Saltriv's Home
I opened my eyes, as I felt something plantlike wiggle me. Once my vision cleared, I saw Saltriv standing in front of me, shaking me with a vine.
I'm still here. I'm still an Oshawott.
I wiped away the tears forming around my eyes, as I stood up.
"Good morning!" Saltriv said, smiling as they waved their leaf. They then frowned, looking at me with a concerned expression. "Were you crying?"
Oh no, I had to think of something quick!
"I...still feel guilty about what I did to Burhalla," I said. It wasn't a lie.
I felt Saltriv's vines embrace me in a hug.
"It's ok," they said. "I know you didn't mean to."
I didn't hesitate to hug them back.
"Thanks, Saltriv," I said, as I hugged my friend.
Friend? Were we friends now?
I've only known them for a very short time...but they've helped me so much already…
Yeah, I think we're friends.
After a few seconds of hugging, Saltriv let go. "Let's go! Breakfast is ready!"
They hurried out the door, and I followed after them. Breakfast sounded good right about now.
I exited the room, and came to the table, where there were...four piles of assorted berries.
Oh. Right. Pokemon. Makes sense that they just eat raw stuff.
Overcast Village, Fifteen Minutes Later
The two of us walked to the Top Plaza, where I saw a familiar Charmander waiting.
"There you are!" Burhalla said, smiling. "Look what came!"
Alongside Saltriv, I ran up to him, and saw that he was carrying three bags, three identical shiny objects of some sort, and a piece of paper.
"Our equipment!" Saltriv gasped, their tail beginning to wag.
He handed one of the bags and shiny objects to Saltriv, then handed another one of each to me. Before I could examine them closely, he put the paper up towards his face, and began speaking.
"To Burhalla, Saltriv, and Gen. Congratulations! You are now an official search party registered with the Search and Rescue Organization! Many thanks for signing up for this brave endeavor. Best of luck, Team Searchlights! From, Guildmaster Oricorio," Burhalla read.
As he lowered the paper from his face, I caught a glimpse of what was on the written side. I couldn't make out much of it, but whatever was written on it was definitely not in Johtonese or Unovan.
As much as I wanted to ask about the writing, I wanted to save being taught another language for another time. Learning Unovan was arduous enough. There was one thing I was curious about, though.
"Who's Oricorio?" I asked. "And what's a guildmaster?"
"She's in charge of SaRO!" Saltriv said. "She's the one who decides what supplies are given out, keeps track of how many missions every search party has done, and gives special missions to search parties at the guild itself! Sometimes she comes to Overcast Village to visit or do important things!"
"A guildmaster is the person in charge of a guild, which is a place where a bunch of people on adventuring teams live together," Burhalla said. "Oricorio's the guildmaster of the Pom-Pom Guild in Coulomb City. There's also Wigglytuff, who's the guildmaster of the Wigglytuff Guild on the Grass Continent, and Ampharos, the guildmaster of the Expedition Society on the Water Continent."
"We're not going to have to live there, right?" I asked, a twinge of worry in my voice. I really didn't want to have to lose what little comfort and familiarity I had here in Overcast Village.
"No, we're staying here," Burhalla said, his voice softening. "Besides, I don't think Saltriv's parents would be very happy with them moving away just after they came back."
"Yep! I'm definitely not planning on leaving them for good anytime soon," Saltriv said.
I breathed a sigh of relief, before looking at the objects I held. The bag was brown, and looked and felt like it was made of linen. A blue strap was attached to the bag, and as I slung it over my shoulder to put the bag on, I realized that it was the perfect length to allow the bag to hang over my scalchop. On the front of the flap of the bag, there was an odd blue symbol with three intertwined circles arranged like a venn diagram, and in the center of it was a hexagon with two triangles attached to its top sides.
Next, I looked at the shiny object. It was about the size of one of my nubs, and seemed to be made of metal. It had an odd, yet appealing design, with two yellow wing-shaped bits on opposite sides of a white circle, in the center of which was a smaller, red circle. Around the red circle were six yellow triangles, four tall ones around the top, and two shorter ones around the bottom.
"They're pretty cool, aren't they?" Burhalla said. "These bags are synchronised bags! Anything you put in one, you can take out of any of them!"
"Like the deposit box?" I said, glancing towards said box over at the side of the plaza.
"Yeah. Here, I'll show you! Look inside your bag," Burhalla said.
I looked into my bag. It was completely empty.
"Now, I'm going to put the certificate in my own bag! Saltriv, can you put your badge in your bag to help me demonstrate this?" Burhalla said.
"Yep!" Saltriv said.
Suddenly, the paper and another one of the badges appeared out of nowhere at the bottom of my bag.
My eyes widened in surprise. I reached in, and felt the objects, to make sure they were really there. Sure enough, they were.
I had no idea how this was even possible without PC tech, but then again, a lot of the stuff here seemed impossible, like mystery dungeons as a whole.
I'd have to ask how the bags work later. I still had one more item that I needed to know about.
"What's this?" I asked, holding up my badge.
"That's your badge!" Saltriv answered. "It lets other people know you're a search party member, and it can be used to bring other people out of dungeons!"
"Really? How?" I asked. A simple badge could do that? Did this mean that we could instantly leave dungeons even if we didn't have an escape orb?
"You just tap the center of the badge to them, and then they teleport to outside the dungeon, like if you had used an escape orb! Though it doesn't work if you use it on yourself, so we'll still need escape orbs," Saltriv explained.
"Oh." Well, that was slightly disappointing. Why not, though?
Before I could say anything, though, Saltriv turned to Burhalla and asked, "Did your dad say you could do the sleepover with me and Gen?"
Oh right, the sleepover! I had forgotten about it. But Burhalla's dad seemed pretty mean, surely he wouldn't agree—
"Yeah!" Burhalla said. "It took some convincing, but eventually he said I could!"
"Hooray!" Saltriv cheered, their leaf waving back and forth with a smile. Burhalla smiled brightly in return, and I saw his tail flame grow slightly.
Seeing both of them so happy, it made me happy, too, and I smiled along with them.
This was going to be fun!
"I'll go get us some treats from the cafe! Gen, what kinds of berries do you like? Or do you prefer chocolate or apple?" Saltriv asked.
"Chocolate," I said without hesitation, my smile growing wider.
"Great! I'll run over and get something chocolatey soon," Saltriv said. "What kinds of games—oh, you probably wouldn't remember that. Actually, do you? What kinds of games do you like?"
"I don't remember," I lied. I didn't think very many of the games I liked existed in this world anyways.
"I'll just have to pick from the games me and Burhalla like, then! There's one of them that I really think you'll enjoy!" Saltriv said.
"Thank you," I said. I wonder what it'll be? Hopefully Saltriv will be right, and I will enjoy it.
"What else should we do during the sleepover?" Saltriv asked.
Burhalla put one of his hands to his scarf for a few seconds, then said, "How about we make a blanket fort? And we can all sleep in it!"
"That sounds fun!" I said. I remember making blanket forts with my brother, and they were always so much fun.
"Yep! I want to do that!" Saltriv said. "We have a lot of spare blankets in the storage room, and lots of stuff we can use to hold it up! Let's do it!"
"Yeah!" I cheered.
"Yeah!" Burhalla repeated.
Saltriv waved their leaf, and then said, "I think I should start getting things ready for it. This is going to be the second best sleepover ever! See ya once it starts getting dark!"
I didn't have a chance to ask what the first was before Saltriv began to leave the plaza. Just before they headed down one of the roads, though, they stopped and turned back towards me.
"I'm going to be busy in my room setting up stuff for the sleepover, so you can't go back in there right now. Sorry, hope you understand," Saltriv said, before disappearing into the fog.
"What should I do until then?" I asked, but they were already gone.
"How about some more training in the dojo?" Burhalla suggested. "It'll help once we get back to doing missions, and one of the games we play needs you to know a move of your type, so it might be a good idea to try again with learning Water Gun."
I didn't exactly want to go back there and get beaten up by Grapploct again, but I needed to learn Water Gun at some point, and they did already help me learn Assurance…
After a few seconds of thinking, I said, "Sure."
"Great! I'll see you at the sleepover!" Burhalla said, before walking off into the fog, leaving me alone.
I sighed, and began walking to the dojo, soon arriving in the Riverside Plaza. As I continued to walk towards the dojo, though, I noticed something in the corner of my vision. A Leafeon emerging from the woods, into the plaza. Looking where they came from, I noticed a small dirt path leading into the forest.
Where did that lead?
I hesitated, but curiosity overtook my fear, and I started down the path.
As I walked down the path, the sound of rushing water grew louder and louder, until I soon came to a small patch of sand by the river, almost like a miniature beach. In the center of it all, there were depressions in the sand in an odd, circular pattern.
It reminded me of the Goldenrod beach, where I used to build sandcastles with my brother, while watching Magikarp swim by…
Maybe I could try making a sandcastle here?
I walked over towards where the river brushed up against the sand, and sat down, digging my arms into the wet sand. I then pressed the sand together as I brought my arms up, trying to make a small tower of sand. It was much more difficult than when I had fingers, but eventually I managed to make a tiny, sandy pillar.
It looked awful, though. Nothing like what I could do back when I was human. And the sand's stuck in my arm fur now, and it feels so uncomfortable…
I really needed to find a way home, and to become human again. I didn't like this at all.
Angrily, I began to swing my arm towards my poor excuse for a sandcastle—
"Oh hey, Gen! What are you doing here?" I heard a familiar voice say.
I stopped, with my arm centimeters away from the sandcastle, and turned around, seeing Burhalla walking towards me.
"Uh…I was just curious where this path led," I said. I really hoped this wasn't a place I wasn't supposed to go to.
"Yeah, this place is a bit out of the way. It's nice, though," Burhalla said, as he continued walking towards me, before sitting down next to me.
I smiled. He didn't seem to be mad at me, and now I wasn't alone here!
"What's this place called, by the way?" I asked.
"Riverbank beach. It's...not really a beach, but a lot of people like to call it one, anyways. I come here to hang out a lot. Lots of Pokemon in Overcast Village do," Burhalla answered. "Kind of surprised that we're the only ones here right now."
"I guess we're just lucky," I replied.
"Yeah," Burhalla said, before glancing at the pathetic excuse for a sandcastle I made. "What were you making?"
"Uh, I was just playing in the sand," I said. It technically wasn't a lie. "Only second time I remember seeing it, and we were...a bit preoccupied in Blistering Shore. I thought I'd have some fun with it now that I can."
"Neat!" Burhalla said, before looking towards the river.
We sat together in silence for a short while, not saying anything, until Burhalla spoke back up.
"You know, you're really strange," he said.
"What do you mean?" I quickly asked. Was he onto me?
"I mean, you woke up in the middle of Twig Woodland with barely any memories, and Saltriv was right there next to you after having been missing for months. There's also when you mentioned that you felt that Sewaddle coming before any of us saw it. I'd almost think you were human, if not for the fact that you haven't mentioned being one," Burhalla answered.
Oh. Well, that's...sort of a relief, but he's still really close to the truth. If he finds out…
I don't want to lose one of the only people I know in this world.
"Yeah, I guess I am pretty strange," I said, trying to stray away from Burhalla's last sentence. "Do you have any idea what might have happened to me?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe a psychic-type outlaw went and erased your memories after you saw them committing a crime. But then why were you in the middle of Twig Woodland, with Saltriv?" Burhalla said, putting a hand to his face. "There has to be something I'm missing here."
I looked down at the ground, frowning. He really believed in what I said. What'll happen when he learns it's all a lie?
Burhalla looked over towards me, a concerned expression on his face. "Hey, it's ok. We'll figure out what happened to you.."
He must have thought I was down about him not knowing what could have caused my "memory loss". Still, I appreciated that he was willing to help. Hopefully we can still figure out what happened to me on that platform...though it's going to be difficult if I never tell him about the platform.
Gah, why did I ever decide that this stupid lie was a good idea?!
"Thanks, Burhalla," I said nonetheless.
"It's no problem. We're teammates now! So we have to look out for each other," Burhalla replied.
It was so strange. We'd only met two days ago, and yet he's already acting like we're close friends.
Are we friends?
Well, if I'm friends with Saltriv already, then surely I'm friends with Burhalla too.
I smiled. Despite everything, I truly did appreciate how much they both care for me, and with me having done so little in return.
I really need to do something to thank them.
"Gen? Is something wrong? You're staring at me," Burhalla said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"It's nothing," I hastily said.
I'll have to think of how to thank them during the sleepover or something.
He gave me an unsure look, before turning back to the water.
"Why don't you go to the dojo and train a bit more? You could definitely stand to learn a few more moves. Assurance is good, but you're a water-type. You should know some water attacks." he said. "I'll stay here. It's nice for sunbathing."
Noticing the fearful look in my eyes, he laid an arm on me, and said, "It's nothing to do with you. You're fine. I just need some time here to myself."
Hesitantly, I began to walk away back down the path, heading for the dojo, but not before tripping over the sad excuse for a sandcastle I made, getting sand stuck in my head and chest fur.
I missed home so much.
Grapploct Dojo, Five Minutes Later
I entered the dojo, and saw Grapploct in the center of the room, waiting for me
"Welcome once more to my dojo!" they said, flexing one of their tentacles. "Are you ready to start training?"
"I am," I said. "I'm ready to learn Water Gun."
"Actually, I have a different training plan for you today. While you did excellent in learning Assurance last time, I thought it might be best to start simple, and give you a near-universal tool to use," Grapploct said.
Oh. Guess I'm not going to be able to participate in that game Burhalla mentioned after all.
"Try and Tackle me," Grapploct demanded. "Put your all into it!"
Wait, what?
"Why a Tackle?" I asked. Wasn't that one of the weakest moves? Wouldn't something like Quick Attack be better?
Could Oshawotts even learn Quick Attack?
"I had heard that you had lost your memories of all your moves, even the most basic ones. I had thought you were simply just inexperienced, but now I know that we need to start with the basics. And one of the most basic moves one can learn is Tackle," Grapploct said.
I...guess that made sense.
"So how do I do a Tackle? Do I just try to run at you?" I asked.
"That is what your body must do. In your mind, you must focus on the move, focus on Tackling me," Grapploct said, before pointing one of their tentacles at me. "Go on, now! Tackle me!"
I lunged towards Grapploct, and collided with them. They didn't even budge.
"No! Not like that!" Grapploct yelled. A tentacle collided with my head. "Put your all into it! Focus on Tackling me!"
I frowned, then tried again, running towards Grapploct as I tried to focus on attacking them. This time, he knocked me away before I even reached him.
"Don't just focus on attacking or running, focus on the move itself. Put it to the front of your mind! In the moment you are performing it, the Tackle is the most important thing to you!" Grapploct said.
Ok. I can do this.
I took a few steps back, then ran at Grapploct once more. As I did, I focused as much as I can on performing a Tackle. Not attacking, not running, not the uncomfortable sensation of the sand still stuck in my fur, only focusing on doing a Tackle.
As I focused, I noticed a white glow envelop my body, and before I knew it, I Tackled Grapploct.
Grapploct actually was knocked back a bit this time! Had I actually finally pulled a Tackle off?
"Congrats! You managed to do a proper Tackle!" Grapploct congratulated. I braced myself for the pat on the back, though still flinched a bit at it. I smiled nonetheless.
"Next, we're going to step away from attacking moves for a bit. Wag your tail from side to side," Grapploct said.
Oh.
"What's this for?" I asked, not looking forward to this. The foreign appendage felt so weird, uncomfortable, and inhuman. All it did was bump into things and drag on the ground. Every time I had felt it move since I became an Oshawott, I was filled with discomfort.
"Tail Whip is another basic move, and while it may not be useful all the time, there's times where you'll be glad to have it," Grapploct said. "Now! Start wagging your tail!"
Suppressing a grimace, I began wagging my tail. It felt...uncomfortably good, in an instinctual way. Like waving this limb back and forth was overriding every bit of discomfort I felt. It was such an alien feeling, and I couldn't tell whether I liked it or not.
"So...what do I do now? What do I focus on to get a Tail Whip from this?" I asked, as my tail continued to wag behind me.
"You're already doing it!" Grapploct said, slight warmth in their voice. "Tail Whip is a move that only requires a want to perform the move. If you wag your tail while wanting to perform Tail Whip, you'll perform Tail Whip."
I looked behind myself, and sure enough, my tail was enveloped in a faint white glow.
"Tail Whip is a useful move for lowering an enemy's guard, so you can strike them more effectively. It's also very useful to know when trying to learn other tail-based moves such as Aqua Tail or Iron Tail. Before you learn those, though, you must learn to harness your own type," Grapploct said. "You may stop wagging your tail now."
Immediately, I stopped my tail, and the discomfort began to fade away.
"Now, let's get back to what you first came to me for," Grapploct said. "Remember, calm yourself, then unleash the move in a stream. Harness the calmness you feel, and expel it through your mouth."
I smiled. Looks like I might still be able to join in Burhalla's game.
Several hours later, I slapped myself with my right arm in frustration, flinching at the pain of the accidental Assurance. Why wasn't this working? I could pull off Assurance fine, I could do Tackle easily, Tail Whip was near effortless despite the discomfort, why not a Water Gun?
Looking out one of the windows, I saw that the sun was starting to get low in the sky. How long has it been?! And I haven't made even the slightest bit of progress on Water Gun in all this time…
"Don't think about giving up!" Grapploct yelled, causing me to jerk my head back up from gazing at the floor. "That will only make it harder for you to calm yourself!"
Right. I had to stay on task. Calm myself, and unleash the move.
I focused on the sound of the nearby river, listening to the water flow and splash. I felt the sunshine that managed to get through the fog shine against my fur. I smelled the scent of an oran berry somewhere nearby.
As I focused on nature, as I attuned myself with it, I felt calm. My whole body felt calm.
As I took a breath, and the calmness shifted, I realized I could mold and meld this calm. I moved it up towards my mouth, preparing to spew it out in a Water Gun. I began to push it out—
TA-KA-TA TA-KA-TA TA-KA-TA TA-KA-TA
CHOOOOOO CHOOOOOO!
The calmness scattered, abruptly fleeing from me. Droplets of water flew out of my body in every direction.
I was so close, and I failed.
But...I still made water, didn't I?
I nervously looked towards Grapploct, hoping I didn't disappoint him. For a few moments, he said nothing. Anxious, I gripped onto the closest thing I could: my reunion cape.
Then, he let out a small chuckle.
"It's no Water Gun, but congrats! You've done a water move!" Grapploct said, having as much of a jovial expression as a Grapploct could have.
"Really?" I said, eyes wide, and beginning to smile. I really pulled off a water move! "What did I do?"
"Water Sport! Good for dealing with any fire-types that are after you," Grapploct said. "Now that you've done it once, you should be able to do it with more ease now."
Oh. That's really not going to be helpful. It's probably only going to hurt Burhalla.
Still...at least it's a water type move! One step closer to learning Water Gun!
Though if it wasn't for that noise, I might have had it now…
Actually, come to think of it...
"What was that loud noise?" I asked, hoping Grapploct knew the answer.
"The Carkol Express, the train that travels all across the Thunder Continent. It's quite the amazing machine. Five years ago I couldn't have dreamed things like it were possible," Grapploct said.
My eyes widened. The Pokemon in this world had trains?! How did that even work with all the different shapes that Pokemon were?
I guess I should have probably expected something like this after seeing the radio in Saltriv's house, but it was still a shock.
"Why don't you go along and see it for yourself?" Grapploct said. "It's almost time for me to head back to the river. We would not get much training done in that time, even if you stayed."
I was getting kind of tired, and I did want to see just how a train would work in a world of Pokemon...
"Ok! Bye, Grapploct!" I said, before starting to head towards the exit.
"Take care, Oshawott," Grapploct said, as I left the dojo.