said. "Um, I need your number, though. To organize, and things like that—"

"Meet me at 890 Adelaide Road in two days at one in the afternoon! Okay, thanks, bye!"

He ran off into the distance, not bothering to stop at my calls.

"O…okay," I stammered.

So... that had just happened.