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“Naomi… nevermind,” Kid can swear if she wants. Okay, big steel grass pokemon right? “Tesla, Electroweb it!”

My lightning bug shoots out a web of red sparks that barely snags one of the spike mace vines before it could smash Scolipede. The sparks fissile with no effect.

Watts shouts, “Not electric moves Kurt! Burn it Citro!”

Oops, but metal conducts… I need a cheat sheet.

“Right!” Green boy points forward, “Incinerate it Salazzle!”

Caustic purple flames spray out from the fire breathing lizard.

Every piece of green nearby ignites as Ferrothorn screeches and Rapid Spins right through the gout of fire. Salazzle and Citro nearly take the giant chestnut to the face, one of the flails puts a nasty cut in our lizard's tail.

This thing is definitely stronger, even Jane’s onix would get wrecked.

Jane tosses a ball out, Marowak appears, “Flame Wheel!”

Burning bone club spins to block Ferrothorn’s series of furious Wood Hammers. Marowak looks great for a moment before the Ferrothorn grunts in that grinding sound. All three thorn flails smash forward, sending Marowak sailing a dozen feet back.

Suddenly a vine the size of a palm tree trunk slams between us and the wild pokemon. Ferrothorn’s vines are pinned to the ground, try as it might, it can’t break free.

Flute tones drift out from somewhere in the atrium.

Citro points up at one of the trees, “There!”

A plant man, Gallade, stands on a high branch playing a gentle song on a bamboo flute. Motes of vibrant green energy drift down like fireflies. Stray flames gently die out and Ferrothorn visibly relaxes.

Ending his song, Gallade holds up one finger with a stern expression before teleporting away in a swirl of leaves.

The massive vine withdraws into the underbrush.

Ferrothorn huffs in our direction before scooting back into the underbrush. Something to the effect of ‘you got lucky this time, punks’ I’m sure.

Naomi is the first to break the silence while bowing in the direction of the retreating vine, “Thank you Mawbelle! We’ll follow the rules and be gone soon.”

I give a short bow just to be safe, Citro and Jane follow suit.

“Fire pokemon away Kids. Were staying on the path with no exception. This is clearly an area over our heads… Glados, give me a reason to continue or we’re turning around now.”

After a moment of everyone looking at the phone in Citro’s Hand, “I’ve found a Pokkit post with a drawn map of the Greenhouse from two years ago. A section on the north side has items useful for exploring the regions of Mt Chimney’s desolation.”

Naomi leaps on that, “Rawst Berries?”

“Correct, as well as Occa Berries, Maranga Berries and other herbs. Another location has been rumored to grow Silver Nanab Berries.”

Nanab? Banana?

Princess whirls towards me so fast I half think she’ll fall over. Crazier still, Jane is right beside her.

““Please Kurt!””

“I take it you want the banan… Nanab things?”

Watts shows me a pic of what is clearly a banana, “It's beyond anything my favorite flavor!”

Citro tilts his head, “Isn’t it a mild psychedelic?”

Jane winks at the kid, “And it's self fermenting.”

So it's a weed edible and moonshine that goes down sweet and smooth as a fruit. Popularity earned I guess.

“Fine, let's find the berries to die for.”

That shocks them back to reality a bit.

Citro looks at the map, “It can’t be that hard.”

I can only arch a brow at this runt jinxing us before turning to Jane, “keep your team balled unless we have to make a break for it.” Back to Citro, “Same to you. Naomi,” Looking at her Ninja weasel, “Now’s a good time to show off how far Mienfoo’s Detect has come.”

We bring the active Pokémon count down to two including my Galvantula.

The path winds from one overgrown planter bed to the next. Despite years of semi abandonment, all of the plants have flourished as best we can tell. Every turn on the trail reveals a stunning flower or dangerous Pokémon.

Heading towards the rumored Nanab berries, we give a gloom a wide berth as it shuffles down the path in the opposite direction. Jane smacks my arm, whispering, “Kurt!”

She’s pointing at a half destroyed tennis shoe poking up from the mulch.

“Alright,” my mouth feels dry as I step over and kick it over a little, nothing else is revealed, “Maybe someone lost it running for their life?”

Just a harmless joke to ease the tension. Jane and Naomi scowl.

Citro just points up, “Well they didn’t make it far.”

Hanging in the vines wrapped around a tree above us, a body. Male, in a shredded green tracksuit. Brown hair fallen out in clumps, skin pulled tight against the bones like a deflated balloon. Face, locked in a permanent scream.

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Shit.

I cover Naomi’s eyes and turn her away. “Let's go, back the other way,” Jane and Citro can’t look away, “Move!”

Jane startles and grabs the boy. We backtrack to the last split in the path while Tesla keeps eyes behind us.

The redhead seems to be trying to keep as far from touching anything green as possible while Citro just plops down on the brick path. I let go of Naomi and turn her towards me.

“Watts, call the rangers.”

Her movements feels mechanical as she mods and pulls out her tablet, tapping her headset on.

“This is Naomi Wattson, my team is in The Greenhouse. We found a body. I’m sending you the exact location… We’re fine … ish. At the moment… I think he was Drained to death.”

“Hey,” I tap her head, unfortunately causing her to flinch, “they can figure that out for themselves. Tell them we’re leaving.”

Just cause we scurried back a few dozen yards doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods…

Watts nods, “We’re heading for the exit now… okay, thank you.”

She flips back her headset around her neck, “A teleporter will be here in ten minutes. We can meet them out front.”

I pull the boy up to his feet, “Let's go then.”

A dry heave pulls my attention to Jane, facing away from us but refused to move from the middle of the path. Equidistant from the plants on either side.

Naomi steps forward, “We can leave Jane.”

Her voice is hoarse as she spits up some bile, “The burn berries?”

Watts just rubs her back, “I’ll pay for a delivery to the Pokémon Center tonight. We don’t have to do it the hard way today.”

I spot the boy looking at a trio of Bellsprout crossing the other fork in the trail. Tesla scuttles between him and the vine pokemon, herding him along with the group.

Elbowing him while watching Mienfoo hop down from Watt’s shoulders and scout a head cautiously.

“What's on your mind Boy.”

He quirks a brow at being called Boy, “I think… I wouldn’t mind trying to become a plant type master.”

Eyeing the lime green hair, “Who would ever guess?”

Rolling his eyes, “Ya ya, I know. They’re not even that rare. My mom was a Plant Specialist, Trial Captain and everything. Until she decided she liked cooking and drinking more.”

“Alright drama boy,” he scowls, I continue, “From what I understand you’ve got a least a decade or two of focused study and training before anyone thinks of calling you a master.”

Naomi looks over her shoulder from beside Jane, “You can ask the Fallarbor Gymleader about it. I saw you talking to Wally at the school too.”

Ahead, Meinfoo squeaks at something beside the trail we must have missed the first time. Jane points to a half buried item just beneath a fern growing along an algae filled water feature, “A pokeball.”

Before the little weasel can run up to grab it, Glados speaks up, “Amoonguss, the Mushroom Pokemon. This carnivorous pokemon prefers to remain stationary near discarded pokeballs in order to lure prey.”

Sure enough, just behind the fern is a mushroom just over my knee in height. Not sure how we missed it the first time with its red and white coloring but maybe it was somewhere else.

Naomi calls out to her pokemon, “Leave it Froosh. Even the Pokeball is probably a Foonguss.”

“Arceus,” Jane shudders, “everything in this place is out to kill you.”

Glancing at the phone in Citro’s hand, “Glados, next time, ask before messing with the navigation.”

“I’m sorry.” Her tone is clearly sad.

Citro smiles, “I’m sure it’ll work out better next time Glados. You can look up all sorts of things in the areas approaching Lavaridge. I still need to catch another pokemon for battles, like a Rock type. I think Kurt wanted a Fire type too.”

Naomi interjects, “Maybe not a Rock type Citro. Most of the gyms we have left will have advantage on you.”

“What do you recommend then?” He starts flipping through his pokedex app.

Jane has an answer, happy to think of something else I’m sure, “Steel if you can, Fighting or Dark as well. Your current team should hold up for Lavaridge and Fallarbor.”

Naomi walks backwards, “It's Mt. Pyre and Dewford that will cause you trouble now. You’ll probably be alright for Sootopolis.”

Froosh squeaks again, Naomi nearly trips spinning back around. She’s up ahead at another fork in the paths, snarling at something we can’t see through the plants.

A bass male voice chuckles, “We’ll you’re a rare sight. Even a Shiny.”

I call forward, “Hello?”

We pass a tree to see who we’ve come across, a portly fellow with a bushy black beard and red checkered flannel.

He smiles down at Froosh, “Ah, I see your Trainers have joined us,” Waving at us, “Hello there, I’m Mitch, how are you folk doing today? A bit young to brave the Greenhouse aren’t ya?”

I take it this isn't the ranger we’re supposed to meet, “Could be better, found some poor guy back that way fell victim to the plants. On our way to meet the rangers out front.”

Genuine surprise seems to flash in his eyes, he sighs, “People just don’t give Grass types the respect they deserve. I’m a Fire specialist myself, fortunately most trainers have a healthy fear of getting burned.”

Noticing his heavy boots, “Would have guessed you were a hiker myself.”

Another chuckle, “I do have a membership with the Hiker Guild. I’m from Lavaridge, how about y'all. Shall we get moving towards the exit by the way? Wouldn’t want you to keep the rangers waiting on my account.”

We carry on, the man’s Torkoal peeks out from behind his legs as he keeps pace.

“The kids are from Mauville, I’m from Rustburo. Glad to see your Torkoal, the brats at the school don’t give them much credit either.”

He bristles a bit, “They’ve never had to rescue anyone from a Torkoal nest.”

Jane nods, starting to relax a little, “Leader Roxy said the same thing.”

“Well she’s a smart lady,” the man certainly gives off jolly vibes, “I don't think anyone in Hoenn can dispute that.”

My Tesla is doing everything she can to keep me between her and the fire pokemon. I return her to her ball while asking Mitch, “So what brings a fire specialist to the Greenhouse?”

“Oh just giving some of my younger pokemon a training day and collecting berries. Occasionally I luck out and find a Nanab bushel, those are great for calming down the big rock types on the mountain. Persim Berries are a must if you're exploring some of the caves. First you get all turned about by the Zubat and then you’re wandering in the dark for days.”

We reach the front entrance and Mitch pulls out a red pokeball, a Solrock appears, only this one is double the size of any I’ve seen previously. It radiates heat like a furnace on full blast.

Mitch grins looking at us, “I love seeing everyone’s first time meeting my Mega Solrock. Well, hope your travels fare a bit more fun.”

In a flash of flames he vanished, teleported away.

With the jolly man gone we’re now stuck waiting by the jeep for the ranger.

After a few minutes Naomi speaks up, “Um, I was curious, but there is no one registered to the Hiker’s guild with a Mega Solrock. In fact, the only known Mega Solrock in Hoenn belongs to the wanted criminal Tabitha, formerly of the Devon Corp and Team Magma.”

Glancing at the picture on her tablet we see a younger, clean shaven version of ‘Mitch’ on a wanted post for the Hoenn Pokemon League.

“Guess we have one more thing to tell the rangers.”

When they do show up, it's a woman appearing in a flash of flames that sets us all on edge. She seems confused at our reaction to her arrival on her Arcanine.

Eventually, reports are filled out, and we finally make it to the red stucco pokemon center on the edge of the Valley of Steel. Only an hour before sunset, the strange stone pillars seen in the distance are gorgeous in the evening light.

The attendant at the counter waves us over, “Are one of you Kurt?” At my nod he hands me a postcard, “This arrived earlier in our mail box.”

It’s addressed to ‘Kurt, arriving today at the valley of steel pokemon center.”

Pictured is a painting of Mt Chimney. On the back is a short message. “Time is up. Factors have changed, leave the kids. Happy Hunting, Jack.” with a drawing of a top hat.

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