Chapter 9: Moving on to the next step
After a few days here, we are now spending our last hours on Lumiose City. Right now we are on a taxi that is about to reach the South Boulevard, Giles wanted to take us there before we head to Laverre City. For that, we must take another taxi that will leave us in front of the gate to Route 14. This makes me think of that time that enthusiastic driver took us to Route 5! That's something I will remember very well from our days on Lumiose, without a doubt.
And speaking of taxis, we have just arrived to our destination. The car has stopped in front of a somewhat tall building with lots of windows. A set of stairs leads into the door and there's a gate in front of the building, but there's no door. Instead, an entrance is marked with two pokéball statues, one at each side. This looks like an important building!
"That will be 1,200 pokédollars, s'il vous plait!" The driver says in a cheerful tone. Giles hands over the money to him and we step out of the taxi, not without thanking the cabbie first.
As the taxi leaves, Giles approaches a bit more the building we are in front of. "See this? This is where the region's professor does his research." He explains as he gestures towards the construction.
It looks so different from Professor Birch's lab! While his is a small building located in an equally small town, this lab is huge and it's right in the most important city of the Kalos region. Things can change so much from one place to another!
"Do you think we could make a small visit? Now I'm curious about what his area of expertise is." Steven looks up and down at the building.
"Yes, although we can only be there for a little bit, I want to reach Laverre before it gets any darker."
Suddenly, I feel the urge to go to the Pokémon Center just across the street. I want to make a video call to my parents; I bet they will be very surprised! After yesterday's call, I wanted to be able to talk to them for a bit more, but they were so excited about the news they received that they couldn't wait to go tell everyone. I wonder how many people on Oldale Town know now who my mother-in-law is…
"Guys, I have to go to the Pokémon Center now. I will be back soon!"
"Why? Your pokémon are all fine and dandy!" Giles exclaims.
"Yes, but I want to do something else. I just want to call my parents to see how they are doing!" I answer unintentionally tilting my head to the side, as if that could help me get my way.
"Alright, but don't make that too long, we should be on Laverre City before night falls!"
"Excuse me Giles but, why are you so eager to reach Laverre City before it gets too dark?" Steven asks with curiosity.
"Well… Route 14 can be pretty scary at night, especially because of one particular building there. It's said to be a haunted house and you know, if we happen to be still on Route 14 in the middle of the night, we won't have any other choice than staying there!"
"I see, but that doesn't mean the house is actually haunted." Steven makes that thinking pose so typical of him. "If there's no other place to stay the night, maybe it won't be that bad of an alternative."
"I know, but we rather not take risks going there. Who knows what we could find there?" Giles seems to be lost on his own thoughts."It better not be a Litwick… Anything but a Litwick!"
"Well… I will go to the Pokémon Center. I'll be back in a bit, okay?" I say as I stop at the edge of the sidewalk, waiting for a couple of cars to pass by.
"Fine, take care!" Steven answers as Giles keeps rambling about Litwick and how mean and naughty they are.
I walk fast and straight to the door of the Pokémon Center, it's literally in front of us. I only have to cross the road and I'm already at the door. As I enter, I eye the cabins where the calls are made; they are slightly different from the ones in the Pokémon Centers in Hoenn. I sit down on the stool and I put my bag next to it, but I keep the basket with the egg on my lap, holding it tight with one hand as I dial my mom's number with the other. Now I wait for her to answer.
I look idly around me, when suddenly I see from the corner of my eye how the screen changes.
"Hi!" Mom greets cheerfully.
"Hi mom! How are you doing?"
"I'm doing great, especially since I discovered that yesterday!" A huge grin appears on her face.
"I can only imagine!" I laugh remembering the way she reacted to Diantha's call, just like in those TV programs! "By the way, how is dad doing?"
"I'm doing great too!" My dad answers as he appears on the screen as well, sitting besides mom. "How are you doing?"
"Very well! I actually wanted to call to say that Steven, Giles and I are about to leave Lumiose City, we are heading to Laverre City to see if we can discover something else there."
"Oh, that sounds great! I heard Laverre is very beautiful too." Dad marvels as his eyes sparkle.
"Don't forget to take pictures here too! By the way, have you caught any pokémon already?" Mom asks with a smile.
"Yes! A few days ago I got this little guy here. Wait a second." I reach for my bag and grab Espurr's pokéball. I discreetly throw it to the floor, avoiding making too much of a fuss. Once he is out, Espurr stares at me blankly. I hold him in my arms and put him in front of the camera so my parents can see the little guy… But this puts my efforts of trying to be as silent as possible to waste.
"WHAT KIND OF POKÉMON IS THAT?" All I can see now is dad's left eye; he is staring into the camera, trying to take a very close look at the pokémon.
"It's an Espurr, a pokémon native to this region." I inform as my parents continue to fawn over him. Espurr is just sitting there, staring back at the screen without doing anything else.
"It's so adorable! Does he have a nickname?" Mom asks with her face very close to the camera as well.
"No, for some reason I can't think of anything! It's pretty odd." I answer while looking down at Espurr, who suddenly smiles and makes some cute little sounds, which makes my parents go even crazier.
"CAN WE KEEP IT?" Dad begs as a six years old who just found a Zigzagoon.
"We can take good care of him!" Mom adds making one of these faces that say "You will do what I say because you won't resist this look!"
I feel bad about letting Espurr go, I wanted him to spend more time with me and my pokémon, but my parents really like him and I can't say no! Plus, I know they will treat him well, they are surprisingly good at taking care of pokémon.
"Okay, I'll send him your way!" I hold Espurr so he is facing me now and pet his head. "Listen Espurr, I'm going to send you over to my parent's house, they will take very good care of you! We will see each other again as soon as possible." The small pokémon purrs in response.
Again, I reach for his pokéball and I withdraw Espurr into it. Now I place the device in the dent intended for the transfer of pokéballs. In the bat of an eye, Espurr's pokéball is now at my house, in Hoenn.
"Here he is!" Mom exclaims happily while showing me Espurr's pokéball.
"Thank you for trusting us to take care of Espurr!" Dad is also looking pretty gleeful.
"Of course! I know he will be very content here." Suddenly, I remember that Giles and Steven are waiting for me; we have to visit the professor's laboratory! "Mom, dad, I have to leave now. Giles and Steven are waiting for me!"
"No worries, we understand. You guys have to go to Laverre City a…"
"Oh, I almost forgot! I also got this." I interrupt dad showing them the basket, I raise the cloth a bit so they can take a look at the egg.
"Oh, it's an egg! Where did you get that?" Dad is flabbergasted at the sight of it.
"A breeder trusted us to raise it; it actually doesn't have an owner right now. All of us are taking care of it!"
"That's just wonderful! So will you guys kinda wait to see who of you the pokémon likes more once it's born?" Mom asks resting her face on her hand.
"Exactly! That's how we are going to do it." I instinctively look back at the door, knowing that they are waiting for me just across the road. "Well, now I have to leave. Take care and be nice to Espurr!"
"No worries, we will!" Mom and dad say at the same time as they wave goodbye.
I wave goodbye too just before finishing the call. I pick up my stuff and I head to the door, not without politely saying goodbye to Nurse Joy. I can already see them; Giles is sitting in one of the steps of the lab's stair while Steven is standing up next to him, with his hands on his pockets. Since there are no cars around right now, I don't have to wait to cross the road. It doesn't take me too long to get to the other side of it; the crosswalk is not too long.
"Awesome, that didn't take as long as I thought! We still can make it to Laverre City before it gets too dark. Now, time to visit the lab!" Giles exclaims as he gets up and starts walking up the stairs, approaching the door to the lab.
Both Steven and I walk behind him. Giles holds the door open and allows us to go through it first before he does.
Remember when I said how different this lab looked compared to the one in Hoenn? The outside is not the only big difference; the inside is also a huge deviation from that small building! This floor is only the reception; the actual lab must be on another floor since a big elevator dominates this room. The sky blue walls are decorated with paintings depicting different pokémon and several white couches are placed on the right side of the room. As I said, this is entirely different from Birch's lab!
"Bienvenu!" A blonde woman leaves her spot behind a wooden desk. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, we wanted to make a visit to the professor's lab, if that's possible." Giles requests politely.
"I'm sorry, but at this moment professor Sycamore is busy and can't attend visits, you will have to come here later or even better, tomorrow. He doesn't have anything scheduled." The receptionist makes a courteous gesture to finish her sentence and now she goes back to her desk.
"Well, that's a pity. It would have been so nice!" Giles has his arms crossed. "I guess it's time to go somewhere else."
Suddenly, as we start walking towards the door, the elevator opens behind us. A tall man on his early forties walks out of it. He is wearing a navy blue shirt, a long lab coat, tight black jeans and brown moccasins. I bet he is the professor!
"Hello! Are you people here as visitors?" The man has a very polite demeanor.
"Ooh, it's the professor!" Giles turns around all of sudden and reaches him in two steps. "Yes, but we were leaving since we have been told that you were busy."
"Unfortunately, that's true. I see my secretary already informed you. However, tomorrow I'm free and I wouldn't mind giving a tour through the lab!" The professor offers with a smile.
"I'm sorry, but tomorrow we won't be here." Giles answers with hesitation, as if he didn't really want to say that.
"That's fine, you can always come back! Now if you can excuse me, I must go back to work. Au revoir!" The professor waves goodbye and he opens a door near the elevator, which now he closes.
After that very short exchange with the region's professor, we finally exit the building. I would have wanted to talk with the professor and learn more about the things they research in this lab!
"Giles, can we come back to Lumiose some other day?" Steven asks as we walk down the street.
"It depends on how everything goes. If we don't have too much trouble with Hoopa, of course we could pay a visit! By the way, there's another place I want to take you guys to before we leave. I know Steven will love it." Giles finishes his sentence with a close-lipped smile. I think I can guess what it is.
It's a rock store. I'm telling you it's a rock store!
"I'm impatient to find out what that might be." Steven is quite eager now, is he also expecting a rock store? Because I'm sure he does!
"Luckily for you, that won't take too long! That place is on Vernal Avenue and we only have to walk a bit more to reach it." Giles smiles with confidence.
As we keep walking further, I notice how lots of window displays dominate the street. "Is this Vernal Avenue already?" I ask glancing at the numerous displays.
"Exactly! And look, that store I was talking about is just at the end of this sidewalk." Giles points at sign standing a bit far, I can't make out what's in there.
"This wait is sure killing me!" Steven jokes as he looks around him, with all those stores that populate this avenue.
"Don't let the wait kill you, you'll regret that once we reach that place!" Giles jokes back with a somehow smug expression; he really knows what he's doing!
The sign belonging to the shop can be seen more clearly and, exactly how I suspected, it's a stone shop. Or at least that's what the illustration of a Fire Stone seems to imply. I can't help but look at Steven to see if he has realized already. Judging by his surprised expression, I would say that he really did!
"Is this a joke?" He says barely containing a smile. His eyes are now lighting up, just like a kid who has just spotted a toy store.
"I said you would like it!" Giles laughs triumphantly. "As you can see, this is not a joke. Now, let's go inside!" His expression now turns a bit stern. "But remember, don't entertain yourself too much because it's getting darker and… Wait!"
Steven didn't feel like waiting for us; he just entered the shop with a slight sprint. The shopkeeper looks at him amusedly as he begins to look through the various displays. Like I said, he acts just like a kid in a toy store! I find that adorable.
We enter the store as well; it's full of all kinds of rocks and gemstones one could possibly imagine. I think I don't need to say this, but Steven feels like home here.
"What a great piece of citrine! The colors are perfect. So are the colors in these erythrite crystals! And I can't believe the perfect shape of this Dawn stone!" Steven can't stop rambling out loud as he takes a look at the stones on display. He doesn't even seem to notice us now that we are inside the shop!
"So, did you like this little surprise?" Giles says standing by Steven's side, scaring him a bit.
"Of course I did! But this doesn't make up for all the stones I lost, no sir! I still have to get them back, that nasty little thief can't get away with it." Steven doesn't take his eye off of the rocks.
"I understand but, let me remind you that we aren't dealing with a 'nasty little thief'." Giles adjusts his glasses.
"I know, but that's just the way I see it!"
"Guys, what if we just don't argue about what Hoopa is or what it isn't?" I blurt all of sudden, I don't know why. "I mean, didn't we come here to see the rocks?"
"Wowowowowo!" Giles raises his hands in a defensive way, but he abandons that gesture as soon as he sees my surprised expression. "I was just kidding."
"That was unexpected." Steven says still observing the various rocks and stones, although now he has changed his mind and walks towards the counter to address the shop assistant. "I'm interested in a few of the rocks, may I get them?"
"Of course! Wait a second." The clerk says as she reaches for a key inside a drawer. Now they stop in front of one of the displays. "Which ones would you want?"
"That piece of dolomite, that glaucophane, that opal up here, this piece of obsidian… And this wavellite, please!" Steven is really enthused!
"Something else?" The shop assistant asks with an entertained expression.
"No, nothing else, that's all I wanted." Steven says politely as the woman gets all of the rocks.
Now we head to the counter, where the store clerk carefully packs all of the stones, each one of them inside a very fancy looking case. She now gets a white paper bag with the logo of the shop and puts the cases inside of it.
"That will be 40,000 pokédollars, please!"
Steven quietly grabs his wallet and gets several bills out of it, which he hands to the saleswoman. She tries to contain a grin as she puts all the money inside the cash register. "That was quite a great purchase." She smiles. "I hope to see you again!"
"Who knows, now that I discovered this place, I might come here again someday!" Steven exclaims as he gets a hold of the bag containing his newly acquired rocks.
We leave the store as the clerk mutters something about a "more than deserved promotion". Now that we are on the street again, I hold Steven's arms and I kiss his cheek.
"What was that for?" He pretends to be surprised.
"I just thought you were acting so cute on the store and I could help it!" I giggle as he smiles in response.
"I'm sorry to interrupt this very special moment you two, but LOOK HOW DARK IT GOT!" Most of the people walking past us turn their heads to look at Giles, who is frowning and looking at the dark sky with an almost disapproving face. "How did night fall so fast? We will have to stay the in that damn house, I tell you!"
"Don't worry Giles; it's not that dark yet. We still can make it to Laverre City!" Steven attempts to encourage him.
"I hope you're right…" Now Giles stops in his tracks all of sudden. "It's a taxi! TAXI!" He raises his arm trying to make the driver notice us.
The taxi keeps moving towards us and luckily, it looks like the cabbie noticed Giles, because it's slowing down. We walk towards the vehicle as the driver rolls down the window. "Do you need to go somewhere?"
"Yes! Can you take us to the gate to Route 14, please?" Giles asks leaning on the car.
"Of course! Let me put your luggage on the trunk first."
The cabbie steps out of the car and opens the trunk. With our help, he places all of the suitcases on it. Now he closes the trunk and returns to his spot behind the wheel while we open the doors to the vehicle and we sit down. As the driver announces our destination, the car finally starts moving.
Leaving Lumiose is really a pity, there are so many things we haven't seen yet! Although I understand this isn't the goal of our journey, we came here to do more important things than just walking around the region. I wonder how long it will take until we finally get to do what we came to do and also, will it really be so hard to convince Hoopa to do what it must? Who knows, it might take us more than a single encounter. And who knows when or how we will find it… I would love to find out soon!
