"Finally back in Jubilife City." Akumu managed to sleep well last night; we had to leave Floaroma early just to be able to get to Jubilife on time. Now we're back within the familiar limits of the city. Though we only crossed one short Route, somehow I already feel as though we're a lot closer to Oreburgh… even though we probably aren't.
As we head south along the main street, I let my eyes wander along the street signs. Fortunately there are no other traces of those Team Galactic people like there were yesterday. The city seems about as normal as a city can get.
My eyes rest on a sign pointing in the direction of the Trainer's School. It sounds like a good place for me, since I'm going to have to learn how to battle at some point or another. I'd have to investigate to find out if it's for nine-year-olds, though.
Still carrying Kakuna, I lead my team straight down the street and eventually hang a right. The large building of the Trainer's School looms near, and it doesn't appear very crowded, either. It won't hurt just to take a look inside. In fact, there are only a few people, and they don't appear to be part of any organized class. There are a few sentences written on the blackboard, so I approach slowly. Even if it's basic information, it would still be useful to a beginner like me.
It's a list of status effects that can be inflicted on Pokémon in battle: poison, paralysis, freezing, burning, and sleep. Thanks to Uta, I already know about my share of poison; sleep seems relatively normal, even if it is induced; freezing, burning and paralysis seem like more serious conditions. I take a note of how to treat and avoid each, and then hurry with my Pokémon out of the school. I probably shouldn't be embarrassed just to be in there – after all, everyone is a beginner at some point, even if they are older than the average starting Trainer.
I finally relax as I face east once more. I assume we're going to have a peaceful journey to Oreburgh, but of course such a journey doesn't exist for a Pokémon Trainer. I learn that the hard way.
Just as we reach the four-way intersection in the northeast corner of the city, a familiar voice interrupts my thoughts. "Hey! It's you again!"
Startled, I turn towards the source of the voice. Sure enough, it's the Team Galactic grunt from before, although now he looks very confident that he can beat me in a fight. I'm not sure how he could have gotten so much training over less than twenty-four hours, but maybe Team Galactic doesn't train their members in smarts quite enough. "Sure, it's me. Why, do you need another beating to send you back home?"
"Nope, just the opposite," he replies haughtily. "I'm looking for revenge. Can you fight two of us at once?"
Another spacesuit man suddenly appears from behind a building, rushing up next to his partner. He has the same wide grin on his face.
"Why not?" I shift my grip on Kakuna slightly; I don't want any of the attacks to get to him in the middle of the battle. The last thing we need is another emergency trip to the Pokémon Center. "Searcher and Aleta, you guys take care of it."
My two Pokémon step forward to battle, but before the Galactic members can even choose their Pokémon, Kakuna starts wiggling around in my arms as though he wants something. I can't figure out whether to grip him tighter or to let him fall. I don't have any time to think about it, though; in a few moments Kakuna leaps into the air himself, taking on a white glow just as the sunlight gleams off of his lime-green shell. Just a few feet from the ground, he breaks out of his cocoon, buzzing his strong, translucent wings to float gently to the earth.
Freshly out of the cocoon and ready for battle is a giant insect Pokémon – well, at least, he's giant for an insect. He has the thinnest waist I've ever seen, and also the clearest ocean-blue eyes. Bold black stripes encircle his abdomen. Strangely for an insect, he has four limbs like a human: two supple legs and two flexible arms tipped with stingers that are over half the length of his body. He flurries his wings, buzzing menacingly as he steps in front of Uma and Aleta, his sapphire glare on the two Tem Galactic grunts.
"What happened?" I ask, but decide that such a basic question isn't important right now. "Anyway, it looks like you want to fight, too. What should I call you, Kakuna?"
He turns his cobalt gaze to me. He has no visible mouth, but I can tell from the cyan glint that he's definitely smiling. "You can call me Searcher." He flexes his spears impatiently. "So long as you let me beat the stuffing out of whatever Pokémon I need to."
For the last few minutes the Team Galactic members have been standing there blinking, but now they appear to regain their composure. The one from earlier sends out a Glameow; his partner lets a different Pokémon called Stunky out of its Poké Ball. It has a weird scrunched-up face and a fluffy purple tail, and it doesn't look very friendly.
"Two-on-two? Aleta, you can have the practice this time," I offer, nodding to the Alomomola.
She flicks her fins in acknowledgment, drifting up next to Searcher. Aleta looks warily at the Stunky; she can already tell that this practice may not go like she hopes.
Searcher notices Aleta's discomfort. He lifts his stingers towards the other two Pokémon and smiles again. "Don't worry. I've got your back."
"Enough talk," the unfamiliar Team Galactic member snaps, pointing at his Pokémon. "Stunky, start out with Poison Gas."
I remember the list of status problems I read at the Trainer's School earlier. Poison was one of them, and I recalled that it could be healed with an antidote. The blackboard also said something about a familiar move being able to block any sort of status problem – one of the moves Aleta knew, fortunately.
"Use Safeguard," I told the Alomomola. "Searcher… just do whatever." He appeared to be capable of battling by himself – an advantage, since I had no idea what kind of moves he would be able to use.
"Good choice." The membrane surrounding Aleta's oily skin forms a protective veil around her and Searcher just before the poisonous vapor reaches them. I'm about to breathe a sigh of relief when suddenly Searcher darts outside the shield, buzzing straight for Glameow.
"Take this!" he shouts, smashing down on the felid first with one stinger, then the other. If he is poisoned, he shows no sign of it.
"Searcher!" Aleta calls, her fins swishing nervously. "Be careful!"
The lime-green wasp takes a few steps backwards, still standing protectively in fromt of the Alomomola. "I don't get poisoned," he assures her, "because I have my own poison to eliminate it. "And by the way," he begins, glancing back at me, "for future reference, that attack was Twineedle. It's mighty dangerous if you use it right."
"Who cares about dangerous?" Spacesuit Man scoffs. "It's not enough to take us down. Glameow, show him 'dangerous' with Fury Swipes."
Growling, the grey felid rushes forwards, its claws poised to strike. Searcher braces himself, but the nimble Glameow leaps at him and gives him a good slashing. When it returns to its side of the battlefield, Searcher sustains many claw-marks on his exoskeleton. He is hurt, but still full to the brim with fighting spirit.
"Is that everything you've got?" he taunts. "Come on, I can take a lot more than just that tickle."
Just as he finishes the sentence, Stunky replaces Glameow, although it is not nearly as agile. Searcher anticipates the attack and dodges it by flying nimbly over Stunky's head. "Try again!" he teases, rushing at Stunky with another Twineedle. 'Stab, stab' 0 Stunky flew back to Glameow. Its fur bristled with frustration as it struggled to regain its footing.
"Don't take me lightly just because I grow fast," Searcher warns, flexing his stingers. "I may be young, but I'm also built for fighting."
"Aleta," I interrupt his ramble, "use Water Pulse."
With a deep breath, the Alomomola exhales a dazzling rush of water. As it shimmers in the cloudy gray sunlight, it oozes towards Glameow. The felid stares for a few moments before it's suddenly soaked by the attack and falls to the ground. I guess the rumor about cats being unable to stand water is true.
The Team Galactic grunt stares in disbelief at his fallen Pokémon before recalling it to its Poké Ball. He mutters something to his companion simultaneously – most likely words of encouragement.
"Stunky, go scratch that Beedrill again."
The skunk Pokémon gets close to Searcher once more with its waddling, somewhat jogging gait. It bares its claws and prepares to slash at his already beaten-up torso. As its attack falls upon him, he parries the blow with his right spear. Only a moment of collision occurs before he swipes the Stunky violently to the ground several feet away. No way it could still be cautious after such a landing.
"Looks like we win!" Searcher declares, although he definitely appears fatigued. Even with his depleted energy, he manages to strike a pose.
I step forward, standing next to my Pokémon. "You Team Galactic people stop messing with Pokémon or you'll be sorry when I come after you."
Taken aback, they simultaneously step away. One of them mumbles, just loud enough for me to hear: "We'll never help Boss complete the Red Chain at this rate."
"What Red Chain?" I demand, but quicker than lightning they've already disappeared.
"Red Chain," Akumu echoes, his ice-blue eyes following the vanished Galactic members.
"Do you know something?" I ask, hoping he hasn't been keeping any secrets from me.
"No, it just sounds suspicious, like the kind of thing criminals would come up with." There's no hesitation or unevenness in his voice, so I can tell that he's not lying.
"That it does," Uma agrees. "I wonder what they would use such a chain for."
"No good," I reply. "That's for sure."
We try not to linger on the thought of this Red Chain too much; if Team Galactic gets in our way often enough, we'll invariably figure it out sometime in the future. Instead we make our way east towards Oreburgh City. It would be nice if Team Galactic didn't exist, but the only way to eliminate them is to get stronger. Fortunately, that's what we're on the way to doing.
The Route is relatively easy to traverse; a gravel path marks our voyage from the west end to the east end, broken only in a few places by patches of tall grass. Occasionally a Starly flits out from a nearby tree or grass patch, searching for seeds to eat.
"What other Pokémon do you think live here besides Starly?" I inquire, curious to hear what kind of thoughts my companions would have.
"Probably some Grass-types," Searcher guesses. He's settled into a humanoid form now. He retains his bright blue eyes and reflective wings, but his green-and-black stripe pattern is transferred onto a comfortable-looking sleeveless shirt. He has also found himself a pair of boots as though he knew we would be walking long distances when we picked him up.
"Grass-types?" I echo, somewhat unfamiliar with the term. Now that I thought about it, I knew basic information such as the knowledge that Pokémon had types, but I wasn't sure about the importance of such types, or how they were separated.
"Plant-like Pokémon," Searcher clarifies. "It looks like your companions so far are Water-types, so you should watch out for Grass-types." He turns his cobalt eyes to Akumu. "Your Darkrai friend is a Dark-type, though. The only opponents he has to worry about are Fighting-types and Bug-types like me."
"What does a Fighting-type look like?"
"Normally they're relatively humanoid. If it looks like it would be good at punching, kicking or lifting weights, it's probably a Fighting-type."
I nod slowly, absorbing the knowledge like a sponge. Trainers were supposed to teach their Pokémon how to battle, but for the most part Searcher was teaching me. I wondered if all Pokémon Trainers got to experience a mutual learning relationship with their companions – I guessed that a one-way teaching experience would be a lot more boring. "You're going to have to help me with all of this battling stuff," I tell Searcher, "because I don't really have a clue what I'm doing."
"All right, then," Searcher complies with a smile. "I may be just a Beedrill, but I do know a little bit about battling. Probably not as much as your average Trainer, though." He gives a nervous laugh.
"That's okay," I assure him. "I'm not as smart as the average Trainer. We do all have things to teach each other, after all."
There are a few moments of silence. I glance at my other three Pokémon. It's easy to tell that Akumu is Dark-type, because that's the first word that comes to mind when I look at his suit. I probably could have guessed that Uma and Aleta were somehow related to water, since that was not only their primary habitat but also their main style of attack.
"Let me guess," I begin. "Searcher, you said you were Bug-type, but you also said something earlier about having poison. Does that make you a Poison-type or something as well?"
Searcher nods, and the earlier smile returns to his face. "It does. Pokémon can have up to two types, and there are a lot of different combinations. Learning by experience is probably the best way to find them all."
I turn my gaze back to our path. Unexpectedly a Pokémon has appeared a few feet in front of us. A little bit startled, I worry that I might step on it until it suddenly vanishes.
"What was that?" The Pokémon looked a little bit like a human-shaped fox with narrow eyes, and it also appeared to be wearing some sort of brown shirt.
"I think that's an Abra," Akumu answers. "They appear in my family's stories and legends sometimes. They're often portrayed as tricksters because of their ability to teleport to other places in the blink of an eye."
"Abra," I mimic. The word is short but does have some quality of longevity to it. "What type is that?"
"Psychic," Akumu responds instantly. "Because its teleportation ability comes completely from its mind power."
Again, I absorb Akumu's knowledge. If I learn this much every day, I could be an average (or better) Trainer in no time. Chances are that my Pokémon know a lot more about battling and mechanics than they think they do – and that goes for me as well. All we need to do is dig through our minds and find what information is relevant, and then apply that to our new career as warriors. Perhaps the world of Contests and Trainers isn't as separate as I thought it was before.
The path ahead of us slowly disappears into the grass. In several more feet it begins gaining slope again. Before I know it another mound of rock has risen in front of us, with a giant cavern opening up directly where the path would have been. This must be the way to Oreburgh; judging by the name of the city, it probably is surrounded by stone.
"Ready for another cave?" I ask jokingly. Aleta raises her hands in preparation for another Heal Pulse while Akumu takes his place at the front of the group, ice-blue eyes poised to search in the darkness.
We've barely taken a few steps in when Akumu halts unexpectedly. In the gloom I can definitely see something blocking our path, but I can't tell what it is. Aleta steps forwards with her Heal Pulse to reveal a large pile of those rocky-looking Pokémon I had thought about back before Floaroma. They don't look very happy.
"Geodude?" Searcher moves in front of us, eyeing the rock Pokémon. "Why are they blocking the road like this?"
"Maybe they were attacked," Uma suggests. "The Plasma guys could have come through here earlier."
"That's quite possible," Akumu murmurs. "How do we get through?"
"I'll take care of it," Searcher announces. Before anybody can disagree, he buzzes into the middle of the Geodude horde, stabbing at as many of them as he can with his stingers. Of course, they don't respond well. Though he manages to swipe a few of the rock Pokémon out of the way, more of them fall on top of him and start trying to pound him with their fists.
"Searcher!" Uma cries, rushing into the fray. He shoves aside a couple of Geodudes with his spiky fins and then begins spouting bubbles to discourage more of them. Aleta joins in a few moments later, breathing out pulses of water to drive them away. It takes at least a full minute for the Pokémon to clear all of the Geodudes out of the way, and by that time Searcher is badly battered. The Alomomola immediately pauses next to him. He is moving a little, and his eyes are still shining, so he's definitely not dead, but needless to say he is very fatigued.
"Try not to move," Aleta tells him gently, folding her fins over her right side. In the darkness, a sphere of light begins to glow between the tips. It sheds its illumination on Searcher's lime-greem exoskeleton like a candle on a winter night. After several seconds his wings start to flutter a little, almost as though a motor is driving them. After perhaps half of a minute, he pushes himself back onto his feet with his stingers. His energy isn't completely restored, but it's enough to keep him going until we get to Oreburgh.
"Thanks, Aleta," he murmurs. He keeps his cobalt eyes on the floor of the cave.
"Let's get to Oreburgh City and get some rest," Uma suggests, standing back up. "We can take a nap before we challenge this Gym or whatever."
"We could wait until tomorrow if we need to," I intercede. "We've had a lot of battles today, at least for how novice we are. You all deserve a long rest."
"That sounds good," Searcher sighs.
The team and I make our way uneventfully to the other end of the passage. Akumu keeps an especially sharp eye out for more Geodudes, but they all appear to have scattered in the commotion. The light at the end of the tunnel is welcoming to each of us; it reveals a city cut into a mountain, with all of the buildings dressed in sooty blacks and oranges. A fiery reddish light accompanies the sun in illuminating the streets, as though a volcano would bury the place in ash without a moment's notice.
"This place is a little scary," Searcher stutters. "I don't like fire or rock."
"It seems a little warm to me," Uma empathizes. "And too dry."
"We won't stay here too long," I assure my Pokémon hurriedly. I wouldn't want to be overthrown by Pokémon revolting for their liberalism.
"Where's the Gym?" Aleta asks, her eyes flitting around the tops of the buildings.
"Probably the tall one over there," Akumu guesses, poiting towards a wide, rounded structure in the very center of the city. It is not nearly as geometric as its surroundings, with tinted windows around its circumference that make the inside look forebodingly dark.
"I hope it's not as deserted as it looks," I mutter.
"If it was," Akumu points out, "the city wouldn't be so busy. No gym would turn the place into a mining town."
The Pokémon Center is only a couple of blocks away from the Gym, gleaming a considerably more hospitable orange than the rusty hues of the rest of the city. We descend into the streets and set our course for this building, reaching our destination in a matter of minutes. As we draw closer to the Gym, it starts to look clearer and more welcoming. Maybe someone is even inside right now, battling or whatever Trainers would do in such a facility.
Searcher stumbles headfirst into the Pokémon Center as if it's the finish line to a marathon. Aleta follows close behind, keeping a careful watch on Searcher to make sure he doesn't plop down on a cushion and break something. Uma saunters inside as though he's walking into his own house. Akumu stays close by as I enter, looking like the most normal out of the bunch.
We take a table in the far corner of the Pokémon Center, again near the window. Akumu's ice-blue eyes fly over the city outside, as though he's searching for danger. After a few minutes of watching, though, he appears to relax and leans against the wall, closing his eyes. He still hasn't fought that I can remember, but the stress from the other Pokémon is getting to him and one thing he needs is a good nap away from the moonlight.
Searcher reclines on a long couch, and is probably asleep within a minute. Uma relaxes considerably as well. Aleta is the only team member still appearing restless, and that's probably only because of her protective nature. Eventually she'll have to get her rest too.
I keep watch on my Pokémon for a while, and eventually Aleta drifts off with the others. The rest of the Pokémon Center is relatively quiet, with Trainers coming in every now and then to restore their Pokémon to health, perhaps rest for a while and then leave to return to their arduous journeys. So far, my journey hasn't been all that arduous; it's only my first day as a Trainer, after all. Surely there have to be far more challenges ahead…
…thinking about it is making me sleepy, too.