Fortunately, the remainder of the journey to Route 102 was fairly uneventful. One more wild battle caught Morgan just as she left 101, but it was nothing her Pokemon couldn't readily handle. In fact, Cerberus seemed more relaxed after; she imagined it took his mind off things.
Upon at last reaching her destination, Morgan turned her focus to the PokeNav. "Now, where is that…." Ah, this seemed to be it! ...Maybe? So far it only told her there were all the same Pokemon here she'd encountered on 101, along with reminding her she hadn't caught any of them. "No, really.." she mumbled. But it definitely said DexNav. Sera said it reacted when it 'picked up' something so maybe she just needed to walk around?
She was careful to stay out in the open, where she was less likely to encounter a Pokemon before she was ready. At last, the Nav did start to beep! Startling slightly, she looked down to see a radar pointing her in the right direction. She could see nothing with her own eyes in the high grass that way, and so relied on the machine to guide her.
Her pulse began to quicken as she grew closer, wondering what sort of creature she may encounter. Would it be among those she'd seen, yet more impressive, like Sera's Poochyena? Or would it be something new altogether?
Nose stuck in the screen, she grew closer…
Closer…
"HEY, YOU!" a child's voice shouted.
Morgan startled so hard she dropped her PokeNav… only to find it did not hit the ground, but rather 'caught' itself and began to float until it was back around chest level. "...What?" Examining and poking at it, she found it easy to move, yet determined to return to a similar relative position whatever she did. She grabbed hold again, and it felt no different- although she saw whatever Pokemon it had been tracking no longer seemed to be nearby. Unsurprising. She clipped it on her belt as it had often been, and it stayed. Yet when she again took it off and dropped it, it had a similar reaction.
"Hey! You ignorin' me?" The child from before had approached now, and stood just a few yards from Morgan.
"Trying," she muttered. "Hang on, kid, I'm doing something." She looked to her Beldum companion. "Mithril?"
Mithril remained still as ever, but let out a very tiny hum. Cerberus translated by shaking his head.
This didn't make any sense. She'd seen a PokeNav dropped to the ground. ...Then again, wasn't it a different model? She sighed. "Guess I'll find out later…"
"What is wrong with you?" the kid asked.
"The pursuit of science," answered Morgan dryly.
"You're acting like you ain't never seen a PokeNav afore."
Morgan pursed her lips hard enough at yet another… she was going to start thinking of this as 'foreigner-shaming'... remark that she wasn't even concerned with the grammatical nightmare of his sentence. "So I take it you know why it floats," she said flatly.
"Course." A pause. "Well I mean, I don' know the how ner nothin', but all- you're doin' a League Challenge, right?"
"Pretty sure."
"Good, I was right then. The newbie who started from Littleroot yesterday." It seemed Morgan had a fan. "Yeah all the challenger Navs do that nowadays."
"Huh." Had Sera's that she'd seen? Honestly, while she didn't remember any such thing, she couldn't confidently say it hadn't, either. Easy to miss what you're not looking for, and all. So Morgan poked her own Nav again and shrugged. "Well, guess that could be convenient."
"But now it's time for a battle!" exclaimed the boy.
Morgan blinked, looking him over, then looked out at the grass. "Uh… No thanks."
The child became huffy. "You have Pokemon with you, and that means you're a trainer. When two trainers's eyes meet, they have ta battle!"
"Actually I tend to avoid eye contact so-"
Beep beep beep. Oh gods…
"This is Navalie, your personal PokeNav assistant. Trainers are hereby reminded that per League rules, all challenges by other trainers must be accepted."
Morgan huffed. Right. 'Trainers' were reminded. ..'Reminded' for that matter. She was beginning to think she had the least thorough sponsors of all time.
"In the spirit of the challenge, trainer battles may be declined only with League permission in a state of emergency. Stay strong, trainer!" The same 'provided by' message played afterward.
Morgan sighed heavily. She supposed that did make this more challenging than simply dealing with feral fauna and established gyms. All the same, if local trainers were allowed to just hunt her down and challenge her willy-nilly, she wondered just how far in over her head she'd really gotten. "Fiiiine. Let's get this over with."
"I warn you, my partner is super strong!" the boy exclaimed. Morgan made a hand motion urging him to hurry up. "Let's go, Zigzagoon!"
Morgan deadpanned. "...Kid. Are you really sure about this? I uh.. I've killed like five of those today and I really don't want you to lose your pet for-"
Beep beep beep.
"I get it, shut up. Ugh." She rubbed her temples, then took hold of the PokeNav to watch the battle statistics. "Go ahead, Mithril." The Beldum floated forward.
"Zigzagoon, show it your Tackle!" called the boy. The almost-racoon lurched forward and… bounced off the floating metallic Pokemon.
Mithril, in turn, slammed xir full weight into the poor mammal, nearly crushing it. It was crippled, but remained conscious.
"C'mon Zigzagoon, you can do it!" urged the boy.
"...How?" asked Morgan.
The Zigzagoon failed spectacularly to tackle once again.
"Just… please go easy on it." To her surprise, Mithril's second 'move' option lit up as xe attacked with more grace and precision than she would have imagined xe could. 'Hold Back', huh? Morgan had been afraid to try it before with such an odd name, but she quickly realized now that this was going to be her new favorite move.
Zigzagoon hung by a thread afterward, but hang it still did.
"You about ready to call it quits and get that thing to a doctor, kid?" Morgan asked.
To her dismay- and outrage- the boy insisted, "We're not done yet!"
"...Are you kidding?" ….Kid-...ing… She fought back an inappropriately-timed smirk. "Look, if you're not, I am-" Beep beep beep. "Oh for fuck's sake. Fine. Hold Back."
Mithril hovered around hesitantly, unsure what more it could do, but finally settled on a light blow to the head, cleanly knocking out the Zigzagoon without quite killing it.
"Zigzagoon!" the boy cried with dismay so false it made Morgan nauseous, rushing to his fallen partner..
"Now get that thing to a damn doctor," Morgan commanded.
"A doctor can't fix-" He looked closer, then suddenly looked… slightly upset? "Wha'd'you mean it's not dead?" The boy sighed. He muttered something under his breath that Morgan couldn't quite make out, but she was almost certain she'd caught something along the lines of 'so much for' something something 'birthday'.
… What the hell kid. "I'm done with this." She turned to walk away.
….And took no more than ten steps before a wild Zigzagoon lept out in front of her, growling.
"For. Fuck's. Sake." Some part of her realized she should probably get more creative with her exasperations, lest her audience think this was her catch phrase, but that would have to come later. She sighed. So much for DexNav this route.
Thankfully, she had the consolation of at least being able to capture something, finally. Mithril's newfound Hold Back saved her the worry of accidentally killing her foes, although she did still worry they may run. With xir help, she was able to… somehow break the first PokeBall she threw. "Really." Ten of ten, best trainer. Fortunately, the next did capture the Zigzagoon.
Upon holding the newly filled PokeBall, Morgan felt… oddly underwhelmed. This was the first Pokemon of her journey. She expected this moment to feel more climactic, or at least significant. But it didn't. Perhaps it was because she'd received Mithril after starting, or perhaps because Zigzagoon felt like the most common species in this part of the world.
Whatever the case, she supposed she was at least a little grateful for the.. omen, if one could call it that. Of course, she could read numerous bad omens into the situation, too, but she was going to focus on the 'finally catching something' part. Hopefully she could get into a groove now rather than fumbling about.
"Guess I should name you, huh?" she asked the ball in her hand. The light and dark stripes reminded her of layered rocks, so... "Stratify sounds good."
From his perch on her shoulder, Cerberus gave her a disapproving look. "Well wha'd'you wanna name her? Fluffy? Stripe?" His look told her that was worse. "That's what I thought."
A few other trainers challenged Morgan throughout the day, though fortunately none were quite so abrasive as that first kid. She did note that reactions to her showing mercy ranged from pleasant surprise to significant gratitude, which didn't really help her impression of this whole affair. But who knew? Perhaps if she became a big celebrity, the practice would catch on. That much was a very nice thought: to imagine that she might be able to make a positive difference in the region. She just had to stay optimistic, stick to her own morals, and hope for the best.
The sun went down nearly an hour before she reached Petalburg, but fortunately her PokeNav provided a surprising amount of light. She now allowed the device to simply float freely at her side, or wherever in the general vicinity it decided to go; Morgan was beginning to notice it moved around more in battles and suspected it was getting better camera angles. When she needed it, reaching in its general direction brought it to her hand. As such, she still couldn't decide whether she loved or hated this thing.
With its function as a lantern, a lot of Pokemon- particularly Wurmple- seemed to take notice of her as she passed through, but very few approached, and many actively shied away as she drew near, so her last hour was peaceful.
Of course, given Genevieve's previous urging to keep most activity to daylight hours, this meant she found the Pokemon Center, left her Pokemon to be healed up overnight, and quickly crashed.
For the first time since arriving in Hoenn, she awoke without a lizard on her face. While this was pleasant, she did find herself quite eager to get them back and to get Cerberus back on her shoulder.
Checking her Nav, she found a text message from Genevieve encouraging her to stock up on supplies while in town, which she quickly did, and to go see Norman at the gym, which she looked for an excuse to put off. Unfortunately, after breakfast, briefly playing with Cerberus and Stratify under the pretense of 'getting to know her new teammate', and what could be very loosely referred to as sightseeing or taking the 'scenic' route in a city that was both moderately run-down and about as generic as they come even to her foreign eyes, she found the excuse pool rather empty.
The Gym was well-advertised and easy to spot, and as she drew closer she saw a young boy coming out the front door in tears. A man followed behind, and although Morgan still could not recall meeting him, she did have a very vague sense that he looked familiar. If she had any lingering doubt that this was Norman, overhearing their conversation dispelled it- both by context and by the fact that his voice, too, seemed strangely familiar.
It made her shudder.
"Thank you so much," the boy was sniffling, "for sparing my partner."
Norman nodded. "I trust you'll use this opportunity wisely. You know you can challenge at any time, but I advise you not come back until you're much stronger."
"Y-Yes, sir… I won't, sir. Thank you, sir." The boy was somewhere between nodding and bowing as he backed away, then finally turned to walk away at a brisk pace.
Norman noticed her as the boy left, and called, "Ah, Morgan! I see you're making good time!"
"I guess I am," said Morgan. And… then… … "Sorry, your wife said I should come see you, but I'm not really sure if I'm supposed to do anything or whatever. Should I, like, challenge the gym, or?"
Norman let out a too-hearty laugh. "Not yet, girl. Not with that team." Morgan pursed her lips, but realized it… probably wasn't meant as an insult. He wasn't saying she was bad, just too new, right? "On yours and Sera's charted path, this will be the fifth Gym you face."
He moved closer, then leaned in a little too close for comfort, though his attention was at least on Cerberus rather than Morgan. "It's nice to get a look at your Pokemon with my own eyes, though."
Morgan felt Cerberus tense and feared he might attack for a moment, but Norman fortunately stood up straight before he did, raising a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "He looks like a fine specimen with a lot of spirit. Very good. Care to show me the others?"
"Sure." She released both. Mithril floated as calmly as ever, while Stratify looked around alertly before realizing there was no combat to be had and flapping her ears happily.
Norman looked them over one by one, starting with Mithril. "Ahhh, he's even more splendid up close."
"Xe," Morgan corrected.
"What?"
"Xe's even more-... nevermind." The way he was looking at her, she didn't feel like it was worth the effort. Besides, all she had was Sera's best guess that Mithril even cared.
Norman shrugged, then returned to his inspection. "He's proven quite an asset thus far, too, hasn't he? I realize you wouldn't be aware, but Beldum are an extremely desirable species. Their fully evolved form is considered just shy of Legendary."
Oh hey, acknowledging her ignorance without being a dick about it? Maybe she'd end up liking this guy after all. "Really? That's interesting. And explains why xe's been so useful."
Norman shrugged. "Well, that's part of it. There's also the matter of typing, as well as excellent breeding. You know, when Genevieve told me about Sera's starters, we were mostly just in the market for a Shiny to serve as answer to hers. So you can imagine what luck was involved that one of the few available was also such an excellent specimen."
"I see." Or mostly. "When you say 'a Shiny', though? Is that what Mithril and Flash are? And what's the deal with them?"
"Ahh. 'Shiny' is the common term given to a rare genetic mutation all Pokemon are capable of presenting. In most cases, Pokemon of the same species have very little variation in appearance. They might vary in size or have slightly different details or variances in color, but.. Well, for instance, a Treecko might range from spring green to grass green." Morgan thought Cerberus looked to be about the middle of that range. "But Shiny Treecko are a vibrant teal with bright red tails. Unfortunately, not all Shinies are so drastic or appealing. But they all have a particular sheen that other Pokemon don't as well, and that alone makes them incredibly prized by a lot of trainers.
"On that note, even with selective breeding, Shinies are hard to come by. So if you ever see one in the wild on your journey, you are not only allowed but highly encouraged to capture it regardless of if you've already obtained a Pokemon from the area."
"Oh, neat." Hm, that may have come off a little flat or sarcastic? But really, she found this all incredibly interesting, and appreciated Mithril that much more as a result.
"I trust you to take very good care of him. I'll be rather disappointed if Mithril doesn't make it with you to the end of your journey."
Morgan thought she detected a hint of a threat in his tone, but she could hardly blame him, honestly. So she simply nodded. "We'll do our best."
Norman nodded back, then gave a last appreciative nod to Mithril. "And the other one…" He moved on to Stratify, and looked her over briefly. "Well, I guess she's a start."
Stratify seemed to understand the judgment being passed upon her and hung her head in shame. She shook a bit before looking up to Morgan, but Morgan could only shrug before recalling both Pokemon.
Norman sighed. "A few trainers in my employ do use Linoone, Zigzagoon's evolved form, so I suppose with enough time and effort…"
"E-excuse me…?" A very small voice joined the conversation from somewhere behind Morgan. She turned to see a green-haired boy who looked no older than 11 or 12. The child was probably both thinner and paler than even Morgan, which said something on both accounts. "Mister… Mister Norman, sir?"
Morgan glanced back just in time to see Norman's entire demeanor soften and brighten. "Wally! What excellent timing."
Wally looked to Morgan now, and his gray eyes grew wide. "Oh wow. This- You're the trainer Mister Norman is sponsoring, aren't you…? M-..Morgan?"
Morgan nodded. "I am."
Wally almost seemed to choke, but repressed it and went on as before. "I- I've been watching your journey when I can. I can't… really get out much, myself, since I'm stuck in bed sick so much. So it's really nice to live… Is vicariously the word?" he asked sheepishly, smiling but averting his gaze. "Through trainers like you…"
Morgan had no idea what to say to that, but suddenly felt 300% more justified in undertaking this whole ordeal if it was helping a poor precious child like this. She had not a maternal bone in her body and yet some part of her still felt an immediate need to protect him.
"Speaking of, Wally. When was your move, again?" Norman asked.
"That's actually-" he paused to cough, a louder and rougher sound than he looked capable of producing- "why I'm here. It's… today."
Norman's mood fell. "Ahh. Well we sure will miss you around the Gym." Wally nodded, and Norman turned to Morgan to briefly explain, "Wally's been one of our favorite spectators for a while." This caused Wally to blush, and Norman turned back to him to add in a brighter tone, "But hopefully the move will help you manage your symptoms as much as we hope."
Wally sighed. "I guess it's worth a shot…" He did not sound particularly hopeful, though. "But… Mister Norman?"
"Hm?"
"I-... Do you think… Is there any chance you could help me get a Pokemon to take with me?" The last sentence was a bit quick and jumbled, as though he was trying to get it out before it could slip away. "M-mom and dad say they're too expensive to buy one since most are priced for trainers, but I just want one as a companion. And if it's a gift I'm almost sure they'd let me keep it. Just so I have someone to talk to when I leave. I'd take anything."
"Aww." The sound escaped Morgan before she realized it, and when she did she hoped that didn't sound mocking.
Norman seemed a little taken aback. "Wally…" He pondered it a moment, then nodded. "I have a better idea." Fishing in a low pocket on the side of his pants, Norman retrieved a PokeBall and handed it to Wally, who took it with a look of awe.
"What is it?"
"Empty." Both Wally and Morgan looked at him in confusion. "I want you to take that and catch your very own Pokemon." Wally's eyes grew so wide Morgan thought they might burst.
"Uh… Are you sure that's a good idea?" Morgan asked. "And isn't he a little young?"
"I'm 15," Wally protested. … How?
"He'll be fine," said Norman. "Particularly seeing as you'll be escorting him."
Morgan deadpanned. "I what?"
Wally turned to her, his momentary defensiveness now long gone in favor of awe once more. "Will you really?"
"I… should probably hit the road soon, though, if I'm going to keep pace with Sera." As it turned out, her earlier feeling of 'want to protect' was more metaphorical than literal.
Norman smiled at her, but it did not put her at ease. "Can I speak to you alone a moment?" Morgan shuddered slightly, but followed him a few paces away from Wally and listened as his volume dropped. "Dear girl, did I mention? Aside from inspecting your team for my benefit, the other reason you were to come see me was to get a PokeNav upgrade. You'll most definitely be wanting it as soon as possible, but it is the darnedest thing. I seem to be forgetting where exactly I put that disk. If you want me to remember, I suggest you go help Wally."
"Uh…. Right. I guess." She took it back. Everyone in this region was nuts. "But won't he need to weaken a Pokemon?"
"Lend him one of yours. I suggest Stratify to keep from plowing through whatever you find too easily, but have Cerberus or Mithril on standby in case either Stratify or Wally look to be in danger."
"I see. ...But you only gave him one PokeBall?"
"At this level, most trainers only need one." Oh wow, that wasn't passive-aggressive at all. Like it was somehow her fault that Stratify managed to break one. "Honestly, though. If he needs more, lend him yours and I'll reimburse you." Oh. Well that was okay, she guessed. "Letting him feel like he's only got one chance will make his victory feel that much more meaningful if he does it, though. The kid needs that sort of boost."
"Ahh. Okay, yeah, that's fair."
"Now hurry up. You do need to be on the road some time today, and Wally needs to be back before his parents start to worry."
"Yeah, got it." Morgan nodded.
Norman clapped her on the shoulder, then turned back to give a warmer smile to Wally. "Sounds like you two are all set! I can't wait to see what you get."
The trip back to Route 102- the closer route to their side of town- was pretty quiet. Morgan didn't have much to say, and Wally mostly stared nervously at Stratify's ball in his hands. Twice he had to ask her to stop so he could catch his breath, but after that she managed to find a good pace.
When they arrived, Morgan pointed him to an area that looked to be lively. "Now, just stay calm, you can do this," she told him, the irony of her giving someone else training advice not lost on her. She supposed he wasn't really a 'trainer' though, just a kid looking to get a cool pet. So she felt she was probably qualified enough for this. "You can try to get something's attention or wait for one to come to you, but don't get your hopes too high if you do. You'll probably end up with your own Zigzagoon or maybe a Wurmple."
Wally nodded. "That's okay. As long as it's mine, I'll be happy."
He really was a cute kid. Well, as long as he was happy, Morgan supposed she'd be happy for-
"Rawl?" Morgan turned toward the sound to see- holy shit that might be the cutest Pokemon she'd seen to date. And she hadn't seen anything like that during her trek through. Was.. it walking right up to Wally?
Wally startled slightly as he noticed it approach, jumping a half step back. But once he settled down, he looked to the little creature and "H-...hey there." He looked to the ball in his hand again, but the approaching Pokemon did not seem particularly hostile. So, cautiously, he knelt down and extended his free hand.
Morgan checked her Nav to see the thing was called Ralts, and the Ralts in question slowly reached out to touch Wally's hand. "Do…" Wally put Strat's ball in his pocket and brought out the empty one to offer to the Ralts. "Do you maybe… wanna come with me and be my friend?"
…. "Can you do that?" Morgan asked. Why the fuck was she pummeling things into submission if… ?
The Ralts thought it over, but then smiled at Wally and reached out to push the button. In a flash of light, it disappeared inside the ball, which gave only a single small wiggle before dinging to confirm the capture.
Wally let out a weak but sincere laugh before hugging the ball tight to his chest. "My… very own Pokemon!" Morgan could practically see little hearts appearing above his head.
Norman seemed particularly impressed with Wally's catch, too, not only confirming Morgan's suspicion that it was rare for the area, but apparently in general. Meaning she was unlikely to ever get one herself. She was thrilled for Wally but admittedly slightly jealous. Ah well, she had Mithril, who was apparently far rarer, and about as visually appealing by her taste, albeit in a different way.
Norman 'conveniently' located the upgrade he'd mentioned and applied it to her Nav. He explained that it would allow her access to several new features, mostly of a social nature, and most of which she was unlikely to use much from the sound of them, but they were still nice to have available. But one that did catch her attention was the ability to Trade Pokemon.
"You need an app for that?" she asked. "Can't we just… physically hand each other…?"
Norman shook his head. "You certainly could, but this automatically takes care of swapping the registration data stored in the PokeBalls."
"Ahhh."
"Additionally, you can trade over distances with people whose Navs you've registered. Although you need approval for that. Currently, you'd only be allowed to trade with Sera that way, if you both agree to it."
Morgan nodded. "I see. Still sounds useful."
"Don't forget Wonder Trade!" Wally chimed in.
Morgan gave a quizzical look, and Norman smiled. "Right! To do a direct trade, you need League approval. But with Wonder Trade, you put up a Pokemon, and you'll get matched to a random person somewhere in the world who is doing the same- if there's ever not someone, wait 5 minutes and there will be, trust me. But since it's entirely random, you could get something much better or much worse. The mystery element is exciting, so you don't need approval, but there is a small limitation.
"Just like you can only capture one Pokemon on each route, you can only Wonder Trade a Pokemon you caught. That means Wonder Trade can effectively be used as a risky 'second chance' each route, but whatever you get you're stuck with. There's no continuing to re-deposit for third and fourth chances."
"I see! Yeah that sounds completely fair and really neat." This really was worth the detour. What a useful mechanic.
…
"Hey Wally. Could I get Stratify's ball back?"
"Oh! Y-yes, I'm so sorry. Here you go."
"Thanks." Immediately, she placed it in the appropriate slot of the PokeNav and hit the Wonder Trade option. The appalled look Wally gave her almost made her feel bad. Almost. "She's more cut out to be a pet than a fighter," she insisted. "Hopefully she'll go to someone better suited to her needs."
… It occurred to her only then that Wally was such a person. Damn, she should have seen if she could have traded Strat for his Ralts. Oh well, the Nav was informing her a trade partner was found already, and another second later Strat's ball disappeared. A few more seconds, and a new one appeared. The info on screen told her it was called Croagunk along with a picture. Neat. Poison/Fighting, that sounded formidable. Level- "Holy-" 22? That was so much stronger than anything on her team, this was amazing. Definitely her new favorite feature.
"Thank you both very much," she said, not calling too much attention to her new advantage. "I should really get going, though." Wally and Norman both nodded and bid her farewell. "Good luck with your move, Wally. Bye all~"
And with that, she set off, eager to see what she could find on the next route.
