Clack! Clack! Clack!

"MOOOORNING guild members! Morning! Get up!"

The high-pitched, slightly squeaky voice had no trouble piercing through Ryu's drowsiness.

He opened an eye and glanced at the figure in the doorway, who now rapped a fin on her arm against the wall for emphasis. It took a second to recognise the species out of water. Buizel… so I guess it's a relative of Faoz… ugh, this is early.

Most of the 'mon in the room were already making their way to the entrance. They all seemed used to this schedule, with many chatting excitedly, eager for whatever trials the day had in store. And then… there was the Chimchar lying next to Ryu.

"Fen…" Ryu muttered, giving him a gentle shake. "'Mon, get up already."

Fen moaned something in protest, and tried to roll away from Ryu's arm, but he pulled him around again, more forcefully.

"Fen! I know you're awake because your stupid tail's lit!" In his ear, he hissed, "You're the one who's supposed to be trying to find out how you got here! Now c'mon!"

Fen opened his eyes, unwilling to accept it was already morning. Why didn't I think sleep would be so important to Pokémon? he thought miserably. Two days in and I'm already sleep-deprived to hell…I suppose the mental concentration I'm having to use just to learn how to function properly doesn't help...

"I need an early night some time," he muttered.

"Mm." Ryu was unwilling to acknowledge any more.

They were last out of the room as Fen stumbed behind Ryu, attempting to rub some life into his oversized eyes. He wasn't sure how many Pokémon he expected in the guild, but was reassured that it didn't seem a huge operation. He counted 20 altogether, plus him and Ryu, who were queuing up against the wooden board that was rather inadequately sized for the attention it demanded. There were little slips of paper pinned up all over, but these were gradually cleared off by other groups or individuals. When at last they reached to the front, they were met by Faoz again.

"Glad to see you made it here, eventually," she said, smirking. "So, here are where all your jobs get listed. I ask everyone to give the location of their task, what exactly it entails, their own location, and the reward they're offering. Based on those I make a judgement on the 'difficulty' of thee task. It's up to five stars, but in reality there's very few tasks that warrant more than three and, dare I say it, not many 'mon around here would be up to that challenge anyway. So keep that in mind when you're choosing jobs. Though since you're the last here, most of the hard work's been done for you." She gestured to the few scraps of paper left.

"Why's that?" Fen enquired, a little more awake. "That not many Pokémon living here can do the hardest missions?"

"Well…," Faoz frowned. "My theory would be that once most 'mon reach a very high level of competence, they prefer to go out on their own, exploring the world, rather than be kept locked in by this system of missions. There's quite a consistent turnover of 'mon in this place, at least in the short time I've been running it. Which I understand, of course, but it's a shame they have to leave. That's Pokémon for you, I suppose. Always looking to be the best."

Fen looked at her curiously, which she seemed to pick up on, quickly continuing.

"Anyway, enough of that. Since you said you didn't know your way around Kyunn, I've got a little something that might be of use…"

She stuck her arm around the back of the board and produced a rolled-up sheet of card. Gesturing to them to open it, Ryu gasped as he did.

"This is… a map?" he said. "Oh Mew… it's amazing! I've never seen anything like this… did you draw all this?"

Faoz laughed. "I wish. A good friend of mine, a Smeargle, is the one to thank."

Though he didn't share all of Ryu's enthusiasm, Fen did find the map exciting in a way he couldn't explain. It was entirely hand-drawn, and painted with the most vibrant, sparkling set of colours. Every location was illustrated with the type of terrain they occupied, with trees and shrubbery indicating forests and winding mountains showing… well, exactly that. On every route, path or town there were recurring coloured markings, one that was a drawing of a flame, another of water droplets, another of green vines. There was a drawing of a big Floatzel head in the middle of the map, presumably to indicate Sanguin Town, but as he glanced up to check the name, he was met with a startling realization. With Faoz still lurking, he tried to conceal his shock, not wanting to attract suspicion.

Faoz explained that each place was marked with the type of Pokémon most commonly found in that area – the reason for the colour markings – and that the areas nearest Sanguin Town, where most missions took place, could be travelled to and from before dusk.

"I would normally give you a bag, but you seem to already have one…" She looked admiringly at Ryu's rucksack. "Quite a sturdy one, too. I'd keep hold of it. The other thing you'll need is this."

She handed them a round, wooden object with raised edges. Inside was a thin, metal arrow, pointing towards Faoz. Yet as Ryu turned it in his paw, the arrow jerked slightly, and Fen realised with a jolt what he was looking at.

"This is a compass?" he asked Faoz.

Faoz raised her eyelids, and Ryu gave him a surprised glance. "Sure is," Faoz said. "You know how to use it?"

"I… yeah, I suppose."

"Well, your direction points are on the map as well," she said, pointing to the corner of it where more symbols were marked. "If that's the case, all you need now is to choose a mission from the board."

Fen couldn't remember ever relying on a compass for navigation, certainly not one so primitive-looking, but supposed it wouldn't be difficult. However, the symbols inscribed on it confirmed what the map had suggested to him, and as they looked at the board, filled with more symbols, he spoke in Ryu's ear.

"Ryu, I can't read this language at all! I've never seen these things before! Are they… footprints?"

Ryu chuckled quietly. "Footprint runes, yeah. It's fine, I can read 'em. Hey, look at this one!" He tore a scrap of paper off the board, which had a letter attached to the bottom. "Says this: 'Please deliver to my dearest friend in Voltaic Point, Piku (Raichu). Requested by Naks (Dedenne). Reward: 300 Poké. Two stars.' Voltaic Point is here on the coast, so going from our location… it should be easy enough to reach."

Fen nodded, though there wasn't much else he could do in his reliance. "Sounds alright, then."

Ryu carefully rolled the map up and slid it into his bag, along with the letter. "Thank you so much, Faoz!" he said delightedly. "We'll take good care of the map and, uh, that other thing."

"Wait, hold on," Fen cut in, before they dismissed themselves. "What happens if, say, we faint on the journey there and can't get back?"

Faoz looked at him strangely. "What's your point?"

"Well, if we don't return, is that it? We're forgotten about?"

She shrugged. "It's highly unlikely that you should find yourself in a position where you physically can't get back here. If a wild knocks you out, then it'll just move on and you'll wake up slightly worse for wear. They're only concerned with fighting whatever's in their path." She paused. "That's the case for pretty much all lands north of here, where missions tend to be based. The south is… a slightly different story.

"Anyway, you might be in trouble if you lost your map, or fell in the sea, or something… in which case, I'll put a notice up that you're missing, if you're gone an abnormally long time. But by that point you're reliant on some other 'mon or team to come and rescue you. I would just suggest you be cautious. Does that make sense?"

"Well… I guess so," Fen said, not completely satisfied.

Faoz nodded and gave her toothy smile. "See you later, then."

Once Fen and Ryu had breakfast and located the correct exit out of Sanguin Town, they found themselves wading in some long grass, not unlike that in Cheri Forest. Contrary to the mountain of yesterday (or "Mt. Horizon", as he learned it had been creatively named), Fen realised that he really didn't like the grass. Having to shove thick blades out of his face every two seconds was bad enough, but he felt vulnerable to attacks from any angle, from any Pokémon, if it knew where it was going. His tail-flame, which left a singed-grass smell wherever they walked, was another matter entirely. It was a nice smell, though.

Ryu was holding the map, but Fen had doubts that he had much of an idea how to navigate it. Sadly, his own language barrier prevented him having any input on that front. He had given Ryu a quick tutorial on using a compass, hoping that the Riolu had listened.

"What's this place called?" Fen asked after a while.

"Map says it's 'Route 4'," Ryu mumbled.

"Route 4, that sounds… hm. Are there many routes marked on the map?"

"Eh, a few," Ryu rolled up the map and tucked it away with the compass. "We can expect some Commons and Flyers on this route, apparently. I'd try and listen out for any birdsongs as a warning."

Fen didn't see any fault in that logic, so agreed. Commons and Flyers… Pokémon have some interesting slang.

It wasn't a birdsong that they heard shortly after, but a rustling in the grass ahead. It was a strange rhythm, as if the source was senselessly leaping around from one spot to the next. Suddenly, Ryu spotted a couple of heads peeking out of the top of the grass, with tiny black eyes indicating no emotion. He quickly signalled for them to be still, and upon spotting them the Doduo also stopped, tilting both its heads slightly.

Then it yapped at them and lunged heads-first towards Ryu, mouth still open. To Fen's surprise, Ryu squealed in panic, and, not fast enough to twist himself away, cried out a second later as the bird pecked at his body.

Not trusting himself to produce a decent ember, Fen tried to get close enough to the Doduo to claw at it, and he partially succeeded without landing a hit, his swinging arms distracting it from Ryu. The bird cawed again, both its heads snapping in Fen's direction. He managed to backpedal enough to avoid the attacks.

"Wait!" Fen said forcefully, as Ryu looked set to try a scratch. He stopped, turning his head in bemusement. Fen himself was surprised at his voice's authority.

"Listen," he pointed at the Doduo, "this thing is a total idiot, but it moves too fast for us to hit. If I–"

Before he could finish, Ryu accelerated past him and tackled the Doduo full-on. It recoiled backwards and looked around frantically, as Ryu had disappeared into the grass. In its hesitation Fen swiped at it, but almost as soon as he did there was a thud from behind it. One of the Doduo's mouths opened impossibly wide, without a sound, and it made a few wayward steps before crashing forwards.

"…Oh. Sorry," Ryu said, chuckling as Fen struggled to force off the neck he had fallen under. "Hey, what were you saying just then?"

"Thanks for listening," Fen grumbled. "I just, uh… thought maybe if I distracted it, by waving my arms about or something, it would give you time to hit it properly. But I forgot you could just tackle it really fast." He sighed. "Does that attack have a name?"

"Quick attack, I s'pose," Ryu said, helping him up.

"Alright. Good job on beating the Doduo." A thought suddenly occurred to Fen. "Wouldn't it be easier if we coordinated our attacks a bit more? Most wilds seem to be on their own, so… it'd make sense."

Ryu looked at him skeptically. "Yeah, but… that's difficult right now."

"What? Why?"

"Well, you're so far behind me in ability, it's just… it would probably compromise me more than help us."

Fen wanted to laugh at the brute honesty, but Ryu's comment hurt more than he expected. "I need to get better, then?"

"Yeah! But… let me see... next time something appears, I've got an idea."

Only a few minutes later they heard a low-pitched squeaking. A pair of bright red eyes peeked out from inside the grass.

"Alright, a Ratatta," Ryu said. "I'll attack first, but you should have a chance to follow up this time."

Fen nodded. He was getting used to this.

Ryu jogged briefly on the spot then flew into the Rattata. It recoiled, but held firmer than the Doduo. Then Fen ran up to it, breathing in as much as he could manage before exhaling. But the result was only a weak ember, barely singing the Rattata's front. In fact it seemed even more riled; it snarled at Fen in response before leaping forwards.

Fen yelped, turned his shoulder into the attack, but was still knocked off his feet. Annoyed, he leapt back up acrobatically, using his back legs as a springboard, and slashed at the Rattata's face with both hands. It hissed something in response, and whipped its tail to drive him back a little.

They faced off, a few yards apart from each other. Fen expected its next move would be to tackle him again, so dropped onto all fours and waited for signs of movement. Then, from just above its head, something purple caught his eye. It was the Rattata's tail again, doing a strange sort of dance in the air. He only focused on it briefly, but it was enough for the Rattata to catch him off-guard when it leapt up.

It jumped higher than he expected; he briefly lost sight of it, but felt it when it landed untidily his back.

"Grrr… get off me!" he said, but then he heard by a cha sound, and two huge teeth sunk into his forearm.

Fen howled as a searing pain ran through his left arm. For all the cuts and bruises he'd experienced so far, it couldn't compare to the shock of something piercing into his body. Now it was his turn to thrash about wildly, but the Rattata continued to clamp down on him. Eventually, with no other means of attack, he spun himself in circles, and after a few seconds heard his foe wince slightly and loosen its grip. The Rattata jumped off him and retreated to a safer distance.

Fen was confused and glad at the respite. He readied his left arm for another scratch, but was met with more overwhelming pain. He cursed; he'd gone with his bitten arm without thinking, but it couldn't scratch now. He'd have to try an ember. Dammit!

He tried to draw some fire into his mouth, but then the Rattata jumped at him again, headed towards his right arm this time. It was in the air, flying towards him just above head-height, and with his mouth already full he acted instinctively.

From point blank range, he spat his flames into the Rattata's face. It squealed in surprise and missed its trajectory, falling on the grass just behind him. Without hesitation, Fen pivoted and viciously slashed its body with his good arm, sending it rolling over a few times before it came to rest.

Fen gasped to catch his breath, and slumped down in the grass. He glanced at his arm. There were two bloody gashes where the Rattata had bitten into him. He managed to draw a circle with it, wincing as he did so; at least nothing looked fractured. The Rattata had attacked more savagely than any Pokémon he'd faced yet, but it seemed to have brought out the vicious streak in him as well. He sighed.

Ryu strolled over to him, and once again offered an arm up. Fen slapped it away angrily, and struggled to his feet alone. "Where'd you disappear to?" he demanded. "I thought we were a team! Why didn't you help?"

Ryu took a step back, a little startled, but a familiar smirk soon took over his face. "You've gotta improve somehow," he said. "I wanted to see how you'd do. It was a pretty close matchup, I thought."

"Yeah, but–" Fen pointed to his arm. "It bit me really hard! That hurts, you know!"

"Oh, you know why it hurts so much?" Ryu snapped. "Because while four-legs over there's got his teeth in your arm, you're flailing your limbs about like you're a fucking Machamp or something. Anyone with half a brain would realise that's just going to make the wound worse."

Fen huffed resentfully. "Sorry I don't have your level of bloody… fight training."

"Well, you should have more than you do!"

Fen looked at him in disbelief. "I wasn't just born into this world like you were!"

Ryu paused, then shook his head. "You moan more than anyone I've ever met."

"Do you want to know why?!" Fen was almost screaming at him. "Do you have any idea, any at all, what this is like for me? No? So don't accuse me of doing something that you think's obvious, because it's not! I'm not like you! Maybe I look like a perfectly normal Chimchar to you, but…"

He trailed off, unsure what else to say. He was shaking. His raised emotions seemed to have alerted his battle instincts again, but he told them definitively that they weren't welcome.

Ryu looked to be considering his words carefully. Eventually, he took a seat in the grass facing him.

"Alright, I'm sorry." He looked Fen in the eye. "I'm sorry, okay? You're right. It can't be easy for you, trying to learn all this. I'll try and be more understanding."

Fen was quite stunned. He hoped Ryu had meant his words.

"You're serious?" Fen said.

"Yes!"

"Alright, well… it's my fault too. I know you're trying to help me, it's just hard to see that sometimes. Can you just… give me advice, but help me as well?"

"Sure. One condition, though," Ryu said, his smirk returning. "You stop moaning when something happens that you don't like."

"I think you're guilty of that as well."

Ryu laughed. "Okay, for my first lesson," he said with mock gravitas, "let me show you something."

He led Fen over to the fallen Rattata in the grass. It was still conscious, but its body only twitched weakly. Its eyes gazed at the two of them resentfully.

"Look at him," Ryu said. "You've just gone and torched his whole face, and left a slash in one of its ears."

It was crude, but Fen couldn't disagree with the description. The Rattata's ears and snout were particularly blackened. He felt horribly guilty.

"Now," Ryu went on, "I'm going to say that in a little while, he'll be back up on his feet and moving again. And in the same amount of time, your arm will be, maybe not entirely healed, but it won't hurt like it does now. I'm not sure what galaxy you're coming from Fen, but these injuries are really not that bad. You get them all the time! That's just how life is."

Easy for you to say, Fen thought, but knew better than to say it aloud. The shock of being bitten had provoked him more than the pain really warranted. He decided that, for the time being, he should try and keep any conflict between him and Ryu to a minimum. So they moved on.

Some time later, Fen picked up a quiet padding of feet in the distance. Ryu seemed to hear it too, for he spoke immediately after.

"I think the idea last time was good, with my quick attack and you following up, but I've got another way for it to work."

"Oh? What's that?"

Ryu smirked. "It'd be better if I show you. Here's a welcome volunteer for us."

Walking towards them, not even trying to camouflage themselves, was a pink, bipedal figure. As it got nearer, Fen started to make out the rest of its strange features: white fluff covering its head and upper body, a blue orb sitting at the end of its tail, its arms and legs strangely tiny in proportion to its body size.

"Flaaffy," Ryu said. "An Electric, that's interesting. Didn't say anything about 'em on the map…"

He stopped walking, waiting for the Flaaffy to do something to signify battle. Instead, it did the last thing Fen expected.

"Hey!" she said brightly, holding up a paw in greeting. "Where are you two off to? Voltaic Point by any chance?"

Fen and Ryu both stood dumbstruck for a second. Fen noticed the Flaaffy had a small shoulder bag slung over its head. I suppose it's only logical that there'd be civilised Pokémon on these routes too...

Ryu dropped his head in disappointment. "We thought you were a wild."

"Uh, we are going to Voltaic Point, yeah," Fen added cheerfully, not wanting the Flaaffy to feel unwelcome.

She smiled, ignoring Ryu's comment. "Ah well, that's where I'm hatched from, you see. It's just a little further up the grass path here, you shouldn't be able to miss it. I'm Raffi, by the way."

Fen and Ryu likewise introduced themselves, and Raffi went on.

"I'm curious, what brings a couple of travellers to our Electric home? Is it your first time there?"

"Well, we're not here for 'travelling', exactly…" Fen said. "We're delivering a letter to someone living there, for a client in Sanguin Town." He thought about her words again. "It's an Electric home? What do you mean?"

"Ah, yes," she nodded to his first point, then smiled. "Well, the air around the Point, and even here to some extent, as we're on the edge of the village; it attracts strong winds and plenty of thunder, for reasons I'm not totally sure of, to be honest. What that means is that the air is highly charged, more than any other place you'll find on Kyunn. We live on electricity, of course, so you can imagine that it's an ideal habitat for Electrics. It gets our fur sparkling!"

Fen was surprised. I didn't even know air could be highly charged. It's ingenious, if it really does help electric-types.

"So… what does it mean more literally for your fur to be sparkling?" he asked.

She laughed. "Well, it does sparkle the more charged we are; I wasn't making that up. I suppose 'mon are just healthier and happier, and can produce stronger electrical attacks than they would elsewhere."

Ryu's ears seemed to prick up on hearing this. "Huh? Did you say your attacks are stronger? They get supercharged or something?"

"Not exactly supercharged…" Raffi said. "Not unless we get under a real lightning strike. But the power of our attacks is boosted slightly due to the charged air."

"So… any way you could show us what you mean?" Ryu asked excitedly.

Raffi sighed. "You really wanted to fight me, didn't you."

"Agh! I… well... yeah. Could you? With both of us?"

"Of course!" Raffi grinned, sparks of electricity suddenly flying from her white fleece. "I'd never want to turn down a fight with travellers."

She swung off her bag and laid it aside on the grass. Ryu looked uneasy, but he nonetheless did the same with his, putting it next to Raffi's bag.

Raffi got into a crouched position. "Ready?" she said.

Fen glanced at Ryu for guidance. He'd adopted the same martial arts pose he always did prior to fighting, arms out in front of him. Fen perched himself on all fours, used to the feeling now.

"Watch this…" Ryu whispered to him, before immediately turning back to Raffi and shouting "Go!" He leaped towards her, shaping to strike with his left arm, but as he swung he pulled out at the last second. Raffi instinctively moved out of the way in anticipation, but as Ryu sailed past she looked round, confused at his disappearance.

Now Fen saw what Ryu meant. By faking an attack he disorientated the opponent, which gave scope for him or Ryu again to get a free attack off. He could've just told me what he was doing… Ryu certainly enjoys the element of surprise.

With his his decent arm he slashed at Raffi's belly – the area her wooly fur didn't cover. The Flaaffy grunted in pain, but was practically unmoved from her position. Then there was a much stronger whack as Ryu's glowing paw slammed into the unprotected area on her back. He'd explained the attack to Fen; transferring energy into his paw gave him more power than a simple punch, but also required more concentration. The 'force palm', as he called it, made Raffi swing her tail in a circle, which forced them back. She had still barely moved herself.

Then her features tensed and sparks started gathering on her fur. But it was a slow process; she was vulnerable. Feeling confident, Fen started approaching for another scratch, but found… he couldn't. His feet seemed frozen to the ground. It was a familiar feeling, but… where from?

Then he remembered. Fighting the Shroomish in Cheri Forest, when it had sent those spores into the air… so he was paralysed?

But… she hasn't done anything! he thought, dismayed. All I did was hit her… is that all it took to paralyse me?

He could still move his eyes, and managed to seek out Ryu in the corner of his vision, who looked to be suffering the same problem. Raffi's static had grown into a sizzling ball of electricity now, contained just in front of her hands. Ryu managed to lose his electric handcuffs first, but as he tried to attack again, the electricity ball engulfed Raffi, and she released it in a horizontal lightning bolt, striking Ryu full on.

"Ryu!" Fen cried. He thought he was going to follow that up with a shout of "hey!" at Raffi, but instead what came out was his own screech of a cry that he supposed sounded a lot more threatening. He didn't like the sound but it at least seemed to break him out of paralysis. He hurriedly shook some feeling back into his arms.

Ryu was on the ground; his smoking fur was standing at funny angles, and he didn't look up to fight again. Fen gulped; he was on his own. Did he have any chance now?

What did he know about Raffi? She was slow. But his scratches had paralysed him. He would have to use fire, and hit her fast enough so she couldn't charge up another electricity ball. Would that work? He'd have to try.

He got in range for an ember, and fired just as he saw her prepare an electric blast. She winced but continued charging. He started galloping in a circle around her, hoping it would reduce her accuracy. She threw a ball of electricity but it was just behind him, and he felt the electricity singe his flame slightly as he dove forwards.

Phew! He scrambled to his feet. Raffi was still unmoved from her spot on the grass. As he started running again, something strange started happening to the woolly fleece around her head. It expanded briefly, then little spheres broke off it. She flicked her head in Fen's direction, and the cotton spores shot over and wrapped themselves around him.

He tried to keep running, but the spores weighed him down far more than he expected. It was like running through treacle. He tried pulling off the spores, then realised burning them with fire would be easier. But he wasn't able to try before Raffi tackled him to the floor.

He doubted she was the heaviest 'mon, but she hit him right in the stomach. He coughed out a few smoke plumes as he tried to regain his breath, noting that as something he would have to look into another time.

While he was down, his opponent had charged herself yet again, and this time made no mistake with her aim. The bolt of electricity hit him.

The best way he could describe it would be that all his muscles contracted simultaneously, as if they were getting tensed for something, but to an unfeasible level that rendered him immobile. It was similar to paralysis, but that was only a side-effect of the pain. His limbs refused to cooperate further.

As he panted for breath he guessed that, being a civilised 'mon, Raffi knew to stop attacking when the fight was over. He was glad for that, but the ruthlessness with which she'd despatched both him and Ryu suggested she wasn't holding back by much. He wondered how well Ryu would take the defeat.

Raffi offered him a hand up, which he carefully accepted, making sure his legs were working. She went to do the same with Ryu, who gazed at her almost mystically.

"Hey… you're pretty strong," he said, grimacing. "All that small talk put me off guard. Fair play."

Raffi chuckled, her battle demeanour entirely removed. "Are you both alright?" she asked, frowning. "I hope I wasn't too heavy on you. There's still a fair little journey to get where you need to…"

"No… we're fine," Ryu muttered. "Right Fen?"

"Yeah… could we take a couple of minutes, though?"

Ryu and Raffi exchanged a puzzled glance, which puzzled Fen just as much. Then Ryu said, "Alright, we'll have a rest."

Raffi looked at them pitifully. She picked up her bag and fished around until she pulled out a round, blue berry. "Here… it's not much, but it's a way of expressing my gratitude."

She extended to them, and in a rapid shift of mood, Ryu grabbed it excitedly, breaking it in half for Fen. Fen looked sceptically at the berry. It looked vaguely familiar as something Pokémon were fed.

Ryu caught his look, and smiled gleefully. "Trust me, these things are good. Just give it a try."

Fen took a cautious bite. The flavour was pleasant enough, an interesting mix of spice, sweetness and sourness. The impact on his body, though, was extraordinary, and entirely unexpected. His aches from past battles declined rapidly, so he ate more, and by the end he felt revitalised and positively bouncing with energy. Even his arm felt, if not as good as new, certainly well enough to fight with. Ryu was doing his best not to laugh at the reaction.

"Oran berries," he said. "Good stuff, right?"

Fen shook his head in joyous disbelief. "What have I been eating for my entire life…? How… how is this possible?"

Ryu shrugged. "Dunno, but I'm glad it is."

After he was done licking the berry juice from his hands, Fen thanked Raffi profusely for the gift. She was puzzled by his amazement, but still accepted the thanks. After giving them rough directions for Voltaic Point, pointing out that it should be very simple to reach anyway, they parted ways again.

The long grass gradually began to thin out, and the ground moved to an upwards incline. They spotted a sign ahead, which Ryu translated.

"'Voltaic Point ahead. Beware of lightning.'"

Next to the sign were some rough steps carved into the rock, uneven and cracked after many years of use. The steps led into a delicately carved trail through the mountain itself, until this gave way to a smooth, grassy surface again.

Voltaic Point was a rather small village, set in the grassy plains. The few houses around were built on hills that made up the bulk of the area. Most were decorated in yellow, some with additional lightning bolt-esque patterns on the exterior.

"This is Voltaic Point?" Fen said. "Odd place to have a village. I wonder why they chose to be right next to a cliff? And the ground isn't even very flat."

"Probably 'cause of that charged air," Ryu remarked.

"Oh." Fen felt foolish. "Of course."

"Well, we just need to find this Raichu now. You know what they look like?"

Fen tried to visualise it. "White and orange colour, two arms and legs, big tail?"

Ryu chuckled. "Good description. I've seen 'em a couple times before, was just testing."

Asking an Ampharos at the nearest house took them to a fairly standard, yellow-and-white coloured building, where they found Piku, who was both delighted and surprised to learn of Naks the Dedenne's letter to her. She asked where they were from, and jumped at their response.

"But Sanguin Town is such a long way!" she exclaimed, little sparks of electricity flying off her as she gesticulated. "Really, Naks should've come to meet me herself, if you had to go to so much trouble. But thanks nonetheless!"

They chatted with Piku at the door for a bit about the journey there, and then she asked them if they'd ever been to the village before. Both of them shook their heads.

"Ah, well then." She smiled knowingly. "I should probably let you in on why this village was built on a cliff."

"Oh, a Flaaffy we met explained that," Ryu said. "Stuff about the air, right?"

Piku nodded. "What about the Point itself?"

The pair exchanged a blank look. "I don't know what you mean," Ryu said. "Oh! Raffi mentioned something about absorbing the power of a lightning strike… is it anything to do with that?"

Piku's eyes seemed to light up. She walked outside and looked towards the sky. "Basically, the Point is wherever the very strongest electrical charge is coming from. If you're an Electric 'mon and you're there at the right time, when there's storm clouds in the air, as there are now… well, let me show you. Come on!"

She skipped past the houses to an area right at the edge of the cliff, where high rocks were rooted in the ground. Leaping onto one, she turned in a circle, and seemed to flex her giant ears, searching for a sound Fen was unaware of. Finally, she turned to face them again.

"This is about it," she said. "The Point doesn't always stay in the same place; right now, the strongest signal is coming from around here." She grinned excitably. "Now stay back! Hopefully this won't take long."

They retreated to behind a sturdy looking rock about 50 yards away from Piku's spot, and waited. All they could see from the Raichu was a look of intense concentration. Then suddenly, there was a rumbling. Thunder. Piku's head snapped up to the sky, where storm clouds were suddenly swirling. A second later, lightning struck where she was standing.

After Fen uncovered his eyes from the initial light, he saw with astonishment that Piku was on all fours, wrestling with a lightning bolt in her arms. The lightning sizzled with energy, and seemed to be doing the same to her body, with her tail flicking about wildly with the effort.

Finally, the lightning vanished. Only Piku was on the rock again, but even from their distance away they could see her fur glowing with energy. She beckoned them over again.

"Phew! That was bigger than I expected." Her voice carried some extra low frequencies.

She hopped off the rock and started scrambling on all fours towards the sea. "This is the best bit!" she called. "Make sure you get a good view!"

The water was choppy in the winds, but she found a rock a fair way out that was tall enough not to be submerged. Ryu climbed down near the base of the cliff, and Fen intended to follow, but as he descended he felt a strange resistance. It couldn't be anything physical; they were shielded from the wind at this angle, and there was nothing blocking him. As he willed himself to drop nearer the water, another part of him was instinctively trying to pull away. He sighed in exasperation.

He dropped down again, and glared down at the sea in an attempt to scare off whatever this resistance was. To his surprise though, that feeling of anxiousness jumped back up at him with twice the ferocity as before. He gasped at the explosion of emotion, and did all he could not to whimper in fear as he clutched onto the rock face tighter.

Does this mean… I'm afraid of the sea now? How stupid… like I'm ever going to fall in from here. But if I did, what would happen? Would I be able to swim? Would my tail go out completely? Would that mean–

An ear-splitting crack sounded above him, and he saw Piku's body engulfed in crackling electricity. She roared something to no one in particular, then another crack. Finally her electricity seemed to converge with the thunderheads in the sky; it created a huge, vertical thunderbolt that crashed into the sea ahead of them. Waves and a few unlucky fish were sent flying.

Fen instinctively held up an arm to shield himself, even though the water was a long way away. Then he heard Ryu shout "Mew!" from below and put his arm down, wondering what had provoked him.

The thunder had turned the sky around them a shade of yellow, acting almost like an artificial sun. The brightness reflected on the water, creating an almost dream-like mesh of blue and yellow hues, in perfect view of their sight. Even the part of Fen that feared the sea seemed content enough to observe the beauty of it for a few seconds.

I've had this feeling before, he thought. The kind of natural beauty that exists on this island, Kyunn… it really is something else! It makes sense that Pokémon like it here…

Once the light show faded, he hurriedly pulled himself back to the top of the cliff. Ryu and a slightly staggering Piku re-joined him.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Ryu said to Piku. "I didn't even know you could do that with water and lightning! It's amazing!"

"Heh… that's why you were lucky to have come today," Piku panted. "The skies recently have been really volatile. When I looked out of the window, I knew I had to show you. Think of it as my way of thanks for you coming so far."

"I, uh, just have a question though," Fen said. "Why did you have to discharge all that energy so quickly? I mean, you're not glowing like you were a few minutes ago. Isn't that a bad thing?"

Piku looked at him curiously, then nodded. "If we're too highly charged, it can be hard to keep our emotions in check, what with the over-abundance of energy we're carrying. As nice as it looks," she smiled, "it makes sense to discharge it, as you say. Makes for a nice view, though?"

Fen and Ryu could agree on that.

After some more thanks from both parties, they began the considerable journey back to Sanguin Town. The day had given Fen much to contemplate. He hadn't counted on having a fear of the sea, but he supposed it did make sense given his biology, as much as it irked him. He hoped that it wouldn't act as a hindrance to whatever lay in store in the future. That aside, if there were more sights like what they'd seen from Piku today, the future was looking like a more bearable prospect after all.