I stared at the crowd of people in front of the Relicanth, then sighed. Of course something had gone wrong at the ship. That was just how my life worked these days.
“’Scuz me,” I shouted as I started pushing my way through the noisy crowd. Pausso grabbed the back of my shirt so he could follow along. “Let me through please!”
Luckily, people made way when they noticed Echo clutching my shoulder or Pausso following behind me. One person grabbed my arm and started to say something about an angry group of Krabby, but he made the mistake of grabbing the arm Echo was clutching, and when she hissed at him he let go right away. I nudged her with the side of my head affectionately, then kept pushing my way through.
Soon I made it to the place where the ship was docked. I immediately noticed Zuri standing in front of the ship’s walkway; she was a little hard to miss since she was engaged in a shouting match with a man dressed in official-looking clothing. Florence stood a few feet to her right with Snubbull in her arms. One of the people in the crowd was trying to talk to her, but her face was stony and Snubbull was tense and growling, and as I walked up the person retreated.
“Hey,” I said as I joined the pair. Florence turned the stony look on me, then relaxed when she realized who I was. “What’s going on?”
“They all want help from trainers,” she explained. “I just returned a few minutes ago and found the crowd already here. I think that man is trying to get Zuri to help with something.”
I turned to pay attention to Zuri just in time to hear her yell “I am not a trainer, and I am not under any obligation to follow your idiotic rules!” Pelipper cawed his agreement from his perch on a post nearby.
“You will obey Olivine’s laws while you are in this port,” the man shouted back, “and that means if we enlist you to do service for the city, you will do as you are told!”
“Fuck that!” she hollered in reply. “Keep the mail, someone else will get it.” She looked around and appeared to notice Florence and me for the first time. “You two – back on the ship, we are leaving.”
The noise coming from the crowd increased in volume and the official-looking man turned bright red. “If you leave now, you – you will be blacklisted as outlaws!” he blubbered.
Zuri paused in the middle of storming back onto the ship and turned to glare over her shoulder at the man. “You would not dare,” she hissed.
This just seemed to strengthen the man’s resolve. “I would,” he said resolutely. “I would send messages to the other ports with your description and that of your ship. I would tell them you broke our rules, make sure they never do business with you again.”
Pelipper screeched an angry cry and took off from his perch to fly right at the man. The man flinched backwards, but the bird veered to the side just before they collided. Still, it was a near thing.
I exchanged a quick look with Florence and she nodded. This was getting serious enough that we needed to intervene, clearly.
“Hey!” I shouted at the two adults as they kept bickering. They both stopped and glared over at us. “Will someone explain what you’re arguing about?”
The man spoke first. “A rogue majū – some kind of strange ocean debris, I have never seen its like before – has taken over the entire star port. We need an experienced trainer to fight it off so we can reclaim the space.” He looked back over at Zuri and jutted a thumb at Pelipper. “You can say you are not a trainer all you want, but you are still bonded to a fully evolved majū. That means you can and will handle this for us.”
Zuri scowled and looked like she was about to retaliate, but I cut in before she could. “Olivine has its own trainers, doesn’t it?” I pointed out. “Why not ask them for help?”
The man spat over the side of the dock. “Since old Sam died we only have the one trainer. He spends all day up on the lighthouse and refuses to deal with our ‘petty concerns’.” Angry mutters of agreement came from the crowd of people. “It has been three weeks with the cursed majū in our port and no travelling trainers to deal with it, and you think we should just let you leave without fighting it?”
I frowned. Some weird Pokemon haunting the docks was one thing; the only trainer in Olivine refusing to do his job was another. Maybe it wasn’t really my business, but the idea that someone who could help was just sitting around ignoring the other people in his city rubbed me the wrong way.
Apparently Florence felt the same. “What if we talk to your trainer?” she asked. The man turned to look at her and she fidgeted but kept speaking. “If we can convince him to assist people around the city again, would that not be more helpful in the long run?”
“Jasper will not listen to us. He certainly will not listen to you,” the man said in a resigned tone that invited no argument. Then he turned back to Zuri. “Well? Will you come deal with this majū or not?”
Zuri pulled in a deep breath through her nose; then she looked back over at Florence and me and jerked her head towards the ship. “Back on board. Ship’s meeting.”
The angry muttering from the crowd intensified as we hustled back onto the ship. Zuri immediately shouted for an all-hands meeting, and we all gathered together on the lower deck to talk things through.
“We cannot afford to let the ship be blacklisted. If we cannot trade, we will run out of funds in perhaps two months,” Zuri said as she rapidly paced back and forth next to the table. There wasn’t much space to walk around belowdecks, but she looked like she was incapable of standing still. “But we cannot waste time here either! It has already been ten days since we left Cianwood. Who knows how many more people the monster has killed?”
“Then we take today to deal with the majū in the port and move on tomorrow,” Isaac said, sounding impatient. “One extra day cannot make that much of a difference.”
“It will not be just one day,” Henry said in a tired voice. “Based on what those people were yelling, everyone in that crowd has some kind of problem only a trainer can solve. And those were only the people who heard that we are in town already. Do you really think they will just let us leave without consequences?”
Kaiko nodded solemnly. “It seems we must find a long-term solution, one that does not require that we stay here.”
“And that means we have to talk to the Olivine trainer,” Florence said quickly. “He is the root of the problem. If we can get him to return to his duties the others will have no reason to detain us.”
Zuri frowned. “You heard the dockmaster. What makes you think this Jasper would listen to us if he has ignored everyone else?”
“Because he is a trainer,” Florence replied. “He could not have bonded with a majū if he were entirely selfish. There must be something else going on.”
I wasn’t sure that I agreed with her assessment, but talking to the Olivine trainer did seem like our best option. “What if we split up?” I volunteered. “One group goes to talk to the trainer, another goes with the dockmaster to deal with the majū at the port. If we can’t convince the trainer, at least we can deal with the main problem. Then maybe we can sneak out of the city at night or something before they can threaten to blackmail us again.”
No one else had a better idea, so in the end we all agreed to try both approaches. Zuri, Pelipper, Aipom, Isaac, and Oddish went off with the dockmaster to deal with the creature at the star port. Zuri looked sour about the whole situation, but Isaac just seemed excited to learn more about whatever this strange water-debris-Pokemon must be. Hopefully with three Pokemon they’d be able to work something out, even if Oddish hadn’t done any training at all. Most of the crew and Charity stayed behind to guard the ship from anyone who might try to cause trouble. Charity told us cheerfully as we left that we needn’t worry; Maisy had recently learned a new attack where she could make a target fall asleep just by yawning, and she wasn’t afraid to use it on anyone who tried to infiltrate the Relicanth. That left me, Florence, and our teams to find Olivine’s trainer, with Tanaji tagging along.
Right after we left the ship Zuri had a loud conversation with the dockmaster where she agreed to deal with the troublesome Pokemon if her lengthy set of demands were met, most of which she’d apparently made up on the spot. The two of them immediately started haggling over what the appropriate ‘price’ was, and my group used the distraction to push our way through the crowd and out into the open docks beyond. With Florence’s team returned, Echo up in the air, and Pausso disguised under my rain cloak, we managed to get around most people undetected. One man did notice us and yelled about some Corsola problem he was dealing with, but we hustled away before he could do anything drastic.
The lighthouse stood at the very end of the docks, all the way to the east side of the town. It was big and sturdy, built of closely-fitted-together stones that rose high up into the sky, and it was so much taller than the surrounding structures that we had no trouble finding it; we just kept it in our line of sight until eventually we were there. In a way it reminded me of the two towers at Ecruteak, though I sure hoped it would be less dangerous than Brass Tower had proven to be.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
It took forever to climb up the circular stairs to the top of the tower. My calves were burning by the time we finally emerged onto the top level that stood open to the surrounding air. A man stood there, engaged in close discussion with his Pokemon as he tilted his hand back and forth in some kind of signal. Jasper had bronze skin a bit darker than Florence’s and short dark hair, and he was impressively trim and muscled. I was more interested in his Pokemon, though. Skarmory were rare in Johto, and this one was in top condition; its steel feathers shined in the sun and its claws looked wickedly sharp.
The Skarmory noticed us and chirped at the man, who turned around to look at us. For half a second he looked irritated, but then he noticed Pausso at my side and Echo winging over to hang nearby. His shoulders relaxed and he nodded briefly.
“Travelling trainers, eh? You look rather young for it,” he said as he rapidly looked over each of us in turn. “Welcome to Olivine. Are you planning to stay long?”
“Not exactly,” I said in reply. “Umm, we wanted to talk.”
“Oh?”
I quickly introduced the people in our group – Jasper raised his eyebrows when I listed off multiple Pokemon for myself and Florence, and none at all for Tanaji – then got to the meat of it. “We just sailed into Olivine this morning and got mobbed by people looking for help with majū problems. They told us you refuse to help them. Why?” I asked bluntly. I noticed Tanaji wince and belatedly thought that maybe I should have cushioned the words more. Still, I wasn’t the person in the wrong here.
Jasper’s face had been idly curious before, but now it went cold. “This again,” he grumbled. “Skarmory and I do not deal with petty concerns because we have more important things to do. She and I must train every day to ensure we are ready for anything that might happen to the city.”
Petty concerns? I scowled and opened my mouth to interject.
Florence got there first. “You talk as if people’s livelihoods are not important,” she said with a frown. “Is it not a trainer’s duty to protect the people of their village?”
“Of course it is. Protecting the people is what we are doing,” he snapped. He looked at our uncomprehending faces and huffed impatiently. “We are here to deal with major threats, like attacks on the city or rampaging majū. The two of us are the only bonded pair in Olivine now. That means we cannot afford to spend time on the little things.”
I noticed that his Skarmory was scuffing her claws against the stone floor to his side, where he couldn’t see. Maybe Jasper thought the little things weren’t important, but she seemed to think otherwise.
“If you think all the little tasks the people here would have us do are so important, go handle them yourselves,” he continued in a careless tone. “Tides know I could use another trainer or two around here to share the load. Or if you want to help with the real threats, stick around for a battle; we could use the practice. Otherwise, leave us alone.”
Jasper turned to go back to his training, like he was already done with us, which was majorly rude. I frowned and took a step forward. “If you need another trainer here, why not take on an apprentice? Seems like that would solve the problem.”
Florence shot me her favorite are-you-stupid look and Jasper did a fairly good job mimicking it as he glanced back at me. “If you are volunteering, be my guest,” he drawled. “Until then I have to wait for someone in this city to go out in the wilds and come back with a majū. Not many people try each year, and those who do inevitably fail.” His Skarmory rattled her wings, which made his face soften as he rested a hand on the smooth metal on the back of her neck. “Present company excluded, of course.”
Right; they couldn’t exactly go out and chuck a poke ball at the first wild Pokemon they found. We could do that, perhaps, but the Pokemon here hadn’t become accustomed to us like the Pokemon around Azalea had. It could take ages to find a Pokemon like Skiploom or Snubbull that was willing to come live in human society just because.
I wanted to keep arguing as he turned and walked off to the other side of the floor, but Florence tugged on my sleeve and shot me one of her looks, so I swallowed my protest and followed her and Tanaji back down the stairs instead. We walked down two flights of stairs – far enough to be out of earshot – then regrouped.
“That went poorly,” Florence said with a sigh. “I can see why the city people are frustrated with him.”
“It’s irritating,” I grumbled. “Why should he get to decide what’s important and what isn’t?”
Tanaji hummed in an uncertain way. I glared over at him and he shrugged apologetically. “Perhaps you are right and he should not assume. But is it really our business to tell him how he should manage his own city? We do not live here.”
I paused to think about that, but Florence snapped back immediately. “We may not live here, but we are still trainers! By ignoring his people he is giving all of us a bad name.”
Florence had a point, but that wasn’t the part that was bothering me. Tanaji and Florence kept arguing back and forth (well, Florence argued; Tanaji just made apologetic statements and hem-hawed a bunch), but I closed my eyes, crouched down, and concentrated. I wanted to understand just what it was about this whole situation that had me feeling so bothered.
Closing my eyes and emptying my mind made me more aware of my bond with Pausso. He was feeling slightly annoyed by the delay in our trip, but he also felt… impressed? Maybe with the Skarmory. She did seem like an impressive Pokemon. There was also a strange feeling coming from his mind that reminded me of what it felt like when I reached up to grab a book on a high shelf, only to find that it was just past where I could grasp. It felt… itchy. I’d have to ask him about that later.
Thinking of my bond with Pausso made me think of the other trainers that I’d met in this time period. None of them had bothered me the way Jasper did. Even Edwin, who had made so many mistakes, didn’t get on my nerves this way. What was the difference?
Most of the trainers I’d met were willing to give things up to protect their people. Michael had adjusted his whole sleep schedule to guard his village at night. Smith gave up his free time to train Florence and me, even though I was an outsider and Florence didn’t even have a Pokemon partner when we first started. Cyril stood up against Finnegan when he thought they weren’t doing what was right. Hisa had been willing to give up his life if it meant his partner could take a warning to Ecruteak in time.
That was what bothered me. Trainers were supposed to use their bond with their Pokemon to protect others, even if it meant they had to make sacrifices. Maybe Jasper understood that at a surface level, but he was going about it the wrong way; a hundred tiny problems could take down a city as easily as one giant threat. I could tell him that, but he wouldn’t listen. He had no reason to respect me when I was just a kid who had shown up in his city.
But I was a trainer as well, wasn’t I? I had a responsibility to protect the people of this region too. I had made a start at that by helping with the wild Pokemon war in Violet, but only because Smith had coerced me into it. Maybe it was time for me to take a more active role.
At that point I had an idea. It was a bad idea, but it was an idea all the same.
“We know that Jasper’s mainly focused on training for major threats,” I said out loud, interrupting whatever Tanaji had been saying. “And we already know he wants to battle one of us as part of that training. What if we offer to battle him, but add stakes to it? If we win, he has to return to the usual trainer duties around the city.”
Tanaji hummed thoughtfully. “That could work, maybe. But you have to offer him something in return.”
“I have an idea for that,” I said shortly. Tanaji looked at me expectantly, but I didn’t elaborate.
Florence, on the other hand, looked intrigued. “Perhaps that could work. If I could get him to agree to a deal like the one I had with Trainer Richard, where I can use my full team against his one majū –“
“Wait,” I said. “I want to fight him.”
She looked taken aback. “Really?” she asked. “Are you sure?”
“I am.” And I was. I wanted to do my part to help the people of this city. Besides, I was confident in my team. Pausso had grown so much since my last formal battle against Jordan and Sudowoodo, and we had Echo to help provide support too. I wanted to change this trainer’s mind, and I wanted to prove to myself that we were strong now, just like how Florence had proven her own team’s strength in their match against Richard and Tentacruel.
“Alright,” Florence said reluctantly. “Though if you are going to fight that Skarmory you will need a good strategy. Perhaps you can –“
“It’s okay, Florence. I’ve got this,” I said. The beginning of a plan was already starting to form in my head, and I didn’t want to lose any of the threads. “Let me talk to my team for a bit, I want to brainstorm with them.” I also needed to let them know what I was planning to offer Jasper, since they might object.
Pausso, Echo, and I walked off to the side of the room and huddled up to talk in low voices. Pausso didn’t like the stakes I planned to offer, but he couldn’t think of another option that Jasper would accept, so eventually he agreed. Echo wasn’t sure that she’d be able to do her part, but Pausso and I both reassured her that she’d come a long way and she was stronger than she thought. She didn’t look very convinced.
“You’ve got this,” I said quietly as I lightly scratched under her chin. “I know the Skarmory looks big and fierce, but you don’t have to take her down on your own. You just have to set things up for Pausso.”
She squeaked out a reluctant sound that meant she wasn’t sure, but she would try.
I grinned in response. “That’s all I ask.”
After a few more minutes of discussion all three of us were confident in the plan. We rejoined Florence and Tanaji, who had been talking on the other side of the room, and our group made its way up the stairs back to the roof again.
Jasper was still there, of course, though now he was watching the skies. Skarmory was flying some kind of exercise in the air where she turned precisely every time Jasper blew the whistle he was holding. He must have seen us emerge out into the open, but he kept at the drill for another two minutes and only then blew three short bursts on the whistle to call Skarmory back to the roof.
“You again,” he said bluntly as he walked up to us. “What do you want this time?”
My heart felt like it was beating unevenly, so I took a deep breath to try to calm it as I stepped forward. “You said you wanted to battle earlier,” I told him. “I’ll battle you with my two partners, but I want to put a wager on it. If one of them wins, you have to do all the usual trainer tasks around the city and help your people out again, at least until you find an apprentice.”
He looked at me skeptically as his partner landed on the roof next to him. The bird had perked up as she heard my challenge, but he didn’t seem to notice. “And if Skarmory and I win?”
Breathe in, breathe out. “If you win,” I said with more certainty than I felt, “I’ll stay here to be your apprentice. I’ll take care of all the random tasks so people will stop bothering you. I’ll do it until someone else in the city bonds with a majū and can take my place.”
“What,” Florence hissed from behind me as Tanaji gasped in surprise.
I ignored them so I could look Jasper directly in the eyes. “Does that work for you?” I asked. The steady breathing hadn’t helped; my heart still thumped wildly in my chest.
Jasper tilted his head to the side and looked at me for a long moment. His eyes darted to consider Echo and Pausso before resting on his own partner. Finally, he nodded.
“That is a fair deal, Trainer Monroe. We accept.”