Gupta- Marshtomp level 29, Swellow level 28, Numel level 27, Eevee level 28
Sadik- Combusken (Ateş), level 29, Mightyena (Asena), level 28, Ivysaur (Lale), level 28, Skarmory (Pençe), level 28, Seviper (Zehir), level 27
And thus begins the long journey back to Petalburg City.
There are so many children in the desert of Route 111. We also get to see a lot more of Gupta and Sadik's Pokemon, especially the ones caught most recently (plot overtook for the last several chapters so a lot of new Pokemon have barely been introduced properly).
A lot of levelling up happens this chapter too, in time for the next Gym Battle. That's a big part of why they went through Meteor Falls.
I realised that with all the plot I'd forgotten a lot of the Pokedex entries for Gupta's new catches, so they're all at the end.
Once Gupta and Sadik had passed the entrance to Jagged Pass, only a few ledges separated them and the path they had taken up to the cable car station before. Sadik grinned at Gupta before leaping down the uneven path, his friend soon following behind. The trainers they had fought before looked the other way and pretended not to see them, clearly not wanting to fight again.
As such, the walk along Route 112 was peaceful. Gupta looked up to the sky to see clouds and the odd bird Pokémon circling overhead. It didn't take Gupta and Sadik long to reach the junction with Route 111 once more.
"Let's go north for a bit." Sadik suggested. "We can check out that desert, and gain a few levels for our Pokémon while we're there."
"Fair enough." Gupta nodded, walking towards the northern edge of the path that marked Route 111. The sandstorm from before started up as he neared the fringe of the desert, with all its ferocity intact. Sadik appeared beside him before the sand got too unbearable, holding out a pair of the goggles from before.
"Ready?" He checked. "Put these on, and we'll go."
"Right." Gupta agreed, taking the goggles and placing them over his head. "Into the desert then."
"Into the desert!" Sadik smiled, walking forwards into the sandstorm.
Gupta looked after him before stepping northwards and entering the same storm.
The desert part of Route 111 featured deep pits of sand traversed by shallower paths that allowed for navigation. The goggles made it easier to see through the flying sand, but it was still tough to walk through the area, and Gupta stumbled into the deeper sand by accident as he tried to walk forwards. As he struggled to escape, the sound of shuffling grew nearer. An unseen figure crept closer to Gupta, sniffing the air before leaping up to strike. Gupta turned around to see a Pokémon flying towards him.
"Trap! Pinch!" The Pokémon roared, looking towards Gupta's bag intently.
"Whoa." Gupta stepped back, hand moving to send out a Pokémon. "Eevee, deal with it."
"Vee!" Eevee cried, emerging into the sandstorm and looking around before recoiling at the environment.
"Eevee, Swift." Gupta decided.
"Vee!" Eevee growled, unleashing a ray of stars which curved around to hit the target despite the cloying sand. The opponent replied with a powerful biting attack that left Eevee hissing and struggling to shake the opponent off. The sand seemed deeply irritating to his Pokémon, but Gupta noticed that the enemy seemed tired. It wouldn't take much to finish it off…
"Tomp!" Marshtomp cried, appearing in front of Gupta and running over to shield the wild Pokémon. He seemed utterly unfazed by the sandstorm, but strangely convinced that Gupta should mean the attacking Pokémon no further harm.
"Vee?!" Eevee turned to Marshtomp, shocked, and growled at the starter Pokémon.
"Let me guess. You want me to catch that one too." Gupta deadpanned.
"Tomp!" Marshtomp cheered.
"Vee?" Eevee questioned, looking from Gupta to Marshtomp suspiciously.
"Fine." Gupta sighed, getting out a Pokeball and throwing it towards the opposing Pokémon, who Marshtomp held up triumphantly. The poor Pokémon looked utterly confused as it went into the Pokeball, but didn't resist capture at all.
Marshtomp caught the Pokeball as the click resounded out, and skipped over to Gupta before handing it over. The trainer stared at it for a moment before pocketing it and looking back over to Eevee and Marshtomp. Marshtomp seemed reluctant to return to his Pokeball, so Gupta let him stay out for the time being. Eevee couldn't return to the safety of his Pokeball quickly enough.
Gupta made his way back to the path after that, and set about walking along the road, exploring more of the area around him. He didn't get too far before being stopped by a trainer, who had come running along in the other direction and smiled upon seeing Gupta.
"Alright, I found a trainer here!" The boy cheered. Gupta stared yet again; how were children even getting into such places?
"I'm guessing we're going to battle now." Gupta assumed.
"Of course!" The child agreed. "Let's go Sandslash!"
"Shre." The giant mouse clicked the spines on his back in anger.
Gupta thought about the Pokémon he had and made a decision on which to use. "Okay, let's see what you do… Pokémon." He stated awkwardly, sending out his newest catch.
"Trap?" The Pokémon questioned.
"Did you just catch that Trapinch in the desert? If so, it won't stand a chance!" The child bragged. "Sandslash, Fury Swipes!"
Gupta stood there, unsure as to how to react as the Pokémon rushed forwards to attack Trapinch, who seemed just as confused. Just as he thought his Pokémon would be torn into, Marshtomp leapt in to take the hit, shrugging off the damage as if nothing had happened.
"Marshtomp." Gupta continued, getting the idea that his Pokémon wanted to fight. "Water Gun."
"Use Rollout Sandslash!" The boy ordered.
Marshtomp jetted a powerful spray of water which greatly injured the opposing Pokémon. The rolling attack received in response was easily shrugged off by Marshtomp.
"Okay Sandslash, Poison Sting!" The child attempted.
"Water Gun." Gupta replied.
Marshtomp beat the Sandslash to the attack, knocking the foe down.
Gupta looked from Trapinch to Marshtomp and back again.
"I'm guessing you want us to do the same with all the trainers." He assumed.
"Tomp!" Marshtomp cheered.
"So, send Trapinch out and then you jump in?"
"Marshtomp!" Marshtomp agreed, folding his lower two fingers and holding the third up in an attempt at a thumbs up signal.
Gupta continued walking through the desert, Trapinch and Marshtomp following him. Trapinch looked up at him periodically, staring intently as if after something. Gupta had no clue what it wanted. He found another trainer before he had the chance to find out.
"It's good that you have ground types in this desert. They won't take damage from the sandstorm, unlike other Pokémon." The girl commented. "Given that, it'd be nice to battle here."
"Fair enough." Gupta relented. "Go on Trapinch."
"Trap!" Trapinch protested, clearly not happy about still being made to fight.
"Okay Sandslash, let's go!" The girl smiled.
"Slaa!" Sandslash growled.
"Okay Sandslash, use Magnitude!" The young girl commanded.
"Tomp!" Marshtomp called, leaping in and shrugging off the fairly weak shockwave.
"Marshtomp, Water Gun." Gupta fell into routine, trusting his Pokémon to know what to do more or less.
"Sandslash, Fury Swipes." The girl responded.
Sandslash ran forwards into the jet of water sent by Sandslash, taking heavy damage as it moved to attack Marshtomp repeatedly. Marshtomp was still able to absorb the damage.
"Water Gun again." Gupta finalised.
"Fury Swipes." The girl repeated.
Again, Marshtomp was able to move first, and knocked the opponent out before it could attack.
As he continued through the desert, Gupta wondered if it would be a good idea to let his other Pokémon get some of the experience from the battles they were waging. He remembered what the girl had warned him about Pokémon taking damage in sandstorms, but deduced that Numel at least would be okay.
"Numel?" She questioned as she was sent out, soon noticing Trapinch and Marshtomp and smiling warmly at them.
"Tomp!" Marshtomp grinned, jumping over to hug Numel. Trapinch wandered over slowly, sniffing Numel before smiling widely in greeting.
"Trap. Trapinch!" It cried.
"Right. Let's carry on." Gupta told his Pokémon, continuing through the desert.
Another child was found not much further along the track. Again, the child seemed no older than around 10, and looked almost the same as the boy from earlier. Gupta had no idea how so many children were wandering around the desert without supervision.
"A trainer! Alright, now we can battle!" The kid announced. "Come on Graveller, let's go!"
"Trapinch, go handle it." Gupta declared, a little worried about his Pokémon considering the reluctant look on its face.
"Graaa." The emerging Pokémon growled.
"Pinch!" Trapinch growled back.
"Use Rock Throw Graveller!" The boy told his Pokémon.
"Numel. Come in and take over." Gupta decided.
"Numel!" Numel agreed, running in front of Trapinch to shield it. Graveller threw a large rock in Numel's direction; it bounced off of her without much damage being done.
"Numel, Earth Power." Gupta began to fight back.
"Graveller, Self-Destruct!" The child cut in.
The Pokémon curled up before Numel before an explosion engulfed the area. Numel swayed a little but remained standing. Graveller was defeated in the blast.
Gupta reached the edge of the desert not long after beating the third child. Realising that Sadik wasn't with him, and knowing that leaving via the northern end of the desert would be travelling in the wrong direction anyway, Gupta turned back around and headed back into the storm. The desert was tough to navigate, but Marshtomp seemed to know where he was going, so Gupta tried to follow him as best he could. When Marshtomp led him straight into the path of another trainer, he wasn't particularly impressed.
"A trainer! You're gonna battle us, right?" The girl hopped up onto the balls of her feet as she spoke.
"Of course." Gupta nodded, knowing there wasn't much choice in any case. Trapinch trotted over, already getting the hang of the routine.
"Cacnea, let's go!" The girl announced.
Gupta stared the cactus like Pokémon down and decided on which Pokémon he would be switching Trapinch out for.
"Cacnea, Needle Arm!" The younger trainer began.
"Swellow, you're up." Gupta told, sending out Swellow to swoop in and take the hit.
"Low!" Swellow chirped, taking a fistful of needles to the face.
"Swellow, Aerial Ace." Gupta began his commands.
"Feint Attack Cacnea." The girl continued.
Swellow flew down on Cacnea, causing massive damage to the Pokémon who responded with some kind of sucker punch. Swellow swerved her head from side to side, struggling with the sandstorm.
"Aerial Ace again." Gupta repeated.
"Ingrain." The child tried.
Swellow hit blindingly fast, taking the opponent down before it could use its own move.
"Low." Swellow huffed.
Sadik appeared through the sandstorm not long after Gupta defeated the final small child. He seemed pleased with himself, emerging towards his friend with Pence walking along beside him.
"Hey Guppie!" He waved, running over. "How's it going?"
Gupta returned Swellow to her Pokeball, away from the raging sandstorm, and walked towards Sadik with Marshtomp, Numel and Trapinch. "I'm fine." He greeted.
"Looks like ya caught a new friend!" Sadik observed, looking Trapinch over.
"I did." Gupta acknowledged.
"Anyway, I was thinkin'... We're gonna get back to Petalburg one way or another, right? But there's a bit of the region we haven't seen yet, right? We never did make it right the way through Meteor Falls… But I know there's a route beyond it we haven't explored, and it leads to Rustboro City too. It's at least as easy as getting back to Verdanturf. What do ya think?"
"I don't mind." Gupta shrugged. "It would be nice to heal our Pokémon on the way though."
"We'll stop in Fallarbor for lunch or something." Sadik decided. "Anyway, if we're done here, how about we head out?"
Gupta was immensely relieved when he left the desert with Sadik later that morning. He had been protected from the worst of the sandstorm by the goggles, but being battered by the wind and finding himself generally unable to see through the flying sand had been annoying. Route 113 was reached soon after, neither Gupta nor Sadik wanting to stop for long. Gupta let his other two Pokémon out of the Pokeballs; Swellow took to flying overhead with Pence while Eevee insisted on sitting on his shoulder, glancing warily around at everything and anything. Numel walked calmly alongside Gupta with Asena, who Sadik had let out. Marshtomp, Lale and Ateş played chase with each other through the ash covered grass. Trapinch continued to look up at Gupta as if wanting something. The trainer couldn't see Zehir at all.
Both trainers chose to heal their Pokémon in Fallarbor (neither having faced any further battles since leaving the desert), and after chose to sit on the long bridge along Route 114 while eating lunch. Their Pokémon were allowed back out of the ball, and Gupta finally figured out what Trapinch had been so interested in; the Pokémon began demolishing the food as soon as it was placed in front of it.
"Heh. Looks like you've gotten a real glutton there." Sadik pointed out. "Such a cute little girl as well."
"Sadik… How do you tell the sex of Pokémon?" Gupta deadpanned. Sadik hadn't even looked at Trapinch in any detail!
"Guppie, when ya've been around Pokémon as long as I have… Ya just know. Trust me." Sadik replied.
Gupta let it go and looked over to the rest of his team. Swellow was roosting on the island in the middle of the lake. Marshtomp had finished eating and was staring out over the water, as if wanting to swim. Lale was trying to get his attention with a vine. Eevee jumped up from his food and curled up in Gupta's lap, nuzzling slightly into his side. As he looked past Sadik, he noticed Zehir apparently grooming herself. Over on the other side of the bridge, Ateş continued to play with his ball.
Even after everyone had finished eating, Trapinch was still trying to get to the food in Gupta's bag. Gupta waved her away and got to his feet. Asena trotted back over to Sadik from where she had been lying in the grass at the end of the bridge.
Once all of their Pokémon had been gathered back together, Sadik and Gupta began travelling again, heading down Route 114 and through Meteor Falls. This time, there was nothing about the area which stood out to Gupta particularly; no trainers came forwards to battle them, and Meteor Falls in particular was nearly desolate; the pair made it to the place where they had fought Lars before without seeing another sign of life. Moving past that point, they found a series of water filled ledges. Sadik looked to Gupta with a smile, and the pair jumped down the set, their Pokémon following along behind them, and found themselves at the exit in due course.
As soon as he stepped foot onto Route 115, Gupta realised where he was. Looking towards the horizon, he was certain he could see the buildings of Rustboro City already. A craggy path led from the exit to a grassy road rigged with ledges that carried on into the distance. A smaller path to the side led down to a small beach, and it was this route that Marshtomp was determined to take Gupta along.
Sadik looked in the opposite direction, where Gupta noticed a third path leading to a berry patch that wound itself above the other two.
"I'll catch up." The larger teenager promised, parting temporarily from Gupta.
Down on the beach, Gupta met yet another trainer who seemed intent on battling him.
"A trainer huh? Okay then, let's fight!" She decided, leaping around on the sand. "Meditite, let's go!"
"Do you want to fight, Trapinch?" Gupta asked his Pokémon.
"Pinch!" Trapinch agreed, stepping forwards.
"Meditite, Force Palm!" The young woman started.
"Trapinch, use… Bite?" Gupta assumed. Trapinch had really large jaws, so she had to be able to bite things… Right?
Meditite jumped forwards and slapped Trapinch, who responded with a very strong clamping bite. The girl Gupta was facing didn't seem too concerned.
"Hidden Power." She continued.
"Bite again." Gupta tried.
Meditite concentrated and sent out a strange power to attack. Gupta wasn't sure what the attack was meant to accomplish; what he did know was that Trapinch wasn't very affected by it. Trapinch seemed to ignore Gupta in response, stomping on the Earth and releasing jets of power from the ground. Gupta recognised that attack from Numel's fights.
"Mind Reader." The trainer moved on.
"Earth Power." Gupta decided, more confident in his choice of moves.
Meditite concentrated on Trapinch but carried out no further action. Trapinch responded with the same powerful earth attack which knocked Meditite down.
Gupta walked over to the water's edge after the battle had been won, but there was nowhere to go along the sand and crossing the sea seemed impossible. The trainer climbed back up to the path, but was spotted by another trainer before getting very far.
"Aha!" The man pointed in Gupta's direction. "A trainer. You know what happens now, right?"
"Right." Gupta nodded. "Swellow, take this one on."
"Low!" Swellow agreed, landing before Gupta and staring the opposing trainer down.
"Let's go Machop! Battle fiercely!" The trainer announced.
"Chop!" Machop cried.
"Swellow, Aerial Ace." Gupta began.
"Low Sweep Machop!" The man ordered.
Swellow was clearly faster than the opponent, causing massive damage with her first hit and leaving the foe barely standing. Machop's resultant kick caused little damage in response.
"Quick Attack." Gupta continued, wanting to finish the fight as soon as he could.
"Seismic Toss!" The man announced.
Swellow attacked a second time and defeated the opponent thoroughly, preventing the attack from being carried out.
Gupta moved further along the path after the battle, travelling past the patch of berries on the other path where he could see Sadik still working. A ledge separated them for the time being, but Gupta could see the spot not far ahead where both paths turned into a series of ledges that led onwards to Rustboro City. Sensing that he was close, he stepped forwards, and was soon facing another trainer.
"I have a real collection of rare Pokémon here… Care to see them?" The man moved forwards, sounding a little suspicious.
"Uh, fine. Marshtomp…?" Gupta looked towards his Pokémon. "Let's go."
"Tomp!" Marshtomp cheered, seemingly oblivious to the strange man.
"Seviper." The man chose, sending out a familiar looking Pokémon.
"Marshtomp, Mud Bomb." Gupta suggested.
"Poison Fang." The other trainer ordered.
Seviper bit hard into Marshtomp with fangs dripping with poison, but Marshtomp hurled a large glob of mud in response, that caused an unusually high amount of damage and defeated the opponent in a single hit.
"That's the first one." The man stated. "Now, Zangoose."
"Marshtomp, step back now." Gupta decided. "Numel, you take over."
"Numel!" Numel cried happily as she walked forwards.
"Zangoose, Slash!" The man commanded.
"Earth Power." Gupta guided his Pokémon.
Zangoose brought its claws up in a powerful slash attack, which Numel managed to absorb. She responded by bringing raw power free from the earth, which clearly caused a large amount of damage.
"Pursuit!" The man changed tactic.
"Flame Burst." Gupta followed.
Zangoose jumped in to strike Numel, who spat flame in its direction. The opponent couldn't stand up to the attack, and collapsed.
Gupta met Sadik on the ledges that stretched on to Rustboro City, and the two of them carried on together through the soft afternoon air. Sadik seemed pleased with the berries he had harvested, and Gupta's Pokémon were glad for the experience in battle. Eevee crawled back onto Gupta's shoulder and sat there the entire walk to Rustboro.
Rustboro City was as bustling as ever, but little seemed to have changed since the last time Gupta was there. He and Sadik made their way straight to the Pokémon Centre where Gupta healed his Pokémon another time; Sadik was determined to make it all the way to Petalburg first.
It was as they were about to leave the city that Gupta received the call on his Pokenav.
"Hey Guppie! It's okay if I call you that, right? Anyway, I think I saw you in Rustboro earlier! Are you still in the area? Because there's something I could use some help with, if I'm honest. If you're not too busy, can you meet me by the trainer's school in a few? See you there, okay?" The voice on the other end rambled, cutting off before Gupta could respond.
"Guess ya're needed, huh?" Sadik guessed, laughing. "That's okay. I'll go ahead and fight yer mother. Ya deal with what ya need to, since there's waitin' to do anyway. Then catch up, right?"
"That sounds like a good idea." Gupta agreed. "I'll see you in Petalburg then."
"Cool!" Sadik grinned. "I'll see ya later!"
He waved and left, leaving Gupta alone in Rustboro City as the lights started to turn on.
'Numel, the Numb Pokémon. Numel stores magma in the hump on its back that it uses when using fire type moves. It is resilient to being hit and seems quite unfazed by most situations.'
'Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon. Eevee has an unstable genetic makeup that suddenly mutates due to the environment in which it lives. This enables it to alter the composition of its body. While it bonds easily to its trainer, it seems suspicious of strangers.'
'Trapinch, the Ant Pit Pokemon. Trapinch is a patient hunter. It digs an inescapable pit in a desert and waits for its prey to come tumbling down. Its giant jaws have enough strength to crush boulders. It seems to be near permanently hungry.'