Chapter 42: Shipwrecked
“By Arceus! We’re late!” said Topaz.
“Yep! Sorry Ceailean and Marie, we gotta head down before the pop up carnival closes!” said Falt, hurriedly putting on his bag. “Heard there was a shooting gallery there, so of course I’m gonna have Topaz clear it out! Hopefully they have some cool stuff I can have!”
“Nope! You gonna have to pay me for those tries!” said Topaz, running out the door.
Falt sprinted after her. “Oh that’s so not cool dude!” The doors slid closed behind them. Ceailean and Marie are left at their table, slightly astonished.
“Man, we spent so much time talking about our stories that we never heard theirs.” said Marie, slightly disappointed.
“You think they actually saw us fighting Solga?” asked Ceailean.
“Probably, but the vine tentacles are new to us though.”
“Dude was a slimy trickster, for all we know he actually could’ve had some and we never noticed.” said Ceailean.
Marie chuckled. “I guess he could’ve.” Her expression then turned serious. “Talking about slimy though.” Marie took out Fennekin’s pokeball and released it on top of the table. “Fennekin? Are you alright?” Fennekin sighed and nodded its head slightly.
“That guy was really weird. Kade, I don’t think I wanna meet any more rich people after something like that.” said Ceailean.
“Do… you wanna talk about it, Fennekin?” Fennekin didn’t answer, instead opting to turn around and bury its head into Marie’s chest. “Oh, it was that bad huh?” Marie wrapped her arms around Fennekin and cradled it. “It must’ve been so scary for you.” Fennekin nodded. Marie then realized something. “Fennekin, back when we had the race for Solosis. Did something like this happen too?”
“Huh?” asked Ceailean.
“You didn’t notice, C. But Fennekin was feeling really down after that race. At first I thought it was because we lost, but I think something else happened during it.” Marie stroked her hand through Fennekin’s fur. “I ask again, Fennekin. Did something like this happen in the race?” Fennekin hesitated for a moment before nodding against Marie’s body. “Oh no…”
“I think we could guess why.” said Ceailean.
“Huh?”
“It’s a shiny, Marie. That alone makes it quite sought after.”
“And I looked at some shiny top ten’s and tier lists on the internet. I see Fennekin and its evolutions consistently make it pretty high.” said Marie. Fennekin looked up at Ceailean, its expression worryful.
“Yeah. And consider the fact of who Fennekin belongs to. A couple of 2 nobody kids who collectors think they can strongarm into making deals. I expect to see a lot more of this in the future.” Fennekin sighed. It was not looking forward to the future ahead.
Marie then held it in front of her face. “Look at me, Fennekin!” Fennekin looked at her confused. “Everything’s gonna be okay. You may be different, but being a different color isn’t gonna change who you are inside. You’re strong, you’re competitive, and you care so much about your friends. You were the one that took action and tried to save your friends. And you know what, I would’ve taken you along with me whether or not you were shiny. That headstrong attitude and willingness to help others is why I absolutely adore you Fennekin. You’re so cool!”
Fennekin’s lip quivered and tears started to form in its eyes. “So you know what? Let’s show everyone what for! It’s time people saw you for who you really are! Use that Fennekin get ‘em attitude to show people a pokemon they have to respect, regardless of what you look like!”
Fennekin was stunned for a moment. But it smiled and blinked the tears away. It took a deep breath and huffed out a huge amount of embers out of its ears. “Yeah! There you go!” Marie and Fennekin laughed with each other while Ceailean watched with a smile. But then he noticed something. Noibat, Solosis, and Scolipede were off doing their own things around the pokemon center.
“Where’s Scorbunny?” he asked. Marie and Fennekin looked around, their heads seemingly moving the same way in unison.
“Yeah, where is it?” she asked.
“I swear, if both of us lose track of both our fire starters, I’m gonna flip.”
“Well, at least you won’t track of yours because of that weirdo Kade.”
“Still need to find it regardless. Noibat? Have you seen Scorbunny anywhere?” Noibat shook its head, hanging off the ceiling upside down. “Do you think you can find it?” Noibat closed its eyes and listened. It heard Scorbunny’s muffled voice and the sound of another it was interacting with. It looked to the side, and its jaw fell to the ceiling.
“What is it, Noibat?” asked Marie. Noibat dropped down and hurriedly flew out the pokemon center’s back door.
Ceailean and Marie looked at each other. “Uh oh.” They both scooted out of the booth seat and went outside to see what was going on. Noibat shouted in surprise, gaining the attention of the two. They ran over to see Noibat perched on a planter, looking in complete disbelief.
Scorbunny and its new green pokemon friend sat across from each other in the dirt. Both were covered in dirt, and they both wore accessories made from uprooted flowers. Scorbunny had a flower crown on its head wrapped around its ears. And the green Pokémon had a band of flowers around its left hair-like appendage. The two looked over, wondering what all the commotion was about.
“Scorbunny! What the heck?!” said Ceailean. Scorbunny poked the tips of its paws together, unsure and genuinely confused as to what it did. “I mean I guess you wouldn’t know, but these flowers belong to the pokemon center. Not for pulling out like wild ones.” Scorbunny was then scared stiff. The green Pokémon chuckled in its misfortune.
“Y-Yeah! You could get in trouble for stuff like that!” said Marie, taking out her pokédex and taking as many pictures from as many angles as she could.
“Come on, Marie. Don’t let their cuteness get the better of you.” said Ceailean, sneaking in a picture himself when Marie wasn’t looking.
Marie stopped and cleared her throat. “That aside,” she said while crossing her arms, “Why is a Steenee here of all places?”
“A Steenee?”
“The pokemon Scorbunny is having fun with. Usually they’re only found in places like Alola or Galar. But why is one here?”
“Well, I don’t think it's impossible to say that someone might have brought it over here from Galar. Either that, or it’s someone’s Pokémon.”
“I dunno, let’s check.” Marie then gently tossed a pokeball at Steenee’s head. It bounced off with a plastic bonk.
“THAT’S STEALING! NO CATCHING OTHER TRAINERS POKEMON!” yelled an automated voice from Marie’s pokedex. She screamed as soon as she heard it and dropped down to the ground, clasping both her hands over her head.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” she yelled.
Ceailean looked around. There was nobody else outside. “Marie, there’s no one else here. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Really?” Marie said with a muffled voice.
“Yes, now get up.”
Marie then rose. “Oh… okay. But then, what are you doing out here?” Steenee put its arm to its chin and pondered. “Are they inside?” Steenee shook its head no. “Are they running an errand?” No again. “Are you… waiting on them for something?” No once again.
Ceailean then got an idea. “Are you lost?” Steenee pondered for half a second longer before nodding in agreement, pointing to Ceailean to confirm his statement. This drew a suspicious eye from Noibat however. Steenee jumped up to the edge of the planter and looked left and right, shading its eyes with its arm.
“Oh you poor thing.” said Marie. “How about this, why don’t we help you find your trainer.” Steenee looked up to her, its eyes full of hope. “Yes really! We’ll look all around town if we have to!” Steenee jumped and twirled for joy. But mid jump, Marie caught it and held it by her waist. “But first, we need to go inside and apologize to Nurse Joy for the flowers.” Steenee looked down guiltily.
“There should be no need for that.” said a voice. Everyone looked to see that it was Nurse Joy. “They were having so much fun making those little flower crowns, I just couldn’t bring myself to say no. They were so precious.”
“You were watching the whole time?” asked Ceailean.
“Yes, I worked myself to the bone for the last 2 years trying to grow those flowers. But I’m not someone who possesses a green thumb, so when they grew, I was so happy.” Nurse Joy said with a smile.
Ceailean looked back and forth between her and Marie. “So are you sure you’re not mad at us or-”
“I assure you, all is forgiven. It’s lovely to see that my flowers could be made into something so beautiful.” Nurse Joy bent down and gently felt the flower band on Steenee’s head. Scorbunny jumped down and nervously approached Nurse Joy. “It looks good on you as well, Scorbunny.” She bent down and felt Scorbunny’s flower crown. Scorbunny closed its eyes and blushed. Nurse Joy stood back up. “But uh… I do suggest you let me take in your pokemon. As they do seem like they are in dire need of a wash.”
Marie looked down at Steenee. “Oh yeah… I forgot about that.” She gently placed it down and looked at her hands, then her clothes. All were now peppered in dirt. “Aw man.”
“We don’t know who’s pokemon this is though.” said Ceailean. “Can you still take them in knowing that?”
“Of course. Any and all pokemon that have lost their trainer are free to heal up and rest at any pokemon center. We’ll even hold on to them and put out an alert to all mobile devices.”
“Well that’s good.” said Ceailean. “Hey Noibat! You wanna rest up too?” Noibat rejected him from the top of a nearby light pole. “What?! How did you get up there so fast? They won’t give you a bath if you don’t want one.” Noibat asked if he was sure. Ceailean sighed. “It doesn’t like taking baths, something about the shampoo I use on it makes its fur weird or something.”
“Shampoo? Have you been using human hygiene products to wash your pokemon?” asked Nurse Joy.
“Y-Yeah… is that bad?”
“Mmm, let’s just say it’s not ideal. But most brands tend not to work great on pokemon.”
“Oh, that explains it I guess.”
“You learn something new everyday.” said Marie.
“Now come in. Don’t worry about tracking dirt, we’ll clean that up later.”
Everyone started walking inside. But then Steenee remembered something. It told everyone to wait up.
“Huh, what’s up Steenee?” asked Ceailean. Steenee then ran around the corner. It talked to something, trying to encourage something along. The group could barely hear it, but there was a softer, more quiet voice speaking back. The two voices back and forth for a bit before Steenee got fed up and tried to forcibly take whoever was hiding behind the corner out in the open.
The soft voice yelled out in protest. What followed was sounds of struggle. Rolling around in grass, hitting a tree, a vase breaking, a metal pole hitting the ground, whacky punching sound effects, various cartoon noises, a bell chime, a car crashing, a sip of water, then finally a balloon popping.
Ceailean and Marie looked at each other confused. Steenee then poked its head out from the corner. It was out of breath, but it tried putting up a smile nonetheless. It walked up with its back facing the group, clearly hiding something. It raised its voice as if to present the grand reveal for something. It whipped around and showed a Roselia hanging from its arms. The Roselia hid its face behind its flowers, completely embarrassed and shy.
“A Roselia?” asked Marie. Roselia shoved its face deeper in its flowers.
“Aw, it’s shy.” said Nurse Joy. Steenee gently placed down Roselia on its feet and stepped to the side. It waved its arms at it like it was a grand presentation, jazz hands and all. They all stood around for a moment. Nothing happened. Steenee wondered why Roselia wasn’t opening up. It tapped Roselia’s shoulder, making it fall over like a log.
Ceailean physically winced. “Ooooh… ouch.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a bit forward, Steenee?” asked Marie. Steenee waved her off, saying it was no big deal. It then knelt down next to Roselia and shook it, telling it to wake up. Roselia stubbornly kept hiding its face behind its flowers. Steenee kept at it, adding on that Roselia was gonna embarrass it in front of its new friends. That is when Roselia snapped. It gave Steenee a sharp look through the cracks in its flowers. It then pushed Steenee away and stood up.
Roselia yelled at Steenee, its face still red with embarrassment. Steenee had the gall to say that it would be embarrassed? Steenee never even considered how Roselia felt! Roselia grew out long vines and began lashing out at Steenee. Steenee’s eyes flashed, catching Noibat’s attention.
Steenee bobbed and weaved in, out, and around each vine. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of strain in Steenee’s expression, making it seem like it had to deal with something like this all the time. Despite Noibat’s slight initial distrust of Steenee, it had to admit that it was cool. It was now ingrained in its memory.
Roselia kept flailing its whips until it got too tired to swing them anymore. It fell to its knees, completely out of breath.
Marie walked over and crouched next it. “It’s okay, you can take your time. But I’d think it would be best if you join us inside while waiting for Steenee and Scorbunny get cleaned up.” Scorbunny walked up and offered a paw with a smile. Roselia gasped and hid its face again. “Oh man, we scared it again.” Scorbunny chuckled and scratched the back of its head.
The doors to the pokemon center opened. Huge footsteps approached them, making the ground shake slightly with each step. Marie looked back, “Oh? Did you wanna say high too?” The step got closer and closer to Roselia, until its curiosity got the better of it. It gave the tiniest of glances in the direction of the footsteps. It noticed the sun was gone.
That’s not right. It was broad daylight a minute ago. Roselia looked more. There it saw Scolipede looking down on it, standing like a skyscraper and completely eclipsing the sun. Roselia turned white and squealed in fear. It curled up and fell over on the ground, passing out from the shock.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Marie gasped. “Oh my gosh!”
“Oh… that’s not good.” said Ceailean.
“I’ll get it inside and treat it.” said Nurse Joy, moving her way through the group.
“Yes, hurry.” urged Ceailean. Nurse Joy gently picked up Roselia and hurried it inside. Everyone else hurried in after her. Scolipede watched them move in, feeling guilty for what it did. Steenee saw this and slowed down to give Scolipede some words of encouragement, saying it wasn’t personal or anything. Scolipede sighed and thought to itself where it had heard that before. The two then entered the Pokémon center.
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() Soft waves crashed into the side of a shipping dock. A tired man pulling a dolly carrying boxes of cabbages parks it on the side of the walkway next to a bunch more boxes. Once the man leaves, something in the middle box shifts around. The cabbages jump and move, creating a rattling wood sound. Then, a pokemon popped its head out. It was a Fomantis.
It looked side to side to see if the coast was clear. Once it confirmed it was, it dropped down into the shadow of the boxes. It’s stomach rumbled loudly, it hasn’t “eaten” for days. It checked the surrounding area once more and found a suitable spot. It dove out of the shadows and into the broad daylight. It sank into the ground with overwhelming comfort. It didn’t care that the ground was hard, it was finally getting food.
Its body began to glow a faint yellow as it absorbed the sun's rays. It gave a great big sigh of relief, only for an overcast cloud to slowly creep in and cover the area in shadow again. After a few seconds, Fomantis noticed this and bounced angrily, mumbling incoherently. It then dove into the sun a little further up the path, only for the cloud to creep in again a few seconds later. Fomantis bounced angrily again and dove even further. After a few seconds, the cloud was back. Fomantis finally had enough. It angrily faced the cloud and shot at it using leafage. The leafs cut through with such force that the single cloud dissipated, revealing the sun again.
Fomantis sighed and went back to laying on the ground absorbing the sun's rays. But then another shadow loomed over it. Fomantis was beyond annoyed and it bounced around viciously until it noticed just what was making the shadow.
“Hey bud.” said a man wearing jeans, hoodie, and an orange worker vest. “What’chu mad about huh?” The man stuck his phone in Fomantis’s face, recording it very up close. The man then tilted its hand away, letting the sun hit Fomantis. Fomantis decided to tolerate the man and went back to sunbathing. Bit then the man cast the shadow back on it. Fomantis jumped up annoyed, but the man was 5 feet away, whistling as if it made him any less suspicious.
Fomantis let it go and went back to sunbathing, only for the shadow to return. Fomantis and the man played cat and mouse a few more times before Fomantis got really annoyed and attacked the man with leafage. The man fell down on the ground, covered in leaves.
“Ouch! What was that for bro?” the man said, half chuckling. Fomantis stamped its body aggressively against the ground and attacked the man again. He rolled out of the way. “By Arceus! I pissed it off!” The man dodged one more attack, only for the attack to hit the merchandise stored on the walkway. The box exploded and tons of food fell into the ocean.
Another older man poked his head and shamed his fist down on the man on the walkway. “Hey Johnson! The hell you doing down there?! Stop messin’ around with your pokemon and get back to work!”
“Marvin sir, this ain’t my pokemon! It’s wild and makin’ a mess of things!” Fomantis gasped in disbelief of his accusation.
“Then hurry up and get it outta here! We gotta get outta here by 5 o’clock sharp!”
“Yes sir!” Johnson took out a pokeball, “Sorry bud, this ain’t personal.” He threw out his pokeball and an Eelektross came out. “Use discharge!” An electric dome exploded out of Eelektross’s body. Fomantis was zapped severely and it fell on the ground weakly. “Hmm, might as well catch me a pokemon. I don’t even know what this pokemon is. But uh-” Johnson patted his clothes down, “Where are my poke balls?”
Fomantis struggled to get back up, it had to get out of here. The loud rumble of an eighteen wheel truck’s engine starting caught its attention. A shipping container was placed on its trailer. It had no other choice. It dove towards the truck.
Johnson noticed it getting away. “What- hey!” He chased after it while haphazardly holding his phone to record while also fumbling around his clothes trying to find a pokeball. Fomantis looked back and saw that he was gaining. Fear was starting to take hold and it desperately tried to go as fast as it could. Just as the truck started to drive away, Fomantis jumped onto a little rivet around the shipping container.
Johnson finally tugged a pokeball out of his pocket, dumping a bunch of litter on the ground. “You’re not getting away!” He threw the pokeball hard. Fomantis closed its eyes tightly, expecting the worst. The pokeball hit the door of the shipping container with a loud dink. “Damn it!” Johnson stamped his foot in frustration as he watched Fomantis get away. Fomantis sighed and slumped down as much as it felt comfortable without falling off.
Johnson then started scrolling through his phone. “Ah, oh well. I’ll just post this to my MyLyfe page.”
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() Marie rested her head on the palms of her hand, blowing air in boredom. She looked down and noticed Steenee looking at her curiously. Marie tilted her head to the side, Steenee tilted its head in the same direction. Marie tilted her head the other direction, Steenee did the same. Marie smiled amusingly, Steenee smiled back. Then a chime rang throughout the pokemon center.
“Ceailean and Marie, your pokemon are well rested and ready to be collected.” said Nurse Joy over the intercom.
Marie stood up. “Come on Steenee, let’s see if your friend is okay.” Steenee nodded and followed her to the counter. Ceailean was already waiting there, tapping his fingers sequentially while he waited. Nurse Joy then walked out of the back pushing a cart loaded with Ceailean and Marie’s Pokémon and pokéballs.
“So? Did you find out what happened to Roselia?” asked Ceailean.
“Mm-hm, nothing serious. Just seemed to have gotten scared stiff.” Nurse Joy said.
“Must be really shy.” said Marie. She looked over to the cart to see Roselia look away, avoiding eye contact. “You don’t have anything to worry about Roselia, we all want to be your friend.” Marie caught Roselia giving a quick glance. “I mean, look.” Marie picked Fennekin and Snom up from the cart. “This is Fennekin and Snom. I couldn’t think of any better friends to get along with.”
“I mean, there’s Scorbunny.” said Ceailean.
Marie shushed him. “Anyway, I’m gonna place them down. So take your time to get to know each other.” Marie gently placed Fennekin and Snom on the floor. Fennekin looked back at her, Marie gave it an assuring nod. Roselia hopped down from the cart and approached the two pokemon while also keeping its distance. They stood opposing each other for a few moments.
Fennekin tried to break the ice by giving a formal introduction, saying its name and bowing. Roselia gasped and did the same. They waited for something to happen, only for a lingering awkward silence to fill the area. Scorbunny then jumped down from the cart while Noibat flew up and perched on Ceailean’s head. Scorbunny carefully approached Roselia and offered it the flower crown it had on its head. Roselia placed its flower on its mouth in surprise. Scorbunny gave an endearing smile and held out the crown. Roselia accepted it and carefully took it from Scorbunny.
Ceailean poked Marie’s shoulder. “See, I told you.” he whispered to her. Marie then elbowed his abdomen, making him bend over in pain so fast that Noibat almost fell off.
Roselia looked over the flower crown and closed its eyes in concentration. A light blue aura surrounded its body and the flower crown. Roselia exhaled slowly, almost as if its breath was becoming a song.
“What’s happening now?” asked Ceailean.
“It’s life dew.” said Marie in awe. Roselia concentrated for a couple more seconds until a blue drop of energy splashed onto it. The energy washed over its body and all the other surrounding pokemon. Tingles ran through them all and gave them a slight sense of euphoria, making them blush and smile as if they had an entire spa day in the span of five seconds.
The flowers in the flower crown perked up and gave off even more vibrant colors. They couldn’t look any better if they tried. Roselia then offered the crown back to Scorbunny. Scorbunny accepted it happily. It put the crown on its head and twirled around.
“Do you wanna see what you look like, Scorbunny?” asked Ceailean. He took out his pokedex to take a picture. That’s when Steenee swooped in and hugged Roselia and Scorbunny closer together. Roselia blushed profusely while Scorbunny smiled. “Alright, you 3 together. Say cheese!” All of them said cheese and Ceailean took the picture.
“Here, take a look.” Ceailean handed Scorbunny the pokedex and it looked over the picture. The purple and blue flowers popped out so vibrantly. Scorbunny’s smile was so pure alongside Steenee’s mischievous smile and Roselia’s nervous expression. Scorbunny’s lip quivered as tears of joy began to form in its eyes.
“Oh Scorbunny.” said Marie. Scorbunny caught itself and wiped the tears away, happily saying it was okay.
“So now that we know Roselia is okay, to the Gym?” asked Ceailean.
“Yeah, for sure!” said Marie. “But… are we really gonna just leave those two here?” She gestured to Steenee and Roselia.
“Hm, I’d say it's up to them.” said Ceailean. “Steenee, Roselia is your friend right? That means you two have the same trainer?” Steenee nodded. “Then do you want to come with us, or stay here?” Steenee and Roselia looked at each other and determined their options. After a moment, they both decided to come with them.
“Cool! We’ll look for your trainer on the way there. And if we don’t find them, you can watch me take part in this super cool epic gym battle!” said Marie, doing various fake fighting stances. The two pokemon nodded and walked close to Marie.
Ceailean and Marie took the remainder of their pokeballs and collected their bags before walking out of the pokemon center.
Nurse Joy gasped. “Oh my, I forgot to tell them something!” Her Wigglytuff asked why. “Well, they were having a moment and I guess I just couldn’t find a good moment tell them that-“
“Excuse me?” said a man, walking up to the counter.
“Oh, hello sir. How may we assist you today?”
The man pulled out a picture and handed it to Nurse Joy. “I was wondering if you’ve seen this girl.”
“Huh?” She inspected the picture. It was Marie.
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() Ceailean and Marie walked through the open town plaza, actively looking around for Steenee and Roselia’s trainer.
“Is he your trainer?” asked Marie. Steenee and Roselia said no, somewhat exhaustedly. “Is she your trainer?” They said no again, Noibat joining in. “Oh! How about them?” The pokemon said no, Scorbunny and Ceailean joining in this time. “Then… how about-“
“Ah! Marie, I think they’ll tell us if we see them.” said Ceailean.
“Okay, but what if I see them and don’t know?”
“I’m sure they’ll be looking for them too, so it will be obvious. Plus, your constant guessing is kinda wearing us all down pretty fast.”
“Really?” Marie looked back to see all the Pokémon turn away nervously scratching the back of their heads. “Oh… sorry.”
Soon, they found themselves near the cable cars with absolutely no sign of the trainer they were looking for. “Still no luck, huh?” said Marie. Maybe if you guys told us what they looked like. Steenee and Roselia started explaining over each other, no one able to decipher what they were saying. “W-Wait! Calm down! Go over it one at a time.” Steenee took charge, explaining with various phrases and many air traced images. Marie chuckled nervously. “Um C? Do you have any idea what it’s saying?”
“Not a clue.” he answered. Steenee sighed in disappointment. Roselia patted it on the back. “We’ll just have to use a different approach. I’ll ask you questions, you two just answer yes or no.” Steenee and Roselia nodded. “Is your trainer a girl?” They shook their heads no. “So a boy then?” They nodded. Ceailean put his hand on his chin and pondered for a bit. “What’s their hair color?” The pokemon looked at him confused.
“C! You didn’t even stay with yes or no questions!” said Marie.
“Oh… oops.”
“Let’s just leave it. We could think of hundreds of questions and make this go on all day. I doubt we’d remember every feature they said yes to off the top of our heads anyway.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“We’ll just head up to the gym in the cable cars and check from up there.”
“We wouldn't be able to tell the difference from anybody from that high up unless we had Decidueye.” A realization then came to Ceailean. “By Arceus! Where’s Crisis?!”
Marie gasped. “We never told him that we found Fennekin! Is he still out there looking?”
“I’ll text him to meet us up at the gym. I hope he doesn’t get mad at us.”
Ceailean typed the message as they all walked towards the ticket booth for the cable cars. But then he got a notification banner that read:
“Trending now: Adorable Pokémon found off the coast of Cyllage City! Escaped towards the city! Speculated to not be native to the Kalos region. Must Watch!”
“Huh, look Marie. Looks like a Pokémon not native to the Kalos region showed up around here.”
Marie gasped. “Where!?” She leaned her head over Ceailean’s shoulder as he brought up the video.
“Hey bud! What’chu mad about, huh?” said the man in the video.
“That’s a Fomantis!”
“Are they rare?” asked Ceailean.
“Not particularly if you know where to find them. But even in their native region of Alola, they’re only in a few select areas.”
“You wanna go find it then?” Steenee jumped up and down, urging Marie to go find it. “You wanna find it too, Steenee? I thought you wanted to go find your trainer?” Steenee nervously looked away and scratched the back of its head, admitting that it did actually want to find its trainer. Noibat was confused by Steenee’s flippant priorities.
Marie backed away hesitantly. “I mean, I would. But the gym closes at 6, and its 4:30 right now. I’m pretty sure that it will still be around by the time we’re done, right?”
Then as if on cue, a couple of trainers ran past the two of them. “We gotta find that Fomantis! No way we’re letting something like that get away!”
“Yeah! But I’m getting it before you do!”
“You wish!” The trainers then ran out of earshot.
“Are you really sure, Marie?” asked Ceailean. Marie kneaded her temples, her expression deep in thought.
“Augh! Fine! The gym isn’t going anywhere. Let’s go find that Fomantis.”
“Alrighty! Where do you wanna check first?”
Marie raised her hand at Ceailean. “Not so fast, C!”
“Huh? Why?”
“I think we should look for Fomantis by ourselves.”
“What?! Why?!”
“Because you stole Solosis from me! I don’t want something like that to happen again!”
“Hey! I won Solosis’s favor fair and square!”
“Even though I won the race!?”
“We went over this already!”
“Nonetheless! I don’t want to lose because of some convoluted loophole that was formed because the terms were made by a couple of kids making up a contest on the spot!”
“…What?”
Marie pointed at Ceailean intensely. “I’m saying that the first person to find it can catch it!”
“Wait, what makes you think I wanna catch it in the first-!”
“Not listening! Ready, set, go!” Marie whipped around and ran down the street, disappearing before Ceailean could get a word out. He then noticed Fennekin standing by his side just as perplexed as he was.
“Hey Fennekin, watch her for me,” he said. Fennekin sighed and trotted on after her. “Well what do we do now?” Steenee and Roselia shrugged their shoulders. “Then I guess that settles it, we’ll look for your trainer. You could even hang out with Scorbunny for the time being. You guys look like you became best friends really fast.”
Scorbunny ran its paw gently across its flower crown and nodded, smiling like it was the best day of its life. Steenee cheered and grasped both of Scorbunny’s paws and twirled around in a dance. The two laughed and laughed, twirling around the plaza like a top. Then the loud blare of a truck sounded out. The two stopped in their tracks and saw a huge truck heading their way.
“Watch out!” Ceailean yanked the two Pokémon out of the road just as the truck drove by. Its horn faded away as it passed by. “Try not to have too much fun guys! You still need to be aware of your surroundings.” Scorbunny and Steenee lowered their heads and agreed with a sigh. Ceailean put them down and Roselia ran over and grasped Steenee’s arms, asking what it was thinking. Steenee assured it that everything was fine. But Roselia lowered its head, trying its best to hide its tears.
“It really cares about you huh?” asked Ceailean. Steenee looked back at him with a curious expression. “Roselia. You guys gave it quite a scare. So… try and understand where its coming from, okay?” Steenee looked back to Roselia, whose head was still down. Steenee picked it up with a hug and apologized. Roselia still wouldn’t look Steenee in the eyes, but Roselia still hugged back, unsuccessfully stifling its sobs. Scorbunny walked over and hugged the both of them, saying it will try its best to protect Steenee the best it could. Roselia sobbed again and gave a subtle nod.
Ceailean gave a sigh of relief and looked off to the side. He noticed the truck stopped at a nearby stoplight, but what was more interesting was the thing it was carrying. On the back of the shipping container on its trailer was a Pokémon, one Ceailean recognized.
“Fomantis?” he said to himself. It was clinging onto the back door. It was exhausted, but it still hung on. It looked left and right, there were people everywhere. There was no way it could stay out of sight here, it had to keep going. It closed its eyes tight and tighter its grip on the door. The stoplight turned green and the traffic began to move.
The truck lurched forward, almost making Fomantis lose its grip. It held on for dear life and looked around again. Ceailean could’ve sworn that he made eye contact with Fomantis before the truck turned the corner. Its expression seemed to say, “Help me.”
Ceailean’s eyes then widened. “What am I doing just standing here?!” He yelled out loud. The Pokémon looked at him, wondering what was going on. “Oh uh, you guys didn’t see what I saw. Okay so, that truck that almost hit you us had Fomantis clinging on the back of it for dear life.” All the Pokémon gasped. “Yeah, I know right! And it looked like it needed help. So we gotta go after it.” Steenee and Scorbunny gave determined nods.
Ceailean plucked Noibat off his head. “Noibat, you remember the truck right?” Noibat nodded. “Follow it and let us know of its location.” Noibat saluted and Ceailean tossed it in the air. Noibat flew off in the direction the truck turned towards.
“Come on guys, let’s go save Fomantis.”
All the Pokémon pumped their arms in agreement.