Once more, I was floating in the sea of purple clouds, but the platform had appeared quicker than it had last time. I set myself down on the platform, and looked around. Nothing but purple clouds.
Suddenly, more platforms started appearing, almost forming a stairway upwards. I followed this stairway until I came across a wall made of the same stuff the blue-ish platforms were. What was I supposed to do now? I looked up and saw several broken walls going upward.
I then realized I felt basically weightless, so I attempted to jump up the wall in an attempt to climb it, but was instead gravitated towards the wall, and was now standing sideways. Or at least, I was sideways, but I felt just normal. The stair way platforms were now on their side. 'What the hell was going on?' I wondered to myself. I continued to follow the platforms until I reached a very large one, and in the center was a tiny red orb. I tried to approach the orb, but the second I got near it, a sharp ringing sound had entered my ears, and everything sort of just stopped.
…
I was jolted awake in the sleeping bag and found myself covered in sweat and panting. I looked around, and saw it was still dark, but Elena was up as well.
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked me, sounding worried. "You woke me up with all the tossing and turning you've been doing."
I buried my head in my hands for a moment then came back up. "Yeah I'm fine… Just bad dream and all…" I replied, scratching the back of my head. It wasn't even really a bad dream, just a weird lucid dream.
"You sure it was just a dream? You were pretty active for an unconscious person…"
"Yeah, I'm fine… Just- just go back to sleep, alright?" I said, kind of feeling bad at the fact I woke her up.
"Are you sure? What if-"
"Go back to sleep Elena, I'll be fine."
She looked at me with kicked Lillipup eyes and whispered, "Okay then… Goodnight."
"Night," I replied. I laid back down on the sleeping bag, staring up at the roof of the tent. I wondered why I had basically the same dream twice in a row, but the thoughts didn't last long, as I drifted to sleep once more afterward. This time, my dream was about a giant bug Pokémon with giant claws on its hands, attempting to rip me in half. I hoped that's not actually what a Pinsir looked like.
This time, I woke up more pleasantly, to the smell of roasting berries. And then a loud, ear piercing groan.
"SNOOOOOOORRRR!"
"I'll get you more food when we get to Floraroma Town Audrey!" I heard Elena yell. I crawled out of the tent to see a Snorlax standing on its two feet, looking irritated.
"Laaaah!" It groaned. It then pointed to a large plate of roasted berries. "No!" Elena snapped. "Those berries are for Marcel and I to eat!"
"Grooohhh!" It whined. Elena continued glaring at the Snorlax until it finally got the message. It then flopped on to its back with such force it seemed to make the earth shake. It then started to snore loudly. Elena closed her eyes and pressed her hand against her forehead, and simply returned the giant Pokémon without looking.
"Rhhhyyy…" Something growled behind me. I looked back and saw a Rhydon standing tall and looking down on me. I let out a small yelp and quickly scampered away from it towards Elena, and I bumped into her.
"Oof! Oh, hey, you're up. Up early as well." Elena remarked. I didn't realize it was actually that early.
"It's pretty hard to ignore the roar of a colossal Pokémon,"
"Heh heh… Sorry about that…" Elena replied sheepishly. "Audrey gets pretty mad if I don't have enough food to feed her, which is a pretty regular occurrence given how much she eats. I'm preparing some breakfast if you wanna help out with that,"
"Might as well try and make it up to you for last time I guess," I chuckled. She smiled and pulled out a camouflage colored Pokéball. "Alright then, Yanma, come out!"
A Yanma appeared from the Pokéball, fluttering its wings faster than I could comprehend. It was however, pretty small for its species.
"Yanmaaaa-a-a-a!" It shrieked.
"Alright little guy, you're gonna help my friend here find some berries, got it?" Elena told the Yanma. Her hair was being blown by the speed of the wings.
"Yan, yaaa-a-an!"
It was pretty grating to hear the voice of the Yanma in such close proximity. I looked up at the trees and saw my Gligar still perched on the top.
"Hey Gligar, you-"
"Dirt Wing." Elena added in.
I rolled my eyes at her. "Dirt Wing, do you want to help me look for berries?" I called out.
He got up at the mention of food. "Gli-gli!" It called back, and glided down towards us. "You gonna help us look for berries Dirt?" I asked it.
"Gli?"
"Dirt Wing is a mouthful, so I think I'll just call you Dirt for now."
"Gliii…" It seemed slightly annoyed, but didn't retaliate.
"Alright, you three get some more berries, then we can have breakfast!" Elena said, pointing us in a direction. Yanma and Dirt seemed to fly off in their own direction, and I was left to search for berries on my own. I slipped my clothes back on and wandered through the forest in search of berries, and they were fairly abundant. By the time I was done collecting I had amassed at least twenty six Oran berries. Those types were typically the most common, and luckily they were also my favorite of the berries.
I started walking back to the camp before I realized… I didn't know where the camp was. I had taken so many twists and turns while looking for berries I lost track of where I went. I started walking around in order to look for familiar surroundings.
Unfortunately, almost every tree looks about the same to me.
"Dirt!? Yanma!?" I called out, hopefully expecting a response. As I probably should have predicted, there was none. I started getting worried, and ate a berry or two in order to soothe me. I started thinking to myself, 'Man… Hopefully my screams will attract the attention of someone… My phone's still dead so no chance in trying that… Wait!' I quickly set down the berries on the ground and rummaged through my bag pockets and pulled out the red capsule looking thing. 'My Pokédex!'
I pressed the button and it whirred to life. I scanned the screen until I found the selection which read 'MAP'. I pressed it, and waited for the screen to load, which showed the general location I was in. I had actually managed to stumble closer to Floraroma Town than I would have imagined, but I started towards the main road to get to the area near the Ravaged Path where we had set up camp. I scooped up all the berries and made my way down.
Finding the camp was easy once I had gotten back onto the main path. It was simply a matter of finding the clearing where we had made our camp.
"What took you so long!?" Elena scolded. "I was starting to get worried when Yanma and Dirt Wing arrived here before you!"
"Yaaa-aaa!"
"Glig-gar-gar!"
Dirt was perched atop a low hanging branch next to the tent, and Yanma was simply hovering there next to him.
"I got a bit lost coming back, but I'm all good now. Look! I even have some berries for you!" I said with a smile. She examined the berries and took them from me. "Hm. Good job actually. That's probably enough to last me until tomorrow's breakfast." She walked over to the already roasted berries and started crushing some of the Oran berries over them, so the juice leaked onto them. She then took a Sitrus berry and Pecha berry and put them in a bowl. She manually ripped them in half and squeezed the juice into the bowl. The pinkish and yellowish juice formed together to make something light green after she stirred them together and added some Oran berry juice.
"What are you making?" I questioned. I had never seen anyone utilize so many berries to make food. "Right now, I'm making some beverages. A trainer I met a while ago taught me how to make this stuff, and I have to admit, it's pretty good," she remarked. She turned her attention back to the roasted berries and grabbed something out of her bag. It was a ziplock bag with a light brown powdery substance, and she carefully sprinkled it over the berries.
"And that stuff?"
"This is just some grounded hazelnut. It gives it a bit more flavor. And this," she pulled out another ziplock bag, this one much smaller, and it contained a red substance. "This, is some Tamato berry sprinkles. You like your food spicy?" She asked me.
"Extra spicy," I replied rather cockily. I did have a strong liking towards spicy food.
"Whatever you say," she sprinkled some over the berries, and added a little extra to one side. She then pulled out two plates and split the food into two portions. The Sitrus Pecha and Oran juice from earlier was poured into two cups, and she handed me a fork.
"Ta-daaa!" Elena happily cheered. "Presenting my signature berry breakfast!" She set the plates and cups down on a flat piece of ground so the cups wouldn't spill, and we sat cross legged to eat it.
"Do you only utilize berries in your meals?" I asked her. "Do you over use things like- things like meat?"
She stopped her fork before food entered her mouth and seemed to stare out into space before setting the fork down and looking at me.
"I… I kind of stopped eating meat after I began training..." She sheepishly admitted.
"You stopped eating meat? Why?" I questioned.
"Well... the idea of killing a Pokémon to eat it seemed wrong to me after I started raising Pokémon for myself…" She rubbed her arm and looked down at her food. I suddenly felt really bad for asking. What she said was actually really understandable.
"Oh… Shit- I'm sorry! I didn't-"
"It's okay Marcel. You don't have to apologize. You didn't know." She replied, looking at the ground. I felt ashamed for even bringing up the topic. I looked down sadly and took a bite of the roasted berries. A sudden sensation of sweetness, bitterness, and spiciness spread throughout my tongue. I couldn't help but smile at the taste. It made me feel a little better, but I still felt like an asshole. I heard a small giggle from Elena. "What?" I asked, then took another bite from the berries. I heard another giggle. "The way your face lit up when you tried the food. It was cute," she kept giggling.
"You said the same thing when I was looking at Pokémon I've never seen before," I remarked.
"Guess I did…"
We finished up our meals and started to pack up the camp, starting with the tent. Dirt Wing helped clean up the food by eating all the leftovers (which also included a good portion of the food I had planned to eat). The compressing tent fit nicely in Elena's backpack, and we started to head out back to the main path leading to Floraroma Town, which was fairly uneventful for the most part.
…
"It's so beautiful!" Elena exclaimed as she looked at the acres of flowery fields. We had arrived outside of Floraroma Town, and I could definitely see why the town got its name. It also had a very pleasing smell, which was a good refresher compared to dirt paths. "Isn't it pretty?" She excitedly asked me, her eyes shining brightly. It was a very pretty sight, I had to admit. The floral patterns created by the array of flowers spread throughout painted a beautiful picture.
"It's cool I guess," My masculinity had to do the talking in order to keep the shred of dignity Elena held for me. "Just cool? Oh, I get it, you're distracted by the true beauty in front of you, right?" She teased while making an attempt to block my entire field of vision using her body.
"The only thing I really notice is the field," I fully remarked, well aware of her attempt at self confidence. She fake pouted and sulked. "You don't have to hide the fact you think it's pretty. I wouldn't think any less of you," Elena winked.
"But if I did, it'd make me look like a pansy," I attempted at a pun.
"Haha, flower jokes." Elena said dully, but I heard a slight chuckle. Pun successful.
Elena, as if getting a great boost of energy, soared through the fields on the way to Floraroma Town with her arms to her sides. I had a hard time keeping up with her, and found myself running out of breath constantly while chasing her, meanwhile she only seemed to be on her first wind.
"Look! It's the town!" I barely heard her call because she was so far ahead. I sprinted as hard as I could, and finally caught up to her. It only cost me my lungs.
"Why… Why are you going so fast…" I sputtered in between breaths. She spun on her heel doing a full 180 to face me. She continued to run while backwards, making me a little worried for her safety. "Like I said, you'll see when we get there!" She sang. She did another 180 and continued to sprint. "One final stretch!" She yelled, and ran even faster than she already was. That girl could definitely run. The ground got steeper and I realized we were running down a large hill. I looked ahead of us and saw buildings surrounded by a plethora of flowers. I spotted the Pokémon Center, which is what Elena was running towards. I gave up trying to catch her and slowed down so my lungs didn't collapse on themselves.
I trudged over to the Pokémon Center and basically collapsed on the ground trying to catch my breath. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was catching my breath, as I noticed Elena on the floor next to me laying on her back, exhaling panting so hard I was surprised she didn't dehydrate herself on the spot.
I rolled over to get closer and face Elena. "Are you okay?" I asked her, still gasping myself. She turned to me and started laughing. I couldn't help but laugh as well, even though there was nothing funny other than Elena laughing. In the end, we both looked like crazy people on the floor laughing like we were mad.
We eventually came to our senses and got up off the floor, but still giggling slightly. She finally responded to me, saying, "That was just really- haha, fun. I didn't even know I was capable of running that fast," she kept giggling.
"You laugh a lot," I remarked. "It's not a bad thing though."
Saying that made her laugh more. "It's something about this town. I always love coming here!" She exclaimed. I sensed all the eyes looking at us like we were crazy, which in all reality, we probably were.
"Now that we're here, care to tell me why you wanted to come here so badly?" I asked her.
She smiled and pointed to something behind me. I looked behind me to see a poster which read:
'25th ANNUAL FLORAROMA POKÉMON CONVENTION'
'Participate in a variety of activities for trainers and Pokémon alike!'
'Enter Pokémon Contests, or test your skill in battle by entering in the Floraroma Tournament, with a grand prize for the winner!'
'Located in the Floral-Fuego Center in Floraroma Town from May 8th to May 24th!'
I looked back down at Elena to see her eyes bright with excitement after I read the poster. "There are even gonna be some famous Pokémon trainers attending this convention!" She squealed. I think I remember hearing something about this convention before in the past.
"How big of an event is this?" I asked her. If famous trainers attend this, I was surprised I'd never heard it more before. "This event is HUGE! Trainers from all around the world gather here in Sinnoh to attend every year. Floraroma Town is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and even considered one of its wonders, so it makes sense that such a big event would be held here. They even hold one of these in Mauville City in the Hoenn region six months from now." Elena looked like she was about to explode into confetti.
"So if today is May 6th, and the convention is as big as you say it is, how do we plan to stay here? I doubt there are any rooms in the Center, or in any nearby hotels for that matter." I stated.
Elena raised her finger next to her head and winked. "See, here's the good thing: I have a friend who lives here in Floraroma Town, and he lets me stay over every time the convention is held, got it?"
"That's good for you, but what about me? I still need a place to stay, right?"
"Oh, you thought I would stay with you as a traveling companion longer?" She looked puzzled, and she noticed the kicked Lillipup expression which suddenly formed on my face. I had liked traveling with Elena, even after all the annoyances. She grinned and giggled, "Haha, I'm kidding. He has two guest rooms so there's room for you," she winked once more. I sighed.
"So then why are we in the Pokémon Center, other than to look crazy in front of all these other trainers of course."
"Easy: I'm here to participate in the Floraroma Tournament, and win that grand prize for sure."
…
