Chapter Eight
Amira walked toward Solaceon Town feeling just about ready to drop. According to her map, she had reached the town a mile back but so far had passed nothing but large crop fields. There were also barns, farm houses, and a few horses and cows behind picket fences but she hadn't seen a single person for miles. She tried to psyche herself up by remembering she had taken far longer walks but couldn't muster up any enthusiasm.
She turned her thoughts to the egg in her arms to distract herself. She started to hope it would hatch into a cute Pokémon but shook it away along with anything else that might lead her to bonding with it. She was to give this Pokémon to the Day Care Center. The honking of an approaching truck caught her attention and the driver slowed to crawl to pull up next to her.
"Headed in to town, are ya'?"
Leaning out the driver's side of a red pickup truck was a young woman wearing overalls, a plaid shirt, and a cowboy hat. She wore her long hair in a single braid that, in addition to her country accent, gave her a rustic charm. The woman's deep green eyes, freckled tan skin and confident air weren't depreciating either.
"I can give ya' a ride if ya' want? Or would you really rather walk," she teased.
"Oh no, I accept!" Motivated by her tired feet, she walked around the truck as fast as she could and hopped into the passenger seat.
"Name's Taylor Jackson. Most folks call me Apple Jack. And you are?"
"I'm Amira. Most folks call me... Amira. Or Ami."
"Well it's nice to meet you, Ami. What are you in town for?"
She told her all about the Pokémon egg she promised to return and her Ponyta. Apple Jack listened quietly and didn't say a word until she was asked why they had drove past the day care.
"Well I can tell you a few things right now. One, grandpa and grandma won't take the egg. See, if a Pokémon is found with an egg, the egg belongs to the trainer who owns that Pokémon. That's the policy. Since it was given to you, it's yours now."
She spoke in a matter of fact tone and shrugged her shoulders in less of an apology but as more of a nicer way of telling her to deal with it.
"Second, I'll be the one taking care of your Ponyta. It's a good thing I picked you up, ain't it!"
It turned out Apple Jack had received a call from Nurse Joy in Eterna City about her arrival and had drove there to pick her up. What she hadn't been told was that Amira had already left on foot.
As they continued down the town's main street, it became more apparent that even though it was a modernized ranching community, cowboy hats and boots were the required uniform for every man, woman, and child. It also had that quintessential small town vibe as everywhere she looked, folks stopped to talk their neighbors or reprimand each others kids who ran together like siblings. Most everyone knew Apple Jack and waved to her as she passed or honked a friendly hello.
"You must be really popular."
"Yep," she answered as she turned right off the main drive and down a back road that led out into the woods. "Ponyta and Rapidash are common Pokémon around these parts so I know just about everyone and everyone knows me. We don't have a gym in this town so we don't get a lot of folks passing through. Only every once in a while will a Trainer come along looking for the day care."
Apple Jack lived just east of the town in a small house surrounded by open fields and trees lining the distance. There were a few Ponyta and Rapidash grazing in the meadow. She parked near the side of the house and Amira handed over Ponyta's Poké Ball after getting out of the car.
"I'll check her out and see what I can do. Why don't you take a look around town? We don't have a lot of tourist type places but there's the Lost Tower back on Route 209 and the Solaceon Ruins is just a stone's throw east of here."
The Lost Tower was a place where deceased Pokémon were laid to rest. Remembering her unpleasant experience with the ghost Pokémon of Celestial Tower in Unova made her hesitant about paying a visit. She wanted to forgo going at all but thought about what a dishonor it would be to the memory of her own Pokémon.
She opened the doors of the tower and arrived in the middle of a procession. It wasn't for any Pokémon in particular; all trainers were invited to stand before a crowd seated around the graves and to say a few words. She put a coin in the collection basket for her entry fee and took a seat in the back row. She cradled the egg on her lap for comfort as she listened to the various speakers.
"My Pokémon were taken from me," said one man. He was muscular and tough looking with his shaved head and leather jacket. But the small, pink baby Pokémon by his side was testament of his tenderness.
"Team Galactic did it," he continued while trying to choke back his bitterness. "Ever since then, I've never forgotten their faces! But... I'm not doing my Pokémon any favors by ruining its memory like this. I can't be wallowing around forever. I gotta move on and turn the page."
She fidgeted in her seat and swallowed as tears began to well in her own eyes. She clapped softly with the crowd as the man left the podium and another took his place.
"Over a long life, you're bound to have some sad farewells," he said. "But… I reckon there are also new beginnings."
One after the other, people came up to tell stories of themselves, their Pokémon, and their pain. How grief drove them away from others, or spurred them on in making new bonds to find comfort. She sat listening to them all with a hardened expression and swallowed the pain as it rose in her chest. Finally an old woman came up to the stage and signaled the end of the procession.
"The Lost Tower is where spirits of the departed Pokémon Rest. Those that enjoyed long lives and those whose times were cut short, all the departed Pokémon shall find solace here. Thank you all for visiting."
She hurried to make her way out of the reception and back into the open air. She forced her thoughts away from her sorrow and emptied her mind but the ache persisted. She hugged the egg but was unable to hold back her tears any longer as she thought of how she had often held Theodore the same way. They slid down her cheeks and onto its shell as she stood on the side of the dirt road.
Amidst her own trembling, the egg jumped in her arms. Finding a new focus for her panic, she ignored the distance and set to running toward the Solaceon Pokémon Center. She handed over the egg to the nurse after telling her what happened. The nurses told her that they would hurry to run some tests to confirm her suspicions.
She paced the Pokémon Center anxiously trying to figure out what she would do with a baby Pokémon. As an only child, she had no idea how to care for anything so young, human or Pokémon. She had dealt with small children before but those instances were short and sweet; she had never raised one. As she wondered if she should ask for advice, she overheard a woman asking around for her own child.
"Excuse me, have you seen my Matthew? I knew it! He's run off into the ruins again! Please, I need someone to go and get him."
"I'll do it," she interrupted, remembering that A.J. had suggested she visit the ruins anyway. She hoped that perhaps as an exchange for finding the woman's son, she might be inclined to take the baby Pokémon from her.
"Would you? Bless you, dear! Thank you so much."
The Solaceon Ruins was an ancient pyramid whose purpose had long been forgotten. It had a large chamber on each of its five levels, but only the top level was visible and the rest disappeared into the mountain. Each main chamber branched off into a number of smaller chambers, all of which were empty rooms with dead ends.
On the back wall of the main chamber where she had entered was an inscription with strange letters that all had eyes for some reason. She touched one and quickly drew her hand back. To her relief, it was only a stylized hieroglyph and not some sort of creature. After some difficulty discerning which letters were which, she finally made out that they spelled out directions. She pulled up the memo pad app on her Pokétch and was glad to have finally found a use for it.
"Top right, lower left, lower right…"
Following the inscription, it led deep into the pit of the ruins where she found a small boy staring at another inscription.
"Matthew," she asked as she walked up to him.
"Uh-huh?"
"Your mom's looking for you. You know that?"
"Yep," he answered nonchalantly. "I was learning my alphabet."
Matthew was no older than five or so and was proud to show off his knowledge as he read the inscription to her. He slowly sounded out each syllable and carefully went over the vowels.
"Friendship… All lives touch other lives. To create something a new and alive."
"That's very good!" She congratulated him while in the back of her mind wondered if he knew what it meant. "You should get home now, okay?"
"Okay," he answered. "Here, you can have this. I found it but I can't read it. The letters are funny."
He handed her a small plaque. She recognized its odd markings as being related to the one she had found in the Old Chateau and readily accepted it with thanks.
Matthew ran away from home to play in the ruins often enough that he knew its layout by heart. For this, she was also grateful as she had no idea how to get back out on her own. They both returned to the Pokémon Center, him to his mother and her to where she had left the egg in the nurse's care. They told her that it was a false alarm. While the life inside the egg was doing well, it wasn't ready to hatch just yet. Apparently it was common for Pokémon eggs to move around a lot, even when they were nowhere near close to hatching.
Her thanks for retrieving Matthew was a case to hold stickers that she could use to decorate her Poké Balls, but his mother absolutely refused to take the egg from her. She returned to Apple Jack's homestead feeling down but her spirits lifted when she saw Ponyta prancing about as A.J. held the reins.
"Whoa. What happened," she yelled.
"The magic of friendship," Apple Jack responded.
Upon seeing her, Ponyta tried to break free or her lead and run over. Apple Jack loosened her hold and gave the Pokémon enough slack for the distance. Ponyta greeted her with a head bump and nuzzle before making the attempt to chomp on her hair.
"This is one stubborn horse you got here," said Apple Jack. "I think it's safe to say she's going to be just fine."
She smiled while giving Ponyta a pat along her fiery mane. It didn't burn like she always expected. Instead, the fire felt cool and almost relaxing.
"A.J. you must be some kind of a miracle worker."
"Aw, it was nothing. Her leg wasn't as bad as it could've been. She just needed to stretch and get used to being up and about again. It'll right itself soon enough. In fact, I'd say it was the easy part compared to getting this bridle on her."
A.J. let her take hold of the reins and taught her the basics of how to care for Ponyta. In their time together, she taught her how to properly groom, feed, and saddle the horse, as well as to thank it for letting her ride.
According to her, all Ponyta needed was another day or two and her injury would be just fine. She decided to keep Ponyta out of her Poké Ball for the time being and brought her other Pokémon out as well so that they too could enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.
Murkrow was grateful for a chance to spread his wings and lazily soared the open skies. She thought about telling him that it was fine to wander further but remembered his penchant for stealing shiny things. On second thought, it would be better if he stayed away from the town where people left their windows open and valuable shiny objects just laying around.
Luxio enjoyed the wide field and went charging about from one thing to the next. He tried to scare a wild heard of Ponyta but they brushed him off as a pest. He learned not to mess with them anymore after they tried to trample him.
Prinplup didn't seem to care for the environment one way or the other and snubbed it in favor of preening himself. There was no denying he was the most conceited of her Pokémon.
That night as she lay nestled in a sleeping bag on the floor next to her new friend, she was wide awake and unable to sleep. She couldn't shake the feelings that had followed her throughout the day. She thought of what she had felt and heard at the Lost Tower, of the Pokémon with her now and the one that would be with her soon. If carrying on was the right thing to do, did it mean forgetting the past?
