They caught a city bus to the edge of Eterna City that had a set route right through the forest in the center of the town. They spent the entire ride cloaked in darkness, their only source of light the very dim glow of the noon sun peeking through the thick canopy overhead. Once they reached the end of the forest, the trees began to thin out, and Edric nearly fell out of his seat.
The rocky mountainside of Mt Coronet loomed to the west. Edric had never seen a mountain so big. Its peak, covered in snow, stretched into the clouds. Edric had seen pictures of the mountain before, but he had never seen it up close. He had noticed the large mountain on the horizon a few days back, but this didn't compare. It was like they were right under it.
"We could totally climb that." Ethan mused after the initial awe had cleared. Edric didn't think any of them had ever seen the mountain before. They all looked at him incredulously despite his obvious joke. Mt. Coronet was known across the world as one of the most environmentally dangerous mountain ranges in existance, but home to many extremely rare and powerful Pokemon. No one had ever made it as far as a few hundred miles from the peak in recorded history. There were of course the cliché tales of brave heroes climbing the mountain to the top and returning with an Articuno or even the rare Kyurem said to have been resting there, but they were just stories. The truth is that people try all the time, and no one makes it back alive.
There were safer paths to take on their journey, and the only one out of Eterna city was a short trip through an extremely well lit cave going through the mountain.
They got off at a stop directly across from a Pokemon Center, which also happened to be beside the Eterna City Pokemon Trainer's Club, their intended destination. The building was more like a small kiosk smaller than the center next door. The main part of the Trainer's Club was the giant football field-sized yard next to it. It was fenced in, but only came up to Edric's waist, so Edric could see past the gate and into the field. There were already about 20 or so trainers doing various activities with their Pokemon such as running laps, riding them, or just lazing around. Edric smiled when he saw one trainer in particular. He was a pudgy little kid of about 9 or 10 years old who lay on his back in the grass. He was flanked by a similarly pudgy Pokemon by the name of Munchlax. It was like Munchlax was a human version of its trainer.
They visited the Pokemon Center first to secure four beds in the public lodging area of the center. They locked their belongings in one of the lockers with a combination given to them by one of the receptionists and headed back out.
As it was on the outside, the Trainer's Club wasn't much on the inside. Besides the door they entered, there were three other doors and a desk with a receptionist. He took their names and ID numbers, indicated that the doors on their left and rights lead to the bathroom, and sent them off to do whatever in the yard. Before they left, he quickly added in that they could only have one Pokemon out at once and that there was no battling aloud in the yard itself. The receptionist didn't have any Pokemon handy that could keep any destroyed terrain in check.
They entered the field through the door that wasn't the bathrooms. Edric got to see much of the same Pokemon he had noticed from outside, plus a few more. Across from the boy with the Munchlax was a similarly young boy with a small acorn with tiny feet and eyes; he called it Seedot. Edric was mesmorized by the way the young trainer was having the Pokemon tackle a bag of sand twice as tall as itself. Edric didn't know why, but the way the Pokemon moved was so rhythmic and relaxing. It made Edric want to take a nap.
"Ed? You okay?"
He jolted back to reality as Ethan snapped his fingers in front of his face. He didn't realize he'd been staring that hard let alone why. Ethan stood in front of him, hand on his shoulder. He looked back into his boyfriend's brown eyes. Emily and Hart had disappeared, gone off to do their own small training sessions with their Pokemon.
"Yeah, sorry. I'm fine." Edric said, smiling. He was suddenly stricken by the distinct urge to kiss Ethan, so he did.
Ethan grinned through it.
"What was that for?" He chortled.
"Just cause."
Edric and Ethan ended up settling against the side of the kiosk, sitting indian style on the grass. Edric released Luxio from it's Pokeball. The electric Pokemon settled against Edric's side, purring loudly like an oversized cat. It's eyes closed softly as Edric ran his fingers through the fur around it's neck and head.
"You've got the beginnings of a very solid mane, girl." Edric said as Luxio leaned into his touch. He hadn't realized how beautiful his Pokemon was until now. The jet black fur on Luxio's body gleamed in the overhead sun.
They stayed that way for an hour, Edric and Ethan keeping cool under the early fall air, fingers entwined, exchanging the occasional peck. The few words they exchanged were fleeting, and after a while there was no more talking. They drifted into their own daydreams.
"You think we could take a vacation?" Ethan said, breaking Edric out of his daze.
"What do you mean? We already graduated. Isn't this already a vacation?"
"No, I mean like a real vacation. Traveling across the reigion is nice and all, but what if after we finished we took a trip somewhere? Just me and you?"
Edric considered this for a moment. After they finished taking on all the gyms, it would be a few months grace period before they would have to meet on Lily of the Valley island for the Reigonal tournament. Edric would definitely want to get a lot of training done during that time. If he'd have to face his friends there, he wanted to have at least a little bit of an element of surprise so they couldn't devise a plan against him. However, he loved Ethan. It was true that they had never been truly alone together at any given time over the five years they had been dating.
"We could give it a shot, I guess. I'm not so sure if it should be as soon as then, though." Edric said.
"Why not? It'd be the perfect time. We could go to Hoenn and visit one of the islands. It'd be summer so we could go swimming on the beach. Just the two of us."
He kissed Edric again. Edric only nodded response, opting into sparing himself Ethan's disappointment for now until later when he would tell Ethan he wanted to train on his own for a while after the tournament.
Luxio interrupted their conversation when it suddenly perked up, hair standing on end. A tiny spark electricity shocked Edric's finger. It didn't hurt, he barely even felt it. He was too distracted by what Luxio had gotten all worked up about.
Standing on the other side of the field was a shorter asian boy of Edric's age. His black hair was tousled by the wind as he waved his hand around like a whip. He was coaching a small yellow Pokemon with long ears tipped in black and rosy red circles on its sligthly pudgy cheeks. It was probably the most adorable Pichu Edric had ever seen. Luxio murmured quietly next to him as he stood.
"Quan, Hey!" He called as he made his way across the yard, dodging around a black girl practicing with her Bayleef. Quan turned to him as he came, his face already fixed with a half-scowl. 'This guy has one hell of a resting bitch-face' Edric thought. He smiled nonetheless, hoping that Quan wasn't holding a grudge on him from his win at trainer's pass nearly a month ago.
"Long time, no see! That's an adorable Pichu you got there." Edric was trying to be as friendly as he could. He hoped Quan beared no ill will toward him. It'd make this a lot less awkward. Quan still held that standoffish gaze as he closed the rest of the distance between him. Pichu had climbed onto Quan's shoulder, completely counteracting Quan's tough demeanor.
"Thanks. It was a gift from a friend." Quan stated. His statement left a bit of finality in the air. Like it was the end to a conversation that had literally just started.
"Hell of a gift, if I say so myself. A friend of mine just sold me a Noibat."
Quan's eyebrows lightened up on the scowling. He was beginning to look like he didn't hate all of Edric. "How much did that cost you?"
Edric rattled off a number he wasn't sure was the actual truth or not. He realized he had no actual idea how much the exact cost of his Pokemon was, just that it had next to tapped his funds. Regardless, Quan reacted.
"Fair enough. Noibat are strong Pokemon. They get even stronger once you evolve them."
Edric nodded. He wanted to change the subject. "So what moves does Pichu know?"
"Thundershock, thunder wave, volt tackle, and we're currently working on iron tail."
At this, Pichu's face turned downward a little. If that's what Quan and Pichu were doing before Edric walked over, Pichu wasn't even close to having the move down. Edric had deja vu from his time with Psyduck.
"If you want, I could have Luxio give you a few pointers." Edric offered. Luxio nudged his side as he said this, revealing that it had followed Edric here. Edric patted it on it's head affectionately.
"No. We're fine. We've almost got it anyway." Quan said with the kind of tone that implied he wanted Edric to leave. It wasn't threatening or mean or annoyed. Quan apparently just didn't want to be bothered.
"Alright then." Edric said, taking the hint. He turned back to where Ethan was sitting against the kiosk. When he returned, he plopped down over Ethan, his head landing on the taller boy's thigh. He lay on his back. Luxio crouched beside him, facing the other side of the yard. Facing Quan.
"What was all that about?" Ethan asked, looking down at Edric.
"Nothing. Just wanted to say hi. I hope he isn't still mad over that battle back at Trainer's Pass."
Ethan shrugged and ran his fingers through Edric's hair. They drifted back into their daydreams again, only to be pulled out again when Luxio grunted and stretched, getting on its feet. Edric looked up but didn't follow as Luxio walked toward where Quan and Pichu were practicing. They stopped what they were doing as Luxio approached, only staring at the Pokemon, then up at Edric who simply shrugged.
Luxio made sure it had Pichu's attention by grunting a few times, then it's tail glowed in the steely light of iron tail. It made a few swings at the air, then the glow faded and it turned to Pichu again. The sounds it made this time seemed to be clearer, more instructional. At one short statement from Luxio, Pichu got on all fours and it's tail began to glow with the same light Luxio's had moments ago. It swung it around in the air a few times, keeping the glow going the whole time. Luxio nodded as Pichu showed off it's newly acquired iron tail.
When Luxio returned to Edric, he patted the Pokemon on the head and returned it back to its ball. Quan looked across the field at him as Pichu practiced more of its new attack. The two exchanged a nod of acknowledgement, and that was the end of it.
Edric figured he should probably start training now, so he released his Psyduck in an open spot of the field.
"Hey, buddy." He said, patting the yellow Pokemon on its round head. "Today we're going to learn a move called Aqua Jet. Except this time, we'll use a TM. It should take much quicker."
Psyduck nodded its head in a funny fashion as Edric got his TM Case out of his bag. Despite many suggestions otherwise from his friends, he had visited the store to buy this TM before they left with the money he had received from his battle with Gardenia. Edric realized he was broke again, but he didn't care.
The disc spun in the case as Edric selected Aqua Jet from his list of moves, then placed it in the ball and recalled Psyduck. Reading the description, it would take 30 minutes for the move to be finished burning. In that time, Edric released Monferno. The fire Pokemon flexed its muscles as it awaited Edric's instruction.
"Alright, Monferno. I was recently informed that your Mach Punch will eventually develop into some other more powerful punching move, so I wanted to get a bit of training in with that so we can speed that process up a bit. I want you to do these training runs I read about online to increase the speed boost you get from it and max out the intensity of your punching."
–
They decided they would stay at the trainer's club for two more days before they would leave for . Edric trained non-stop with Monferno, Noibat, and Psyduck but didn't manage to make any specific progress outside of Psyduck learning Aqua Jet via TM. Quan disappeared from Eterna City after their first day there, not sparing any time to say goodbye to Edric and his friends. Apparently, Quan was the kind of guy that liked to be alone.
On the last day at the trainer's club, there were two receptionists working the desk. The presence of the second one gave way to the ability to battle in the field, but there could only be one battle happening at a time, and the trainers participating couldnt use the entire field, just a tiny outcropping. The workers still wanted there to be some space for trainers to relax.
Suprisingly, the outcropping stayed empty for most of the day. After a few trainers got their itch for battling done and over with, they just opted to laze about or train seperately with their Pokemon. Edric was actually surprised when someone asked if he could battle his Noibat. The kid's name was Larry, and he was very new to Pokemon battling. After the battle, which was unsurprisingly short, Edric gave him a few pointers. The kid explained how he had befreinded and caught his Zigzagoon just yesterday on the edge of Eterna forest. Edric couldn't stop smiling. He wished he had been into Pokemon when he was this kid's age.
–
They got up the early the next morning to decide which route they would be taking out of Eterna City.
"Okay, so we have three options." Hart said, swallowing down the last bit of his granola bar. "There's the longest route out east. That should take us immediately to Hearthome City, which is home to the Ghost-type Gym. I honestly think this road is kinda dumb, since its the road most trainers take. There'll probably be a lot of them, and much less Pokemon to catch. Next trainer's pass tournament is outside Veilstone City and according to the league website it's required to have six Pokemon by then."
"I hate these dumbass requirements." Emily mumbled.
"They're in place for a reason, Em. Also, I just realized we probably don't go Pokemon hunting nearly as much as a lot of other trainers." Edric said.
"Anyway, the next route is the tunnel through the mountain, which is my least favorite of all. We basically won't find anything but rocks and hundreds of other trainers there. I read online that the tunnels run all throughout certain parts of the mountain, so It isn't just Eterna city they're coming from. The tunnels are home to mostly rock types and zubat, which I am not particularly fond of."
Hart paused for a minute, then nervously rubbed the back of his neck. He looked down at the floor as he explained the last option.
"Excuse me for even suggesting this last one, but it was too interesting to pass up."
They all nodded.
"A few years ago, the league put in place a mountain trail that goes over the lowest part of Mt. Coronet. They spent a lot of money to ensure the utmost safety of the trainers who take that route, but it's still enough to scare most trainers off. If you guys are up to it, this trip is the shortest and could potentially cut weeks off travelling time, so we could even take a break or something in place of the time we would've spent on either of the other routes. Since Trainer's pass isn't for another two months, this could be really beneficial. We could get a ton of training in."
"Not to mention fair game on whatever Pokemon live on the mountain." Emily added. "You think we could do it?"
Edric didn't have any doubt they could. If the league had truly stepped in to take care of whatever could await them on even the smallest part of the mountain, they definitely did a good job. The league wasn't famous for half-assing anything in the decades since its conception. But for some reason, he felt… iffy.
"Sounds cool to me, if the league says its safe, then whatever." Ethan agreed.
"I don't think-" Edric stopped short. He didn't want to be the downer. Over the mountain seemed like it was the best decision overall. "We should definitely stock up on food and items to heal our Pokemon, then. I imagine there isn't much in terms of ways to heal our Pokemon up there."
Since there wasn't a Pokemon store on the edge of Eterna, they had to catch a bus back to the inner city. Hart explained the implications of the mountain-route while carefully examining a map on some website he found on Coronet.
"It should only take about a day and a half to get to the base of the mountain from the city, so if we start soon, we can be there by tomorrow afternoon. The route itself takes about 4 weeks on foot, so that's nearly a month less than it would be if we took the road through the mountain. So we'd have that much time for vacation. It'll probably be quite a hike, so we definitely would want to dress a bit heavier. Even on the lower parts of the mountain, it can get pretty cold but since it's only September, it wont be that bad."
"What are we looking at in terms of Pokemon?" Edric asked.
"There are too many species documented to count, to be completely honest. I'd say just keep your eyes open for anything, although I can guarantee there wont be many fire Pokemon around. It can get pretty cold up there."
–
After some light shopping and another bus ride, they were ready to begin walking again. Edric thought his legs might fall off if he had to do this much walking again for the other half of the season after christmas. He made a note in his head to convince his friends that they needed to find some other method of transportation once the money was there.
The rest of the day passed quickly, as they usually did when they walked like this. They managed to keep each other sane by exchanging small bursts of conversation here and there, but for the most part, they just walked.
That night, they discussed what their plans were for the next gym battle. Since it was a ghost-type gym, It was kind of a hard one.
"None of us have anything specifically designed to counter any ghost Pokemon, except for Emily with Larvitar. I have a bad feeling about this." Ethan confessed.
He was right. The only thing Edric could see himself getting anywhere with was with Luxio or Psyduck. Monferno's fighting type moves would be completely ineffective and Noibat is probably too young to be taking on gyms.
"I would say not to count our chickens before they hatch. There's a completely valid chance that we all could find something on the mountain that could give us a big advantage over Fantina." Hart remarked. Edric wished he had Hart's optimism.
–
Early afternoon the next day found the four of them standing in front of a fork in the road where one way lead to the path through the mountain, and the other climbing the side of it. There were scattered groups of trainers that were walking the same path as them, but they all veered completely to the rightmost path, completely avoiding climbing the mountain. As they took the left road, Edric felt a little uncomfortable again. He kept his mouth shut.
In a few hours, the road took a very slight incline, then they were surrounded by forest. The trees were nicely spaced enough to where they could see the sky clear overhead. The thick-leaved trees of Eterna city were long gone and had given way to trees much taller with smaller leaves with a few pines here and there. It was very quiet, but not the kind of eerie quiet that would give Edric 'horror movie vibes' as he described to Ethan. It was the peaceful quiet, like a warm early morning on the beach. Edric's uncomfortable feeling had given way to complete and utter bliss. There was no way he could feel bad about this place anymore; it was absolutely magnificent.
They had found a small cliff that had been cleared of trees. Edric assumed a Pokemon may have done it at one point and the trees just never grew back. The cliff gave a stunning view of Eterna forest at the base of the mountain, with the snow-covered peak above the clouds to the left.
"We should get a picture. This is too good of an opportunity to miss." Edric said.
Apparently all his friends were thinking the same thing. They all started releasing their Pokemon as Edric set up his phone on a nearby boulder and put the timed capture mode on. He quickly released his Pokemon and they all gathered in front of the cliff so that the peak loomed over their shoulders. It was slightly awkward trying to find a place where Gyarados and Rhydon weren't overwhelming them, but after a few hilarious tries, the four of them and their sixteen Pokemon managed to finally make it work.
"Oh yeah, this is one definitely worth framing." Edric chortled, examining his phone.
Edric's Pokemon were all aligned to the right of the photo next to Edric. Psyduck clung closer to Edric's leg and Noibat rested on Edric's shoulder. Monferno and Luxio stood together, the fire Pokemon leaning gently on the other. Edric stood affectionately against Ethan, who rested an arm around Edric's shoulder as his Pokemon lay before him. Emily stood off to the left side, her giant Pokemon flanking her. Rhydon and Gyarados nearly didn't make it into the frame. Hart stood between the two of them, his Pokemon mingled with Pignite and Larvitar.
Edric made sure to send the photo to his mother. During his last conversation with her, she had informed him that she was planning to print and frame them.
–
The first few days of their time on were nothing compared to what came after they had completely scaled the smaller part of the mountain. Since they were done climbing, they now had to walk along it until it the trail started to descend, which would take most of the few weeks they had accounted for.
The first of their trials was the sudden drop in temperature. The cool late-september air had turned into a 'warm winter' as Ethan called it. The temperature dropped about twenty degrees at night and basically forced them to sleep with multiple layers of the blankets they brought with them. It wasn't unbearable, just unexpected. Edric knew it'd be cold, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly once they began to navigate the mountain.
Secondly, the uneven terrain, although easy to navigate, was extremely trying at some areas. A few days into the trail, they had come across a part of the path that had completely collapsed inward. Hart guessed that maybe one of the multiple caverns in the mountain had caved in. They had to alter their course and lose about an hour of time trying to avoid any fragile points where they could fall in. When they managed to find their way back to the trail, they were way too tired to walk any further. They lost two whole days on the mountain this way.
Lastly, much to their dismay, there was an obscene lack of wild Pokemon. At night there would be the occasional rustle of leaves, but it usually went uninvestigated because of the fact that it was dark. They had spent the most part of a day wandering around a part of the mountain trying to find Pokemon, but no one had wandered across a single one. Edric was sure he was going crazy when a week had past and they hadn't seen a single Pokemon wander by.
"Maybe we could go explore one of those caves we passed a few minutes ago. I bet there's interesting stuff in there." Emily suggested after breakfast one morning. They hadn't been very far from where they left camp that morning still.
"I'm down. What do you guys say?" Edric said, adjusting his jacket collar so that it didn't rub uncomfortably against his neck.
They all nodded in agreement, and they managed to backtrack their way to the base of a cliffside a quarter-mile from the main trail. Hart had made sure to mark the trees they had past so they could find their way back to the trail once they were finished there. There was a narrow opening that they had to bend their necks to make it through.
It was pitch black for a second before Edric heard Ethan shuffling around in his bag for something.
"I brought a flare for just this moment. I had a feeling we would need a bit of light."
He made a noise and pulled his hand out of his bag. Edric made sure not to take a step until he lit it and was aware of what was in front of him. When the red light filled the cave, it took him a moment for his eyes to adjust.
There was something just ahead of them, Edric could barely see it. He thought it was another opening to the cave, but when he and his friends took a few steps forward, he realized he was dead wrong. His eyes widened in terror as his lungs filled with air to yell, but the sound never came out. He couldn't stop staring at whatever was ahead of him.
Eyes?
The temperature seemed to drop even lower as the eyes drew closer to him until they stopped a few feet away. They definitely weren't human eyes, but something completely different. They were comically large and shaped like semicircles. If Edric weren't about to shit himself in fear, he would probably think the Pokemon was weird-looking. He stared ahead, cold sweat beading on his forehead. Whatever it was, it was keeping him locked there. He couldn't even see if his friends were paralyzed too.
The eyes pulsed a red glow and everything around him stopped. He felt lightheaded as the blood rushed down from his head to his fingertips and he was almost certain he felt tears begin to roll down his face as he stood there. He tried with all his might to get his muscles to move, to run, but he couldn't. The eyes kept him trained on the spot.
The glow seemed to become stronger, and suddenly Edric felt himself go taut. All his limbs relaxed on their own accord, and Edric fell headfirst onto the ground. There was a knocking sound and his vision suddenly became extremely bright, then immediately dim. He thought he heard the sound of a Pokeball popping open as he faded unwillingly out of consciousness.
Author's note:
Thanks for reading, people. I've been finding the will to write a lot more lately, so expect a few more updates in the next few weeks.
-Kyle.