Predictably, Florence decided right away that she was going to come with me. According to her, she was now a trainer too (though a very new one), and that meant she should help fulfill trainer duties. I suspected the real reason was that she wanted a broader area to explore in order to find her ‘real’ partner Pokemon, but secretly I was glad for the company, so I didn’t push her on it.
At first it seemed like it would be just the two of us and our Pokemon. Isaac and Charity were more interested in continuing experimentation with the poke balls than travelling, and since neither was a trainer, neither was expected to go defend the region in a giant Pokemon fight. That changed when Alonso pointed out a logistical complication.
“Trainer Monroe, Trainer Florence,” he said, sounding timid. “Have either of you travelled to Violet City before?”
I opened my mouth, then stopped myself. Technically I had been to Violet twice on school field trips, but that was in modern Johto, not the current time. Besides, I understood Alonso’s point – I had no idea whatsoever how to walk from Azalea to Violet without helpful roads and signs to guide the way. Based on how Florence was pointedly looking away, I would bet that she had never been there either.
Alonso smiled crookedly. “I would not recommend trying to find the city on your own. The first time Pineco and I went on a mission without Jeremiah, we got hopelessly lost in the Forest of Ilex within an hour. Better to bring a guide who knows the way.”
“Indeed.” Smith rubbed his chin, then turned to Isaac. “Will you go with them?”
Isaac fiddled with his hands, looking pained. “I do know the way,” he admitted grudgingly. “But I have a great deal of work that needs to be done here…”
“Ah, yes, your majū capturing device.” Smith crossed his arms and stared Isaac down. “Come to think of it, would this confrontation not be an excellent opportunity to test such a device?”
I raised my eyebrows. Smith was right; if the problem was that a bunch of Pokemon were fighting constantly, capturing those Pokemon would be an easy way to resolve the situation. And it would give us more data on how our poke balls worked, which was always useful.
Isaac appeared to be thinking along similar lines, because he nodded slowly. “I suppose you have a point,” he said. “Though we would need to rely on the prototypes we have already made. And I am not sure our current version would be useful in an uncontrolled environment…”
“I am sure any help you can provide would be welcome,” Smith said smoothly. “Now, let us discuss the supplies you all ought to bring to cover both travel needs and healing your majū from whatever battles may occur.”
Just like that, Smith smoothly redirected the conversation. I listened as he and Isaac discussed each aspect of the journey, seeking advice from Alonso and Isabella the Slowbro on several points. By the end of the conversation Isaac seemed to think he had always wanted to go with us to Violet, which made me look at Smith in a new light. Had he changed my mind on things in a similar way in the past?
There wasn’t really any time to think about it, as the remainder of that afternoon was spent in a frenzy of preparations. First we had to deal with Charity – she kept insisting she should come with us, since she was part of the ‘poke ball team’, but she also obviously felt uneasy about heading into a wild battle zone and putting Maisy at risk. Isaac eventually solved the problem by telling her that she should continue ideating on the poke ball design and trying new variations while we were gone. She took to that idea with an enthusiasm that left him alarmed.
“But be very careful when using the lathe and the kiln,” he warned her. “You should have someone in the room with you to observe and help when you are using those, just in case.”
“Of course!” she replied, smiling happily.
“Someone other than your Slowpoke,” he added hurriedly, looking more frazzled by the second.
Second, we had to gather all of the supplies that Smith and the others had discussed. Isaac sent Florence and me to buy provisions while he took Charity to the Kurt’s place to arrange for her housing there. Luckily, I had gotten used to shopping and bargaining over the past month as we all took turns to do the household chores (though haggling had been a novelty for me at the beginning), so we were able to buy efficiently packed rice balls and bags of mixed apricorn nuts at a reasonable price as Pausso sniffed the produce nearby.
“Oh!” I said as we passed a group of Slowpoke that were munching on their own snacks by a water fountain. “We’ll need to feed Hoppip too. Florence, what does Hoppip eat?”
Florence stared at me blankly. “I… have no idea.” She pulled Hoppip’s ball out of her bag (she had returned the Pokemon after he floated away one too many times) and released him, then asked him what his diet was.
Of course, Hoppip had no idea what she was saying. We ended up needing to get Pausso to translate again. S̶̥̃u̴̙͋n̸̫̾ ̶̯̏ ã̴̩ṋ̷͛ḍ̵̀ ̵͈̈́ w̵̤̎a̵̱̓t̴͕̅ė̸̲r̵͇͑ he told me simply after communicating with the grass Pokemon, which was remarkably efficient, all things considered.
Third, we had to deal with Smith. He kept popping into the house to share another thought he’d had, or give another recommendation for how to deal with the wild majū. I didn’t mind at first; considering that we were heading to a literal warzone, I wanted all the help I could get. But I did start getting annoyed when he felt the need to stop by right in the middle of dinner to remind us that we still needed to practice our move patterns and meditate every day, even while travelling. It felt like having my mom remind me to brush my teeth at night.
“You’re acting like we can’t be trusted on our own,” I told him flatly. When he looked away, my eyes widened in comprehension. “Wait, you actually believe that?”
“No, of course not,” he quickly said. “However… you will be representing the whole town of Azalea in this mission. I have trained Alonso in this for several years now, and he only started taking solo missions this past winter. I am simply concerned that you will be in over your heads.”
I frowned. Secretly, I felt that way too. Pausso and I could maybe manage against a single wild Pokemon, but a whole horde of them? “But you still think we should go?”
“Yes,” Smith said without hesitation. “You must simply do your best. Perhaps your odd new device will help make a difference as well.”
So there were a lot of distractions. But eventually everything was ready to go, and the next morning we left town as Charity and Maisy cheerfully waved goodbye, calling after us to bring back lots of useful data and maybe a nice souvenir from Violet.
The walk was familiar at first, just a straightforward hike down the same path that eventually led to Union Cave. We had visited the caves a second time in the late spring when we started running low on tumblestone, to replenish our stocks. That meant that I recognized some of the landmarks, and I noticed when Isaac veered to the left and took a different trail than the one we had used before.
“We’re not going through the caves?” I asked. I had a vague memory of going over maps with my mom in preparation for my trainer journey; she had told me that the easiest way to get from Violet to Azalea was through the Union tunnel.
Isaac shot me a horrified look. “To get to Violet? Ho-oh’s wings, no! Regular travelers would never go into the caves.”
“We are following a commonly used path, then?” Florence asked as she kept a close eye on Hoppip, who windmilled through the air next to her.
“Yes, a trading route.” Isaac was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was subdued. “My parents brought me on trading expeditions a few times when I was only a little older than you. Many years have passed since then, but I still know the trail signs.”
I raised my eyebrows. Isaac’s parents were traders? That would potentially explain why he seemed so well-off and could spend all of his time on research and inventions. Though, given how we hadn’t seen or heard about his parents before, I guessed that they weren’t around anymore. No parents and no wife; no wonder he was so clingy with Charity.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
We all fell silent as the walk got more difficult. It turned out that instead of going through the caves, we were going over the hills above them. That meant lots of struggling up steep paths while keeping a wary eye out for wild Pokemon. You didn’t want to put your hand up on a tree branch to steady yourself only to find that a Caterpie had been crawling there.
It took a long time to make visible progress, and it was well into the afternoon by the time we reached the tallest point on the trail. All that hiking turned out to be worth it, though. We had a gorgeous view of the rest of the hills in the range (many of which were much taller than the one we were currently on top of), as well as the wide sprawl of forest that blanketed the land below. When I turned around I could even see Azalea off in the distance, now reduced to small plots of cleared land and a dot of color that might be the town itself, if you used your imagination.
By common consensus we stopped there on the hilltop to sit for a moment and eat a late lunch (I examined the rocks very carefully to make sure they weren’t secretly an Onix before sitting down). I didn’t even care that the traveler’s fare was plain; I was the good kind of worn out after all that hiking, and eating simple food was refreshing enough. Even Pausso accepted a few bits of apricorn nut to nibble on, which showed he was getting a good workout too.
Come to think of it, I never would have been able to hike this far without stopping for a break a few months ago. All that training with Smith was paying off, apparently.
“There is a good place to rest in the foothills below, a small cave near the trail,” Isaac mentioned after we all had spent a few minutes eating and looking at the view in silence. “We should be able to reach it by nightfall if we keep up the current pace.”
“That is not a problem for me,” Florence replied. Hoppip relaxed in the grass next to her, drinking in the sunlight in quiet contentment.
“Mmhmm,” I agreed as I watched the ground a few feet away carefully. I had noticed Pausso watching a Diglett that had popped its head up out of the ground near us. The Diglett was watching us eat, and I wasn’t sure if we’d have to defend ourselves.
Isaac noticed the Diglett as well, and he smiled. “No need to concern yourself,” he told me. “We are still on the trail, and this path is frequently used by both humans and majū. I have found over the years that common trails, water sources, berry trees – they can all become neutral zones where humans and majū pass each other by without conflict. We have learned how to cope with each other, if only in limited areas.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised. That didn’t match up with what everyone had told me before about wild Pokemon being dangerous.
Isaac hesitated. “Well, it is only a theory. And there are always exceptions, like if a majū decides that its territory overlaps a trail, or if it is starving, or enraged by some other event…”
I sighed. So much for my temporary sense of safety. Still, the Diglett popped back into the ground after a few minutes, so there was possibly some merit to Isaac’s theory.
Soon we were back on the trail again. Going downhill was easier than up, but I still had to watch my step for parts of the trail that were steep or had loose dirt. Pausso took a tumble when he misjudged how sturdy a ledge was, and I eventually convinced him to rest in his ball for a while. Sure, he wasn’t that hurt, but why force him to navigate the hillside when he didn’t have to?
We made good time; when we reached the ground the sun had only just dipped below the trees that clustered not too far off. Isaac was quite cheerful as he led us off-path towards the cave he had mentioned before, talking incessantly and loudly about how this area always made him feel nostalgic and how he might take some notes before the light failed.
This meant that when we got to the cave, the person who had already made camp there was outside waiting for us.
“I thought I recognized that voice,” Jordan said with a grin as we broke through the trees. Next to him, Sudowoodo shook his arms briskly and said “Su!” in agreement.
For a moment I just stared at him; then I broke into a smile as well. We hadn’t seen Jordan and Sudowoodo since they had rescued us in Union Cave, but they had made a big impression on my mind. So I was happy to see that they were still doing well (and apparently still roughing it out in the wild). “Jordan! What are you doing here?”
He quirked an eyebrow up. “Training, obviously. What did you think? Wait…” He put his hands on his hips. “Did you not come here for a battle, then?”
I blinked at him, then belatedly remembered that he had told me to come find him when Drowzee and I were ready for a battle. I was much more confident about Pausso’s battling abilities now, but I wasn’t that confident. “Uhh, not exactly…”
“We are traveling to Violet,” Isaac said, saving me from needing to decline the battle on my own. “There is a bad situation with wild majū there, and Trainers Monroe and Florence volunteered to represent Azalea. I am showing them the way.”
“Trainer Florence?” Jordan looked back over to Florence and must have noticed Hoppip floating next to her. “So you did find your own partner! Congratulations!”
Florence shrugged uncomfortably. “Not exactly. But I am training this Hoppip for now, yes.” Then she brightened. “What if you come with us? There are apparently a large number of wild majū fighting right outside the city, and we could use your help to overcome them.”
Now it was Jordan’s turn to look uncomfortable. He exchanged a meaningful look with Sudowoodo before looking back at the rest of us. “Well… normally I would love nothing better than to help subdue a good brawl. But I, uh, don’t go to Violet.”
Isaac frowned. “You do not go to Violet? What does that mean – are you in some kind of trouble there?”
“Something like that,” Jordan admitted. Isaac’s frown deepened, and Jordan hastily waved his hands. “I’m not a criminal or anything! I just don’t go there, that is all.”
I scratched my ear, feeling annoyed. I liked Florence’s idea; I would feel a lot better about taking on hordes of rabid Pokemon if Jordan was there to help us. “The majū are fighting outside the city, though,” I pointed out. “You wouldn’t actually have to go in.”
Jordan turned to look at me, probably planning to come up with another argument. Then he frowned. “Monroe, where is your partner?”
“Oh, right.” I had forgotten to let Pausso out of his ball again once we got to the base of the hills. I pulled his ball out of my new travel pouch (much larger than the old one, big enough to hold my notebook and a few other things), then clicked the button. “Come on out, Drowzee.”
Pausso materialized next to me, now looking a bit better rested and less scraped-up than he had before. “Look who’s here!” I told him happily, then gestured to Jordan and Sudowoodo. Who… were openly gaping at us.
Right. We never had told them about the poke ball project.
So we settled down outside the cave and told Jordan and Sudowoodo the whole story, about how I was from ‘Galar’, the theory behind how poke balls worked, and how we had spent the past two-ish months developing our own poke balls from apricorns and tumblestone. Jordan didn’t seem to understand the technical parts, but he still listened with rapt attention to our tale.
“That is pretty amazing,” Jordan said once we had finished. We had given him one of the prototype balls to examine, and he was tossing it back and forth between his hands. “To think that majū can shrink themselves down to fit in a ball as small as this? Nature is incredible!”
I tilted my head to the side. Really, I thought that was more an indication that technology was incredible, but I wasn’t going to push the point.
Jordan caught the ball in one hand and spun it around, then turned to look at Sudowoodo. “What do you think, partner? Would you want one of these?”
“Doh,” Sudowoodo replied, looking at the ball skeptically.
Jordan laughed and nodded. “That’s what I thought.” Then he tossed the ball back to Isaac. “I’m afraid my partner’s too old-fashioned for your fancy new device, but I could see new generations of trainers liking them. Are you going to start distributing them?”
Isaac caught the ball and looked down at it, eyes wide. “I had not thought about that,” he admitted. “There are still many improvements I would like to make…”
“Why wait?” Jordan gestured to Hoppip, who had fallen asleep during the conversation. “Your current poke balls clearly work well enough.”
Isaac hummed noncommittally as he put the ball back into his travel sack. Personally, I didn’t really care what he decided. As long as we kept working on poke balls for long enough that I could figure out why the gold and silver ball wasn’t working, I would be happy.
Jordan stretched and looked up at the sky, which was starting to fade into dusk. “Not much light left,” he mentioned offhandedly. “We should start our battle before it gets too dark, Monroe.”
“Right,” I said, preoccupied by my thoughts about the strange ball that held a legendary. Then I sat up straight as my mind processed what Jordan had actually said. “Wait, what?!”
The young trainer grinned at me. “Just because you didn’t come here looking for a battle doesn’t mean you get off easy! You and Drowzee have had plenty of time to train. It’s time to show us what you’re made of.”
Sudowoodo jumped up from the rock he’d been sitting on with an excited cheer. I looked over at Pausso, hoping that he would look tired so that I could make a feasible excuse, but he looked fired up as well; he stood up, stretched his stubby arms, and sent a burning feeling of determination through our mental bond that I couldn’t mistake.
I rubbed the back of my head and thought quickly. If I was going to be forced into a battle against a pair that could easily kick our butts, I wanted to at least get something out of it. “Fine. But if we battle you, you have to come and help with the majū battle we’re heading to.”
Jordan paused his stretching and frowned at me. “I told you, I’m not going to Violet.”
“This fight isn’t in Violet, it’s between Violet and Ecruteak. You wouldn’t have to go into the city, I promise,” I wheedled, putting on my best pleading face.
Florence decided to chime in at that point. “There will be other powerful trainers there as well, apparently,” she added. “Smith said that Violet was reaching out to all the cities in Johto. Once we’ve taken care of the problem, you could challenge all those other trainers to battles too.”
That caught Jordan’s attention. He considered for a minute, then looked over at Sudowoodo. His Pokemon must have agreed in some way, because he nodded reluctantly. “Fine, fine. We will go with you all. I was starting to get bored of this area anyway.”
I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. During the whole walk that morning I had been uncomfortably aware that if some crazed wild Pokemon attacked, Pausso and I would be the main line of defense for our group. With Jordan around, I wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.
Jordan stood up, then, and grinned down at me fiercely. “So, Trainer Monroe! Are you ready for a battle between majū?”
I sighed and shook my head as I got up as well. “Yeah, sure. Let’s do this.”