Chapter 9- Troubles?

“Come on Nike! I am sorry but you know how it happened, right?”

The party to celebrate our victory went on for hours. As soon as we released our pokemon, they were swarmed with food from all sides. Even the more reserved Skoll was enjoying the treatment. And I will not even mention Litleo who was the MVP of Seraphina’s team. I think if his head grew any bigger, he would be able to use Fly.

Speaking of which, the move Fly from the game? Total bogus, gameplay mechanic only, which I was devastated to learn. That meant that there is no way of flying with a Zubat. Sure, the pokemon could still deal some damage from the ‘move’ but it does not allow any pokemon who knew it to transport you.

Tangent aside, while Shinx was also happy from the battle, Nike who didn’t have a chance to show off has been pouting and ignoring me. Even mentioning that the next gym battle I would be relying on her primarily only earned a single glance before she turned away with her cheek inflated. Although that was a cute sight, I had the resort to my secret weapon. A.K.A Mago berries.

As soon as she got the berry she jumped and started munching away. She also turned giddily and when I followed her gaze, I noticed Jeanne with her arms in the air but as soon as I noticed her, she pointedly looked away.

“Ah! I have been set up, haven’t I?” As soon as I realized that, Nike started to snicker and everyone burst into laughter. I apparently was the only one who did not know. “Jeanne this is your doing!”

As I tried catching the elusive Gardevoir (she cheated with Teleport), the party went on until the sun was already setting. We all got to de-stress after the battle and had fun. Of course, the battle maniac of my team pulled Klint aside for a match without move, what with Gallade being a fighting type as well, but I decided to ignore that as long as he has fun.

As a result of the party going into the night, I blacked out as soon as my head hit my pillow and didn’t wake up until Nike started to literally drag my consciousness from my dream with her incessant pulling.

I really wished she never learned how to do this.

To my surprise, when I finally woke up, I realized that it was actually fairly late into the morning which was unusual for Nike. The next surprise came when I tried to stand up as weight in the form of Skoll was on my leg. As far as I know it was the first time he opted to sleep out of his ball. Him being still asleep could largely be explained by yesterday’s event. I sat up and petted him on the head, which given the twitch of his ears he seemed to appreciate.

So, you are finally coming along.

I smiled and unwilling to wake him up, reached for his pokeball and returned him. When I was done getting ready, I went downstairs and to my surprise everyone seemed to have woken up at about the same time. Breakfast was a relatively lively affair with everyone skirting around the topic of leaving.

Yes, Seraphina and I decided to leave today. Seraphina apparently had some plan on the semi long-term while I simply did not want to get too comfortable, or I will be tempted to just procrastinate. And so, after the breakfast we are moving straight toward Virbank. And unlike last time, I would not be able to come back for a while.

Although we tried to delay it as much as possible, even sitting and discussing everything, it was time to leave. Seraphina must have felt the atmosphere because she did not say anything.

“Alright you kids be careful and stay on the routes understood?”

“But Na-“

“Understood?”

The second question clearly was not one so I could only nod while Seraphina giggled behind me while Pops simply smiled. And so, I left my house for the second time in this new reality, but this time for an unknown duration.

We were walking toward the northern exit of the town, in the direction of Floccesy and then Virbank with Seraphina. And although that was not the plan initially, we decided to stop at the poke mart. Thankfully, the victory of the gym netted me 2000 pokedollars which was really welcome given the state of my wallet after the emergency request. The reason for the stop was simple, if stupid.

“What kind of trainer forget to get a badge case?”

“Hey, I was excited, ok?” I protested.

So yeah, turns out when I was making my list of essentials, I may or may not have forgotten that badge cases were a thing. Sure, I could ignore it and store them in my bag without the case but that was just wrong. And for my defense, it’s not something you think of in the games. So, I got a simple black and blue case as well as a couple of potions for the road.

“That would be 350 pokedollars,” said the clerk.

After I paid, we left the shop and later the town. As soon as we exited the town, I released both my pokemon. I had to recall Nike to avoid another instance of Jeanne popping up on us. At least outside the town she was less likely to do so. Skoll was also coming around now and was walking by side instead of staying in his pokeball like before. Seraphina also released hers and we made our way, chatting about possible strategies against Roxie, the Virbank Gym Leader.

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Three days later we entered the Pokemon Center of Floccesy just shy of noon. The route was pretty boring due to the result of the training with stronger pokemon and the fact that only weaker pokemon bordered the road. We had a handful of battles with some trainers, especially in the rest area, but other than that nothing noteworthy happened. As we entered the center however, we met a familiar face in unfamiliar clothes.

“Yo!”

The relaxed ranger Mathew was sitting inside the common area, relaxing in shorts and sandals which is insane given that we were well into autumn. Next to him, his Mienshao was munching onto some snack and barely took a break lift his paw at us. With a surprised pause we took a couple of seconds before we walked toward him.

“Hello Ranger Mathew, we thought you already left the area.” I told him. Truth is, we met another ranger in the rest area and after asking they told us that his position switched.

“Oh? Yeah, the orders came to switch my assignment but it is nothing urgent so I got a break in the meantime.” He stretched as he answered.

“Is that even allowed?” Seraphina asked suspiciously. It seems like her image of the jolly ranger was not very positive.

“Oi, I’ll have you know that I am a top performer! Plus, I am still technically on duty. If there is an emergency I can still answer.”

“Suurree…”

“Ahem. Anyway, I saw you guys battle on the net and I must say I am impressed. Although, Nexon’s match did make more waves.”

“Hold up. There is an upload of our match? And what do you mean more waves.?”

“Oh, so you did not see it? Wait a second.”

He pulled out his phone and showed us the video. It appeared that someone uploaded it on the league’s website. The comments, however, were what drew our attention as he flicked quickly through it.

{FirstBadgeBattle}è{Promising Trainers} ● 3 d. ago

by TheEye30

Saw this trainer battle earlier in Aspertia, an interesting battle I thought had its place here. Trainer’s name is Nexon (As far as I know it’s his first appearance)

* LovShawott ;3d. ago: @TheEye30 it is impressive but isn’t Cheren the easiest gym leader to get the first badge from? Nothing to write home about.

àGuest2470986;3d. ago: True especially going in with the type advantage and the easy combo

àVictoir; 2d. ago: @LovShawott @ Guest2470986 I disagree I think it fit right in considering the sweep. Also, easy combi? Did you not hear that it was the scion of Cheren’s partner?

èVictoir; 2d. ago: For those who say that it does not belong here I would like to point out that this is his first gym battle and despite the nerves he managed to stay composed all along. Also, from what I saw the Riolu did not use any fighting type move other than counter which makes the type advantage point null. Pushing the young of an elite to the point of evolving mid-battle is nothing to scoff at. Will be keeping my eyes on this one 👍.

èWesternSolrock; 2d. ago: LMAO! This is nothing! just wait until my Sawk and Throh get there! Cheren Stoutland will have to have to evolve to stop us!

àPokefan03: what are you even on about?

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The comments went on and on from actual response to the post, to troll, to shameless self-promotion and I even spotted a link to a dodgy website. It seemed that no matter the world internet will always be internet.

On Seraphina’s side the comments were more tame but also more critical, especially in relation to the moment she froze during the fight. I snuck a quick glance at her, but she did not seem particularly affected.

“And this is just one post for the first badge. Congratulations, you are getting attention.” He slapped me in the back as he said that jovially.

“I don’t think so since it’s only the first badge but thank you.” I smiled politely.

I mean sure catching attention early on is a good thing, especially if I want to try and get a sponsorship. But for now, it just feels like a faraway dream. After the video we decided to get lunch together with ranger Mathew. Then Seraphina, who was silent all this while, changed the subject.

“Hey Nexon. Can we have a rematch?”

“A rematch?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Since the first time we met was in Floccesy and we had a battle, I feel like it’s only right that I get my revenge here.”

I wanted to refuse since she herself said that she was in a hurry, but when I saw her eyes, I knew she was very serious and determined so I accepted.

“Look at you, talking about revenge like you already won. If nothing you just give me the opportunity to pull ahead.” I smirked.

“I can be the referee if you want” Mathew proposed, and we ended up taking him on the offer.

After lunch was taken care of, it was time to get the battle going. We made our way toward the same field where we had our first battle. I asked for five minutes to talk briefly with my team, and she agreed and did the same.

“Alright who wants to go first?” I asked them.

My answers were a raised hair-limb thing and a punch in the air. As they noticed that they both wanted to, they started to glare I each other and discuss which to me just sounded like a bunch of Hatenna and Riolu with different intonation. They got so agitated that at some point I had to intervene.

“Alright, alright let’s not fight. Since you both want to be first, how about we leave it to chance?” I fished out my phone and opened a coin toss app, so they settled down. “Alright Head, Nike go first, and Tail Skoll go first. Agreed?”

After they nodded, I flipped the coin. There was a roaring Charizard that represented the head while a pokeball represented tail. It is of no importance, but this app lets you choose which pokemon acts as the head. The coin was thrown as if someone flicked it and rotated several times before bouncing back. Both pokemons were intensely focused which was a funny sight to see. After an added backlight to increase the suspense, the coin revealed a tail, meaning Skoll will get to go first. Nike deflated a bit but I promised to let her fight any trainer willing that we met and that seemed to do the trick.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Alright Skoll. We will have to play on your strength for this one. Both of them are able to attack from a distance while you are not. So, I need you to close in as soon as the match start and keep to either of them.”

He nodded seriously, and I could see that he was already rearing to go. He seemed ready to jump into the arena, but I recalled both of them for the sake of the match and we waited for Seraphina. She seemed to be in a serious discussion of her own and Ranger Mathew actually had to declare a time out.

“Alrighty then, get in position! This will be a 1 vs 1 battle with two pokemon and no switches. Ready? Go!”

“Skoll!”

“Shinx go!”

The two pokemon eyed each other before Shinx seemed to grow in size as she growled. Yet despite the Intimidation, Skoll was already running at full speed toward the electric kitten. With his claws extended, he swiped at Shinx who managed to jump back in time to avoid the blow. Of course, Skoll continued his pursuit but so far it held nothing.

“Now use Quick Attack!” I ordered.

Taken aback by the sudden change in speed, Shinx was not able to avoid the tackle. However, this seemed to be what she was waiting for because before she was sent back, electricity erupted on Skoll, and he stumbled to one knee. This stumble was more than enough for Shinx to recover and launch another Thunder Shock under Seraphina’s direction. The second bolt hit Skoll and brought him to his knee once more.

“Skoll-“

Before I was able to order him to fall back, a commotion arose in the pokemon center. We all looked at each other before Ranger Mathew and Seraphina ran toward the entrance, Shinx on their heels. I stood there frozen for a second, unable to process what just happened with Skoll looking just as surprised. It took us a few seconds, but we followed them back inside to see what was going on although at a much more sedate pace.

As we got inside the pokemon center, there was a line of people that were crowding together. Finding Seraphina with her silver hair was thankfully not difficult and the story that she told made my blood boil in my veins. Apparently, someone got their pokemon stolen. As it captured in a net and hauled off to who knows where. The worst thing is this was not the first time something like that happened, just thankfully it happened recently enough that we still had a chance to catch whoever did it.

Now the thing is, having technically lived my whole life in this world, the culture of the bond with the pokemon is something that I consider part of who I am. The bond in question refers to the emotional and psychological attachments that is created between a trainer and their pokemon and is considered to be borderline sacred to everyone with a bit of decency. There are few groups that even dare to try and separate a pokemon and its trainer even amongst criminal. That is because such groups are hated by every individual almost on an instinctual level. What’s more is that such an organization usually would have to be strong enough to calm the pokemon should it enter a frenzied state while being hunted. And unfortunately, there is one such group in Unova.

“Plasma…” I greeted my teeth so hard that I felt like my gum would start to bleed.

Ranger Mathew next to mee seemed to have heard my muttering because his head snap toward me. I was not in the headspace to notice it as my thoughts kept going in a direction I did not like.

If team plasma is still active that means that Ash did not stop them…or that it is the doing of Neo Plasma from when Ghetsis went crazy! If so, that is the worst-case scenario. At least there is one sure way to know which one it is.

“I’m sorry please! Sorry! Sorry going through!” I slowly made my way to the front of the crowd to ask the person a question that would clear it. In the middle sat a blond boy in what’s seemed to be a smaller farmer uniform. “I am sorry for what happened, but can you tell me what the person that took your pokemon looked like?”

The poor boy was sniffling, and I got a couple of glares for asking while others approved even if I was not even listening to them. My focus was on the boy.

“I – I don’t kn- know*sniff* they wore mask. I don’t know. Please can you help me find my Lillipup?!” at that, he started crying again.

“I am sorry kid but if you tell us how they looked like we can search for them. How about it?” It was Ranger Mathew who spoke next to me. Gone was the casual attitude. “Look can you see this symbol? I am a Ranger so let me deal with the bad guys ok?” the badge and his words managed to calm the boy down enough to answer questions.

“You said that they were wearing masks, anything else you remember?” he asked him. By now thankfully everyone had quieted down to be able to hear.

“N-no they were two of them, but both had mask and also…hats.”

“That does not really help much…” Ranger Mathew muttered but before the kid could start crying, I asked my question.

“Can you tell me how they were dressed? The color of their clothes?” the kid and Ranger Mathew seemed to perk up at my words.

“Yes! They were wearing tight clothes… and the color …it was black. Yes, black tight clothes, masks and hats. Can you help me with this? Please?”

Well damn… team Plasma wear grey … black outfits only has two options… one is Neo Plasma and the other is the Team Rocket based in Unova but if we include the mask and hat… that is not good at all. At least Team Plasma could be said to be morally ambiguous but Neo Plasma only objective is to freeze the region over.

Ranger Mathew for his part seemed to have snapped back into ranger mode as he pulled out his Tranceiver while moving outside. “This is Ranger Mathew reporting. Case of stolen pokemon in the town of Floccesy, estimated to have occurred in the last two to three hours possibly less. Individuals numbered two wearing presumed black body suits with masks and hats covering their faces and northbound. Sending the pokemon details. Over.”

“Wait! Let us help!” Seraphina, to my surprise, was the first to shout but was quickly followed by the other trainers present.

Ranger Mathew hesitated for a second before his Transceiver came back to life. “Granted but move in groups of three minimum and only if you have your first badges. The rest stay here with the kid.”

The crowd split up as ordered and groups started to form. I for my part was conflicted. I knew how dangerous Neo Plasma was. Unlike in the game there was no guarantee that they would only use ‘low level’ pokemon. For all we know they could bring a frigging Hydreigon. But at the same time, I wanted to act because of how heinous the act in itself sounded.

Still in the end there, Seraphina made her way to my side and there was one more move I could use. “Let us come with you.” I told Ranger Mathew. I could see the surprise on his face, so I continued. “I have two sensory oriented pokemon and given that you are likely the strongest here I think I would be useful.”

His eyes flicked but it seemed he recognized the possible use of the reconnaissance aspect. “Stay close to me.”

We did as he ordered and were outside of the pokemon center when he grabbed a pokeball at his waist and threw it. As the pokemon appeared, it took longer than I want to admit realizing its species. Simply put, it was a vulture. Pinkish skin on the head and talons, with a brown and beige feather with some greys toward the end of the wings. The difference from the normal vulture were the bones that adorned its body, yet unlike the image of the pokemon from the game, it- or rather she- did not have only a single bone protruding from the top of its head and at the waist, but also had what seemed to be a necklace made of bones and teeth that I refused to dwell on the origin of.

Yet what made me paused was not the assortment and almost macabre display, but rather the size of the pokemon. Where normal Mandibuzz reach about the waist of a man, this one was at eye level and directly locked eyes with me. And I mean locked eyes. As soon as she fully materialized her head snapped in my direction. Her gaze sent shivers down my spine.

“Mandibuzz we are on the job.” As if those words were magic, she thankfully stopped staring at me and stood at attention. “Aerial reconnaissance to the north, two individuals dressed in black, face covered, stole a pokemon.” At the last part of the succinct orders, the eyes of the pokemon sharpened and she took off creating a cloud of dust.

“That was…”

“Intense?” Seraphina completed and I could only nod.

“Sorry about her. Don’t worry, it’s just a façade she is actually really caring. Now let’s go and remember my orders are a priority and if you notice something you let me know. Now move!”

And so, we followed behind Ranger Mathew as we ran toward the north of the town. Skoll was a bit ahead of us to sense the Aura around us while Nike sat on my head. The priority for her was to look for the fear of the Lillipup as we ran. By staying on my head, she just had to focus on her innate ability to sense emotion.

At some point during the search, we heard a loud cry and looking up, it did not take us long to see Mandibuzz flying circles above a portion of the forest. Getting closer, both Skoll and Nike perked up. As I signaled to ranger Mathew, he stopped us.

“From now on it’s game face on. Seraphina call your pokemon, we don’t know what we will encounter from now.”

After she did, we slowly crept our way toward the position my pokemon detected earlier. It did not take us long to find what we were looking for. We ended up in what seemed like the entrance to a cave. In front of the cave stood two people dressed conspicuously in black. When I saw their exact outfit, I knew my fears were on the spot. These were the uniform of the Neo Plasma.

“… Boss come back?” one of them said.

“They apparently went to get the Watchog and some Riolu.” The other answered.

“I understand going out of their way for the Riolu, but do they really need to move for a single Watchog? We can just wait, and she will come to us, right?”

“She was the one attacking us during the night.”

“I know but-“

“Dude shut up and keep your guard up. You heard the cry earlier; people are probably looking for us so just shut up.” The second guard put an end to the conversation with that.

When I heard what they were talking about I had to catch Skoll that was about to jump out of the bushes we were hiding behind. When Ranger Mathew noticed, he had us move to be sure we were not heard, and I had to explain to him that I caught Skoll from a pack of Riolu in the area.

“That is probably where the so-called boss is.” Ranger Mathew hesitated but in the end he continued. “But we could use it to our advantage. Nexon, I need you to listen to what I have to say fully before reacting.”

I didn’t like where this was going but I nodded, nonetheless.

“I want to use Skoll as a distraction. Now hold on, let me finish. If any of our pokemon act as a distraction they might smell something fishy. A Riolu on the other hand can pass for a member of the pack. Don’t worry I will have Mandibuzz keep an eye on him. While this is going on, we will sneak into the cave. Because that is hundred percent where they keep the pokemon they have stolen.”

“But what if their boss comes back while Skoll is distracting them? I don’t know how strong your Mandibuzz is, but what if something stronger get in her way?” There was a sharp clacking of beak to the side presumably because I doubted her strength, but I did my best to ignore it and kept my eyes on Ranger Mathew.

“Just as the tension was rising, Seraphina spoke up. “Nexon, I get that you are worried about your pokemon, but you should ask him what he wants to do. Plus, can’t we just send our location for back up?”

Her comment was so sound that I found myself looking at Skoll before I could even process it. His red eyes told me everything I needed to know. It was clear that he would not let even one of his friends get captured.

I sighed. “I am sorry Ranger Mathew. You too Mandibuzz. We’ll do as you said. But Skoll, if it gets too much just run to the town understood?”

We signaled our position to the rest of the search party and moved back toward the cave entrance. As soon as we got there, Skoll moved a bit to the side before rushing past the tree line. He even took his time to make the bush shake to catch their attention. As soon as he entered the line of sight, he froze before running away.

“That’s one of the Riolu. Let’s go if we manage to catch it surely, we’ll get some benefits out of this!” The first one, who was frankly not the sharpest tool in the shed ran off immediately.

“Wait we have to…guard the cave. That guy is an idiot! And now even if he catches it, he will be the one recognized. Fuck this shit!”

The one who stayed behind started to seriously rage, but that did not last long before a Thunder Shock rendered him unconscious. The Amphaross responsible for the attack lumbered out of the bush and into the clearing. She was the one to launch the attack instead of Seraphina’s Shinx simply because she was more used to controlling the output. It is normally illegal to have a pokemon use a move against a human but security forces like the Ranger are allowed to when the situation calls for it. Trainers are also allowed to but the threshold for us is higher. That, however, is overruled if we receive orders to do so.

Ranger Mathew was quick to tie the unconscious grunt and drag him into the cave with us. What we saw inside was enough to get these people thrown in jail for years. There were roughly a dozen cages inside the small cave. Each had one to three pokemon locked inside. There was a variety of commonly found species in the area including Purrloins, Pidoves and Pattrats but no Riolu. Thankfully there was only one Lillipup in here. It seemed that they were unwilling to go after them given that they were usually protected by Herdiers or Stoutland. Meaning they probably aren’t really strong.

After Ranger Mathew managed to calm them down, we faced the problem of how to open the cages. Unfortunately, this guard did not have the keys. Litleo tried to fire a concentrated burst of ember at the cage, after telling the captives to back up of course, but the temperature was not high enough. Amphaross once again save the day as her arms were wrapped in flames after focusing for a bit. One by one, she managed to open the cages thanks to the Fire Punch.

“Alright, those of you who have a trainer, stay with us we will take you to the center and try to find your trainers. Others are free to go but be careful.”

As he said so, a bunch of the pokemon left the cave as silently as possible leaving less than ten pokemons with us to reunite with their trainers. As we made our way out, Ranger Mathew received an update that they managed to catch the leader of the group after encircling them.

“Let go, you stupid bird!”

Outside, the scene of a man being lifted off the ground by a big bird greeted us. Skoll was casually leaning against a tree and came to us as soon as he noticed we were out. He looked really please with himself for some reason. I realized the reason when he handed two pokeball to Ranger Mathew with a smug face. As for the grunt a quick Thunder Shock after he was dropped shut him up real fast.

We were about to move when one of the pokemon we were escorting back to town pulled on my leg. Looking down I saw that one of the Pattrats detached himself from the bigger group and stood behind me. I was confused before Nike and Skoll started to speak with him. Next came a wave of familiarity transmitted from Nike which confused me. That was when the Pattrat pointed at me and then I Skoll, before falling? No, sleeping.

“Wait, you are with that Watchog that helped me?” he nodded.

I started to piece together the puzzle. So, the Watchog they were talking about that was attacking was probably the same while they were trying to rescue their young. And given how they were not even allowed to go far from the entrance I doubt they know how to go back. I explained the situation to Ranger Mathew and Seraphina.

“I’ll take this guy home and then I’ll meet you guys back in town.”

“Ok but be careful. We don’t know if that’s all of them.” He cautioned.

The little guy we were escorting found his way on my shoulder after climbing up my clothes. Nike did not seem pleased with that, but she relented after I took her in my arms instead. Making our way through the forest was a quick affair thanks once more to Skoll familiarity with the terrain. We did not reach the Watchog’s cave because she met us on our way there. At first she was on the defensive, even after recognizing us but after the Pattrat jumped off my shoulder and started to, I assumed, animatedly explain what happened she dropped her guard and pulled us to her cave. I tried to explain that we had to go but, in the end, we followed her.

When we got there, I was surprised to see a bunch of other Watchog that were not there last time. Now that I thought about it, they are a species that lives in groups so if anything, finding one isolated was an odd thing. As soon as they saw me, their tail stood on end, and they seemed ready to attack. After what was uncomfortably close to a déjà vu, the mother Watchog managed to convince them to at least not attack. Skoll seemed eager to try something, so I also had to stop him as well.

It wasn’t long before the one who took us here ran into the cave. When I tried to leave, I was stopped so we were standing there awkwardly, with several of the Watchog watching (eh!) and Pattrats playing behind the wall of adults. Speaking of which, the rescued one was rolling on the ground with his siblings. I wanted to take a picture, but after a very thorough thought process and some more glares I refrained. Before I had time to ponder on how I was essentially surrounded by wild pokemon that clearly did not trust me, the one who ran in came back.

She seemed to be holding some things given how she was walking in her hindlegs only. Sure enough as she reached in front of me, she dropped five Gems on the ground. two of the gems had Fire energy in them while the other all had different types, namely rock, ground and normal. Before I could properly thank her, she had already moved back toward the group.

“Thank you!” I shouted anyway after her.

Making my way back to town was faster, given that I was hurrying since the sun was going down. I learned that most of the pokemon were reunited with their trainers, those who did not will soon, and some ace trainers from the league came to bring the Neo Plasma member into custody. We were also told to keep the incident quiet to avoid panic, which I think is stupid but what do I know.

“What about you, how did it go?” Seraphina asked when she was done.

I grinned. “Actually, it seemed that the mother found a group and met us halfway to the cave. She did give us these.” I put the gem on the table and Seraphina’s eyes shone which made me chuckle. “Given that we saved them together I think we should split them.”

“Are you sure? Don’t mind if I do!” Without hesitation Seraphina reached for the gems until I slapped her hand. “Ouch! What was that for?!”

“I think Ranger Mathew should pick first given that we might not have been able to save them otherwise.”

Seraphina grumbled and pouted but I could tell that she was joking to begin with, so I just ignored her.

“Nice one!” Ranger Mathew chuckled as well. “Anyway, if that is ok with you kids, I might need the normal Gem and given that you are obviously less experienced than yours truly you can have the other ones! Feel free to praise my generosity.”

As soon as he started boasting, Seraphina and I ignored him and discussed which one we would get. In the end we each selected a fire gem, and I picked the ground one as well leaving Seraphina with the rock gem.

“Why did you pick the ground gem by the way? I mean I don’t have a use for it but neither do you.”

“True, I don’t need it right now, but I will. I am thinking of getting a Sandile in the area around route 4 so it will come handy sooner or later. Speaking of which, do you know what other pokemon you might catch?”

“You seem to plan way ahead of time… I don’t know yet maybe a Ducklett eventually.”

“Good, you have a good head to plan for the future, but keep in mind that you will need at least three pokemon starting from the third badge.”

“Ah!” we said in unison.

Ranger Mathew simply shook his head. He was right. for the second gym we could get by with two, but you needed three after that. Meaning I would have to go to route 4 before going back to the gym. Again. Seraphina for her part seemed fine with it.

“You know I just realized, you never explained why you were in such a hurry, do you mind telling?” I asked.

She giggled at that. “Sorry, it’s just that I thought you would ask sooner. I will take part in an expedition to the Desert Resort and the Relic Castle for some research.” she said proudly.

“ohhhh” I clapped a bit before continuing. “Do you think they will post a job for that? Thinking about the next team member is all good but it’s not free.”

“Actually, there already is! If you get a spot at least I will know one person there so, please do!”

Saying so, she snatched my phone and registered me. In the end I don’t mind, since I don’t have anything planned.

“That’s good so when do we leave for Virbank?” To our shared surprise, it was Ranger Mathew who spoke. Seeing the confusion, he continued. “What? You think I’m to old to travel with you?” he smirked.

Seraphina and I shared a look, and it looked like we thought of the same thing because we smiled before turning to Ranger Mathew with wider smiles.

“Welcome aboard Ranger Mathew!” we said and taking each one of his hands.

Maybe he sensed something, he tried to pull his hands with no success before sighing.

“I feel like I just trapped myself… Anyway, just drop the Ranger part. It will get annoying too fast.”

“Not at all Mathew!” I reassured him. “How about we leave tomorrow morning?

Seraphina nodded like a hen at my side, and I was now sure we had the same idea.

With him now, the restriction of following the road imposed by Nana is lifted. Or it will be as soon as I call her anyway.

After that we spent the evening listening to some stories by Mathew while our pokemons slept. Everyone forgot that there was a battle but oh well!