Cashe woke up the next day later than expected. It wasn’t unwelcome, the previous day had been long with the dust and the battles, but he was sure that Emilia would want to get out of the meadow as soon as possible, given how nervous she seemed to be about staying in them overnight.
Cashe yawned and stretched, squinting as the sun hit his eyes. It was already high in the sky and the meadow was full of activity. The nocturnal pokemon had been replaced with diurnal ones. Cutiefly and Oricorio were flitting about the field of gorgeous flowers, which had changed from the pale yellow and deep pink of the previous night to light blue and brilliant red. In the daylight, he could see what was going on, hundreds of tiny bulbs were shut and curled over, hiding in the shade of the new petals. The field was full of flowers, some of which bloomed during the day, while others only at night.
Cashe spotted Lindon sitting on the edge of the slab of rock on which they made their camp, his feet kicking above the meadow of flowers just below. He was eating a thick breakfast bar.
“You should really save those for when we are in the wilderness for weeks at a time,” Cashe said with a yawn.
Lindon turned to face him and waved him good morning, “I was going to make breakfast, but,” he pointed at the sleeping bag to Cashe’s right. It was still lumpy from the form of Emilia still sleeping inside of it, “I didn’t want to wake her.”
“She doesn’t usually sleep this late,” Cashe said. He moved to shake her awake, but Lindon stopped him with a harsh whisper.
“No!” He hissed. Lindon scrambled up from the ledge and tugged Cashe away from Emilia, “She was up all night.”
“She was?” Cashe said, “I didn’t notice anything.”
“She kept looking at me when she thought I wouldn’t notice,” Lindon whispered, “But it was really obvious. Nobody turns in their sleep to face someone as they move around.”
Cashe bit his lip and frowned, “When did she fall asleep?”
“Like a couple of hours ago,” Lindon said with a shrug, “Right before the sun started to rise.”
“That’s why you didn’t wake me either,” Cashe guessed.
Lindon nodded, “No point not letting you sleep if you wanted it.”
“Thank you for that,” Cashe said, “The extra sleep helped a lot.” Cashe moved to his bag and rummaged through it, pulling out a breakfast bar of his own and a detailed map of the area. He stuck the bar in his mouth and spread the map out of the ground.
Lindon shuffled over, looming over the edge of the map, “What’s this a map of?”
“Route 3, the route we’re on right now,” Cashe said.
Lindon scrunched up his face as he scrutinized the map, “It doesn’t look like Route 3.”
“You’re used to the maps on the pokedex,” Cashe said, pulling out his pokedex to demonstrate the differences, “These maps are basically road maps. They show you a lot of good information, but not everything.” Cashe handed Lindon the pokedex so he could look at it and tapped the map in front of him, “This is a topographic map. It shows things like elevation and natural landmarks, as well as man made structures. This one even shows the common pokemon of certain areas.” He tapped their current location, which had a small sketch of Oricorio.
“Why does it show that?” Lindon said, “If I need to find Oricorio, I can just use the pokedex.”
“It’s not to help you find Oricorio, it’s to help you find you!” Cashe smiled, “That’s what maps like this are for. The point isn’t to help you get somewhere, or it’s not only to help you get somewhere. These maps are so you can find yourself if you are lost.”
“Oh, I get it,” Lindon said, running his fingers along the map between different sketches of pokemon, “So if we don’t know where we are, and we see a lot of Oricorio, we can check the map for drawings of Oricorio and know that we might be in that area.”
“Exactly,” Cashe said, “A lot of people only use maps to help them move around a city where it's really easy to find where you are, so they forget that a lot of the time when you are using a map you won’t know where you are. Maps like this have many features to help with that.”
“Is that what all these squiggly lines are for?” Lindon said, tracing a finger along one.
“Those are called contours,” Cashe said, “They help denote elevation. See how some of the lines have numbers by them? That’s how far above sea level we are. Some maps will even have hill shading. Places with higher elevation are marked in red and places that are lower are green or white. Of course different maps might use different shades, so you should always check the key.”
“Why are you using a topo-whatever map?”
“Topographic.”
“Yeah. That.” Lindon nodded, “Why are you using that? We already know where we are and we already know where we are going.”
“Two reasons,” Cashe said, “The first is that a map like this makes it a lot easier to tell how long it will take to go from one place to another. I can use things like elevation changes and what kind of road we are traveling on to make a good guess about how fast we can travel. The second reason is I wanted to look at this.” Cashe flipped the map over to reveal the backside of the map. It was very different from the front side and had many more contours and markings on it.
“This doesn’t look like Route 3,” Lindon said.
“It is, kind of. This is Seaward Cave. It has an entrance at the far side of the Meadows.” Cashe pointed across the field of flowers to the wall of the mountain looming over them.
Lindon peered in the direction Cashe pointed, “You want to go that way?”
“I was considering exploring the caves,” Cashe said as he returned his eyes to the map, “But after looking at the map, I think navigating it might be a little tricky with half the day gone already. I don’t want to get stuck in them overnight.”
“Why not?”
“It would be freezing,” Cashe said. “I brought things for a summer adventure, not a gloomy cave.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Lindon nodded. “Sorry. I should have woken you up, that way-”
“Sleep is better,” Cashe interrupted, putting a comforting hand on Lindon’s shoulder, “It would dangerous to go spelunking with exhausted hikers. Besides, I’m not going to complain about relaxing for a bit in a place like this.”
Cashe waved his hand at the Meadow around them. A breeze rose and swept over them, bringing with it the warm scent of spring flowers and the soft cries of happy pokemon.
“Yeah,” Lindon agreed with a wide smile, “It’s not too bad.”
***
Lindon and Cashe chatted more about maps, travel, potential new pokemon team members, and pokemon locations over the next few hours until the sun was high in the sky and they took a ‘break’ for lunch. Cashe took the opportunity to wake Emilia up with the sound of his cooking. She was groggy and put off that they didn’t wake her sooner, but stopped her muttering when Cashe stuffed a plate of steaming food into her hands.
They moved on from Melemele Meadow shortly after lunch, returning to the route. The journey was pleasant and easy, the dirt road now leading Cashe, Lindon, and Emilia steadily downhill. Even having left late in the day, they made good progress, especially as the sun began to move behind the mountain, casting the route in a comfortable shade.
Evening neared as they came upon the massive Route 3 gorge. More than a mile out, the dry mountain air became damp with humidity and the dirt road transitioned to packed soil as they neared. Soon, mists swirled in the air and wet their skin, providing cool comfort from the long day of hiking. The mountain scenery changed as they lost elevation and it fell away completely from the east, finally revealing the wide ocean in the distance once again. The route was still hundreds of feet above sea level, but vegetation returned to the surrounding area and the distant crash of water rose in their ears.
The crash turned to a roar and a cacophony of noise hit them as they came upon the gorge. A massive waterfall, standing hundreds of yards tall, crashed over the side of the mountain. Mist billowed away from it, cold in the shade of the evening. It quickly drenched them in a layer of water, threatening to soak through their clothes. A massive wooden bridge connected the escarpments of the gorge. Mist sparkled in the evening light as it swirled over the bridge and hundreds of feet below, clear water flowed into the ocean.
“Do we go back or continue on?” Cashe said as they walked up to the bridge to peer out over the edge at the crashing waterfall. “There’s a campsite a couple miles past the bridge or there’s one a mile back.”
“What?” Lindon shouted.
“I think we go on!” Emilia called over the tumult of the waterfall, “We already passed the previous site and I want to go searching for pokemon tomorrow. We’ll be closer if we continue and we won’t have to wake up as early.”
Cashe nodded and moved on crossing the bridge. It was a sight to behold, the enormous waterfall frothing with untold amounts of water and plummeting into a deep basin below. He almost regretted crossing now - the view would be stunning in the morning light.
They moved on to the other side of the gorge, the crashing of water slowly fading into the background as they made their way through the route. By the time they came upon the camping area, the sound of the waterfall was all but gone.
The next morning they were up early, heading farther down the route until they were almost at its end. Crossing the bridge marked a significant change in the environment, the route transitioning back to the fields and grasses similar to that of Route 2 as it continued to descend back to sea level. By noon, Cashe could actually see the sign for Route 1 and Iki Town in the distance, when Emilia pulled them off the road and into the brush.
She led them past the empty fields and to an area of tall grass and thick brush, much like the area they passed through on Route 2. The grass was up to Cashe’s chest and stretched into the distance
“Okay, this is it,” Emilia said, leading them into the fields to the east of the route, “We’re on the hunt now.”
“Are you finally going to tell us what pokemon you want to find?” Lindon said.
“It’s really rare in this area,” Emilia said, “But it’s spotted every year.”
“Out with it already,” Cashe said, “Seriously, you hedge these things way too much.”
“I’m just warning you that this could take a while,” Emilia said, “It’s also going to be the most dangerous pokemon to catch that we have faced so far.”
“More dangerous than the Golduck?” Lindon said, face slackening with fear.
“No,” Emilia said, “Probably not. But maybe. Dangerous in a different way.”
Cashe gave her a worried look, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I am,” Emilia nodded, “If it is a danger, it shouldn’t be a danger to you.”
“Can you please explain to us what is going on?” Lindon said, “I don’t want you to be in danger either!”
“I’m searching for Bagon,” Emilia said, crossing her arms, “There’s an area near the cliffs where Bagon are sometimes seen.”
“Ooh,” Lindon said, eyes wide.
“Are Bagon particularly dangerous?” Cashe said, “I was under the impression that it was only Salamence that was threatening from their line.”
“Salamence are the threat,” Emilia said, “They sometimes nest in the cliffs and are very protective of their young. Poke Rangers don’t even try to keep them off the route, though, since Salamence are so rare. Any breeding grounds have to be maintained.”
“And you want to fight a Salamence for their Bagon?” Cashe said, “Emilia, that's insane. You just said that fighting one might wreck the entire route!”
“No, Apollo, they’re dragon type,” Lindon said, as though that answered everything.
“Dragon types are obsessed with getting stronger,” Emilia said, responding to Cashe’s blank look, “Protecting their young can mean many different things, but for most Salamence, it means making sure Bagon grow up strong. They know one of the best ways to do that is to pair them with a worthy trainer.”
“Okay?” Cashe said, “How do they figure out who is worthy?”
“That’s the dangerous part.”
***
Searching for Bagon took up most of the afternoon. The thick grass was teaming with pokemon, just like it on Route 2, but with only Emilia using her pokemon to keep the wild pokemon away. She insisted upon it as she didn’t want a Salamence to decide it should test Cashe and Lindon to see if they were better trainers for its Bagon.
Cashe initially thought the search would be easy, after all, how could a dragon hide in five foot tall grass? Unfortunately for him, it turned out the pokemon anime was wildly inaccurate in their depiction of Salamence, and the ferocious pokemon only stood about five feet tall in reality. That would still make it an enormous animal, and Cashe didn’t even want to think about the damage a five foot lizard could cause, even without pokemon abilities, but it was a far cry from the towering figure portrayed on screen.
They worked their way carefully through the grass, moving in a grid search pattern, much like search and rescue did when trying to find lost travelers. Luckily, they did not have to cover the entirety of the grassy field, only the far end, near a towering cliff that stretched out overhead.
It took a while, but eventually they found promising signs. Large areas of grass trampled flat from something heavy, huge patches of ground ripped away to reveal the soil underneath, and most telling of all, rents in the ground and stones made by a powerful pair of claws.
With each sign, Emilia became more excited, pushing through the grass a little faster, moving with a little more urgency. She was nearly hacking away at the grass with her arms in her haste when a low, keening roar rose from the face of the towering cliffs ahead of them. Emilia broke into a sprint and Cashe took off after her. After a few dozen steps he stumbled through the brush and into a small clearing.
They were right up against the cliff, under a large overhang of rock. A small cave sat in front of him dark and shadowed by the setting sun. The clearing was covered in signs of Salamence activity and in the shadow of the cave Cashe was sure he saw the flicker of movement.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here? It looks like even out in the boonies I can’t keep you away from me. But that’s women, hey Cashe? Always chasing after something better.”
Cashe turned. The voice was confident past the point of arrogance and familiar. It was coming from a handsome young man standing in the clearing. He had a relaxed posture and spiky blond hair. He was wearing board shorts and flip flops, a tight black shirt that emphasized his physique and a pair of dark, black sunglasses.
*****