To everyone who has reviewed this story in the past 2 years, from the bottom of my heart, thank-you so much. It may not have looked like it, but your support really helped motivate me to not give up on writing this story out. Thank-you so much for your comments.
Shining City
The forest closed in as they travelled down the western end of Route 117, not as thick as it had around the routes to and from Petalburg City and Oldale Town but they couldn't call it grassland anymore. The unimpeded breezes and the whispers of swaying grass were well behind them when they set up camp for a night. They were up early again the next day, trying to keep good time all the way to Mauville City, believing in Ryan's promise that they wouldn't need more than one night. However, as the daylight began to fade, that promise started to seem empty.
"Guys, I think we should set up camp," Hilary suggested sensibly, looking up at the blazing orange of the sky worriedly. "We don't want a repeat of what happened before the Day Care Centre, since I'm pretty sure this time there's no bastion of civilisation conveniently located an hour away in the wilderness."
"Ryan said we could get there," Daichi argued, "and the day isn't over yet."
"We can't wait until the day is over to start putting a campsite together!" Hilary said.
"According to the PokéNav, we're almost there," Ray said. "If we press on we'll get there."
"Yeah, plus I remember this area," Mari agreed, turning to face them from up front. Her eyes glittered with excitement and had them all believing her. "Should be able to see the city itself soon."
"I think we already can," Max said, standing next to Kai and the both of them were staring off into the far distance. The rest of the group followed their gaze.
The road ahead of them was pretty much straight. Trees up ahead skirted the edge of the horizon and above them, still far away, a white tower rose up into the sky like a crystal. As the sunlight sank the sky got darker, more orange and red near the treetops and a deep mauve directly above, fading into navy blue. Just as the first star appeared, like magic, the tower lit up, shining radiantly white in the semi-dark.
"Yeah! That's it!" Mari exclaimed, pointing to the tower. "That's Mauville City! Almost there!"
She took off running towards it.
"Wait for us!" Tyson called after her.
They all sped off, trying to keep up with her pace as she ran towards that shining tower in the distance. The road was thankfully forgiving on this last stretch – flat and easy without trip hazards even though it wasn't sealed. Mari seemed able to run forever and even the beybladers, who were used to quite a bit of running for training, struggled to keep the consistent fast pace she could run at. Despite how fast they travelled, it was completely dark by the time they actually reached the outskirts of the city. The team only allowed themselves a brief moment to get their breaths, so mesmerised by the city in front of them that they were content to have their breath taken away again. In full darkness the white light became brilliant.
"This is a city?" Max wondered in awe.
"I've never seen one like it," Ray agreed, gawking with the same reverence as Hilary and the other bladers.
It didn't look like a city to any of them, used to the sprawling roads and downtown districts cluttered with skyscrapers as they were. Here, only one skyscraper pierced the heavens, dominating the overall appearance of the city. In fact, the city appeared to be just that one tower. About ten foundational stories made an elegant, stepped hill and from there several towers emerged, spiralling up, twisting and merging to form plazas between them at so many junctions that they formed a single tower. Up close, through all of that light, they could also see green—parks and gardens on every floor like they had tried to grow a forest in it as well as a city.
"But it's only one building," Tyson observed.
"It is!" Mari confirmed, turning back to the rest of the group. "Mauville was a normal city at some point but changed drastically because of an initiative lead by the Gym Leader to create a tower city so that the city boundary wouldn't sprawl out of control and take over the natural environment. And if you think it's so great from out here just wait until you see it inside. C'mon!"
She turned and ran the rest of the way to the city gate with the words 'MAUVILLE CITY WEST' hanging above it in red letters, the others followed suit. Glass doors opened into a small annexe with a red tiled floor and a few potted plants placed tastefully around the room. There were two exits – both behind frosted glass doors – on either side of a desk in the middle of the room, manned by two women wearing identical red blouses and a badge on their left breast that looked like a security badge.
"Welcome to Mauville City," said the woman on the right with blonde hair tied in two tucked ponytails on either side of her head. "Sure got in late."
Mari didn't bother responding to the pleasantry, instead taking out her Pokédex immediately and handing it over to her, to Hilary and the bladers' bemusement. They exchanged glances but decided to follow her lead by getting their Pokédexes out as well. The receptionist received Mari's Pokédex with thanks and then leaned over a computer, placing the Pokédex into a slot on a specialised device and typing in a few quick commands. The other receptionist, with a green pixie cut framing her face, lifted a handheld laser.
"Hold still, please, the laser will take your temperature," she said.
Hilary and the bladers gawked while Mari followed the instructions and the receptionist held down the trigger on her laser. A red plus-sign appeared on her forehead, lingering for a few seconds before it turned green.
"All good!"
"What is this?" Tyson asked. "Some kind of triage?"
"Oh, never been to Mauville before?" asked the blonde receptionist as she handed back Mari's Pokédex. "We have quarantine and immigration protocols here. With limited space, got to make sure load capacity and epidemics stay under control."
"That makes sense," Hilary said.
"Please have your Pokédex ready on its ID page," the receptionist told them. "Who'd like to step up next?"
"Before you go through," the pixie cut receptionist interrupted, putting down her laser gun. Her colleague looked at her in confusion, signalling to the group that this conversation was starting to go off script. Then, quick as a whip, she dipped into a draw beside her and thrust a couple of items at Mari. "Can I get your autograph?!"
Mari blinked at the felt-tip marker and a picture of her. It was a photo – one she didn't remember having taken specifically, she'd had a lot of professional photos in the past – of her doing a victory pose against a blank background surrounded by six of her Pokémon. It was only because of those six particular Pokémon that she was able to place the picture.
"Loved watching the Pokémon League tournaments ever since I was a kid, though I was never a good trainer," the receptionist continued. "Saw you in all of them but the team you took to victory at the Lily of the Valley Conference is my favourite!"
"A-a-a-all of them?" Mari stammered as her cheeks started to turn red and her limbs shook as though they had locked up.
"Absolutely! Huge fan! So, please sign?"
She nudged the photo and pen at her expectantly. Mari chuckled nervously. She loosened up enough that she was able to take the pen and leaned over the desk to sign in one of the available spaces between the figures in the photo. As soon as she had lifted the pen the receptionist snatched the photo back and gazed at it starry-eyed.
"You really are famous," Max remarked. "I kinda forget that most of the time."
The sound of a door clicking shut was the only thing left in Mari's wake after she absconded through the left door at almost light speed. The group stood in stunned silence for a few seconds but it dawned on them that they ought to catch up with her. They did their best to get through the process as fast as they could and the receptionists directed them to enter through the same door Mari had left through.
As soon as they were past the door and into the city proper they slowed to a standstill, too awed by their surroundings to even check to see if Mari was still around. The street in front of them was tiled in patterns normally seen on a pedestrian pavement and lined with garden beds and large pots of street trees and flowering plants. Unlike the luminously white outer appearance they'd seen in the distance, the street was dim, lit gently by warm sconces on the walls. There was no trace of the glowing tower they'd seen.
Above them the ceiling climbed away like an almost endless atrium. From where they were they could see a sliver of black night sky in the skylight but up ahead of them the flying space seemed to go on forever with pedestrian bridges and a monorail track crossing the space between the buildings in what appeared to be a residential district. The scale of it was like nothing they'd ever seen; they came to think of each storey being marked by the presence of a pedestrian walkway on either side of the street but between those paths there were three floors of apartments. The buildings on either side of them appeared to be mostly homes with balconies adorned with residents' personal belongings and styles but there were a few businesses interspersed between them. A two-floor shop on the ground storey with large windows had a bright red sign advertising itself as a 'Fitness Centre' while up on the second storey a convenience store had a bright banner out in front of it. Despite the late hour there were still a few people walking the streets, sometimes with their Pokémon beside them and occasionally a bike rode past.
"You look like you've been caught in a Flash."
Hilary and the bladers finally stopped looking all around them and focussed straight ahead where Mari's voice had come from. She snickered at them with a grin, apparently recovered from whatever episode had overtaken her in the immigration gate.
"Isn't even the best part of Mauville," she said. "Gets better as we get closer to the centre. Pokémon Centre is also near the centre, need to take the monorail."
She gestured for them to follow her and they did, trusting her to know where to go. A little way down the street they had entered on there was a corridor between buildings where an alleyway might have been but this corridor only took up one floor and was closed from the street by a clear wall. A perpendicular sign jutted out above the revolving door calling it a 'public access thoroughfare'. Display boards lined the walls alongside small shops that were so tiny they were more like permanent stalls and even though the lights were still on the shops were all closed up for the night. They went past posters and public art murals until they reached the middle of the alley, where a cluster of six elevators stood side-by-side along one wall. The first one to ding and open its doors to them was the one Mari herded them into and they stood aside to let her press the buttons since none of them had any idea how the floors were numbered (it was not as straightforward as an array of ascending numbers).
The room where they got off was twice as wide as the alley they'd just left but with less space to move, having only one platform right down the centre and a monorail track on either side. The other six elevators also alighted here and a few stopped to drop off a few prospective passengers, adding to a rather quiet station. Between the posters and the screens showing ads and news, a big, bold sign on both walls declared that they were at 'West Gate' and a digital banner above the timetables indicated that it would be mere minutes before a train arrived.
After so long on the road the lurid colours and flashing lights were almost too much to look at. They briefly took a seat on one of the benches all along the middle of the platform, tired from walking (and running) all day. So, it was a relief when an automatic announcer declared that the train was about to arrive and everyone had to stand behind the yellow line.
"Lucky!" Mari exclaimed, standing up as the train pulled in. "This is our train."
They all got on. There were few enough people on board that everyone got a seat and then the train doors closed and it left the station, accelerating extremely quickly yet smoothly.
"This is one of the Central City Direct lines," Mari explained as the train reached top speed. "Still stops all stations, so it'll be a while, but better than the other routes. Stops right in the Pokémon Centre too – super convenient!"
The others exchanged confused looks over the idea of the train stopping in the Pokémon Centre but by the time anyone could think to ask the train was pulling up to its next stop and Mari excitedly informed them: "Look! Harmony Park!"
She pointed out the window and they all turned to look. The train had stopped inside a tube that made the 'Harmony Park' station, as the sign said, suspended over a large park with grass, flower gardens, an elaborate jungle gym and sandpit, and even a lake and mature trees. It was even dimmer here, no sconce streetlights since it seemed only the backs of buildings faced the park but down below there were spots of warm light from lamps lining the park paths and dotting the lawns and gardens.
"A lot of the landmarks in Mauville were inspired by big cities around the world," Mari rambled on as her group continued to stare in wonder at the presence of something so natural contained within something so man-made. When the train pulled away it felt like it was too soon. "Makes Mauville one of the most cosmopolitan cities I've ever been to, maybe even the most cosmopolitan. Really cool seeing how it compares to Amity Park—just gotta experience them both, know what I mean? Oh! And here's the Concord Galleria!"
The monorail train slowed as it went down the middle of a long and brightly lit avenue lined with boutique shops that was still busy despite the late hour. When it stopped at the station several people got on laden with shopping bags or carrying parcels.
"Biggest shopping strip outside of the central city," Mari explained, "and super popular because the shops all have a unique product. Should definitely check it out while you're here."
The train moved on. It travelled uneventfully through a couple of unnoteworthy stops and then the next stop afterwards caused Mari to get up and point out the window again, drawing their attention to the Mauville Museum of Science. It passed through a place Mari told them was the Multi-Sports Complex. Then onwards it went past an indoor stadium flooded with light where they glimpsed a short scene of two trainers and their Pokémon in a single battle, which Mari told them was called Battle Dome. After that it went past a flashy area that Mari merely said was a lively district known as 'The Glitz' before it came to a stop at a station painted in white and that distinctive shade of pink that they had all come to associate with the friendly, healing atmosphere of a Pokémon Centre.
"Well, this is us," Mari declared, standing up.
All seven of them disembarked from the train and headed towards one of the two sets of double doors at the station. Just as Mari was about to push a door open Hilary blurted out: "Wait a minute! How do we get out of here? We didn't buy tickets, did we?"
"Oh, crap, we didn't," Tyson muttered, smacking himself in the forehead for not knowing better.
"Are we gonna get fined?" Max wondered worriedly.
Mari cocked her head to the side, staring at them confusedly. Then she blinked, remembering just what kind of people she was travelling with. "Don't worry about it. Nobody needs a ticket to ride on the Mauville monorail. No ticket gate on the other side of this door, just goes straight to the Pokémon Centre but this is the Centre's fifth floor. Gotta take an elevator to the lobby to check in."
For Hilary and the bladers those two bits of surprising information were evidently too much to process on top of every other glamourous thing they'd seen on the ride through the city. They stared at Mari in disbelief after hearing that they didn't need a ticket and after finding out that they were pretty much already in the Pokémon Centre – fifth floor, no less! – they were speechless. Mauville City seemed out of this world.
In spite of how late it was, and how many people were milling around in the Pokémon Centre's lobby, they managed to secure beds for all seven of them. They were all in one large room with four sets of bunk beds along the walls—eight beds, although one was already taken as per the hostel-style arrangement of Pokémon Centre accommodations. The other occupant wasn't there, however, the only evidence of their presence being the unmade blankets of their bed and a few pieces of scrap metal and bolts left on the floor beside the bottom bunk closest to the window.
Hilary dropped the linen she was carrying and her bag before she flopped onto the bottom bunk closest to the door with a huge groan and a sigh. "I'm so tired I think I'm gonna fall asleep right now."
"You deserve it, travelling as far as we did," Ray said, placing his linen on one of the top bunks. "We've been walking since the crack of dawn and it's nearly nine o'clock now."
"Yeah, get some sleep," Mari agreed, putting her things down on a top bunk as well. "Just gotta go out for a bit."
"Why?" Tyson asked, zipping into the room to nab the third available top bunk before they were all gone.
"Just headed for the police station, nothing to worry about," Mari shrugged, checking her pockets to make sure she had everything she needed.
"Wait! I'll come with you again," Hilary offered, getting up from the bed with an energy the boys thought she had already exhausted.
"That still doesn't explain why," Tyson reminded her, a tad frustrated.
"Come to think of it," Max said, settling down on a bottom bunk, "even since Petalburg City you and Mari have always headed off somewhere as soon as we get into a new town. Are you always going to the police?"
"Yeah," Mari admitted, "to talk to them about Woofy." She turned away from them. "Always need to ask them if they know anything and let them know the situation so that they keep their eyes and ears out."
"Fair enough," Max conceded, wisely not saying anything more.
Hilary put a hand on Mari's shoulder. "You're doing the right thing. Sooner or later all your efforts are bound to pay off and the police will be able to bring news of Woofy to you. Let's go."
The girls left the room and it was quiet for a little while between the boys even after they watched them go. Kai took the last top bunk ahead of Daichi, which the redhead didn't mind. He preferred to stay lower to the ground where possible. Once Daichi had dumped his things on the last available bottom bunk, opposite Hilary's, Tyson turned to them all with a cheeky grin.
"Let's go out," he said out of the blue. The other boys stared at him, unsure if they were meant to take him seriously.
"Like, right now?" Max asked for clarification.
"Right now," Tyson nodded.
"Why?" Daichi asked. "We just got here."
"The girls are going out, so we should too," Tyson explained. "C'mon, you thought this place looked pretty wild from the train, right? We should check it out, like Mari said. Plus, if we walk around Poppygon Z might show up."
"Mari and Hilary are on an important errand," Ray argued, "and Porygon Z disappeared off the radar yesterday morning. If it comes back on by tomorrow then we can get back to chasing it but right now it's late."
"And by then it'll be too late to explore the city because we'll need to go after it," Tyson countered. "Let's have a boys' night out on the town! Besides, I'm starving! We didn't set up camp and since we got here so late there was no dinner downstairs."
"You'd better wash up a bit first," Max advised. "And… I guess I'll come too." They all turned to him. Max's cheeks went pink, not expecting them to put their attention on him for such a small remark. "I am pretty hungry."
"Me too," Daichi added.
"Yeah, I don't think I'll sleep well with an empty stomach," Ray admitted, "and Mari did get me pretty excited. I'll come. Kai, how about it?"
They all looked at him expectantly, Tyson more so. Kai impassively held their gaze right back for several seconds before he finally caved. "Tch, somebody has to make sure you guys don't get into trouble."
"Yeah, yeah," Tyson chuckled, "talk it up, tough guy, but we all know that when it comes to trouble you go the hardest."
Tyson didn't stick around to take note of the offended expression that briefly crossed Kai's face, dashing off to the bathroom. The other boys went after him, leaving Kai to decide if he was going to stand by his assertion or not. Togepi yawned. Kai sighed, resigned to the night's fate.
The streets were crowded despite being so late. The boys went down to the lobby and gathered out on the road instead of investigating where else the train could take them and to their surprise the lowest floor of the Pokémon Centre wasn't even on the ground floor of Mauville City. They walked out onto a street balcony that continued on either side of the building, making a footpath to access every other building. Here they were in the area Mari called the 'central city', when they looked up, they could see a black sky with all the stars washed out by the sheer amount of light around them and the curved wall of one of the towers that dominated the city's skyline loomed over them like a mountain. Over the balcony rail the ground level looked so far away, like they were staring down at it from a skyscraper.
"Oh man," Daichi muttered, looking around at the closed-in buildings and colourful signs all around. "How are we supposed to find our way in a place like this? It's already making my head spin!"
While the others gawked at the surroundings, Ray opened up the Town Map. Max noticed him moving and looked over his shoulder. "Are you getting tired of the PokéNav already?" he joked.
Ray chuckled. "That's not it… I was fiddling while we were getting ready and it turned out that even though the GPS on the PokéNav is better it doesn't help with navigating the insides of buildings, whereas the town map Ash gave us stores several different kinds of maps of different locations. If I'd discovered that earlier we could have used it back in Petalburg Forest. There was also the possibility of buying an app for the PokéNav that does the same thing but it was pretty expensive—all the most useful apps seem to be."
"Great!" Tyson piped up, jumping into Ray and Max's space, startling them. "Does that device have any suggestions for where we can get some good grub?"
"Um, depends what you want," Ray told him, eyes widening at the options that scrolled into view when he typed in 'restaurant'. "There are literally hundreds of places to eat in Mauville City but I could maybe narrow it down. Anyone got a preference?"
"I'd eat anything at this point," Max said with a sigh, leaning back and folding his hands behind his head, "even if it didn't have mustard."
"Wherever we go, there better be a lot of food 'cause I'm starving!" Daichi said.
"So, an all-you-can-eat buffet then," Ray guessed cheekily, knowing Daichi's eating habits. He typed it in and to his relief the search returned a much more manageable list. "There are only a handful of places offering something like that." Ray looked at the icons beside each restaurant name, ranking them for various aspects, like price and distance. "It looks like there's a reasonably priced buffet pretty close to us—not the cheapest but I think we could afford it."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Tyson declared, turning around and pointing ahead of him. The others watched his back, waiting for further action. Tyson turned back around. "Which way do we go?"
The question was met with sighs and groans.
"Same old Tyson," Ray muttered under his breath before answering: "I can use the map to plot directions from here to there." He tapped a few keys. "Before we get going, though, Tyson, are you really going to bring that thing along?"
He gave Tyson a flat stare. The others boys turned to stare at him, honing in on the egg case he wore on a shoulder strap. The blue and grey egg sat inside, a little lopsided from all the travelling but otherwise in fine form.
"I want to make sure I get to see it when it hatches," Tyson defended. "What if the Pokémon decides to come out while we're out eating and I miss it?"
"It hasn't shown any sign of hatching soon," Max reasoned.
"Oh, and you know how much about Pokémon eggs?"
"Nothing, but neither do you."
"Exactly! I have no idea when this egg is gonna hatch so I'm gonna keep it by my side until it does."
"Makes sense," Kai said, interrupting Max before he could respond. "It probably wouldn't want find itself alone when it hatches."
"Y'see? Eggy's coming with me." Tyson patted the egg case. "Where to, Ray?"
They'd picked the right place in the end. It had only taken twenty minutes to get there on foot but it was an hour before Tyson and Daichi decided that they were finally full.
Tyson burped. "Whew! That was a great meal."
Across the table, Kai had a hand over his face, Ray had his nose in the town map and Max looked around apologetically at the people around them staring in disbelief at the mountain of dishes their table had racked up. The wait staff looked like they wanted to cry.
"Thank goodness it's a flat rate upon entry," Ray muttered. He glanced at the mess of their table. "Though I doubt they're ever going to let us back in."
"Why's that?" Daichi asked, patted his distended belly.
Ray, Kai and Max rolled their eyes. The restaurant had had a Pokémon menu, so they could let their creatures eat while they did. The Pokémon were finished long before Tyson and Daichi were.
"Now that my belly's full, I've got heaps of energy," Tyson declared, stretching his arms up.
"How?" Max moaned. "Don't people usually go into food comas?"
"This place looks like it's still hopping. Why don't we check it out? Just a little?"
Ray sighed. "Okay, maybe just a little longer."
"You didn't have to give in so easily," Max muttered.
Ray turned to him, saying behind his hand: "I'm hoping it'll turn out to be nothing exciting. Then we can go back without having to argue with him."
"You're tired too, huh?"
Ray yawned in lieu of a response. He lagged behind the others, stacking the dishes neatly so that it would be easier for the staff to carry them back to the kitchen. He knew from experience that being a waiter wasn't fun, and he already felt bad enough that his Taillow nearly broke a light fixture by trying to escape after eating his fill. He was only a few paces behind Kai as Tyson led the way.
They re-entered the foyer, a moderately tall room with gentle downlights over a red carpet. The foyer had entrances to another restaurant and some niche, fancy boutiques. It was surprisingly lively, given the late hour. People were still coming and going, sometimes stopping at the boutiques. To their right, the foyer went back out to the street and to their left, two receptionists wearing a uniform of red vests with yellow shirts stood at a round, golden reception desk under a golden chandelier designed to look like an exploding star. One of the receptionists took a set of what appeared to be coins from a group of three who had just exited the automatic sliding doors beyond the desk. As the bladers approached, the free receptionist zeroed in on them.
"Hello! Welcome to the Mauville City Game Corner," he said, far too cheerily for so late at night.
"Game corner?" Tyson echoed, a grin splitting his face.
"This sounds fun!" Daichi said. Ray and Max groaned, cursing their luck.
"How do we play?"
"Heaps of games to play inside the Game Corner," the receptionist answered. "All you have to do is buy some coins to gain entry. Coins are used to play any of the various activities available in the Game Corner. Doing well gets you points and with enough points you can earn prizes."
"So it's like an arcade," Tyson surmised. "Sign me up!"
"Tyson!" Ray snapped. "It's already late and we don't have unlimited money, you know."
"Don't worry," the receptionist answered. "Game Corner is open 24/7 and we have multiple coin packages available, including group bundles that provide a discount rate."
"Thank-you for the information, but that's not my issue."
"Then what is it?" Tyson asked.
"We've been travelling all day and I'm sure I speak for more than just myself when I say that we ought to get some rest. And there's more travelling to come that we need to prepare for, especially if our Porygon Z shows up."
"But what if it shows up tomorrow and we need to go before we get a chance to do anything cool around here?" Tyson whined. "Can't we just take advantage of being here now?"
"And what about Hilary and Mari?" Ray continued. "They'll be back at some point and wonder where we are."
"Then text them on the PokéNav. And by the way, that's rich coming from you."
"He's got a point," Max said.
Ray groaned. "Okay, fine! But just for a little while."
"Alright! Dude, give us five tickets into this Game Corner," Tyson ordered.
The receptionist processed the request, taking the payment and then handing over five round tokens like large gold coins. "Those are your coin tokens," he explained. "Your coins are electronically loaded onto those tokens. Each game will require you to place them in a slot and the amount of coins that game costs will be deducted. If you run out of coins, you can always buy more, and if you don't intend to come back soon, we ask that you return the tokens to our desk."
Tyson barely heeded that, charging off as soon as he had his token in hand to the sliding doors. The room behind the doors was huge – warehouse-sized, almost as tall as it is wide. Every corner was lit with bright, fluorescent lights yet each game still had its own colourful flashing lights, enticing people to come over and play. The floor was some sort of softish green mat with yellow swirling between the activities like a road and the walls and ceiling were painted with fluffy clouds in a bright, blue sky. Upbeat, generic pop music played in the background, barely audible over the noise of all the people and Pokémon laughing and screaming.
"Ok, we've got fifty coins each. What should we play first?" Tyson said, unable to focus on any one game. There were all sorts to choose from: air hockey, racing, shooting, bowling but there were also games that people and Pokémon were playing together.
"That one!" Daichi exclaimed, stars in his eyes. The boys looked to where he was pointing. In a cordoned-off area were two large green reptilian Pokémon with large flowers and leaves on their backs. They each had a vine trailing out of their foliage, which they had linked and seemed to be controlling so that two Pokémon between them could jump over them like a skipping rope. "I wanna see those Pokémon up close!"
Daichi ran towards it before anyone could dissent, taking out his Pokédex once he was at the fence. "Venusaur, the seed Pokémon. It catches sunlight with the leaves on its back to create its own energy. It is always on the move to seek sunlight. The flower has a bewitching aroma that attracts other Pokémon and has a calming effect.After a rainy day, the flower will smell stronger."
"Would you like to play Pokémon Jump?" the game attendant asked, wearing the same uniform as the receptionists.
Daichi grinned, pointing to one of the Venusaur. "I want one of those! Where can I get it?"
The attendant laughed. "No luck finding one wild in Hoenn. But it only costs one coin per round for up to five rounds if you want to play Jump with these guys."
One of the Pokémon in the current round – a Poochyena – tripped up and the Venusaurs pulled their vines away, signalling the end of the round. Despite the mess-up, the trainers cheered. They let their Pokémon walk beside them as they left the play area, taking their tokens from the game attendant's desk as they went. A holoscreen behind the game area showed that their score, which didn't mean much until the bladers saw the leaderboard displayed. It had been a good score. The screen also announced that they had won coins.
"It looks like we can win coins," Max said, putting a finger to his chin in thought, "but then what's the point of buying coins?"
"Doing well rewards you with coins," the game attendant explained, "but it's possible to spend more coins than you win. How about it? Want to have a go?"
"How do we play?" Daichi asked.
"Register up to five eligible Pokémon to play Pokémon Jump. Idea is to skip the Venusaur's vines as many times as possible while trying to stay in time with each other. A round is over when a Pokémon trips or steps on the vines. Eligible Pokémon have to be under 0.7 metres, lighter than 80 kilograms and capable of jumping. So, if you'd like to enter, let me check if your Pokémon are eligible."
"Okay, how about Geodude?" Daichi got the Pokéball out but the game attendant put a hand out, shaking his head.
"Sorry, but that isn't an eligible Pokémon."
"Why not?"
"Can't jump. Pick a different Pokémon."
"No fair!"
"How do you determine if a Pokémon is able to jump or not?" Ray interjected.
"According to the game rules, 'jumping' means pushing off the ground to get airborne without sustaining the height. So, if it goes up, it has to come down right away and hit the ground. No fliers or levitators. Some Pokémon aren't even capable of getting off the ground, however briefly, so they can't play either."
Ray took out his Heal Ball. "Then how about Skitty?"
"Perfect," the game attendant nodded.
"Will Slakoth be able to do it?" Daichi asked.
"Daichi, when have you ever seen Slakoth do anything other than lay around?" Tyson said. "I know who a great jumper is: Combusken!"
"No," the attendant said flatly. "Combusken is too tall to play this game."
"How would you know? You haven't measured mine."
"Actually, your Combusken is pretty tall," Max pointed out. He took out the all red Pokéball he'd gotten from the Day Care couple. "Would Marill be able to play? I think she likes to jump."
"Yes, Marill is perfect."
Daichi pouted. "The only Pokémon I have left is Lotad but his legs are pretty small…"
"Lotad actually is a permitted Pokémon in this game. Seen Lotads do decently before."
"Finally! Something I can use."
"Why don't you try with Whismur," Max said to Tyson.
"I dunno," Tyson replied, "it's pretty loud in here. What if she cries?"
"It'll be good for her to get used to more noise," Ray suggested. "Better here than in a critical situation."
Tyson released Whismur. The first thing she noticed was the loud music pumping through the room and her ears curled up. She began to whine.
"Hey, it's all good." Tyson patted her on the back. He pointed to the Venusaur in the playpen. "We're gonna play a game."
She looked but still curled into herself. Somewhere, a child shrieked and she startled. A burst of light and Lotad appeared beside her, followed by Skitty and Marill. Marill started bouncing on the balls of her feet, seeing the Venusaurs' vines slither out and loop together.
"Kai, are you playing?"
"Sure," he answered, letting Magikarp out of her ball.
"Uh, Magikarp can't play this game," the game attendant said. "It can't jump."
Hearing that, Magikarp leaped, high enough to slap the game attendant in the face with her tail. He regarded her for a few stunned seconds. "Okay, I'll allow it."
Their numbers settled, the bladers paid for five rounds and got their Pokémon set up in the play area. The Venusaurs swung their vines lazily, tapping at the smaller Pokémon's feet. Whismur held onto her ears nervously, Lotad tapped the vines back with his legs curiously, Skitty leaned forwards, read to play, while Marill and Magikarp were already bouncing.
"Okay, Venusaur," the game attendant said. The Pokémon lowed, coming to attention. "Round one. Pokémon, three, two, one… jump!"
The vines started swinging. They didn't even get one jump. Lotad tripped on the vines, sent into a full 360-flip, landing flat on his belly, while Whismur tripped and landed on her face. She began to wail. Despite the failure, Ray, Max, Tyson and Togepi just laughed. Kai even cracked a smile.
"Ack!" Daichi winced. "Lotad, you barely even jumped. C'mon, jump!"
Lotad looked at his trainer, jumping up and down in frustration. He gave it an experimental go. Tyson had to run over and lift Whismur up to settle her. Lotad nudged her and when he had her attention, showed off his silly little jump, six legs wriggling in mid-air. "Next time, we'll do it," he seemed to be assuring her.
Whismer nodded and got back into place, waiting for the attendant's cue to jump again.
Someplace else in the city, Mari and Hilary had decided to take a break, stopping in a diner for their own dinner. It was a retro-styled restaurant with white-topped table, turquoise chairs and booths, hanging lightshades, chequered floors and pink walls. It also had an eating area for large Pokémon, where they could see some of Mari's team all eating off a platter of assorted foods that could be ordered off the menu. However, their smaller Pokémon could sit with them and Hilary would much rather watch Smoochy kiss everything before she ate it than observe Charmy crushing bones and Rush tearing raw fish apart.
They had a platter on their table for their smaller Pokémon too. It was a little unnerving to see Mawi enthused over meatballs, cooked medium-rare so they were still pink inside but the others were happily chewing on a salad of berries, nuts and leaves. Only Surskit ate differently, slurping up a greenish sludge that didn't look edible but evidently was.
Hilary looked over her burger to Mari. She'd mostly picked at her food, barely noticing when Mawi reached over to steal one of her chicken wings (they couldn't have actually been chicken, but Hilary didn't really try to find out what they actually were). She didn't even scold when Mawi started crunching the bones.
"Hey, you've barely touched your food," Hilary said softly, nudging Mari under the table. "Don't feel so bad. The police here are going to do their best to look out for Woofy and Team Aqua."
Mari sighed. "I know, I know. Just… every time I'm reminded, I feel like the absolute worst. A failure."
"You seem to get really upset about losing," Hilary said, putting her food down and wiping her hands on a napkin. "Is it something you want to talk about?"
Mari's face twisted up. Hilary leaned forward hopefully. Maybe Mari was finally going to open up more. Then Mari's PokéNav chimed and she turned away to check it. She raised an eyebrow at the message she saw. "Looks like the boys have gone off to have fun without us."
"Oh no, what have they done now?" Hilary groaned.
"Ray says they've gone to the Mauville Game Corner. Don't know when they'll be back."
"Of course they're goofing off instead of doing what they're supposed to." Hilary took a rough bite of her burger. "They're going to sleep until lunchtime, I swear."
"Maybe we should go and join them?"
Hilary glared at her.
"Or at the very least, just make sure they get back to the Pokémon Centre for some rest."
Hilary sighed. "I suppose we won't get them to behave if we don't go over there ourselves. But first, eat up. If we run into Team Aqua again, you also need to be in top shape to beat them and get back Woofy. And that means being well-fed."
Mari giggled. "Okay, you're right." She picked up a piece of chicken and took a huge bite.
A/N: Ok, so the first part of this chapter was written like, over 2 years ago when life was normal and when I read back on it before publishing I was like "oh no! Covid19 trigger scene!" And yet I left it in. The game corner shenanigans will continue in chapter 49.
