Cashe wiped sweat and seawater from his brow. Finding a ‘smart’ Slowpoke was proving more difficult than either Lindon or Cashe initially anticipated. The pokemon were plentiful on the coast, drifting through the shallow Alolan water and snacking on whatever happened to drift into their mouths, but the lifestyle was not exactly stimulating for the lazy pokemon.
Because of this, Cashe suggested they move inland, focusing on the swampy inlets around the city instead of searching directly on the coasts.
“It might mean they actually have to search for food,” Cashe explained to Lindon, “There will still be plenty of things to eat, but the water is murkier and it has more debris in it, so they might actually have to do something beside laying around.”
Lindon agreed, and so now the pair were wading through the murky marshland, searching for Slowpoke. They were less common - Cashe saw many more Yanma, Wooper, and Poliwag than he did Slowpoke, but he still saw some. Just like the coast, the inlet was very safe. Excluding Slowpoke, all the pokemon he saw gave them a wide berth, none acting aggressively or even approaching when he and Lindon moved through the water.
The Slowpoke, of course, paid them no mind until they had administered a firm slap, at which point they took several seconds before moving in slight discomfort. Still, the ‘smartest’ Slowpoke they found reacted to pain after a lengthy six seconds, none meeting Lindon’s stringent requirements.
Cashe pulled himself from the water, resting on a stump as he listened to the cries of pokemon echo throughout the forested swamp. Lindon followed him a moment later, laying on top of a flat log.
“You know,” Cashe said, removing his packed lunch from his backpack and handing Lindon his share, “For saying their own name all the time, it sure is hard to tell what pokemon are around.”
Lindon took his sandwich and nodded, listening to the cacophony of pokemon cries that came from the swamp as he took a bite.
“Why do you want a Slowpoke again?” Cashe said, frowning at the swamp. The heat and humidity of the area left him sticky and exhausted after only half a day of searching. “I know you have the Mega Stone but that doesn’t mean you need to get a pokemon for it right away.” He nodded to a bit of dry land in the middle of the inlet, “Look, there’s a Crabrawler right there. That’s another pokemon, right? Go catch that.”
Lindon shook his head, “I have a plan for my team. Crabrawler doesn’t learn Trick Room. Slowpoke does.”
Cashe raised his eyebrows at Lindon, “A Trick Room team, eh? Good for you.”
Lindon’s eyes sparkled at the praise, “You don’t think it will be too tough for me?”
“I’ve heard Trick Room teams are hard to use, but I have no doubt you can do it,” Cashe aid, “It just means a lot of training and thought need to go into your battle plans. If that’s what you want to do, I’m sure you will be able to figure it out. Plus you kind of already have the team for it.”
Lindon nodded, grinning, “When I got Goomy I realized I had two really slow pokemon and also a Slowbronite, it just clicked.”
“It’s a good idea,” Cashe said, “And it will give you an advantage against most other trainers. Not many people have a plan for when their opponent’s slow pokemon are suddenly fast.”
“My dad always says he hates Trick Room teams the most,” Lindon admitted, “He has a really fast team and Trick Room makes them really slow. He relies on his pokemon being faster than everyone else’s to win his matches, so when it’s switched he has a really hard time.”
“Looking to beat your old man?” Cashe said.
“And everyone else,” Lindon nodded.
“Well you won't be able to do that without a Slowpoke then,” Cashe said, finishing his sandwich and standing back up. He pointed further into the inlet. Through the trees and the brush, wings flapped and a loud cry rang out.
“Is that a Fearow?” Lindon said, “That’s not a Slowpoke.”
“Fearow are strong,” Cashe said, “If a Slowpoke is living near a Fearow, it might have to be a bit smarter than the rest.”
Lindon’s eyes lit up,” You think we can find one over there?”
“Maybe.” Cashe said, “But we will have to be careful. Stronger pokemon mean a more dangerous environment. Fearow might fly away whenever they see people, but that doesn’t mean all pokemon will.”
Lindon nodded seriously, “I’ll be careful.”
Cashe took him at his word and led the way, moving cautiously through the swamp as they approached the area where they had spotted the Fearow. It was slow going. The swamp did not have many places to safely place a foot, and he also was keeping an eye out for any pokemon that might be dangerous and unafraid of their approach, like Ekans. At one point, he thought he saw a group of Clauncher flitting through the murky waters. He froze, making sure they had all passed before proceeding.
The warm water of the swamp only made the journey worse, the dirty liquid staining his shorts and sticking to his skin. It kept him cool, mostly, but the humidity of the swamp was making it hard to breathe. Things were worse for Lindon. When they had to step through deep parts of the swamp, the water came up to Cashe’s waist, but to Lindon’s shoulders. It was almost so bad that he needed to swim.
Finally, the swamp became shallow, and the ground firmed up beneath their feet. Cashe pulled himself out of the dark waters, using branches to stabilize himself as he stepped onto a firm island of land. He could see the Fearow’s nest now. It had spotted their approach and was eyeing them warily, its wing half unfurled, ready to take flight. Cashe paid it close attention, not wanting to be caught off guard, but Lindon spotted something else.
“Look,” he whispered, pointing to the other side of the small piece of land, “It’s a Quagsire.”
Cashe peeled his eyes off of the Fearow. On the other side of the dry land, a small pool of water lay. A Quagsire was floating in it, bobbing lazily in place. The pokemon was long and blue, looking more like an overgrown tadpole with short legs than anything else. It had a happy expression on its face as it chewed on something in its mouth. Something pink.
“Is that a Slowpoke tail?” Cashe whispered back, “Is it still attached to a Slowpoke?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I think so,” Lindon said, creeping over the ridge of land and towards the pokemon. Cashe followed him, reaching for Ivysaur’s pokeball, just in case. Lindon did the same, reaching for Magnemite’s. He also reached for a free pokeball.
Cashe pulled himself through the underbrush of the swamp, plants scraping at his bare legs. In front of him, Lindon was poking his head out from behind a tree, watching the Quagsire carefully.
“It’s a Slowpoke,” Lindon’s whisper was excited, “And look! He’s reacting almost instantly every time Quagsire bites his tail.”
Cashe looked. There was indeed a dopey pink pokemon floating indifferently in the small pool of water. It was chewing on a long piece of wet bark as the Quagsire chewed on its tail. With each new nibble, Slowpoke turned its head back at the Quagsire. ‘Almost instantly’ was a bit of hyperbole on Lindon’s part. By Cashe’s count, it still took a couple of seconds, but it was worlds better than any other Slowpoke they had found thus far.
“That’s a lot better than before. Are you going to catch it?” Cashe said with a small frown. Slowpoke was reacting to being chewed on quite quickly, however, he still turned his head back to his bark immediately after, either uncaring or simply forgetting that there was a pokemon munching on its tail.
“I’m going to catch it,” Lindon said, stepping around the tree to get a clear line for his pokeball.
“Don’t hit the Quagsire,” Cashe whispered, “I don’t think it will get caught by just a pokeball.”
Lindon nodded, taking careful aim. He pressed the button on the pokeball several times and tossed it out.
His throw was true. The pokeball sailed through the air and hit Slowpoke directly, bouncing off his head and cracking open. Slowpoke disappeared into a flash of light, entering the pokeball, where it fell into the shallow water. The ball didn’t even rock back and forth before it flashed in confirmation of the capture. Slowpoke had not resisted the catch at all.
“Yes!” Lindon shouted, jumping into the open and pumping a fist in the air, doing a celebratory dance in the middle of the swamp.
“Quag?” Quagsire blinked several times in surprise, both at the disappearance of its tasty treat and at the sudden, startling appearance of a stranger.
At the same time, Fearow reacted to Lindon’s shouting, crying out in fright and rage, “Fearow! Fearow!” Cashe heard the loud thumping of its wings as the large bird pokemon took flight.
“Quagsire!” Quagsire reared up to its full height, standing as tall as Lindon, facing the boy with a look of affronted rage born from its disappearing snack.
Lindon balked at the sudden response from the pokemon, freezing in place.
“Shit,” Cashe threw Ivysaur's pokeball forward and the large seed pokemon emerged, ready for a fight. “Lindon, bring out Magnemite and deal with the Fearow! I ‘ll handle Quagsire.”
Cashe’s sharp voice snapped Lindon out of his daze and he tossed out Magnemite’s ball, the little steel magnet pokemon bobbing in the air.
“Razor Leaf!” Cashe shouted as the Quagsire cried again. Ivysaur launched a storm of golden leaves at the Quagsire before it could do anything, the water fish pokemon crying out in pain as the super effective attack landed.
Cashe caught a similar cry, and the sound of something hard striking steel from Lindon’s battle, but he kept his eye on Quagsire. He would trust Lindon to take care of himself.
“Thunder Wave!” Lindon Shouted, “Thunder Shock!”
“Vine Whip,” Cashe said, just as Quagsire was beginning to recover. Ivysaur lashed out with its four vines, all of them slamming home into the Quagsire and causing it to retreat into the water of the swamp with another loud cry.
Cashe watched the water, keeping an eye out to make sure it did not reemerge for a sneak attack, but it looked like it had given up. He heard another clash from behind him and Lindon cried out in shock, Cashe turned, but was blinded by a sudden flash of piercing light.
He felt a surge of panic that something had gone terribly wrong before he realized what was happening. Magnemite was evolving.
Fighting through the entire True Rookie Tournament by himself must have pushed Magnemite to the very edge of evolution. With the battle against Fearow it was able to push past its limits and force itself the rest of the way. The dim swamp was suddenly bathed in light as Magnemite evolved into Magneton.
Magneton had the appearance of three Magnemite forged together at their base. It hovered in the air, its presence uncomfortable so close, like standing next to an enormous electric generator or magnet. Cashe felt the hair on his arms raise as the pokemon’s evolution finished, Magneton generating some sort of static field around it.
Fearow was already down, twitching in paralysis in the muddy swamp bank. Magneton made a strange, digitized, shrieking cry as it came into being, hovering menacingly over its defeated opponent.
“Magnemite! You evolved!” Lindon shouted out again. Magneton whirred and floated over to him, causing Lindon to flinch as it got close. “Magneton, there’s something going on with your electricity,” Lindon complained, hugging the pokemon. “It’s making me feel weird.”
Magneton bleeped something and the strange field around it disappeared.
Cashe walked over to the pool where Slowpoke’s pokeball was floating. He picked it up, keeping a careful eye on the water in case Quagsire was still lurking down there and tossed Lindon the pokeball.
“Congrats, Lindon,” Cashe said, “Now let’s get out of here before anything else shows up.”
***
Emilia lay on her sister’s bed. Elise sat at her feet, a cup of tea in her hands. She was dressed now, out of the bath and in a robe, a towel wrapped around her hair.
“So Apollo didn’t come,” Elise said.
Emilia nodded, “I asked him not to.”
Elise frowned, “Why?”
“Things were awkward. I wanted some space, just for a little bit.” Emilia bit her lip, “He thought it was a good idea.”
“So, you’re not exactly a happy couple.” Elise said, taking a sip of her tea.
“We’re not a couple,” Emilia’s voice was small. She pulled a pillow over her face, “He has a wife.”
“What was that?” Elise said, “The pillow is muffling you. I thought you said-”
Emilia pulled the pillow off her face and tossed it to the ground. “He has a wife.” Emilia said, hiding her face in her hands.
“What?” Elise nearly dropped her tea, “Emilia, did you know?”
“Yes,” Emilia shook her head as Elise gaped, “Don’t look at me like that, it's complicated.”
Elise set her face into a carefully neutral position, “How is it complicated?”
“She’s dead. Or she may as well be. He’ll never see her again, and he knows it.”
Elise frowned deeply, “She may as well be dead? What does that mean?”
“He’s from another universe.” Emilia said, rolling over to bury her face in the mattress.
Elise raised her eyebrows and took a long sip of her tea, “Fucking pokemon,” she sighed.
Emilia murmured in agreement.
“Mom didn’t mention anything,” Elise said, scooting across her bed to lean against the headboard, “She only said that he was new to pokemon. Any idea which one was responsible for it?”
“Jirachi,” Emilia muttered.
Elise scowled, “It’s causing all sorts of trouble.”
“What?” Emilia flipped around to look up at her sister.
“You didn’t hear? I guess that makes sense, you just got off the cruise,” Elise took another sip of her tea, “Jirachi granted a wish here. On Akala Island. There’s an enormous tree that wasn’t there before. A couple of scientists from Mossdeep say it's Jirachi, back from its slumber. I’ve been dealing with it for a couple of days now.”
“Oh.” Emilia flipped back over.
Elise patted her sister’s back, “So Apollo lost his wife around three months ago and you decided to kiss him. He wasn’t happy about that, I take it?”
“He said he wasn’t ready to even consider having a relationship,” Emilia muttered.
“That’s not so bad,” Elise said, “He’s just telling you to wait and see.”
“I know,” Emilia whimpered, “But it still feels bad.”
*****