With the assistance of Marissa, Simon made his way through Route 114. The two agreed in trying to at least reach the outer area of Meteor Falls before the day passed. Although, they knew things could happen to take up their time, such as their current situation.
As they made their way over a wooden bridge, allowing them to cross a body of water large enough to separate the northern part of the route and the southern part, the two were cut off by a small, blue and round Pokémon who happened to jumped out of the water. While they were in no way an issue for the duo, something about them gained Simon's interest, enough that he sent Spinda out and attempted to battle it and catch it.
"Spinda, use Protect!" Simon commanded. Spinda surrounded themselves in the green light, making their opponent's Water Gun to cause no damage when it made contact. After the attack, Simon added, "Go for Tackle," and Spinda began wobbling forward.
The blue Pokémon went in with their own Tackle, though moving with better coordination compared to Spinda. The two bumped into each other, and the blow was strong enough for both to be forced back, trying their best to keep their footing. The opposing Pokémon was able to do so before Spinda, and went for another Water Gun, hitting Spinda and making them summersault back.
"Spinda!" Simon spoke with worry.
Marissa, who was standing in the sidelines and observing the battle, continuously shifted her attention. She took a moment to look at Spinda, seeing if they were okay like Simon. She then looked at the wild Pokémon, who she noticed was also shifting their attention. They would look at Spinda, look at the water, look back at Spinda, and repeated that.
"Simon," Marissa spoke, concern slowly appearing in their tone.
She looked at Simon, who was still making sure Spinda was fine as they struggled to get up.
"Simon," Marissa repeated, the concern was more noticeable. Her eyes jumped back and forth between Simon and the wild Pokémon.
Simon still had his full attention on Spinda.
"Simon, the Marill!" Marissa then shouted, finally getting Simon's attention.
Suddenly remembering the battle, Simon looked at the wild Marill. Before he could do anything, the Pokémon jumped into the water and escaped. For a moment, Simon looked off with shock, before letting out a sigh of regret.
Spinda at that moment was able to get themselves up and began lightly rubbing their stomach, soothing the spot where they were struck by Marill's Water Gun. They then focused on Simon, shame overtook their face.
"It's okay, Spinda," Simon said as he began to pet them. "I was the one who messed up. You were doing great."
Although they were given encouragement, Spinda still felt ashamed. Simon gave them a heartfelt smiled before telling them to take a rest, sending them back into their ball.
"Shame," Marissa spoke as she made her way over to Simon. "That Marill was so cute. It would have been nice to have them around… oh well, can't do anything about it now. There are other Marill. I'm sure you'll be able to catch one."
"Yea," Simon agreed. "I'll just try catching another one… or maybe a fire type could do… perhaps a flying type. I don't know, I'll think about it."
A puzzled look presented itself on Marissa's face. "Wait, I don't understand. You acted like you wanted to catch that Marill when it showed up. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Not exactly," Simon replied before starting to go through his backpack. He rummaged through it until he found his reason for digging, taking out a small notepad. He flipped through a couple of pages before stopping on one with a list written down. Simon then explained. "It wasn't the Marill specifically that I wanted. I made a list some time ago… some things I want to get done before entering my first contest. My first goal is to have a second Pokémon."
"Why do you need another Pokémon before the contest?" Marissa asked.
Simon further explained. "For the most part, the rules for a contest are the same no matter which one you enter, but I've learned the use of Pokémon is something that can change. Some contests have this rule of only using one Pokémon, others you need two. Sometimes you battle one on one, and some contests have double battles. I don't want to get to Rustboro City, think I'm going to be able to take part in the contest, and find out I can't because I need more than just Spinda. Catching a Pokémon before getting there is just a safe bet."
"Okay, I get that." Marissa began. "But maybe you should try catching a Pokémon you want. I mean, you didn't just catch Spinda because you needed a Pokémon, did you?"
Simon shook his head, putting his notepad back into his backpack. "No, but I didn't know what Pokémon to start off with in the first place. Spinda and I just happened to bump into each other one day. We got to know each other, and that was it."
"So just do that again," Marissa said sort of flatly.
"Bump into a Pokémon?" Simon said with confusion.
"No, not that part." Marissa specified. "Try catching a Pokémon you know about, not one just because."
"But I know a lot of different Pokémon," Simon responded frankly.
"No, I'm mean catching a Pokémon you have some kind of connection with. Like a bond or something. I mean I'm pretty sure other trainers don't usually catch Pokémon like that… I didn't even do that with one of mine… you know, maybe this isn't really helping." Marissa took a minute to get her thoughts straight but found she was having an issue looking for the right words. "Look, never mind… we're still a bit far from Meteor Falls. Let's just keep moving."
As the duo made their way over the bridge, soon reaching the southern part of the route, Simon thought about what Marissa told him. "Catch one I know about?" He thought to himself. "How does that work?"
While his mind went searching for an answer, Simon would look at Marissa now and again. It was difficult not to, seeing as she was ahead of him, leading the way. For a person who has only been traveling a few days, he thought, she seemed to know what she was doing. Of course, having just met Marissa, Simon didn't know much about her. At the same time, she doesn't know much about him also.
"Marissa… Shroomish and Surskit… which one is your first Pokémon?" Simon asked aloud.
"Shroomish," Marissa answered with ease. "I caught Surskit when I got to this route."
"Did you always wanted a Shroomish?" Simon picked up his pace, asking the question when he was by Marissa's side.
Marissa nodded. "When I was in school, I remember learning of them during a lesson. I didn't know why, and I still don't, but I knew I wanted one. I had that thought in my head for a long time, and it would especially pop up every time my birthday came around."
Simon suddenly felt the ground underneath him start to grow in toughness. He looked down and noticed the grass was slowly growing spotty, a sign of them approaching the outer area of Meteor Falls. "What about Surskit?" He asked.
"I told you, I caught them here," Marissa answered.
"I mean why did you catch them?" Simon specified.
"Hold on," Marissa said before stopping. Simon mimicked her after. The black-haired girl looked ahead at their path, followed by looking at the sky and seeing where the sun was positioned. After, she focused on the path again. "Get ready," Marissa began. "We're going to be walking upward soon. We still have daylight for a while, but it's still a good idea to make sure you check where you're stepping. Trust me, I almost had a few accidents when I was making my way down."
"Okay… so… about Surskit." Simon said as the two started moving again.
"I got out of Meteor Falls yesterday afternoon." Marissa began to explain. "When I did, I took a break to eat. I sat down not far from here and let Shroomish out. I made sure to feed them first, so I laid out some Pokémon food. As soon as I placed it in front of him, the food suddenly disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Simon said with confusion.
Marissa nodded and continued. "Yea. I looked at Shroomish and he was just as surprised as I was. Although I just brushed it off after and placed some more food down, it happened again the moment I did. It was then that we heard someone eating a few feet away from us, and there was Surskit. They were using their Quick Attack and scooping up the food."
"So what did you do?" Simon asked.
"Obviously I caught them," Answered Marissa. "Well, that wasn't my plan right away. I asked them not to take Shroomish's food, but like before, they dashed by right when putting it down. At that point Shroomish was getting annoyed, so was I. I tried telling them one more time… no surprise what happened next. So instead I battled them. Thanks to Shroomish's Stun Spore, it was pretty easy. I caught them after that."
By this point, Simon noticed more energy was being used with every step they took. As Marissa said, the path was starting to go upwards. Barely any greenery could be seen ahead.
"If you just caught them yesterday, was the battle with Spinda Surskit's first?" Simon then asked.
Marissa shook her head. "Second. Besides the one with the Roselia, I battle another trainer early this morning. I used Surskit in that one. It went pretty well." Her tone trailed off with some pride.
"You really do enjoy battling," Simon said with a small grin.
"I love battling," Marissa replied with enthusiasm. "You and your Pokémon working side by side, the way your heart races when trying to take down your opponent, the feeling you get depending if the move lands or miss, all the work you put into training, it's amazing."
Simon let out a chuckle. With every word Marissa spoke, he could hear her grow with excitement. However, it didn't last long. As he took in what Marissa said, he remembered what she had told him when they met. Something about it was now bothering him. "Hey Marissa, you said there was a gym in Rustboro City, right? Did you challenge it?" He asked.
Marissa began to come down and simply replied, "No."
Simon crossed his arms. "But you like battling. Wouldn't it make sense to have challenged the gym? And since you're traveling, why not take on the other gyms in Hoenn."
Marissa suddenly stopped moving. "I don't want to." She said flatly.
Simon stopped walking himself and raised a brow. "Why not? You'd get to ba-"
"Because I just don't want to," Marissa said, cutting him off.
Simon looked at Marissa. Her body stiffed a bit. Her focus was up ahead, but it didn't seem like she was looking at anything. She wasn't even blinking. She was like this for a couple of seconds.
"Um… Marissa?" Simon leaned a bit towards her.
"Be careful," Marissa spoke, making Simon twitch from her sudden action.
She pointed ahead at something. When Simon turned to look, he was surprised to see a large crater just a few feet away.
"There are craters scattered all over the outside of Meteor Falls," Marissa spoke, now sounding like she did a few minutes ago. "Some of them are bigger than others. We're going to have to around a few to get to the stream I used."
As if Simon didn't bring up his questions on the gyms, Marissa began walking again.
Unsure of what just happened, he began to walk again himself. "What was that about?" He thought.