An Age of Valour
by the Lady of the Mists
Chapter Nine: More Captures
Lydia stepped into one of the temples, looking at the mysterious etchings that were engraved onto the walls. Jesse was across the room, frowning slightly as he studied them. "Kind of look like Pokémon, don't they?" she asked. He nodded, still frowning. "I heard the guy at the gate say that they're called Unknown. Not many people have seen them."
"Might be cool to check them out," Jesse said, "but I think I'll stay on the safe side and stay clear."
"Yeah," Lydia agreed as they headed outside. "So where exactly was Faulkner talking about when he said there might be some Pokémon out here? I haven't seen any Pokémon around here, have you?"
"I think we should try over there," Jesse replied, pointing across a small stream of water. There was a narrow patch of grass where he pointed. "That looks like the perfect place for some Pokémon to hide out at."
"How exactly were we going to get across it?" Lydia inquired, raising her eyebrows as she glanced sideways at her friend. Eevee looked up at his trainer and darted forward, testing the water quickly. "Where are you going?"
"Vee!" Eevee pointed his paw across the water and quickly darted across, only sinking a few feet. Lydia blinked, glanced at Jesse, before testing the water herself. To her extreme surprise, the water only came up right below her knees. It wasn't at all deep.
"And you were worried?" Jesse responded as he followed her. She stuck her tongue out at him before climbing back on dry land. "Well, I asked the guard when we came here and he said that we're free to capture any of the Pokémon here, so long as they don't belong to any of the visitors. A lot of people come here, apparently, to do just that."
"To catch Pokémon or to steal other people's?" Lydia wanted to know, only half joking. A trace of a smile crossed Jesse's face. "You ever think about what happened to those people on the ferry?"
"Apparently, they only got a warning," Jesse responded. "I heard it on the news when we were in Cherrygrove. Plus probation, they're not allowed to be training for six months."
"That's all? Just a lousy six months?" Lydia responded, looking extremely upset. "Jeez, what's wrong with the law, anyway?"
"Trust me, a lot of people were just as outraged with it as you and I are," Jesse responded, glancing around. He released his Ivysaur as they entered the grassy area. "Holy cow!"
"What?" Lydia looked around and saw a Natu sitting on the ground not too far away from them. "Hey, aren't those supposed to be really rare?"
"Yep, but I've always wanted one of those," he replied, glancing sideways at her. "Believe it or not, I wanted to be a psychic trainer." Lydia laughed. "It's not funny!"
"Whatever," Lydia said, holding up her hands in surrender. "You gonna catch it?" He stared at her. "Psychics really aren't my thing. I'm not going to do one type, anyway."
"Yeah, I believe that," he muttered as he sent Ivysaur into battle. Just as the battle between the psychic/flying and the grass Pokémon started, Eevee started tugging on Lydia's pants leg. Glancing down at him, Lydia squatted down so that she was face to face with him.
"Hey, what's going on, buddy?" she asked, frowning. He was extremely worried as he pointed towards the grass beyond them. Lydia looked where he was indicating, then towards Jesse, who was deeply immersed in the battle. "Hey, Jess, we'll be right back."
He nodded without looking at her and she followed Eevee away from the battle towards whatever it was that was worrying him. "Hey, Eevee, will you please tell me what it is that's going on?" she asked just as Eevee came to a stop. Lydia glanced up.
"Oh," she said softly, spotting a Pokémon on top of a rock, looking scared and apprehensive at the two who approached. "Oh, I see." She walked hesitantly towards it, realising just what it was as she drew closer.
"A Cyndaquil!" she exclaimed, amazed. Despite being one of the three Johto starters, they were extremely hard to capture in the wild, as were both Chikorita and Totodile. "Hey, there, what are you doing here?"
Lydia pushed herself up on the rock to try and talk to the Pokémon. Eevee climbed up beside her and started talking to Cyndaquil, who replied back. Being only a limited psychic, Lydia could only guess what was going on. Cyndaquil seemed to be waiting for someone.
"Do you have a trainer?" she asked and Cyndaquil nodded. "Well, what happened, did they go somewhere?"
As Cyndaquil started explaining, Lydia saw images appear in her mind, coming from Cyndaquil's memories. There was an arrogant young man, around Lydia's age, telling her to stay put. "Just stay here and don't go anywhere," he told her. "And don't follow me." Without another word, he turned his back on her and walked away.
It had been three months since then and her trainer hadn't come back for her. Cyndaquil started crying now and Lydia picked the little Pokémon up, cradling her in her arms.
"Shh, it's okay, it's okay," she told her gently. "Cyndaquil, don't worry, okay? Everything's going to be all right."
But she knew, like the little Pokémon, that Cyndaquil had been abandoned. Some trainers hated weak Pokémon and didn't put any effort into helping them grow stronger on their own. Lydia resolved to punch both Eevee's and Cyndaquil's former trainers if she ever met them. They'd better pray that someone held her back if she did. People like them didn't deserve to be called Pokémon trainers.
"Hey, how would you like to come with us?" Lydia asked her. Cyndaquil looked up, confused. "We're going to Azalea Town, to the gym there, and we'll be going to the Johto League. How would you like to join the team?"
Eevee looked extremely happy at the situation and jumped joyfully up and down a couple of times. Cyndaquil was stunned as she looked at the young trainer, as though questioning her, to make sure that she'd understood.
"Come on, Cyndaquil, I would love for you to come," Lydia told her. She produced a Pokéball. "Join the group, but I'm not going to force you. If you want to stay here, you can. It's gonna be your own choice, but I know Eevee and I would be awfully sad if you stayed behind."
Cyndaquil hesitated, then looked towards Eevee, who nodded encouragingly, talking fast in his own language, nodding to Lydia. He seemed to be telling Cyndaquil that Lydia was a good trainer, with a kind and just heart. Both he and Poliwag were happy being on her team, and Cyndaquil would be just as lucky.
He also told Cyndaquil about his last trainer and what he'd done, how Lydia had rescued him, at the cost of her own home. She had left everything that she knew behind, even though she had help from her uncle, but she couldn't go back to the way things were.
This seemed to make up Cyndaquil's mind immediately. She jumped into the air and was engulfed by the red light. Lydia caught the Pokéball, looking down at Eevee.
"You guys really trust me that much?" she asked doubtfully. Eevee nodded, rubbing her arm encouragingly and smiling up at her. "Great. No pressure, then."
She stood up and climbed down from the rock with Eevee, dropping down onto the ground, where Jesse was waiting for her. "You were seriously going to let her stay here?" he asked her.
"If she wanted to wait for her old trainer, then there wasn't much I was going to do about it," Lydia responded. "I'm not going to force Pokémon to come with me, Jess, that's not the way that I do things. Did you catch that Natu?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.
Jesse nodded, producing a Pokéball. "You know, Eevee's right," he told her softly. "You do have a good heart." Lydia blushed, avoiding his eyes slightly. "So, on to Azalea Town?"
"On to Azalea Town," Lydia agreed as she hoisted her bag higher onto her shoulder. She smiled slightly as she remembered her uncle telling her that she and Eevee would be as close to her Cyndaquil as her mother had been to hers. He'd be right about her catching one. "You know, Cyndaquil was my mother's very first Pokémon."
Jesse looked at her, startled by her words. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah," Lydia agreed, running her hands through her hair as they left the Ruins of Alph, back on to Route 34. "That's what Uncle Jack said. She was a fire Pokémon trainer." At her words, Eevee looked up at her with fear in his eyes and she winced, bending down and picking him up.
"Hey, what's going on, Eevee?" Jesse asked, glancing at the trembling Pokémon. "You okay?"
"His former trainer was a fire trainer," Lydia explained in an undertone, trying to comfort Eevee. "I guess I brought up some bad memories or something when I said that."
Looking slightly sick, Jesse stopped and looked at Eevee, patting him on the forehead. The fox Pokémon looked up at him. "Hey, Eevee, don't let it get you down," he told him. "Not all fire trainers are like that. Lydia isn't anything like that. You know that by now. And if her mother was anything like her daughter, then she couldn't hurt a Pokémon to save her own life. Nor would she do it, even against her will."
Eevee smiled up at Jesse, who glanced up at Lydia. "So, where are we headed to?" he asked, then spotted Lydia's smile. "What?"
"Nothing," Lydia said, still smiling. "It's just . . . you're good talking with Pokémon, that's all."
"I understand them," Jesse corrected. "And only because I hated that school so much that I spent so much time with my Pokémon than with the other trainers there. Trust me, I learned a lot more about Pokémon behaviour while I was there than I learned what they were teaching."
Lydia glanced at him as Eevee jumped down from her arms to scare a couple of Butterfree, much to the trainers' amusement. "So, where are we headed towards?"
"Pokémon Centre," Lydia answered, stopping to retrieve the map she'd stashed in her bag.
"But that's either back in Violet or in Azalea Town. It's too far to either one. We won't make it there tonight." Jesse looked at her as if she were crazy. Both of them could see that the sun was starting to set.
"There's a Pokémon Centre outside of Union Cave, right on the road," Lydia explained, showing him. "We'll have to go inside of Union Cave in order to get to Azalea."
Jesse's eyes lit up. "Great! A cave! I like caves!" Without waiting to see if she was going to hurry up, Jesse started walking briskly down the path, heading towards the Pokémon Centre on Route 32.
Lydia rolled her eyes, glancing down at Eevee. "He's completely mental," she sighed, walking after him before he took off, leaving them behind.
--
"Check-up for both of ours, Nurse Joy," Jesse said as Lydia put her three Pokéballs onto the counter, along with Eevee. He added his three Pokéballs and the nurse, who looked exactly the same as the first two nurses that Lydia had met before, took them.
"It shouldn't take too long," she said with a smile. "Are you two going to be staying for the night or are you going to be heading into Union Cave tonight?" The two trainers looked at each other. Jesse was looking pleadingly at her, but Lydia put her foot down.
"I think we should wait until morning," Lydia said. Jesse made a face. "Buddy, you may like caves, but I would prefer to wait until there's actually some light before heading in there."
Jesse pouted. "Spoilsport," he complained. Lydia rolled her eyes as Nurse Joy smiled, handing them a key.
"Room 13 is still available," she said. "There's a couple of trainers still up and are in the kitchen area. I'll take care of your Pokémon and have them out to you as soon as I can."
"Thanks," Lydia and Jesse chorused.
As they headed into the kitchen area, Lydia turned to Jesse. "So, how many of them are there, actually?" she asked. "Seeing double once is crazy enough, but three times? What, are they all related or something?" She half-snorted when Jesse nodded, grinning.
"Yep, all of them are related. Some are sisters, cousins, distant cousins, anything you can think of," he replied. "And every one of them are in charge of the Pokémon Centres and all of them have the same name." Lydia blinked.
"Well, at least we can remember their names," she said, half-joking as she joined the line through the cafeteria. She retrieved a hamburger, a piece of chocolate pie, and a glass of chocolate milk.
"Not that hungry?" Jesse asked her as he piled on his tray two hamburgers, a pile of fries, a large piece of cherry pie, and a soda.
"Nope," Lydia answered wryly, glancing at his tray. Or the large mountain of food that would be going into his bottomless stomach, perhaps was more appropriate. "Jess, how are you going to be able to eat all of the right before bed?"
Jesse glanced at her, surprised. "Simple," he replied. "I pick them up and I bite into them, then I hit the sack." Lydia rolled her eyes as they headed over to a table. "How can you not be that hungry? We haven't had a decent meal since Violet and that was yesterday afternoon."
"I've got a small stomach," Lydia responded lightly, eating the hamburger and pie. Jesse practically devoured his. "Don't you have any manners? Eat slow bits, it's better for your digestion."
"Will you quit mothering me, please?" Jesse responded, rolling his eyes. Lydia's eyes narrowed as she turned away, returning to her own meal. "So, tomorrow we go through Union Cave, then on to Azalea?"
Although Lydia had a slight chill go up her spine when he mentioned the cave, Lydia nodded. "Yeah," she said softly. "Definitely."
But she couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong tomorrow in the cave.
