This chapter did not want to be written. I swear it was like pulling teeth, my brain just did not want to cooperate with me.
I have started posting this story on Ao3 as well, same account name as here. Apparently this website doesn't like to post links but go to Ao3 and add this:
/ works/ 41083920/ chapters/ 102975354
The Team! Loxley-braixen, Tobio-pidgeotto, Delacour-fletchinder, Zen-zorua, Levi-azurill, Basil-bulbasaur, tyrunt-unnamed
Chapter 23: A New Party
Tyrunt was fine.
Once I'd gotten done crying, I'd summoned a dungeon that I hadn't used yet: the Pokémon-Amie room. It had been very … pink. Since I had never needed Pokémon-Amie before the room I summoned was very basic, just rose coloured linoleum and lavender floral wallpaper in a round room with wide windows looking out into a sunny blue sky. No furniture, no curtains, no rugs.
Nothing for a t-rex with a temper to destroy and nowhere for her to run off to.
Not that she didn't try to do both. The tyrunt had once again erupted from her pokeball in a blaze of fury and gone thrashing around the room in a rush. And Loxley, Zen, and I had spent nearly twenty minutes playing keep away from the dino-destruction diva. But it was obvious from her roaring and snarling, and her sufficiently recovered HP bar, that whatever she'd eaten in the Haunted Hamlet had dissolved with the dungeon.
Thank the Goddess for that, because I did not want to be responsible for the rise of the Zombie Apocalypse, Pokémon Special Edition.
After she'd worn herself out, though, the tyrunt had snappily accepted another bowl of fancy electrolyte water and a small pile of jerky treats once I'd put them down and scuttled off to the opposite side of the room. She'd growled the whole time, of course, but she ate everything before going back to trying to chew her way out of the room. I was definitely going to need to talk to the nurses in the morning about some antibiotics, however, because her breathing had an undeniable rasp to it. Something to look forward to later.
In the meantime, I recalled the tyrunt and dragged myself to the showers. I wanted to forget that the Haunted Hamlet had ever even existed.
XYXYXY
The warning came as I was heading back upstairs from the Pokémon Center's store kiosk, where I'd spent a small fortune on Escape Ropes, super potions, and other stuff.
"You're on the news. AGAIN."
The text from Louis was alarming. As was the link to a new video clip he'd sent along with it. Fortunately for me, my skill with Kalais was high enough now to understand everything that was being discussed. The news about Santalune Forest was finally out and had hit the mainstream media like an atomic bomb. And it hadn't come from the Kalos League. Oh no, the report had been issued by the International League, with one of their official reporters. And the images on the screen were clearly the ones I had sent to Professor Oak.
In addition, and even worse, it had been followed by an interview with Clemont about the power outages, ostensibly about his plans to supplement the city's power supply, and he'd apparently had enough clearance to get an additional report on the electrical plant from the Rangers. He stated point blankly he considered Team Flare to be a prime suspect for the damage to the facility, because of their attacks in Aquacorde, Santalune, AND the Verdant Forest. The gym leader had gone on to specifically credit how I'd helped out in each situation. He named Serena as well, and was politely positive about both of us. It should have been a good thing.
Except that for some reason, the Editor-in-chief of Lumiose Press, who'd done his interview, had tried to ask leading questions about me, asking if the gym leader had thought it was suspicious that I was involved in all three incidents. Clemont had shut the question and then the interview down quickly, saying that he might as well accuse Serena the same way, specifically pointing out who her father was and what such an accusation would mean, but the damage was done. The comment section was a mess of people on either side, either defending me or attacking my character.
I was so very tempted to comment, but I knew it would only be like pouring gasoline on a bonfire. The comments had gotten nasty fast. Copying the link, I sent it to both my father and Serena, asking what they thought I should do. Then to Lt. Moreau for good measure.
Then I called Louis back.
"Please tell me you're in Camphrier already," I pleaded over the phone.
"Non," he answered with an apologetic tone. "I was helping my mother with her class. But my friend will get here tonight and I've convinced my father to let us catch a ride with the postal lorry tomorrow. We'll be there in the morning."
"Oh, good," I choked out with a little hysterical laughter, "because the sooner I'm out of town the better."
Louis agreed, and promised he and his friend would pick me up in the morning. I had to swear I wouldn't go anywhere or talk to anyone else before he got there. Apparently, his friend would be able to get us away from Camphrier with little difficulty. Gods, I sure hoped so. But just who was this friend? And why, why, WHY would the media just not let up on me?
I hung up on Louis only to see a panicked text message back from Serena. Rushing to shove everything into my inventory, I scrambled down to the lobby.
XYXYXY
"Il est juste en train de pique rune crise!"(1) Tierno rubbed comforting circles into Serena's shoulders as she sobbed on a sofa. "He's not serious!"
Serena just sniffled louder, her face buried in her hands. Her froakie crooned soothingly from her lap.
"I'm waiting on my dad to call me back about legal advice. I can ask if he has any for you too," I offered.
That only had Serena audibly sobbing, and I scolded myself for my thoughtlessness. Gritting out a hushed apology, I wrapped myself around my friend. Shauna moving in to hug her on the other side. Of course Serena wouldn't want to hear anything about my father right now.
Because Wikstrom Lapointe had seen the news reports as well, and apparently gone ballistic on Serena over the phone. That had been the bare-bones explanation I gotten out of a whispering Shauna and Tierno. But I knew enough from my own experiences from Earth to fill in the blanks, and I hated the Elite Four member just a little bit more for it.
"He can't actually pull your license," Trevor explained, trying to be comforting. "There's a whole legal process he would have to go through and Professor Sycamore would need to-"
"Trevs. Man." Tierno had gently interrupted the red head over Serena's crying. "Not gonna help right now."
Trevor sighed and nodded, simply sitting on the small tea table in front of Serena with his hand softly on her knee.
A single trainer had poked his head into the lounge at the ruckus, and I'd glared malevolently from my spot on the sofa with my arms tight around my friend. Several of our pokémon that were out snarled openly. The boy had left quickly. There was nothing else any of us could really do except sit with the blonde, quietly keeping her company.
It took over an hour to pry Serena, red-eyed and sniffling, up off the sofa. I spent the night in their dorm room, quietly helping Shauna do Serena's nails and braid her hair into an elaborate golden crown. All the comforting girly sleepover stuff, we did it. Trevor and Tierno didn't really know what they were doing, but they gamely obeyed instructions to "hold this" and "grab that" without any complaints. The tear tracks clearly visible on my friends face as she finally fell asleep made me want to strangle someone. A very specific someone.
But I wouldn't be able to take on the Elite Four for a long time with the way this Game was playing out. And I wasn't sure it would help Serena even if I did.
XYXYXY
My phone went off just after 6 the next morning. Despite still being bleary eyed and emotionally wrung out from … everything… from the day before, I managed to roll into a sitting position as I reached for it.
And promptly attempted to have a heart attack, because Serena was already up, sitting crosslegged on the corner of her bed and staring at her own phone with a morose expression.
"Is your friend here then?" she asked softly. "The one from Santalune's Trainer Academy?"
"Yeah," I whispered back, unwilling to wake the rest of the group. "Do you want to come down and-"
I cut myself off as Serena shook her head from side to side.
"Non," she croaked. "I wish I could. But my father…"
The urge to strangle something returned with a vengeance. Moving to the bed beside her, I hugged Serena close instead. She leaned in with a watery smile.
"You should probably go," she sighed. "If we did travel together, and anyone found out…"
"Call me when you can, okay?" I insisted with another hug. "Maybe once the press calms down…"
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
We sat there for several minutes, just soaking up each other's warmth. But eventually her own phone pinged, and looking down we could both see it was her father. I stood back up with a grimace as Serena took a deep breath and opened the text message. I took a moment to shove Tierno awake, with a nod in Serena's direction, before slipping out of the room with a two -finger salute.
Tierno gave me a thumbs-up as I carefully slipped out the door.
Slowly tiptoeing down the stairs, because I definitely didn't want to run into anyone on my own right now, I made my way to the lobby.
"Louis!" I cheered lowly as I hopped down the last steps to the front lobby. I hurried over to where he was standing next to another pair of teenagers
"Gryffin!" Louis seemed as relieved to see me as I was to see him, and immediately reached out to sling an arm around my shoulder. "Are you alright?"
I shrugged helplessly, and ignored the game alert that I had automatically been added to Louis' party.
"Better than I would have been without the warning you gave us. Thanks for that by the way," I said.
"Thank my little brother," he quipped with a lopsided expression. "Jean was the one yelling at the television about it. All the sensible people will listen to Le Champion Cugnot; he's very popular and well known for his intelligence. But some…"
His volume had gotten conspicuously louder at the end, and he trailed off to return a glare a nurse from the desk was sending my way.
"Yeah…" I smiled derisively at the woman and wiggled my fingers in a cheerful greeting. "It's been a problem."
Louis sniffed imperiously as the nurse turned cherry red and set a tray of pokeballs down in front of the pair of teenagers with a THUNK before shuffling back to the office.
"Such delightful manners," the girl in front commented as she gracefully plucked her pokeballs up one by one. "I'd almost think I was back in Pyrite Town."
I blinked, because something about the town she mentioned felt out of place, and looked hard at the teen. She was on the shorter side, I could just see over the top of her head, but she stood with a quiet kind of confidence that defied her height. With dark skin and a cascade of ebony braids down her back, her bright green eyes stood out in startling contrast. With the sparkle of mischief glinting under long eyelashes as she winked back at us, though, I knew we were going to get along just fine.
Lisette Boudreaux level 16
A dedicated student determined to help her family recover…
"You must be Gryphonne, then?" she said before I could really focus on her stat readout. Her hand was already out to shake mine and I took it with a grin. "I'm Lisette. You catch hell at Pokémon Centers all the time or just today?"
Something sharp in her grin, and in Louis', told me this was not an uncommon occurrence. Spending so much time with my foxes was clearly rubbing off on me, because the smile I gave back was rather toothy as well.
"I'm sure they're just concerned," I simpered with obviously false empathy, adjusting my volume so the whole lobby could hear. "For the pokémon I just rescued from Team Flare is in rather rough condition." I took a moment to make direct eye contact with another nurse I recognized from yesterday. "Of course, I'm concerned too," I continued with an exaggerated frown. "It's not like a League funded facility to miss an obvious respiratory illness in newly caught pokémon. They're usually much more professional."
I was enunciating my words very pointedly at the end, and several trainers in the lobby and nearby sitting room started whispering in low voices. The nurse I was staring down through the office window went wide-eyed and flushed at the implications. Fortunately for us both, a third nurse, who wasn't one of the two who had either harassed me or stood by watching yesterday, stalked out of the office with a crisp snap in her step and a terrible frown. At the other nurse, not at me, which was nice. After a few quick questions, with Louis and his phone dictionary helping me translate medical terms, the new nurse had taken the pokeball holding my tyrunt with an apology and a promise for a more thorough examination.
"Bon chance,"(2) I muttered when I handed the ball over. "She's still pretty cranky."
The nurse assured me that the staff could handle it, and I was willing to leave it at that. Still I was grateful there was a new nurse since yesterday, as I did not appreciate being accused of animal abuse. The poor tyrunt was definitely sick, and if they could get medicine into it, that meant I wouldn't have to. I did not want to figure out how to shove pills down a t-rex's throat. I liked my fingers, and I liked them attached, thank you.
"Sorry about that," I apologized as I turned back to Louis and his friends.
"Don't worry about it," Lisette grinned like a Cheshire cat. "They give me shit all the time. But Louis said you were going to help us catch pokémon in the Kalacour…?"
I blinked, confused.
"The … Kalacour?" I hesitated as I asked. The name was completely foreign to me, and I'd never seen it in my deep dive into the regional and global maps.
"It's in southern Kalos," Louis explained quickly. "Sort of. But also, I have a surprise! A good one!" He made his declaration defensively as I raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. "My mother got in contact with one of her graduate students! Gryphonne, and he is coming with us to help!"
Louis made a grand sweeping gesture at the second figure that had been standing behind Lisette. In the pale blue décor of the lobby, Lisette had stood out more, and I'd barely glanced at the person she'd been with. The color pink had registered in my brain, and I'd thought it was another girl. Louis was, in the nicest way possible, a rather chivalrous person under his sharp wit, and it wouldn't have struck me as odd at all.
But clearly I was wrong, because the now obviously male person in front of me was oddly familiar in spite of the vast differences in game animation and real life.
Standing several centimeters shorter than Louis, but just a one or two taller than me, was a clearly older teen with deeply tanned skin and wide almond eyes with a long oval face and heart shaped lips. Dressed in a neat khaki colored safari uniform, with a brown leather satchel strapped to his thigh, he looked like he'd just stepped from a survival magazine advert. Provided, of course, that you ignored the fact that his eyes were an even softer shade of blue-grey than my own and his curly, chin length hair was the same delicate shade of cherry blossom petals. His unique colouring was as striking as it was recognizable.
"Alola, little cousin!" The young man grinned, arms reaching out into a large, sweeping gesture. The Island challenge charm sparkled a rainbow of colors from a small braid next to his ear.
The friend Louis had brought with him was none other than the normal type specialist and trial captain from Alola.
Ilima Pualani, level 52
He's a studious trainer with multiple trophies. Currently studying abroad, he hopes to return to his homeland to help ?
"Um, Alola?" I pulled the hand I'd been extending back, opting instead for a low bow with my hands politely in front of me on my thighs. I had zero confidence in my ability to replicate the Alolan greeting. And I was a little distracted at the sheer level of the trial captain. I chalked it up to being in a party with him, but I'd never been able to read someone's level more than 25 or so levels above me. (Point in case, both my father and Lt. Moreau were still question marks.) Luckily, Ilima seemed flattered enough by my formalities and grinned wider.
"You're Higashi-sama's daughter, then?" He asked after a bow of his own. "Kahuna Nanu was worried that you'd found yourself in a bit of trouble."
I blinked, frozen by a rush of new (forgotten) memories. A tall man, with close cropped grey hair and dark, tired eyes. He picked me up and tossed me in the air laughing. He felt safe. He dragged home my father, slung over each other's shoulders, both grim faced and weary. He felt heartbroken.
"Ah, yes," I managed, shaking loose of the images in my mind of a man the person I'd been in this world before the Game clearly considered an uncle. At least I had a name. "The press in Kalos is a bit…" I wavered my hand from side to side. "But when you say Kahuna Nanu… Do you mean Nanu Kahanui? Director Nanu?"
"Kahuna Nanu, yes." The grin Ilima was giving me was a friendly one, but he was definitely teasing just a bit with those flashy teeth.
"My dad's boss," I reiterated, still reeling mentally at the fact that my father knew a Kahuna. "At Interpol." That I knew a Kahuna.
"Is he? Kahuna Hala just said they worked together… Either way, they were worried."
"Kahuna Hala?"
At this point Louis and Lisette were watching our conversation like it was a tennis match.
"Yes, he's close to my parents and my sponsor abroad with the International League, along with Professor Samson," Ilima laughed, finally explaining a bit better. "He and Kahuna Nanu are also close apparently. He asked me to check in on you for Kahuna Nanu's sake. And then Madam Pierre emailed all the graduate students from the Trainer's Academy looking for some help and, well, here I am."
Ilima ended his little speech with a wide armed gesture toward himself, like a little 'ta-da' moment. But he never stopped smiling and he stood relaxed the whole time, which helped it feel more like confidence than anything else. And considering how strong the older teen was, it was confidence well deserved. And since I suspected the game was going to toss me head first against Team Flare again, I'd happily have him along.
Let that creep Mable try to sick her houndoom on him. Ha.
The four of us wandered outside to avoid the growing crowd in the lobby, and Louis ran through the plan for the trip.
"So the postal truck leaves tomorrow at 2 for the southern route, a lot villages off the main roads. My father's arranged for us to hitch a ride in exchange for extra protection for the driver." And here he stopped to frown darkly, and I remembered all the people and pokémon that had 'gone missing' since Team Flare had stepped out into the open. "We'll get to la ville (3) Sublé by evening, and stay the night, then Micle the next day," he continued, then let out a sigh. "And I must apologize. The postal truck cannot go further south, les montagnes du Sud D'Écran sont très dangereuses au printemps. (4) We will need to go by foot to la ville (3) Turin. It should not take more than 2 or three days…"
"Two or three days?" Lisette interrupted incredulously before I could, her braids swinging in irritation. "On foot in the mountains? In spring? Louis! You said we were riding!"
I nodded beside her, frowning at the suddenly not-so-friendly sounding trip my friend had laid out. Ilima was on Louis' other side, also raising a disapproving eyebrow at the taller but younger teen. Louis raised his hands defensively.
"It's not that bad!" he insisted with an unconvincing grin. "There is an old mining pass in les montagnes, the road to Turin is not hard at all! And then we are on the foothills down to the Kalacour!"
"The Kalacour?" Ilima asked, still frowning at the unexpected plans. "Louis, where is that exactly? I've been in Kalos almost two years now and I've never heard of it."
Nodding at Ilima's words, I raised an eyebrow imperiously at the blond as well. I'd never heard of the area either, or even seen it listed on the various maps of Kalos I'd poured over in my various attempts to fill in the world map on my Gamer HUD. That hadn't worked, by the way, and my game display still only showed areas I'd actually been to. Everything else was greyed out. I'd found Lagonville, the town with the Contests for Princess keys, on the north coast near Courmarine City, but nothing named Kalacour. Of course, I hadn't seen any of the villages Louis had just mentioned either.
"The Kalacour is, well actually…" Louis' wincing expression was more determined than apologetic. "The Kalacour is not really in Kalos. It is to the south of us…"
The smile on Ilima's face froze in a terrifying intensity and a tanned hand reached out to clamp down on Louis' shoulder.
"I am going to need you to explain," said the pink haired teen oh-so-cheerfully. "Now please."
Give Louis credit where it was due, the blond knew when he was in for it. But in spite of the boldness of technically leaving Kalos, Louis had clearly put a lot of thought into where we were supposed to be going.
According to my friend, and confirmed by pulling up a world map I had saved on my phone, the Kalos region was separated, or perhaps a better word was protected, from the rest of the Prima continent by a ring of high mountains called the Ecran Mountains. In the south, where Louis wanted to go, the mountains led to a high-altitude desert called the Kalacour, though he swore it was more grassland for most of the year due to snow melt or some such, that was nearly three quarters the size of Kalos itself. And there were supposedly a wide variety of pokémon that weren't all common in Kalos, which would be good for the new graduates. The problem with going to this Kalacour area wasn't the actual desert itself, but the other regions surrounding it.
Once you got past the high peaks of the Ecran Mountains, The Kalacour stretched south across Prima to hit the Sekra Mountains of Fiore to the east and a place called Paldea in the west. Both were nations in their own right and while Fiore was a part of the Rangers Confederation, and had the protection of the Pokémon Rangers, neither nation was a signatory to the International Pokémon League. And just might take issue with our not-quite-criminal training trip if we wandered too far into the Kalacour.
"But we're not going anywhere near either of those places," Louis insisted as he managed to steer the group towards an outdoor supply store in spite of Ilima's now open disapproval. "The foothills of L'Ecran should be more than enough, and that's still patrolled by the Kalos League."
Ilima still didn't look convinced, and had wandered back over to my side muttering about how "the kahunas were right to be worried". I just gave him a helpless smile and a shrug. I wasn't about to admit out loud that the possibility of an actual path between regions being available was making my heart beat like a Taiko drum, despite the dubious legalities.
World Map here I come!
XYXYXY
It was Ilima's and my turn to twist our neck back and forth, trying to follow the conversation.
Lisette and Louis were having a very quiet but very passionate conversation in rapid Kalais in one corner of the store. Louis' expression was set in a stubborn frown while Lisette looked almost offended.
"Do you know what they're talking about?" I asked the pink haired teen quietly as I tucked a few more bundles of rope next to the simple leather baldric I'd managed to find.
"Not a clue," Ilima replied, shrugging with his palms up in a helpless gesture. "My Kalais is quite good, but not when people speak so quickly."
"I hear that," I commiserated, eyeing Louis and Lisette as they continued their … discussion.
For all that I couldn't understand it, I could tell from several repeated phrases that their conversation, and the devolution into a mulish battery of "Non." "Oui." "Non!" "Oui!" that it was headed for a downward spiral.
"Okay," I finally interrupted the two of them. "What's going on?"
The scrambled apart so fast, faces beet red, that I couldn't help but snicker at them. Oh, this was adorable. At least now I knew why Louis had stayed firmly in the friend category on my relationship page, despite how high our numbers were.
"Are you two done with your lover's spat?" Ilima grinned beside me, clearly seeing what I saw as well.
They both blushed even deeper and spluttered. It was glorious.
"So what's going on?" I repeated. "Do we need more supplies for the trip? Or…" I was hoping that wasn't the case. I'd test-packed my bag with all the things I was supposed to have on this trip and it was heavy. How I ever survived without the Game's Bag feature I don't know. The packs Louis, Ilima, and Lisette had tucked in lockers back at the Pokémon Center had also been stuffed to the brim. What else could we possibly need?
"Lisette needs a new tent," Louis stated plainly, despite the teen girl's attempts to shush him. "Hers got damaged in Santalune."
Oh. OH. I blinked in alarm, realizing belatedly that Lisette must have been the third trainer that Lieutenant Moreau had pulled out with Louis and the friend Team Flare had killed. I painted a frozen smile on my face in response to the wide-eyed expression Lisette was sporting. Well shit.
"So we buy her a new tent," I offered promptly to dispel the tension. "Kind of an important piece of equipment."
"Agreed," Ilima's voice echoed from behind me. "It's rather difficult to go camping without one."
Despite her protests, Lisette caved quickly under the insistence of all three of us. Although the boys also tried to protest when I insisted on paying for her tent myself. Luckily it wasn't a four-season one like my father had bought me, and therefor much more affordable. Especially with a certain government paycheck.
"Look, guys, I appreciate it," I consoled them as I swiped my card for the bemused clerk, "But let's face it, I'm the one with the League sponsorship. I might as well spend their money on something useful. It's not like they're going help on their own.
"And honestly," I continued, handing the tent over to Lisette. "I don't mind. I'd already been budgeting for a tent before my dad took me shopping. So please accept it." I'd finished with another small bow, Kanto-style, to the open bemusement of everyone in the shop. But if it meant that the other girl would finally accept the help she needed, I'd happily play up the foreign formalities.
"Merci," she mumbled, still blushing, doing an awkward bow back.
I just grinned cheerfully in return, and deliberately handed everyone a bag of the rest of the supplies to carry. Some extra meal packets, vitamin supplements, some water purifying tablets, and repels (just in case) for everyone to have in their packs along with the extra rope and baldric for my hwando. Louis looked a little amused as I loaded him up, but Ilima nodded approvingly.
"Fine," Ilima clapped, breaking whatever tension was left between us all. "Fine. But now, I'm buying us lunch. Let's go!"
Louis gave me a low fist bump in thanks as we followed the Alolan teen out of the store, and skipped forward to wrap an arm around Lisette. I cooed openly when she leaned into him. They were so cute!
XYXYXY
Despite not being native to the Kalos region, Ilima had clearly been around for a while. He deftly wove us through a bunch of side streets until we were standing outside a tiny hole-in-the-wall café with a bright red noren banner with three panels tacked over an old blue door. Each panel had a single white kana: も, ち, and や. Familiar scents oozed from inside and I practically bounced through the fabric covering after the pink haired teen.
There was a tiny old lady mixing things in a bowl by hand at a worn kitchen table. An ancient tube television beside her played what looked to be a fancy soap opera in Kanjougo. Ah, K-dramas… One more thing to miss about home.
"Irasshaimase!" (5) she called as we came in, grey hair bobbing in perfect curls.
"Konnichiwa!" (6) I grinned back and offered a deep bow, with Ilima only a second behind. The matron looked surprised, and quite flattered, and made a huge fuss as she showed us to one of only three tables.
I read through the admittedly small menu with undisguised glee.
"For the record, Ilima, I love you," I boldly declared to the older boy. "This. Just THIS."
Ilima laughed, grey eyes twinkling.
"Kalais cuisine is delicious," he whispered with a smirk, as if conferring a dark secret. "But I was thoroughly sick of it after a month. I figured you'd want something from home too."
I agreed with a cheer, to everyone's amusement. Although it was my turn to be amused just minutes later, as Louis and Lisette tried to make sense of the menu. I snickered openly at their expressions when they realized it was all in Kanjougo. Despite the prevalence of the language in the Pokémon League, Kanjougo wasn't used nearly as often as Common Pokean, so neither of them had learned even the basic kana that the menu was written in. It was fun teasing them alongside Ilima, who had a wonderful grasp over the language himself.
"It's very similar to Alolan, actually," he chuckled when Lisette asked him how he knew. "And my mother travelled to Kanto frequently for work."
We took pity on the Kalos teens quickly, and ended up ordering for them. The café was tiny, and the menu wasn't particularly diverse. But what it did have was one of my favorite foods ever…
"Obaa-ue supplies several Kantonian restaurants in Lumiose with fresh mochi," Ilima delighted in telling us after I had explained the menu to Louis. "It's the best I've ever had, even in Saffron."
And it was. Oh it was. Feathery soft mochi with silky smooth cream fillings and delicate flavors served with perfectly brewed oolong tea. Mmmm, yes please. And wasn't it nice to introduce new friends to new food? Ilima ordered a variety platter and he and I dug in with gusto. Louis remained skeptical, ignoring the chopsticks and poking at his food with a fork before finally nibbling on some strawberry daifuku, but Lisette had taken to the coffee mochi immediately. And the ume daifuku. And the peanut. Clearly we were meant to be friends. Ilima pretty much devoured the taro mochi by himself, but he gave me his portion of red bean mochi so I forgave him. Mochi is just one of those foods I could eat forever.
Stomachs settled, even Louis', we spent the rest of lunch going over the travel plans in a little more detail.
"There's an old mining road through the mountains from Micle to Turin," Louis explained, drawing his finger south on a map he'd laid out. "The path through the lower foothills is outside, but there's tunnels through the higher mountains so we won't actually be climbing much."
I examined the map as Ilima asked a few pointed questions in Kalais. The town Louis had pointed out, Micle, was actually rather close to Vaniville, only about 50 or so kilometers west of my mother's home, just on the other side of a stretch of low peaks reaching north from the South Écran. Turin was further south, actually to the east of Vaniville, on the far slopes of the mountains. The path Louis had traced between the two looked to be an old rail line if I was reading the map key correctly.
"Please tell me we're not going to be hit by a train," I snarked after pointing that out.
"The mines in Turin were closed decades ago," Louis quipped back with a roll of his eyes. "They don't bother running trains anymore."
TThe small village was practically a frontier town as far as Kalos was concerned. Most people either traveled by foot or flew in on a pokémon. But it sat on a river that flowed southeast into the Kalacour, and that was apparently our destination.
"Much better to follow the water," Ilima approved, finally comfortable with Louis' itinerary. "And staying in the northern edges means we don't risk an international incident."
I nodded quietly, because the word 'desert' had been rather alarming when Louis had first mentioned it. Water was, after all, rather necessary for human survival. But the river that ran out of Turin fed two healthy sized lakes before disappearing into the arid plateau. With spring underway, the run off from the mountains should have the river at a respectable level. And a running river was also good for plants and wildlife. Both foraging and catching pokémon would be much easier if we stuck to it.
Snagging another piece of mochi from Louis, I felt much better about this trip.
XYXYXY
We couldn't stay at the mochi café all day, even if I insisted on lingering long enough to buy take out. Eventually though Ilima herded us out and to a small park nearby. With a graceful smile the pink haired teen pulled out a pokeball and with a ceremonious twirl worthy of a pokémon contest released it into the air.
"Now that we know each other," Ilima said cheerfully. "Our pokémon should meet too. Everyone, this is my starter Vivi."
The pokémon that stepped daintily from the release of light chirruped a soft purr and I froze in wonder. Snowy white fur melted into rose coloured points, just a few shades darker than its trainers own hair. A puffy pink tail, a soft crest of blush on the prim little neck ruff, and long white ribbons of fur from underneath long bubblegum pink fox ears were all perfectly groomed and silky smooth. Along the edges of pink and white, the occasional tuft of baby blue fur curled neatly. Wide blue eyes blinked innocently up at us, but with a sparkle of mischief that spoke to its typing.
"You have a sylveon!" I breathed, already kneeling to pet the eevee evolution. "Ohmigoodnesshello!"
A delighted squeal echoed next to me, and Lisette was on the ground beside me in moments.
Ilima's sylveon purred loudly, arching up as we skritched its chin and rubbed its precious, precious ears. Gods was it cute. Absolutely gorgeous. Possibly cuter than even Zen, so I was going to have to get my pets in now, lest my little fox get jealous.
Ilima chuckled indulgently from overhead, and the now familiar pops of pokémon being released sounded again. A wet nose snuffled into my ear, and I looked up just in time to get a face full of giant dog kisses.
"Oh no!" I laughed as I was gracelessly tipped over. A long, warm mustache of cream coloured fur blocked my vision and a large body carefully pinned me as I was subjected to a very thorough licking. "No!" I protested breathlessly. "Bad puppy!" I gasped as I reached up to rub velvety ears. "Stop!"
The puppy did not stop. The puppy knew very well that I meant absolutely none of it. Three sets of giggles sounded around me as I was tickle-licked to the point where I was nearly choking on my laughter, but I did not stop skritching the puppy.
Of course, the 'puppy' was actually a full grown stoutland nearly as tall as Lisette.
"He's so big!" I gushed after I managed to catch my breath. Louis and Lisette had started giving the brown and blue hound butt scratches, giving me room to pull myself up.
"Well stoutland are bred for search and rescue," Ilima explained as he offered me a hand up. "So they need to be. Though some people breed them smaller to be pets too."
I grinned at him, reaching out to give the stoutland another ear rub. Looking around I could see the rest of the pokémon Ilima had released into the park. A tall brown weasel stood off to the side, a long curl of yellow fur covering its face with only the bottom of its nose and a set of fangs peeking out from its mouth; it had to be a gumshoos. There was also what looked to be a smeargle, hopping up and down on a bench, with long limbs and tail like a giant spider monkey but a face like a beagle puppy. It was waving its blue tipped tail it front of a vivid Toucannon perched on the back of the bench, who just cawed calmly. A charcoal raticate had tentatively crept up beside the sylveon to be pet as well, and Lisette was cautiously rubbing its cheek. And looking down I could see Ilima's last pokémon, a fluffy little komala, clinging gently to his ankle.
"So cute!" I gushed, wiggling my fingers down at the dove grey koala. But it tucked its head shyly into Ilima's pants so I left it alone.
"You've got a lot of normal types," I mentioned in what I hoped was a casual tone. Just because I knew he was a normal-type trial captain from the 3DS game didn't mean I was supposed to know that here. It did leave me wondering about his two outliers though…
"They're my specialty," Ilima admitted freely. "Though Ratsby here was something of a rescue." He gestured to the raticate now trying gamely to climb into Lisette's lap. "He snuck aboard the plane on one of my trips to Kanto."
"He seems sweet for a raticate though," I commented. "And you said Sylveon was your starter…"
"Ah!" Ilima blushed prettily, one hand behind his head. "My mother gave him to me as an eevee! I came to Kalos two years ago because they'd supposedly unlocked to secret to a normal type evolution. I was so excited when he finally evolved; I'm not even mad that they were wrong."
The comment stood as a reminder of how little the Pokémon League knew about fairy pokémon at this point in the timeline. Very few pokémon had been officially labeled so far, Sylveon being one of them. I did wonder though, how the type had been missed for so long. Sure in the Nintendo games, pokémon had been retconned into the type, but here in real life they would just been fairy the whole time. Had generations of scientists missed the clear distinctions, or had they just clumped all the pokémon that didn't fit into normal classifications because they didn't have anything better?
Ilima went around introducing us to all of his pokémon. His sylveon was happy to let us pet it, as were the stoutland and raticate. The smeargle surprised Louis by bouncing up on his shoulders a bit, but immediately hopped away again. Neither the toucannon or the gumshoos moved and the komala stayed firmly attached to Ilima, but they nodded carefully. All of his pokémon's levels were in the sixties, and I wondered why Ilima hadn't gone home to be trial captain yet.
I released my pokémon pretty much all at once. They huddled together, still not particularly familiar with socializing with other people's teams, though Loxley soon trotted over to greet Louis with a friendly purr. The blond boy solemnly praised my fox's impressive evolution, which earn him a happy yip. Zen was comfortable enough to appear without an illusion but made no move to leave her spot under Tobio, no matter how much Lisette cooed at her. Levi, obnoxious scamp that he was, was quick to hop over to annoy Vivi. The sylveon was clearly the patient sort, however, and merely stepped on Levi's long tail to keep him still. I stifled my laughter as my azurill made a spectacle of himself with fake tears; he wasn't hurt and we all knew it.
Basil, on the other hand, was still clearly sore and limped just far enough that I would pick him up. Lisette turned her attention from Zen (who still did not want to be pet by a new human) to my Bulbasaur, rubbing gently around his bulb as I held him. Delacour was quick to capitalize on the girl's friendly nature, and peeped as cutely as he could from my shoulder for his own skitches. It wasn't quite as effective as when he'd still been a fletchling, but Lisette was happy to indulge him anyway.
Louis let his pokémon out next. His litleo, Fuegneur, had definitely put on some muscle since I'd last seen the lion cub, and was several centimeters taller. Not as tall as the riolu, however, which had shot up to the top of Louis' knees. It was all gangly limbs however, and the bipedal puppy looked comically stretched in what was obviously a growth spurt, poor thing. His psyduck seemed surprisingly alert, quacking lowly as it looked around. And to my utter delight, another tiny pokémon stood next to it, soft brown ears flicking at every sound and four little grey hooves clicked on the brick path. I cooed softly at the little skiddo. I'd been thinking about catching one before I got Basil, as they were super cute and one of the few grass types known for their speed. And you could ride them … when they got big enough at least. And as a credit to Louis' determination, all of his pokémon, even the skiddo, were nearly level 20. Almost the same level as mine, and I had the Gamer abilities. Either the Game was adjusting him to my level, or the Santalune native had been training non-stop since I'd last seen him. I was betting on the latter.
In contrast Lisette had only two pokémon, and neither were above level ten. A very small mareep, barely bigger than the skiddo, huddled between her legs and a wingull perched on her shoulder, its feathers fluffed out and rustling nervously. Despite their timid appearance, Lisette looked like she was fiercely proud of them, holding the wingull close with one hand and her chin in the air. I didn't know if she'd lost pokémon in Santalune Forest like Louis had, or if she'd managed to keep these two away from Team Flare despite the odds. Either way, it was clear she was terribly protective of them.
And if I was eyeing the mareep and wingull carefully, Ilima was also giving them a thoughtful frown. He must have known what had happened in Santalune too, however, because he said nothing against them. Instead he clapped his hands together resolutely.
"Okay then!" He stepped forward with an all too calm smile. "Any of you up for a pokémon battle?"
[Quest Alert!]
Oh Captain My Captain!: Impress Ilima with a pokémon battle
Battle alongside your friend to impress Ilima.
Completion: +200 EXP, +€2000, Ilima joins you on your trip to the Kalacour
Failure: +20 EXP, Ilima leaves the party
Accept? [Y]/[N]
Attention: Choosing to not accept this quest will be the same as failure
Louis looked startled, but gave me a determined expression. Whether he knew how much was riding on this or not was up in the air, but I gave the blond a solemn nod in return.
"Loxley!" I called my starter back over, pressing yes as I turned. "You up for a fight buddy?"
The braixen yipped in affirmative, eyeing the vanishing games windows as he trotted over. His golden fur rippled as heat poured off his body, the fire energy rising in challenge.
"Bastion," Louis called beside me. His riolu stalked forward obediently, nodding lightly to Loxley. The blue pup was smaller than my fox, just barely up to Loxley's chin, but seemed just as determined.
Louis and I both looked at Ilima.
The Alolan captain-to-be smiled widely, a more competitive grin than I'd seen on him yet.
"Wonderful!" he exclaimed, "Let's see how you do against Ratsby!"
For such a friendly raticate, the snarl Ilima's pokémon hissed menacingly as it trotted over was jarring. Loxley and Louis' riolu cautiously stepped back from the stronger pokémon. Ilima grin grew wider, and he wasted no time in giving commands.
"Ratsby," Ilima called. "Chu-gu-ha-se-yo!" (7)
"Loxley, back!" I ordered my own pokémon as shadows started to pool underneath the raticate's claws. "Firaga!" I wasn't quite sure what Ilima had said, but the order in Alolan was clearly for an elemental attack. I had to trust Loxley would avoid the dark energy as much as possible, as he was clever enough to recognize his weaknesses, and I slid over to Louis' side.
"Alolan raticates are dark types," I whispered to my friend after he'd sent his riolu sidestepping around the large rodent. "Still weak against fighting type moves, but strong against psychics."
Louis nodded, considering Ilima's pokémon carefully.
"Roussil are still just fire," he answered lowly. "Loxley should be fine. But you know we can't actually win this, right?"
I rolled my eyes. Ilima's raticate was level 62. Loxley was only level 22. Riolu was level 19. There was no way we were winning, we just had to prove to Ilima we weren't dead weight.
Louis agreed, and called a command in Kalais to his riolu. It darted left, over the prowling raticate to slap its palms into the other pokémon's side. The blows barely did any damage and the raticate snapped in riolu's face to express its annoyance.
"Loxley, migi!" I hollered over the riolu's angry little growls. Loxley danced right obligingly, waving flames towards the dark rodent while it was occupied with gnashing at the riolu. A pulse of dark energy washed away most of the fire before it even hit, and the raticate took the opportunity to body check the riolu who was still too close. The little puppy went skidding for a few meters
Several rounds of attacks went nearly the same way. Bastion, the riolu, would dash in for an attack only to barely dodge getting bit. Loxley would try to take advantage of the distraction, but Ilima's pokémon would counter or dodge, mitigating most of the damage. Then either Loxley or riolu would get tackled by the older rodent, and get sent flying.
It was painfully obvious that Ilima was going easy on us. His grin was much too placid as he lazily called his own commands in Alolan. And his raticate wasn't putting any effort into going after either of its opponents, just stomping with dark energy in either direction. The attacks were just slow enough for Loxley and Louis' riolu to usually be able to escape. Aside from singed whiskers, Ratsby really wasn't taking much damage at all. Nearly five minutes into the fight and several strikes from both opponents, the raticate was still going strong.
"Ratsby" Raticate (Ilima P.)
lvl 62 HP: 1023/1450
?
Drops: ?
Following another command, riolu dashed straight at the raticate's face, giving Loxley a chance to line up a rather spicy flame charge of his own while it blinked in confusion at the sudden change in tactics. Or so we had hoped.
Ilima chuckled a bit, then whistled sharply. His raticate launched itself upwards at the last minute, dodging both attacks and leaving my braixen and riolu hurtling towards each other instead.
"Down!" I called. "And back!"
Loxley slid to halt on all fours, dowsing his flames just in time for riolu to go tumbling over his ears. The little blue puppy stumbled to catch his balance as Loxley scampered away from a pulse of dark type energy from our opponent. My starter spit flames as he retreated, skimming another dozen health points off the raticate even as the shadowy tendrils leached his health down to nearly half. And it was only the second attack that had brushed him.
"Ratsby, that enough!" Ilima called.
Not trusting the call, Loxley skittered back to me still on all fours. His tail stood straight up in the air like a bottle brush and he was breathing heavily. The riolu wasn't faring much better as it limped back as well, standing gingerly in front of Louis and watching the raticate warily as it lazily trotted back to Ilima.
The pink haired trainer knelt down to gently rub the raticate's ears before popping back up with a smile.
"That went better than I expected," he claimed cheerfully, hands clapping together again.
Louis and I both frowned mulishly at the older boy. Ilima had been playing with us the entire time and we all knew it. Still…
[Quest Update!]
1- He's just throwing a tantrum
2- good luck
3- the village
4-The mountains of the Southern Shield are very dangerous in spring
5- Welcome! (Japanese)
6- Good afternoon! (Japanese)
7- Pursue! (Korean)
More drama, more of OC escaping it ASAP. In the manga, the editor of the newpaper is a member of Team Flare and actively circumvents the reporter Alexa from questioning Prof. Sycamore about the events in Santalune before attacking the heroes. He couldn't do that here, so instead he's doing this. And now MC is going to try to escape the plot ...
The *Karakka* desert was an area of Fiore that was ultimately cut from the Pokémon Ranger game, but coders found its information lurking around anyways. It's convenient as a buffer between the various regions. I just gave it a more European spelling. I'm just glad they finally gave us a name for the Scarlet/Violet region so I could put it on my map too.
Kahuna Nanu works for the International Police in the manga and is Looker's supervisor at one point but he's retired in the games. He reminds me of some older relatives, so I like him. Plus it gives me an excuse to segue between regions.
And according to the anime, and preceding the timeline, Ilima goes to Kalos to study abroad. So here he is. His pokémon are from all the different media, manga/game/anime, with some extra normal types to flesh out his team, and the sylveon, which was his eevee from the anime. Fairy types were known by the time we see him in Alola, but here it's just been acknowledged by the League. At the level he's at, an evolved pokémon makes more sense.