Entering the city, Mystic suddenly stopped me.
"Huh? What is it?" I turned around.
In her paws, the bag I forgotten to pick up.
"Oh, I completely forgot to pick it up. Wonder what's inside." I said, grabbing it from Mystic.
I untied it and opened it. Looking inside, I saw it was a bag of berries.
"Berries? Huh..." I said.
Looking at Mystic, I told her it was berries. She seemed excited, and I guess it was nice. So I tied it back up and stuffed it in my bag. Looking at my watch, I noticed we still had twenty minutes before meeting up.
"Guess we left kinda early… Still got some time before meeting with the others. What do you want to do?" I asked Mystic.
She shook her head, saying she wasn't sure.
"Hmm… This city is mostly a shopping and beach landmark… Um. Huh..." I sighed.
Picking her up and placing her on my back, I just smiled.
"We'll find something. We need to something to celebrate our gym badge." I said.
She nodded and agreed in a cheerful tone.
We then began walking around, searching around the place for something to do. It honestly was peaceful, as rain gently fall from the sky. After wandering around for a few minutes, I felt Mystic tap my head.
"Yes?" I asked.
She pointed towards Ruka, along with Silver.
"Oh, Ruka. Didn't expect to see her." I told her.
I turned and moved towards her. I made myself known and she looked up from her phone.
"You two are back?" She asked.
"Yeah, just wanted to enjoy a walk in the forest. Where's Zach?" I asked back.
"Just inside the store getting something for Electric he said." She replied.
"Oh… Well, I'm probably gonna find cover from the rain. After it lets up, we're gonna continue to the next city." I said.
"Sounds good then. Whenever Zach finally gets whatever, I'll tell him." She said.
"Alright. Just meet at the hotel entrance." I replied.
She accepted, and I left. I took Mystic to the hotel to avoid getting drenched, as the rain picked up.
"We'll celebrate our badge success when this rain stops, okay?" I told her.
Mystic accepted once again and sat on a bench. Sitting with her, I searched around my bag, just looking at the badge case. Two out of eight. I'm still surprised with how easy these gyms are, but I'm pretty sure everything will change soon. Anyways, I placed the badge case in my bag and pulled my phone out. Checking the weather app, I saw it was only going to rain for another hour. Telling Mystic, she seemed happy and excited for what I had plan.
And after waiting for a few more minutes, Ruka and Zach walked up to us.
"Man, finding stuff for Electric is difficult..." Zach instantly complained.
"You were in there for an hour just about. The store wasn't a mall..." Ruka groaned.
"I know, but it was filled with people and took forever to checkout." Zach replied.
"Um, so you two are ready then?" I cut in.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, we're ready. Lets just get going." Ruka said.
"The rain will stop in an hour. Kinda don't want to walk around in the rain anymore." I said.
They just accepted and we waited out the rain. And luckily, it ended not long after. Grabbing my bag, and picking up Mystic, the four of us began walking to the exit gates. Checking my phone, I didn't really know where to go. So I just chosen to go around the place.
Setting our path, we began walking down the road. But about a mile or two of peaceful walking, I heard Ruka.
"Aw, crap..."
Turning around, I looked confused.
"Everything alright?" I asked.
"No, I forgot something of mine." She replied.
"We gotta go back?" I asked again.
"You keep going, I'll meet you in the next city, come on Zach, you were with me all day, so you have to help find it, it's very important." She grabbed Zach and began dragging him along.
"Man… Amy, meet us at star city… We'll be a few hours..." Zach groaned in annoyance.
Ruka continued dragging him along, and was soon out of view.
"Um, guess star city is our next stop. But first… We gotta venture through a few more miles of forest, great… I'm done with forests after we get to star city." I told Mystic.
With that, I continued down the path, the sky now clear and blue. I kept myself entertained by using apps on my phone, and by doing stuff with Mystic. Didn't realize it would be so lonely without another person. But I had Mystic.
We continued further down the trail, wondering what to do in the next city that awaited us. But as we were walking, Flanite suddenly appeared from my bag. He quickly jumped out, which caused me to look on. He then began walking off the trail and into the forest.
"Flanite? Where are you going?" I asked.
With no response or a glance back, he continued walking off. I had no choice then to follow.
"Flanite, come on. It isn't safe heading off the path." I told him, once again with no response.
I continued following him even further, getting a bit worried that we'll get lost. But luckily he came to a stop. Walking up behind him, I picked him up.
"What's the matter? Shouldn't be walking off like that." I told him.
But as I looked up, I saw a cabin in front of us.
"A cabin…?" I mumbled.
But then it struck me. A strong scent of food. I guess he followed the scent here. I kept Flanite in my arms, as I walked up to the cabin. Wasn't sure why, but I wanted to ask if they had a map, since my phone died, or at least tell me how to get to star city, since I forgot before draining my battery with games.
So at the door, I reached my arm out and knocked on it. I heard something and soon the door opened, revealing a somewhat old lady.
"A visitor?" She spoke.
"U- um, sorry. But I got lost and was wondering if you could help me." I asked.
"An explorer then? Yes, yes, come in and I'll get you sorted out." She said.
Not thinking much about it, I walked in and started looking around. It was a fairly nice cabin. She lead me to the kitchen where there were three people around the table. An elderly man, a girl that was possibly around 16, and a boy, around the same age as the girl.
"Alright, you sit tight, I'll be back with something that can help you." The lady said, walking up some stairs.
I did just that, and just stood in place. Mystic was by my side, Flanite was in my arms still, soon putting him back in my bag. And about five minutes, the lady walked back down with what looked like a HaloX. My eyes lit up seeing this.
"This might help you." She said, giving me.
"B- but this is a HaloX! These things are thousands of dollars just for the simple edition!" I exclaimed.
"It was just collecting dust. The memory disk was cleaned a while back, and was never used again. My grand children won't be using it, since they rather stay here. So might've well give it to someone who will." She said.
"T- thanks then… I was planning on saving up for the simple one. But I am very thankful for this." I said.
"Hmm hmm. If I may ask, are you on a journey to face the elite four?" She asked.
"That's correct." I replied.
"I was once like that many many years ago. But anyways, are you in a rush?" She asked again.
"Um, not really." I said.
"Well, recently, we are in need of help. My husband's Pokemon are just as old as him and can't battle. But you look like you could help. I'll be sure to have payment." She said.
"What kind of problem do you need help with?" I asked.
"We mostly do everything by ourselves. Growing food, purifying water, building, pretty much everything. But recently, something odd has been happening at night. I'm sure it's some Pokemon." She told me.
"Odd?" I sounded confused.
"That's right. For about a month or so now, we've been noticing our food stock, water supply, and other things were going missing." She explained.
"How can I help?" I asked.
"We've noticed it mostly happens around midnight to three in the morning. We don't go outside, because, well, you know. But your Riolu looks pretty strong. Maybe if you could patrol for a night? At least tell us what you see, or possibly scare it off. The oddest thing is, there is never any noise. Our fences sometime are destroyed into pieces, and we hear nothing." She said.
"Strange… But sure, I'll be able to help for a night." I replied.
"That's wonderful to hear. I'll make sure to reward you." She smiled.
After that, she explained some other smaller details about what happened. Nothing too important, but it was kinda useful. She then gave me and Mystic some frost berry pie, and it was pretty nice. And I just did my own thing till nighttime arrived. I was laying on the couch, Mystic sleeping on my stomach. At the moment, I completely forgot to try out my new HaloX. So pulling it out, I turned it on.
Once it finished loading up, I saw the simple apps. Internet, flashlight, shopping, and maps. Inspecting the HaloX, I stopped.
"HaloX Gold" The title said.
My eyes widen at this. This is the tier 4 HaloX, meaning it was about $6,000. There's about 20 different tiers, the highest being $30,000. Being HaloX Bedrock. I was very surprised, I was expecting the first edition which was HaloX Stone.
I was happy with this, and began customizing. Adding a ton of apps, changing the external and internal coloring, and adding all my contacts to the contact list. The amazing thing about these are the insane battery life. A full battery could last over three weeks no matter how much you use it.
Anyways, after customizing it, I woke Mystic up and showed it to her. I changed the color to purple and red, which Mystic really liked. Looking at the time after that, I saw it was nearing ten.
"Guess we should go and patrol." I said.
Mystic accepted and got off me. Getting up, I grabbed my bag and walked to the backdoor. But before I did, I heard a voice. Turning around, I saw the boy.
"So your a trainer?" He asked.
"Yes." I simply replied.
"That's pretty cool. You should take this then." He held out a gem.
Taking it, I noticed it was a shock gem.
"A shock gem?" I asked.
"Yeah. I modified it." He said.
"How do you modify a gem…?" I asked.
"I may be able to teach you someday. But this shock gem can immobile the target it hits. And no… It does not harm them..." He said.
"Um, cool. Thanks." I replied.
"Yep. I'm Claude." He said.
"I'm Amy." I said back.
"Cool. Anyways, just be careful out there. It can be dangerous at night..." He said.
I told him I'll be fine and opened the door. I closed the door behind me and walked into the decent sized farm.
"Frost berries, fire berries, spike berries, naco berries, corn, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, wheat, sugar cane, geez… A pretty nicely done farm." I said.
"Alright, so… Lets just patrol the farm." I told Mystic.
Mystic nod and jumped off me. She proceeded to climb on the fence and stood there. Flanite seemed to want to help as well, as he jumped out of the bag and joined Mystic.
"Better not catch you eating those fire berries, Flanite..." I stared at him.
He looked at me with an innocent face, and I shook my head before heading a bit into the forest.
Looking around in the darkness, I saw nothing.
"Such an idiot. Not sure why I expect something to be there just like that." I sighed.
I rolled my eyes and turned in an 180, then walked back to Mystic and Flanite. Sitting in a chair by the fence, I relaxed and began messing around with my HaloX. Mystic crawled on me, while scanning the area. Rubbing her head, I sighed.
"Looks like we got a long night. But hey, I can play music." I said.
Turning some music on low, I sat back and began watching. It was quite boring, but I kept interest with my ways.
But as I was listening to soft music, I heard Flanite, soon Mystic as well. Opening my eyes, I stared at them.
"What is it?" I asked.
Looking up to the forest, I saw nothing.
"Hmm…?" I mumbled.
Mystic jumped off me and stood in a defensive position. This made me curious and I got up. Grabbing my HaloX, I turned on the flashlight. It turned on and lit the surrounding area. I looked deeper into the forest, and still saw nothing, looking at Mystic, I told her nothing was there. She looked at me and had a worried face but lowered her guard and walked back to me.
"Nothing's there…" I said.
We sat back down and everything was quiet for another hour. But around twelve, I felt raindrops.
"Dang… It's raining? Seriously?" I groaned.
And that drizzle turned into heavy. I managed to find a dry and safe spot from the rain, but it was annoying.
"What's with rain in this region? Feels like it rains everyday..." I said in an annoyed tone.
I just accepted it and sat underneath the roof, Mystic resting her head on my lap.
"Must be tired, huh…? Get some sleep, I'll try and stay up." I told her.
Flanite heard this and quickly laid next to Mystic.
"Alright… You too I guess. Hmm, I could release Sav." I said.
Pulling the Pokeball out, I released Sav. He appeared energetic, which was good. But that quickly changed when he noticed it was night and pouring out. He looked at me with a negative expression.
"I know it's midnight and pouring outside… But I need help guarding this place, okay…?" I said.
Sav sighed heavily but accepted. I smiled and told him to alert when something is off. He accepted once again and sat down. I knew he was annoyed and wanted to fight, but he'll get plenty of that soon. For now though, we're guarding this place, though nothing seems out of the ordinary as of now.
I ended up dozing off for about an hour, when I was suddenly shook awake by Sav. Opening my eyes, I looked at Sav who pointed towards the forest. Waking up a bit more, I heard it. Light growling. Concern overtook sleepiness and I awoke Mystic and Flanite.
I told them and they got up. I got up as well. The rain was still falling quite hard, but I walked up to the forest.
With the rain falling hard, I struggled to see. I activated my flashlight and shined it. It didn't really help, but it was enough to see the eyes staring at me. Seeing this, I froze. Looking at Mystic and the others, I pointed. They got up and stepped in front of me.
We stared at the eyes for a good few minutes.
"What do you think? Wanna attack or scare?" I asked.
Mystic decided to just lunge at the entity. And after a pretty painful slam, I saw Mystic drag the unconscious Poochyena with her.
"You didn't need to bash the poor things face in Mystic, geez..." I said, going to the Pokemon's aid.
Mystic let go and shrugged. I then walked up to the Poochyena and moved it out of the rain. Once I was under a dry place, I started checking him.
"Maybe he's the one that kept ruining the farm…?" I said.
Tapping the Pokemon a bit, his eyes shot opened and stared at me. He didn't dash away, he just laid there.
"Um, hey there..." I said.
He didn't utter a single word, he just kept staring at me.
"Uh… Sorry for Mystic." I said again.
I told him to stay there, as I went in the darken house to grab a towel. After grabbing a towel, I walked back outdoors and wrapped it around the Poochyena. I dried him off as best I could and had him stay near me for the night so I could give the people who lived here the one who was eating their supply. Not really sure if this Poochyena was the one, but it felt like a Poochyena would be the suspect.
I kept Poochyena next to me, which I guess made Mystic a bit jealous as she walked away from me and laid down alone. I rolled my eyes and let her be.
The Poochyena was already asleep it looked like, so I didn't expect him to run off. I told Sav to keep an eye on him, as I decided to sleep for a bit.
And after closing my eyes, I remember waking up a few hours later. Looking around, the sun was shining through the trees. Glancing at my HaloX, it was ten in the morning.
Rubbing my eyes from sleep, I got up and noticed the Poochyena staring at me, which startled me a bit.
"O- oh, hey…" I said, glad he didn't run off.
Getting up, I picked him up and walked into the house. And no one was awake.
"They are old I guess… Gotta wait it seems..." I mumbled.
I then found a place to sit and waited. And after an hour later, the lady walked downstairs and looked a me.
"Oh, how was it last night?" She asked.
"I think this is the one doing all of this." I said, showing the Poochyena.
"A Poochyena…? I should've guessed. They love all that stuff we grow. Ah, such troublesome Pokemon." She said.
"Well, guess you did your part. Give me a moment." She continued, walking back up the stairs.
Moments of waiting, she walked back down and gave me a shiny looking coin, along with more things.
"This coin has been quite special. The other things are worth a lot. You can keep or sell then..." She said.
"Thanks. I'll keep them." I replied.
"As you wish. Thanks for your time." She said.
She then walked off to get ready for the day. I collected Mystic and the others, and I got ready to hit the road to the next city. But once I opened the door, I heard a voice.
"You're leaving?"
Turning around, it was Claude.
"Um, yeah." I replied.
"Take me with you." He suddenly said, taking me off guard.
"Take you with me…? Why?" I asked.
"You're a trainer, and I've been stuck here for five years!" He exclaimed.
"Do you really think your mother wo-"
"Mom is gone… If I knew her well enough, she'll wanted me to become a trainer. She was once the gym leader of emerald city in Yuka! She even told me one day I'll become a gym leader..." Claude cut off the old lady.
The lady looked a little worried but replied.
"Well, if you really want to." She said.
"Wait, your taking me with you too." A colder tone voiced came from upstairs.
The girl walked down and stood next to Claude.
"Uh… I guess I can take two more… I already got a party though. That would make our group five. But I guess that's fine." I said.
"Then it's settled. We're coming with you." Claude said.
The girl walked up to me.
"I'm Alk. Let us get our stuff." She said, walking back upstairs.
Claude followed her upstairs and I waited, wondering if it was a good idea bringing more people. I don't really like massive groups.
But soon after, they came back down with pretty large backpacks. They walked outside and I stood for a moment. The lady stared at me and looked concerned.
"Please don't get them into anything to crazy." She said.
"I'll try not to. Didn't expect them to come with me." I said.
I then felt a push on my leg. Looking down, I saw it was the Poochyena.
"Oh, completely forgot. What do you want me to do with him?" I asked.
"You could bring it with you. Oddly it looks like it likes you." She said.
Looking down at him, I spoke.
"So you want to come with me…?" I asked again.
The Poochyena growled and snatched a Pokeball from me. So taking it from him, I captured the Poochyena.
"Alright then, guess I'll call you Tuff." I thought of a name randomly.
I said my goodbyes afterward and left their house, seeing the two waiting for me.
"Okay! Where are we heading?" Claude asked.
"Well, I was heading to star city. My friends are waiting for me there." I replied.
"Then star city it is. Come on, lets get going. Can't wait to see the region." He said.
And with that, we began walking down the pathway, soon getting on the correct path once again before Flanite detoured us...