~ Chapter 56 ~
Pastoria City, City of Marshes
"Pastoria City was easily not my favourite stop on my travels through the Sinnoh Region. It was always wet, always cold, always muddy. If it wasn't raining, it always looked it was about to, or had just stopped. This was to be expected of course. Pastoria City sat right in the South-East corner of Sinnoh, right next to Route 212. Whatever parts of Route 212 weren't drowned in rainwater, were choked in a muddy, boggy, swamp. Thick mud, deep water, peat bogs, and a lot of humidity were commonplace in the area. Pastoria City had managed to combat the heat with the gentle sea breeze that blew from the south by the rocky beach. And they had contained the swamp into a massive conservation area known as the Great Marsh. It was Sinnoh's version of the Safari Zone—a very limited, swampy Safari Zone. But that's another story for another chapter…"
Sam, Alyssandra, Jeremy, Pikachu and Niya exited the Gym, Sam's excitement clear on his face. He hadn't even won the badge yet. He had just put his name down to battle Crasher Wake when he returned from a recent trip to Snowpoint.
He would be the first person to take on Crasher Wake for the Fen Badge this week.
In the meantime, Sam had two days to train and brush up on his skill before he took down the Gym Leader.
Sam knew he'd probably be using his Luxray. Being an Electric Pokémon gave Luxray a massive advantage against Water Type Pokémon like Wake would use. Sam also got a good look at the arena, and saw it was a massive swimming pool with places for land-based Pokémon to stand and fight.
Sam had a feeling Wake's Pokémon would be utilizing the water and land in order to both confuse his opponent's, and also keep Wake's Pokémon in their element where they could move to their fullest extent.
If things got muddy, Sam could swap to Empoleon to bring the fight right to Wake in the water. Empoleon's slick, steel body could cut through water and ice like a hot knife cut through butter.
Other than that, though, Garchomp was not a good pick. He was Dragon/Ground…he could swim through land but not water. Any Water Pokémon with an Ice Type move would do double the damage against Garchomp, as if the water wasn't bad enough.
Cranidos might be able to utilize her Ice Beam in a way to level the playing field—literally…but that was also risky. Too risk for Sam's liking.
The other option was using Staravia, but he wouldn't be able to dive into the water after his opponent's like Empoleon or hit them from after like Luxray.
Sam would think of something, of this he was sure.
Either way he was going to deal with Crasher Wake and win that Fen Badge.
Nothing was stopping him—not since defeating Maylene brought back his confidence as a Trainer.
The group walked cobbled street towards a bubble tea shop.
It was warm, the middle of summer, and even with the ocean breeze; the humidity of the marshes kept wafting into the city.
Pastoria City had a quaint, small town charm to it. The buildings were massive like in Veilstone or Hearthome or Jubilife. The architecture was old, refined, but well maintained. The buildings were made in the old, wattle-and-daub style siding between post and beam and painted white and black respectively.
The group sat down at the table, as Pikachu sprawled himself out in Niya's lap, basking in the sun. She spoke his name happily as Niya rubbed his belly and the group ordered—even Pikachu got himself a small cup of bubble tea.
Jeremy dabbed at his forehead with a cloth. "This heat is ridiculous," he sighed, "I miss Twinleaf in the summer. It was hot, but you could always trust a nice breeze from Lake Verity. And when that failed you could always go swimming to cool off."
"You're welcome to throw yourself into the sea by the beach," laughed Niya, pointing in a southerly direction towards the rocky beach.
"Don't tempt me," huffed Jeremy, "I might."
"If you go, bring me with you," sighed Alyssandra as she downed the complementary water, wiping sweat from her forehead.
"So, we've got two days until I have to fight Crasher Wake," explained Sam, trying to progress the conversation, "That means we have two days to take in the sights of Pastoria City. Niya you've travelled Sinnoh before, what is there to do here?"
Niya snorted. "Nothing."
"No seriously," frowned Sam.
Niya just smirked. "I'm being serious," she insisted, "There are only three reasons people come to Pastoria City."
The waitress arrived with the bubble tea, passing one out to each of the teens, including Pikachu, who sat on Niya's lap and happily sipped his cool drink.
"Pikaaa!" cried the small yellow Pokémon as the cold liquid dripped down his throat.
"What reasons are those?" asked Sam as he sipped his drink.
"To challenge Crasher Wake for the Fen Badge, or to see the Great Marsh and catch Pokémon," explained Niya.
She took a deep sip of her drink, enjoying the cool, refreshing taste on this hot afternoon.
"And what's the third reason?" wondered Lyss.
Niya smirked again. "You're passing through on the way to the Valor Lakeside Resort. It's got everything you need. Homes and cottages for rent, pools, a restaurant, entertainment, a white sand beach on Route 213 and a lakeside beach on Lake Valour."
"Why didn't we go there instead? Is there a gym in this resort?" asked Jeremy chewing on some boba.
"There's no gym," smiled Niya, "But it's a popular vacation spot for families and couples. It's supposed to be super romantic. My family went there one summer when I was young."
Everyone looked over at Sam who was intently listening to Niya while he drank. He jumped as he noticed the sudden attention on him. "What?"
More silence.
Alyssandra smiled.
Jeremy looked like he was plotting something.
Niya merely rolled her eyes.
"Okay fine, we'll stay there after we're done here in Pastoria. We've earned a break, I think…besides, it does sound really nice," sighed Sam, admitting defeat.
Alyssandra and Pikachu cheered, and Jeremy smiled happily as he continued to drink his drink.
Niya smiled smugly, eyes closed as she sipped her bubble tea. "Some days it's nice to have rich friends," she joked.
Sam shot a boba at her through his straw, causing her to retaliate.
The group laughed before returning to their silent sipping and chewing. The sun was directly overhead, and the umbrella provided little to no shade for them at this time of day.
"We should get inside soon before we pass out from heatstroke," mentioned Alyssandra, "And we still need to check in at the Pokémon Centre."
"We still haven't decided what we're doing for the next two days though," added Jeremy, "Sam's got his gym battle in the afternoon two days from now. But what about tomorrow?"
Sam smiled. "Why not a little catching contest?" he asked, "We haven't done one of those in a while. People come to the Great Marsh to catch all kinds of Pokémon anyway, right?"
Alyssandra smiled. "I'm down. I won the last contest, time to win this one too."
Niya smirked. "It's a shame I'm not catching more Pokémon, or I'd love to beat you guys. I'll come for the fun of watching Lyss win."
"That's if she can beat me," laughed Jeremy, "And I'm not letting Lyss get by on a technicality this time! I'll catch so many Pokémon, it doesn't matter if you catch any last minute, and you'll never be able to catch up."
"Easy there, Jerry," sighed Niya, "The heat's getting to you."
Jeremy sighed. "It really is. I demand we go find a pool, or a Pokémon Centre with some way to soak in cold water."
"Of course, princess," chided Alyssandra sarcastically, "We'll make sure to bring you a cold drink with a slice of lemon, light ice for you."
Jeremy scowled at Lyss while everyone doubled over laughing, even Pikachu, who proceeded to snort bubble tea out his nose.
"Come on," sighed Sam leaving a small pile of coins and cash on the table to cover their bill, "Let's get Princess Jeremy here to his cool bath—because Princess Sam's feeling a bit hot and sweaty himself and is going to take one as well."
"Agreed," admitted Alyssandra, "Jeremy's not wrong about the cool bath. Besides, I want to be refreshed when I beat you guys at the catching contest tomorrow."
"As if," retorted Jeremy quickly, placing Pikachu on his shoulder, "But I guess we'll see tomorrow."
