Chapter Sixty-Six - Graffiti

The first thing they did on arriving in Goldenrod should have been to find the nearest pokemon centre and book a room, but instead they stood by the edge of the city and gawked.

Well, no, Jazz didn't gawk. She'd seen Goldenrod before. Once or twice as a kid with her family, and more recently on her own aborted journey. Actually, this was where it had ended, but she preferred not to think about it. So she just watched as Broccoli stared at all of the buildings with her mouth agape.

"Never seen a skyscraper before?" she asked.

"Huh?" Broccoli asked. "Oh, yeah, of course I have. A few times in real life, and I've seen movies of New York and Tokyo. But it has been a while."

"New York, Tokyo?" Tabitha asked.

"Big cities, I meant," Broccoli said. "These aren't the biggest buildings I've seen, of course. That's probably the Wall."

"I imagine that's a wall?" Jazz asked. They were taking their time heading into the city. Goldenrod wasn't as walkable as Violet City, but there were still wide roads where only bikes and small lorries were allowed. A few carts, modern looking ones, were being pulled by some tauros to carry heavier things.

"It's a wall, yeah. It crosses an entire... kind of land bridge between two continents. It's about as tall as one of these skyscrapers. There's a city built way up at the top of the wall too."

Jazz blinked. That sounded... very unlikely. Then again, Broccoli did claim she was from another world, and she did have strange almost magical abilities. Maybe the world she was from had people talented in building giant walls for all Jazz knew.

"That's neat," Jazz said.

"The logistics of such a thing seem improbable," Tabitha said.

"I was amazed when I saw it too!" Broccoli said. "We had to fly over it, which was neat! There's a lot of strange wind around something so big."

They were almost to the spot where Jazz remembered a pokemon centre being when something caught her eye. A large splash of purple paint. It was spray-paint, crudely applied to the side of a little hump of a building that marked the location of one of the city's metro exits. "One second, girls," Jazz said as she walked over.

A man in a jumpsuit was washing the graffiti off with the help of a wartortle and two machamps wielding buckets and mops.

"What is it?" Broccoli asked as she caught up.

"I don't know," Jazz said. Half the painting was gone, but she thought she recognized part of it. There were symbols for every type out there. Poison, Water, Fire and so on. These symbols were not exactly standardized. They changed from company to company, from city to city, but generally they matched at least a little.

There were only so many ways to abstract the concept of 'Fire-type' into a small, simple to read image, after all.

Poison-type's iconography tended to change a fair bit. A skull, a skull with crossed bones, some vague goopy stuff. Usually it was done in purples or pinks, which she at least appreciated.

The paint had faded due to scrubbing, but there was enough to tell that there had been a skull and some bones. "Sir," Broccoli asked. "What was on there?"

"Some brats that hang out in the metro like to paint their 'mark' on things," the man said. "It's one thing to deface ads, it's another to splash their paint on clean walls. If they were at least halfway decent artists it might liven the place up a bit."

"What did the sign say?" Jazz asked. There was text there, but too much was missing for it to be legible.

"Kids, I can't remember that," he said.

"If you remember, I'll clean the wall off for you," Broccoli said.

The man considered, then shrugged. "Tunnel Ekans Rule," he said. "Gang calls themselves the Arboks." He pulled a bucket over and dropped it in front of Broccoli, soapy water splashing everywhere. "Now, get cleaning, missy."

"Huh, but I'm done?" Broccoli said.

Jazz enjoyed the man, and his pokemon's, double-take as they stared at the pristine wall. It was so clean it literally sparkled. Actually, it might have been too clean, as it made the rest of the building and sidewalk—neither of which were too messy—look downright filthy in comparison.

Jazz turned and headed off, but not before grabbing Broccoli and tugging her along. They didn't need to be questioned. "Do you know them?" Broccoli asked.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"I don't," Jazz said. "But I think I feel a certain kinship with any group that thinks that Poison-types are worth their while. I wouldn't mind seeing what they're like."

"That could be fun! I've never joined a gang before."

"It's not joining a gang," Jazz said as they rejoined Tabitha.

"I was warned against affiliating with criminal elements," Tabitha said. "It would be bad for my family's reputation, and possibly my health and well-being as well."

Jazz rolled her eyes so hard they might have popped out of her skull. Why did her.. friends have such creative interpretations of anything she said? "Again, not joining a gang, just checking something out. Pokemon centre first, then we can take a walk around? We might want to go check out the gym too. At least get an idea of where it is."

"Should we watch a fight?" Broccoli asked.

"I wouldn't mind spectating a battle," Tabitha said. "Though I think if this is to be my second badge, it still won't be too much of an obstacle. There is a park to the north. I'd like to visit it. According to my research my next King may be found in the wilds there."

"Oh, a day out at the park could be nice," Broccoli said.

Jazz grumbled. If she didn't get ahead of these two... "We're making a schedule," she said. "Tonight, first thing we're doing before we eat, even."

"Can't we schedule while eating?" Broccoli asked.

"Fine! We schedule while eating, whatever. But we are getting it done. We're on a shorter timeline than any of us want, and we have a lot of catching up to do still. The third badge battle shouldn't be overly difficult, but I've heard... things about the local gym leader."

"What type is she?" Broccoli asked.

"Normal," Tabitha replied. "Which isn't to be underestimated. It's one of the most populous types of pokemon, and their movepool is quite large."

"Whitney—that's the gym leader's name—has a well-earned reputation as a newbie-breaker," Jazz said. "Her team's tough. They're hard to beat just by bashing your head against the wall. Ghost-types are immune, but she has ways around that, otherwise? Unless you have a Fighting-type team, you just have to be real clever or prepare to slug it out."

"Ma?" Oran said. She pointed to herself with a little paw. "Marill, ma rill rill!" The little marill threw a few punches in the air ahead of her. Choco scoffed, and for a moment Jazz suspected they were about to start arguing, again, but Broccoli calmed them down.

"I guess so. The Way of the Mystic Bun isn't just a martial art. I mean, it is, but it's not so much about hitting hard and such as it is about incorporating magical abilities into your hits. But I'm sure we can practice and figure things out for you, Oran!"

The pokemon cheered, and then they were off, headed for the pokemon centre. Jazz didn't let the graffiti slip from her mind, though. She would be keeping an eye out.

The Goldenrod City pokemon centre was a sprawling building that was larger than any other pokemon centre Jazz had ever been to.

It was two floors, with a huge atrium filled with seats and couches and tables, a reception desk with a big line, and a set of escalators to either side of it. The ground floor was for pokemon treatment, the second for human stuff.

Broccoli was the one who got them a room. They were lucky that one was even available. A quick check of the computer terminal in the corner told Jazz that it was a busy season for the city and a passing conversation with a pair of Nurse Joys confirmed it. The city was full of trainers who'd gotten their fourth badge already and were here to tackle Whitney on the fifth or sixth badge level.

"At least," she said as she slipped into their room. The rooms were slightly larger than most, with four beds apiece and a small washroom of their own. "We'll be able to see a higher-tier of battle when we do visit the gym. Might be a good way to see how far we have to go."

"Seeing more experienced trainers is an excellent way to improve," Tabitha said with a nod. "I hope my staying in the room isn't an issue?"

"Nah, of course not!" Broccoli said. She hopped to her feet from the top bunk, her pokemon following her down without any fear of the high fall. "Food? And then Jazz can do her planning!"

"Sure," Jazz said. She was looking forward to this part. She was a pragmatic sorta girl, already ready to get into a scuffle, but she was even more ready to draw up a nice schedule.

***