Chapter 3
Santalune Forest
By the time they finished their race and battles, and had healed up their pokemon, it was clear Calem was itching to go do something. Maybe he just needed a break from Shauna's excitement?
"Why don't we meet up again in Santalune City?" he suggested. "That's not too far away, and we can probably stay overnight at the Pokemon Centre."
"Cool!" Shauna said. She hadn't seemed upset when Felix the fennekin lost both of his battles. Then again, he did win the race. "I kinda want to see if there are any cute pokemon worth catching around here, so I don't mind."
Calem snapped his fingers, gaining the attention of the chespin he was holding in his other arm. It tried to snap its fingers too as Calem spoke. "That reminds me! Here, my parents sent me off with a bunch of pokeballs to share with you."
He gave them ten each, and by the looks of things, had at least twice that left in his bag. Avaline's eyebrows rose. "They sent you pretty prepared, huh? Mum barely remembered to get me toothpaste."
Calem shrugged. Then his mouth twitched with suppressed laughter as the chespin copied that, too. "I mean, it is their area of expertise, so you'd hope so. Anyway, just give me a call if you need any help."
Avaline opened her mouth to thank him, but Calem was already off. His chespin waved goodbye at them from over his shoulder.
"Wait," she said instead, "was Calem wearing roller skates this whole time?"
Shauna had to explain the attachable skates to her. What the heck?! Where were these things when Avaline needed them, like the time she got grounded for a month when she wore out a pair of her mother's boots trekking around Goldenrod?
With a sigh, she added them to her "to buy" list. She'd heard the fashion stores in Kalos were to die for, but at this rate she'd never have any money to spend on clothes. She had to get pokemon food and stuff too, of course! Even Avaline wasn't quite fashion-obsessed enough to prioritise a new dress over essentials, although it was tempting sometimes.
Still, the skates would be really cool. She could look into buying those.
When they got to Route 2 - or Avance Trail; she really had to get a local map because nobody gave directions using the official League numbers - Shauna raced off to look for cute pokemon. Even though the assistants had said they didn't have to collect data for the pokedex, Avaline was hoping to add a few more pokemon to her collection. Technically, she didn't have to catch a pokemon to add them to the pokedex... but in practise, it was really hard to get a wild pokemon to sit still long enough for the pokedex to do a complete scan.
Avaline looked at the shiny new pokeballs in her bag and let out a sigh. She'd heard there were a bunch of different pokemon in Kalos as well. How long would these last?
Catching pokemon turned out to be kind of addictive. Avaline had already spent five of her pokeballs (one of them had broken up and was now useless) catching a bunnelby, a zigzagoon, caterpie, and a fletchling. Back in Johto, she'd listened obsessively to Professor Oak's radio show and was glad of it now. You actually could tell which pokemon were interested in going off with a trainer if you paid close attention! Well, okay, the pidgey that took off at speed when it saw her was a pretty blatant signal, but she may not have noticed that caterpie making a "show" of its string shot if she wasn't looking for it.
Actually, she thought, it would be nice to catch a pidgey; in Johto, a lot of people used them to carry messages and Mum used to get a lot of them bringing her fanmail. Since her mother was so often busy or away, it was Avaline who had greeted the pidgey, stroking their feathers and giving them treats. It would be nice to have a pokemon that was familiar - even though she was quickly falling in love with her new froakie. Senshi was pretty tough considering he was so little, and hadn't complained once so far about battling so many pokemon.
It was Senshi who patted her leg whilst she was standing on her tiptoes, still looking for interested pidgey, and pointed to the sky. Avaline groaned and checked the time on her holo caster. It was mid-afternoon! Where had all the time gone? She would have to get moving quickly if she wanted to get to Santalune City before it got dark.
...What time did it get dark here?
Anyway, it was definitely time to call it quits. Avaline sighed. Maybe she could catch a pidgey another time. "Thanks for reminding me, Senshi," she said. "Let's hop back into your pokeball. I'll run to the Centre before we go into the forest."
Senshi's chest puffed out as he made a tiny ribbit sound. He hopped backwards a little.
"You can, uh, come out and explore the forest when I get there? I just don't want to leave Shauna and Calem waiting for me too long in Santalune City. I really did mean run."
He seemed to accept this and went back into his pokeball. Avaline breathed a sigh of relief. There were all sorts of books and tv shows (and Professor Oak's radio show) about the way pokemon used body language and sounds to communicate - but she'd only looked into pokemon from Johto. She seemed to be muddling through okay with Senshi.
She took off in the direction of Aquacorde. Maybe there will be some books I can borrow from the Centre in Santalune City. Although, come to think of it, the thing in Johto where trainers could borrow books between Centres was a just a flagship scheme, right? They probably wouldn't do that here.
For some reason, that made her feel homesick again. She hadn't noticed how many expectations she'd built up about her own pokemon journey, which were constantly being subverted. The little bits of news she'd kept up with about training in Johto seemed sort of pointless now.
I'm supposed to be thinking positively. Even if they didn't have that specific scheme, the Centre must have some kind of resource. Maybe one of the nurses could recommend something, ooh, or a talk show she could download to her holo caster and listen to on the road! That would be ideal.
Avaline already had her hand on Senshi's pokeball as she stepped into Santalune Forest. Come to think of it, this probably wasn't the absolute best place for a water type pokemon - there were bound to be grass types and a few poisonous bugs. Still, she had promised he could have a walk about. Senshi seemed delighted to be out of his pokeball again, starting to hop and look at his surroundings immediately, only belatedly croaking at her in greeting.
Maybe her new fletchling would come in handy here. Avaline hadn't given her a nickname yet, and-
"Hi, Avaline! And you too, Senshi." It was Shauna. Felix was sitting on top of her head and let out an enormous yawn when he saw Avaline, before jumping off to look at a nearby patch of grass with Senshi. "Wow, you took a long time!"
Was Felix being passive-aggressive with her? For that matter, was Shauna being passive aggressive? It was so hard to judge tone. "You… you weren't waiting for me, were you?" She winced, feeling even more ridiculous for losing track of time so badly. "I've been hours! I'm sorry."
To her astonishment, Shauna's smile was as bright as ever. "I thought it would be more fun to go through the forest together, and it really wasn't too bad, anyway - I played hide and seek with Felix and we caught a scatterbug! I heard vivillion has over twenty different patterns on its wings, I'm so excited to see what it'll be like when it evolves."
"I didn't know that." That sounded kind of cool. Avaline wished she'd caught one now. There would be more scatterbug in the forest, right? Although Shauna might not be willing to let Avaline wander around searching for a specific pokemon after she'd already waited for so long..."I'm really so sorry," she said again.
She thought Shauna wasn't all that bothered, but she wasn't used to speaking Kalosian and a lot of the nuance seemed to fly over her head.
But Shauna waved her off. "Don't worry about it, it's fine." Felix sneezed and Shauna paused to glare at him. Well, at least Avaline had been right about him being passive aggressive. "I was going to call you, but then I realised..."
Avaline facepalmed. She must have checked her holo caster five or six times today without thinking about it. Calem had even said to call him and it hadn't occurred to her then. "...We completely forgot to exchange numbers, didn't we."
Shauna started to giggle. "And guess what," she wheezed. "Calem's parents got him a new holocaster to celebrate starting his journey, so... so... I don't even have his number!"
It probably shouldn't have been very funny that they were all slightly incompetent, but for some reason they both collapsed in gales of laughter.
"Okay, okay," Avaline said, when she was able to breathe again. "We should get going. I don't know Santalune Forest but I don't think it's going to be as much fun wandering around in the dark."
"It won't get dark for hours yet, it's still summer." Shauna was still wiping away tears of laughter. "But yeah, we should go meet up with Calem."
Senshi looked at Avaline with narrowed eyes.
"So I didn't have to rush quite so much," she mumbled. "How was I supposed to know?"
"Let's get each other's numbers before we forget!" Shauna said. "In case we get separated."
They made their way through the forest slowly. Now that she knew they still had hours of daylight, Avaline didn't feel quite as hurried. Senshi and Felix were having fun exploring in the woods and playing hide and seek in the tall grass. (Felix always won. Avaline wondered if Senshi had any concept of staying downwind.) There was a moment of panic when Senshi startled a weedle and Avaline had to use three of her remaining pokeballs to avoid him getting poisoned. The weedle turned out to be very friendly once it had calmed down, though, and was very helpful in deterring other bug types in the woods. Avaline started calling her Queenie because she carried herself so regally on her shoulder.
To her surprise, Shauna had a great eye for noticing things. She found at least three items that had either been lost by other trainers or possibly stolen by curious pokemon. She even found a perfectly good antidote that was nothing more than a bit dirty.
"I've heard you can find pikachu in Santalune Forest!" Shauna said dreamily. "I'd love one, wouldn't you?"
Avaline brightened. Pikachu was another familiar pokemon. They were more common in Kanto than Johto, but a lot of people visited Kanto specifically to catch one, or bought one from a pokemon breeder. They were absurdly popular, even considering how cute they were.
"They were nearly as expensive as eevees in Johto," Avaline said. "They've kind of become Kanto's unofficial mascot. If you want, I'll help you catch one if we see one."
"Yay!" Shauna cheered. "But, why are eevees expensive? I know pikachu is really rare but couldn't you just go catch your own eevee?"
Avaline stared at her for a moment, wondering if she just wasn't that well read on pokemon habitats. Eevee did appear on TV a lot, which confused some people. "Eevees... are really rare... like, 'more sightings of Suicune in the wild in the last ten years than eevees' rare."
"Really? Because you see a lot here." Shauna had gotten out her pokedex out and was pressing buttons wildly. "Look! You can catch one near Geosenge Town. They're fairly common."
"Wait, are you serious?" Without waiting for an answer, Avaline grabbed the pokedex. Sure enough, the details of eevee's habitat said it was quite commonly found near Geosenge Town 'or easily purchased from a reputable breeder, who value it for its rarity outside Kalos and adaptable nature'.
...You could actually catch your own eevee? Without dedicating your whole life to it? For real?!
Avaline started when Shauna gently took the pokedex back off her. "Wow. I had no idea they were so rare... you look like three birthdays have come at once."
"You can actually catch your own eevee..." Avaline muttered. Senshi seemed slightly concerned, nudging Avaline's ankle with his nose. She looked down at him. "An eevee, Senshi." Everyone in Johto would be so jealous... Mariko would just about die of envy if she found out… Kokoro might actually cry…
Senshi blinked at her.
...Whatever, he couldn't know how amazing this was. She turned back to Shauna. "When can we go to Geosenge Town?!"
Shauna leaned back slightly, and only then did Avaline realise she was slightly encroaching on her personal space. She blushed and retreated.
"...Maybe we can make it our next stop after talking to the Professor?" Shauna made a thoughtful noise. "We have to go through Lumiose City to get pretty much anywhere from this end of Kalos, so we should have some fun there first, though. It's a huge place! You could spend practically your whole life there without ever leaving, there's so much to do!"
Coming from Goldenrod City, Avaline doubted it would have quite as much of an effect on her, but she was happy to let Shauna talk about it. Lumiose still sounded like a fun place, and there were bound to be new things to try. It would be nice to get back to something similar to the bustle and bright lights of Goldenrod.
Plus, then they could head to Geosenge Town! For an eevee!
Despite Shauna's best efforts, they didn't spot any pikachu on the way through the forest. Avaline was still excited by the idea of being able to have an eevee and wasn't really much help. Shauna did catch one of the pan-monkeys, a panpour. Avaline didn't say anything, because she didn't want to be rude, but she found it kind of creepy. It seemed to prefer communicating by mime and didn't make much noise. Also, she had no idea how it could possibly see, wandering around with closed eyes. Senshi also stayed away, whilst Queenie gave the panpour a dignified bow.
After some time Avaline found the forest made her feel itchy, like she was always being watched, and she was beginning to feel a bit irritable after being challenged by one particularly obnoxious trainer who trash talked Senshi. Avaline let him go on for a minute and then silently called out her fletchling with a raised eyebrow. The fletchling seemed interested in taking part in a trainer battle, although it wasn't that challenging for her as a flying type. Avaline called her Marie - Shauna's suggestion. Apparently, it was a traditional Kalosian name.
Queenie acquitted herself well too, although she seemed disappointed not to do as well as Marie no matter how much Avaline explained type advantages. She supposed Queenie just had high expectations for herself. Senshi was able to get her to perk up after a while, to the point where Queenie crawled down from Avaline's shoulder to walk beside him instead. Senshi's quiet croaks and Queenie's chittering was a soothing background noise to the forest sounds, and helped calm Avaline's nerves a little. She wasn't sure what they were saying to each other, but it was nice to see them getting along.
Even Shauna, with her seemingly limitless enthusiasm, was beginning to look a bit tired. Avaline was relieved when she spotted a sign pointing towards the exit. She was about to say as much when Shauna suddenly grabbed her arm and pointed. "Look!"
At first, Avaline couldn't see anything. Then she spotted a flash of yellow in the dense trees just off the main path. "Hm, looks pretty hidden. I don't know if that one wants to be caught..."
"We can at least go take a peek!" Shauna said, grinning.
They moved a little closer, trying not to make too much noise-
"So, this is where you've gotten to."
They both whirled around and shushed Calem loudly. "There's a pikachu!" Shauna whispered.
"I can see that," Calem said, deadpan.
Avaline looked over her shoulder. The pikachu must have come to investigate the noise they were making, because it was now sat in plain sight, nose twitching. Shauna let out a small squeak of delight.
"Um, okay... Felix! We have to try to make friends with this pikachu!" Shauna said. "Go!"
Whilst not on the grand scale of the pokemon battles Avaline had seen on television, it was actually pretty interesting to watch them fight, since both pokemon were small and relied on being quick. Because it was a forested area and the leaves were pretty dry, it was too risky to use Felix's fire attacks, and he was confined to physical attacks. He shuddered at the pikachu's shocks but didn't seem to show any signs of paralysis. Shauna got overexcited and threw a pokeball too early, which broke apart almost immediately.
Felix suddenly put on a burst of speed and slammed into the pikachu. Shauna cheered. "Great tackle, Felix! Okay, this is it!"
She took out her last pokeball and threw it. Avaline winced. She'd sort of gotten a feel for when pokemon were willing to be caught; the pikachu had just recovered from the hit, and she sensed that it wasn't ready to give up the fight yet.
But it was too late to say something, and sure enough, the pikachu broke out of the pokeball.
Shauna deflated. "That was my last one..."
There was a pause, and Calem sighed. He reached into his bag. "Go on then, since I have spares."
Shauna wrapped him in a brief, crushing hug, before turning back to the fight. "Okay Felix! We're not down for the count yet!"
The fight only lasted a little longer. Felix's muscles started to seize up, and Shauna swapped him out for her scatterbug. Since he was at full health, the fight became a lot more one-sided, even though Avaline could see the pikachu was more experienced compared to the young scatterbug.
The pikachu started to look woozy, but it also wasn't making any moves to run away. Avaline nudged Shauna and nodded.
Shauna took a deep breath. "Last chance! Pokeball, go!"
The pikachu was swallowed up by the pokeball in a flash of light and they all watched as it shook. Shauna was visibly tense and had all of her fingers crossed. Eventually, the pokemon went still and there was a small click to confirm the capture.
"Yes! Yes yes!" Shauna was jumping up and down with excitement. "I got a pikachu!" Then she ran around hugging everyone saying 'thank you' over and over again, including Senshi, who had not even been paying much attention and was nearly asleep.
Avaline decided not to say that she would've happily given Shauna some of her pokeballs to try again with, too. It would've ruined the drama of the moment.
Current team:
Froakie (M) - Senshi
Bunnelby
Fletchling (F) - Marie
Zigzagoon
Caterpie
Weedle (F) - Queenie
A/N: Not that much to add here from me. What do you think of the worldbuilding so far? Do you like it? Let me know your thoughts. Next chapter should be at the weekend or early next week.
