Episode 9: Invasion at the ranch!
"Alder?" Warren asked as the trio stood outside of the Pokémon Center, watching the man with fiery red and orange hair enter the lobby on the other side of the sliding double doors.
"Yeah. You've heard of him, right?" Charlotte asked. Warren nodded, looking a little stunned by it. "He's a famous trainer around here. I had no idea he lived in Floccessy Town."
"He was the guy I saw earlier…wow." Niko said. He had met his fair share of League Champions. Alder seemed to be the most…eccentric-looking of them all. "Well, that's cool. Let's get going." He said, spinning on his foot to start their journey to Virbank City. He then felt a hand grip his shoulder. Turning, he saw Warren with a smirk on his face. "Oh…no…no no no…"
Warren then burst into the Pokémon Center, with Charlotte following far behind. Niko simply stood there, head hanging down when his friends returned with Alder.
"Alder, this is our friend, Niko. He's challenging the gyms in Unova." Warren said. Niko looked up to see the former champion with a hand out.
"Pleasure to meet ya, Niko!" Alder said. He had a hearty, somewhat raspy voice. "Your friends speak highly of you. How many badges do you have?"
"Only one. And…pleasure to meet you as well." Niko said, shaking his hand. "I'm heading to Virbank City for my second."
"Ah...Virbank City. The gym leader there is…an excitable one, to be sure. But best of luck!" He then paused, as if suddenly deep in thought. "Your friends want me to challenge you, but I'm afraid you're not experienced enough if you only have a single badge, but I do have something that you all can help me with." He turned to Warren and Charlotte.
"What is it?" Niko asked.
"There is a ranch to the north of Floccessy Town, appropriated called Floccessy Ranch. The owners there are, without a doubt, the nicest human beings I've ever met. But they're having problems with an…infestation recently, and they looked to me for assistance. But I can't seem to do it all alone."
"You can't?" Warren asked. "But you're the Champion!"
"Former Champion." Alder corrected. "Anyway, if you three could help me out, it would be much appreciated."
"Well, sure." Niko said. "We'd be happy to help out. Just tell us what we need to do."
"Of course. Follow me, then." Alder said, walking past Niko and towards the hill that is presumably his home. The trio followed him up the road, past his house, and out of Floccessy Town. While they were walking, Warren took it upon himself to ask questions of Alder.
"So Alder, if it's okay to ask, why are you no longer Champion?" Warren asked. Alder turned and smiled warmly at him. They were roughly the same height, with Alder being slightly shorter.
"I retired, actually. Usually champions leave their post when they're defeated, but I was finished with the job. I prefer retirement, as many people do, and at my age, with my career, it made the most sense for me to step down and allow someone else to take my place."
"Wow, that's cool. How long have you been retired?" Warren asked. "And what do you do with that time?"
"Several years now. And in my time, I travel the region—and the world—seeing and experiencing new things. I keep training with my Pokémon, and spend time with my grandson, Benga. You'd like him, I think. He's a trainer like yourselves, and quite a capable one at that. He's on his own journey through Unova currently, but he comes back to visit when he can."
"Sounds like retirement is great!" Warren said excitedly.
"It is, but people hardly remember you for what you do in retirement. To have any legacy, it's what one does in their career that matters. I'm of the belief that everyone—regardless of who they are—should live life hoping to leave something of significance behind. Doesn't have to be a big thing—it could be small. I know that when I eventually kick the bucket, I will be remembered for how I lived my life and how I impacted the world around me."
"That's a good way of looking at it." Niko finally said. He had never considered living life from that perspective. It wasn't exactly carefree, but it had a somewhat carefree tone to it. From how Niko understood it, Alder was saying that one should give back in some way—help their fellow person and Pokémon. It made him feel a little better, but also slightly worried. Worried that he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life, or how he wanted to shape his legacy. Was this something he had to determine as soon as possible?
The group eventually made it to a vast expanse of land that was surrounded by forests off in the distance. "Here we are—Floccessy Ranch!" Alder said, throwing his hands out. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to the owners of the ranch."
They approached a small cottage near the entrance. Through the screen door was an elderly woman sitting in a couch, presumably watching television. As Alder walked up to the door, he tapped the side of the door to get her attention.
"Alder! Oh, hello!" She said in a quaint, kind tone. "How are you today?"
"Elle, always a pleasure. And I'm here on ranch business, actually. Travon told me you had some problems?"
"Yes, there's an infestation of—err—bug type Pokémon that we can't seem to deal with. Ellie is out of town and our mareep are simply not strong enough to take them on. So we figured we could send for you if you were in town. And…oh?" She looked behind Alder to see the young trio of trainers behind him. "Who are these youngsters?"
"Elle, allow me to introduce you to Niko, Warren, and Charlotte. They're travelling the Unova region currently, and Niko is taking on the gym challenge. I figured they could help you out as well."
"Oh, well thank you! Any help is good help. Travon is out in the fields right now, he can show you where we need the help."
Alder nodded in thanks and walked back onto the porch and down the few steps. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to Travon. He's a wonderful old man." Alder said, motioning for the group to follow. The trio followed along down the dirt road, past fields upon fields of Pokémon, running around or sleeping or playing with one another. Niko recognized the mareep in one of the fields and thought of Fay, who had once owned a mareep.
They had eventually made it to the edge of the ranch, nearly a mile down the road, when Alder began waving into the distance. Another waving hand responded, originating from an elderly-looking man who stood up from whatever he was working on to come over and greet the former Champion and his temporary companions.
"Travon! It's been a while. How are you?" Alder asked, walking up to greet his obviously familiar acquaintance.
"Alder, my favorite champion!" The man named Travon said, bringing Alder into a brief embrace. "You're correct—it's been some time. As you very well know, I need some help." He turned to the forest beyond the ranch. "We've recently had problems with Patrats and Sewaddles infesting our crops. For whatever reason, hordes of them have been making their way through, and I can't seem to fend them off."
"Are they around right now?" Niko asked, looking around for any sign of a large group of Pokémon scurrying around the ranch.
"At the moment, no. But they tend to show up at around the same time—just before sunset. Guess that's when they're hungry."
"And you haven't been able to deal with them so far?" Alder asked. Travon shook his head. "Is there a specific place they like to show up?"
"Over there," Travon said, pointing to the group's right. "But they've decimated the crops around there. They might try to show up in that direction instead." He pointed to the left.
"We could split up." Charlotte suggested.
"Good idea. You can come with me, and Niko and Warren could take the other side." Alder suggested. "Sound good?"
"Yeah." Niko replied, turning to Warren. "Let's head out, then."
Niko and Warren sat on the fence near the easternmost edge of the ranch, waiting for the Pokémon to show up. During the slow, agonizing wait, the two sent out their Pokémon and explained the situation. Rufflet seemed the most excited to fight, as expected. They also tried discussing strategy. Since each of them had two Pokémon, they figured they would both take one half of the horde.
The entire time, Niko was thinking about Warren's constant insistence that he continue battling and trying to get stronger with his Pokémon. More than anyone in his life, he was trying harder to make Niko's former dream—becoming a Pokémon Master—a reality. The ironic part was that he had no idea he was doing it, either. He found himself constantly surprised by Warren's optimism more generally. As long as Niko has known him, Warren has usually kept a positive demeanor. Of course, like all people he had moments where he felt sad or down, but for the most part he was a happy person, and Niko didn't feel like he appreciated it enough.
"Hey, Warren." Niko finally asked.
"Yeah?" Warren said, turning to his roommate. "What's up?"
"How are you always so positive, or so optimistic?" Niko asked, looking out into the forest from his perch on the fence.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you're always acting in an optimistic way—telling me to keep trying to battle, always believing in me or Sydney. How do you keep it up?"
"Heh. Well." Warren said, laughing. "I've just tried to see the best in people, I guess. I try to push out negative thoughts unless they are truly hateful or go against my moral values. It makes it easier to deal with problems when you just try to see the good in others." He paused for a moment, looking down at Sewaddle, who was napping.
As he was about to speak, the two boys heard rustling off in the forest. Niko leapt off of his perch on the fence. Snivy and Rufflet were already awake and ready to fight; Warren, Sewaddle, and Poliwag ready as well. Then a horde of Patrat leapt out of the bushes, dozens at a time.
"Poliwag, hypnosis! Sewaddle, razor leaf!" Warren commanded. It was clear to them that the Patrat weren't necessarily expecting a fight, but they quickly seemed to overwhelm the four Pokémon. While Warren's Pokémon launched attack after attack, Niko's Pokémon were doing the same, with Rufflet smacking and thrashing at the Scout Pokémon relentlessly. Snivy was off whipping Patrats left and right.
"Warren, look out!" Niko said, watching as a trio of Patrat took aim at his roommate. Warren tried to shift out of the way, but the Patrat tackled him to the ground. Just as they were about to bite down on him, a torrent of leaves simultaneously hit each one of them, launching them through the wooden fence demarcating the ranch. The Patrat collapsed onto the ground. Warren turned to see Sewaddle standing there, looking almost furious.
"Great job, Sewaddle!" Warren said before noticing Poliwag was having a difficult time as well. "I'm fine now, can you assist Poliwag?"
Sewaddle nodded, turning and shooting out a string shot to wrap several Patrat together and fling them into their comrades, knocking out several at the same time. Poliwag, who was knocked down from a flurry of attacks, got back up and turned to Sewaddle happily before shooting out a water gun at a nearby Patrat.
Just then, Sewaddle began to glow a bright white color, illuminating the area around her. She began to grow outwards, not necessarily upwards. Instead of being a small, caterpillar-like Pokémon, she was now round and yellow and was shrouded in a cloak of leaves. The leaves were draped around her body so that a large, crescent-shaped slit remained for her face. On the top of the leaf cloak were two semi-circular leaves that formed a V-shape. Niko pulled out his pokédex to examine the Pokémon, but not before commanding Rufflet and Snivy to take advantage of the Patrat's temporary wonder and attack.
"Swadloon, the Leaf-Wrapped Pokémon. Bug and grass type. Preferring dark, damp places, it spends the entire day eating fallen leaves that lie around it."
"Swadloon…wow." Warren said in amazement. "I've never seen a Pokémon evolve in person. This is great!" He exclaimed. "Now Swadloon, let's beat these Patrat away! Use razor leaf!"
"SWAAAAAD!" Swadloon shouted, opening her leaf cloak to summon a torrent of leaves. "LOOOOON!"
The Patrat were knocked backwards by the razor leaf and, cut up and defeated, turned away and ran off, dozen-by-dozen. When they all disappeared, Warren and Niko turned to one another and simply smiled.
"So they just disappeared?" Travon asked Niko and Warren when they returned.
"Yep. I think we scared them off. Oh! And check this out." He said, summoning Swadloon. "My Sewaddle evolved!"
Charlotte made an "o" with her mouth in surprise. "I've never seen one of these before. Hello, Swadloon!"
"Swad!" Swadloon said happily.
"How did you two manage?" Niko asked curiously.
"Well, to be honest Alder did most of the work. His Pokémon are strong!" Charlotte said in amazement. "You'd have appreciated it I think, Niko."
"Well, maybe one day I can see them in action." Niko said, turning to Warren, and then to the former Champion. "Thanks for allowing us to help." He reached his hand out to Alder.
"Thanks for agreeing to help!" He said with a hearty, slightly raspy laugh. "It's trainers like you three that give me hope for the future. Niko…best of luck in your gym challenge. It's going to get harder from here on out, but you're quite capable of going far if you believe that you can."
"Do you three need a place to stay for the night?" Travon asked. "As a way of expressing mine and Elle's thanks. You really saved our ranch."
"Sure!" Warren said before Niko could answer. Charlotte nodded as well. Travon and Elle then showed them around their cottage, eventually reaching the place for them to sleep. Meanwhile, Niko noticed Alder conspicuously exit the cottage—and then the ranch—and into the night. He gave the door a bemused look before turning back to his friends. It had certainly been an odd day.
