CHAPTER 3

Sir Tyrant and I stood in front of a boulder twice my height. "Hnnng!" I pushed it with all my might, but it didn't budge. Tyrant gave it a shove, then a punch, then a kick, then another punch. Nothing worked.

"Drat." I collapsed onto my butt. The whole cave had a very clear cut path to the finish line. Any possible detours were dead-ends with items at their apex. I kept them all in my backpack. Any potions I did collect were now empty bottles, save the one Tyrant was drinking.

We sat at the cave's end, unable to move forward. It looked like some sort of path was beneath the immovable boulder. Sir Tyrant, sporting bruises from the plethora of pokemon he knocked unconscious, threw me his empty potion bottle. I added it to the collection, hoping to recycle them when we exited the cave.

Suddenly, Tyrant started sniffing around. "Tarr…" His eyes narrowed.

I walked over to him. "What's wrong, Sir Tyrant?"

He stood up and ran towards a walkway between two groups of rocks. I ran after him. Once I caught up, I saw him digging up the ground in front of one of the cave walls and eating the dirt. Different strokes, I figured. I walked over to him and leaned over. "What-cha digging up?"

"Lrrr!" A growl came from beneath the dirt and a pokemon jumped up from it. It shook the dirt off itself, revealing another Larvitar. It looked over both of us with a frantic gaze. Tyrant raised both arms into a fighting stance. The wild Larvitar looked at Tyrant, pointed towards himself, and dug downwards. I stared at the path it traveled down and noticed a tiny crevice in the wall. It looked to be about a foot and a half wide. I couldn't fit in there. Tyrant looked at the hole, then at me.

I shrugged. "Go ahead. See what it wants." Tyrant complied and disappeared into the crevice.

I, meanwhile, bided my time staring at the ceiling. "All that fuss I made about being independent," I said to nobody, "and here I am expecting Sir Tyrant to come back. How funny."

I rummaged through my backpack and pulled out the flashdrive. Why was this just sitting by the cart, anyway? Did someone expect me to get attacked and find it? Or was this intended for someone else, and the messenger dropped it?

I pulled out a notepad and a pen. Things to do after escaping, I titled the page. Step 1, Find a phone and call Mom. Step 2, Find a computer and upload what's on this flashdrive.

"LUURRRR!" A shout from my right made me lean left, barely dodging the foreign Larvitar. It ran horn first into the boulder. The boulder shifted slightly, then split into two pieces, each of which fell backwards. I walked towards the wreckage, and saw a passageway big enough to fit into. The Larvitar nodded and ran back the way we entered the cave.

Soon after, Tyrant appeared at my feet. He pointed at the new hole I hoped was the exit. "Nowhere else to go," I responded. I held up the pokeball. "You want a quick break?" Tyrant nodded.

I put him and the ball into my backpack and stared into the hole. What I saw resembled a water slide. The grey surface was smoothed-down rock that I couldn't climb up or down. I placed my backpack at the entrance and, while not letting go, I sat on it. I pulled the ground toward me with my legs, picking up too much speed. "Whaaaaaa!" I shouted as I slid down, only for my shoes to touch regular cave ground five seconds later.

Guarding my head, I exited the slide and observed my surroundings. From the randomly-placed rocks to the texture of the walls, I assumed I hadn't changed caves. "Hm?" A bit up ahead, I noticed a middle-aged man wearing a large round hat. "Another person!" I shouted. I ran towards the man facing me thanks to my shout.

He smiled as I closed the distance. "What ho, little lady?" he asked. His enormous backpack probably locked him in place.

I gripped both straps of my backpack. "H-hello. Nice to meet you. I-I'm Brenda." Perfect. Did just like Mom said I should do when meeting a stranger.

"Name's Richard. I'm just another traveler on an eternal journey." He tipped his hat at me. "What's a lass like you doin' on your own?" He glanced behind me. "Seems where I'm going's where you've been. Props for getting out on your own."

I sighed. "I was…with my mom. Ah." My stomach let out a grumble. Right, I hadn't eaten dinner. Wait, what time is it?

The man put his giant backpack on the floor. He opened one of its many zippers and pulled out a bag of trail mix. "Want it? I know it ain't proper to take food from a stranger, but I can't in good conscious let a kid starve. Don't worry, I got plenty o' food."

I snatched the bag out of his hand and began wolfing down its contents. Even disgusting foods like peanuts tasted better than starvation. "Cough!" Some nuts got caught in my throat. I pounded the area around it.

"Take it easy, Brenda!" Richard held out his hands in front of me. "Unwise to eat too quick on an empty stomach! Need some water?"

I dropped the bag, grabbed my Nalgene and began chugging. The trail mix soon went down my throat. I sat down, and took a gasp. I looked down and gasped again. I'd spilled half the remaining trail mix onto the floor. "Ah." I picked the bag up and stuffed it into my shorts pocket. I looked over Richard's face while my empty mouth ate sour grapes.

He laughed. "No skin off my back. Ya probably need some real food, anyway." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet. Grabbing five bills, he handed them to me. "Here's around 500 pokedollars. That should cover a real meal and a phone call to your mah. I'd lend you mine if I had the darn thing. But can't truly rough it while relying on a societal vice."

"I…uh…" My hand hovered over his. Could I rob this nice person of food and money?

"Don't worry your sweet little head over exchanging change pocket to pocket. It's more valuable to you than me, anywho. 'Sides:" His other hand gestured behind him. Sunlight shone from what appeared to be an exit. "Caper City's right outside."

"I…thanks." I grabbed the money and stored it in my wallet, which I zipped into one of my jacket pockets. "I'll pay this back, I swear," I said as I ran towards the exit.

"Like I just said, don't worry." He waved back. "We're both from the north. Someone's gotta look out for us round here."

I ran to the exit and stepped outside. What surrounded me was…snow. A snowy landscape surrounded me. In August. "Guess the cart took me pretty far," I said aloud. My geography teacher did mention once that Naljo had rather variable climate. Maybe weather paradigms were different in this region. I reached down, made a snowball, and tossed it in the air as I walked. Why can't it snow all year round, I thought, denying my shivers.

What pleased me most, though, were the multitude of buildings around me. Past the tiny house in front of me, I saw a building labeled 'Pokemon Center'. Stepping through light snow atop grass, I reached the door and turned the handle.

What I saw inside surprised me. Most of the room was an empty tiled floor. There were a few cushions to my left and right. A nurse stood behind a counter next to a strange-looking machine. This building's a center, right? Apart from the nurse, the two people wandering around made this place felt more like a hangout spot.

I walked to the cushions and sat down. "Gasp, gasp." I was finally sitting on something soft. A wave of relaxation washed over my body.

"Excuse me, miss?" A voice broke me from my trance. I identified the speaker as the nurse at the counter. "Are you here for a healing?"

"Hm?" I asked. "But I didn't make an appointment. I don't think I have enough money, either."

The nurse put her hand to her mouth. "There's no charge. The Elite Four fund our core services through taxes. Have you never been to a Pokemon Center before?"

"Is this sort of place common?" I asked.

"There's one in every town, miss." The nurse gestured to the machine. I swallowed nothing. "Would you like me to treat your pokemon? It'll just take a second."

"My Pokemon?" I let out my breath. "Sure, okay." I pulled out Tyrant and handed him to the nurse. She put the pokeball on the machine. It lit up, made a strange musical tone, then shut off again.

The nurse handed me the pokeball. "I'm Nurse Joanna. We hope to see you again."

"We?" I put Tyrant into my bag. "Thank you. I don't know if I'll come back any time soon, though. Wait, do you have a phone?"

"Of course." She pulled a corded phone out from beneath the machine. "What is the number of your party?"

"I can't make the call myself?" I asked.

"It's just protocol."

I pouted. "Then why can't you call sooner?"

"Egh." Joanna scratched her eyebrows with her thumb and index finger. "Protocol, like rules. Just tell me the number already."

I gave her Mom's number while ignoring Joanna's personality shift. Joanna typed in the number and pressed the speaker button. The phone emitted a rising pitch. "The number you are dialing is in a location that cannot be reached by the current level of service on this line. To make this call, please call the following number to upgrade your service. 7-3-"

Joanna hung up. "Sorry, kid. Boss wouldn't approve of such a purchase even if he wasn't off this week."

"What?" I slammed both arms on the table. "How am I supposed to contact Mom?"

"Ehhh…" Joanna rested her head on her neck. "Your best bet's the professor's lab. I'm pretty sure he's the only one with the technology to call as far as you need to."

"What?" I repeated. "But… I need to go home! I'm separated from my parents! How am I going to live?"

Joanna shrugged. "From what I've heard about the north, you're probably better off away from them."

"How could you?" I shouted.

This failure of a nurse held up her hands. "My job's to heal Pokemon. You want another task, find another person. And he's just around the block. First and only large building on the left. You can't miss it."

"Tch." I gritted my teeth. "Thanks for the help. We hope to never see you again too." I slung my backpack over my shoulders and slammed the door on my way out.

As my feet crushed the snow beneath me, I glanced around Caper City. To my right was a body of water. I couldn't make out a shallow part or fish pokemon. A path behind me, on the Center's left side, led into some large meadow in dire need of mowing. The long grass rustled infrequently.

I stepped over a ledge on my warpath to this professor. Just a few minutes and I'd already met the two extremes of hospitality. Were all Centers run by vindictive women like her? I put the notion in my mind's backburner and knocked on the door. "Hello?" I shouted.

"Open!" a male voice shouted. I stepped back. I put my hand on the door handle, turned it left, and pulled. What greeted me was a wall, grey flooring, and some bookcases. The books were disorganized and in all sorts of positions, likely from guests not putting these 'Literature for the Intellectually Inferior' in the right locations. "Inviting title, Professor," I remarked. Speaking of, where is he if he's letting me in?

"God damn archaic text binding!" he shouted. I followed the voice around the corner at my left. I followed the mumbling along the wall until I found an opening. The room to my right stood out from the rest of the lab. In addition to the pink-diamond floor pattern, the left side of the room contained a computer, a set of bookshelves, and a bed. The computer screen was currently showing a research paper with the word 'myth' in the title. Right, I never plugged the flashdrive into the Center's computer! Could I have used it? Well, first things first. I scratched my head and walked forward.

Standing in from of these neat and alphabetized bookshelves was a man in a lab coat and glasses. He appeared to be tearing a book up with minimal or no results. This struggle continued for about a minute. He placed the book on his desk, right next to his computer, and leaned on the wood closest to him. "Scientists…shouldn't have to…do menial labor." He glanced left while catching his breath, and noticed me trying not to stare back. "Whoa!" He jumped up. "When did you get in my home?"

I shielded myself with both arms. "You, uh, told me to come in?" He lives in here? I sniffed around.

"But I've been…" He stopped and scratched his mostly shaven head. "Well, this discussion is pointless if you're already inside. What brings you here, miss…what is your name? I don't believe we've met before."

"Me neither." I dropped both hands. "My name is Brenda. You're the professor, right?"

"Professor Ilk, to be exact!" He smiled and pounded his chest. "Leading Pokemon researcher in the region! You got an inquiry, I'll be happy to answer it!"

"Great!" I clasped my hands together to show enthusiasm for his work I didn't have. "Well, um, do you have a phone I could use? The, uh, nice lady at the pokemon center said yours could reach long distances. And I need to contact someone really far away."

"Ah, you don't have a phone on you, Brenda?" He put his finger to his bottom lip. "I'd thought kids your age spent all their time on phone apps. Rather counterproductive, if you ask me."

Make your request clear. I took a breath. "You do have a phone that makes long-distance calls. Right, Mist, er, Professor Ilk? My Mom's really worried about me. Probably. I don't know. You can help, right? Right?" I found myself much closer to him than I was at the conversation's introduction.

Ilk pointed to the chair in front of the computer. "It sounds like you've had a rough day. Sit down, and I'll get you some tea."

I shook my head. "B-but I need to make the call right now!"

"The phone's by my computer. It'll access any region that could be interested in my findings. So, basically, anywhere. Push the bottom right button after typing the full number. Speaking of which." He walked over to the computer and pushed a button on the keyboard. Once the screen went black, he pulled the corded phone from its resting place and pointed at the buttons. "Please make your call. I'll serve you some team or whatever chilled beverage calms you afterwards." He smirked. "I don't know how much you saw, but I'd say we both need some chilling. Ugh."

Pointing the back of his head at me, he headed towards a door a bit right of his bed. I, meanwhile, grabbed the phone and typed Mom's number. To my elation, I heard a ring. Then another ring. I was getting through. Then another ring. Did Mom drop her phone? Then another ring. No, she'd probably be checking it constantly if I went missing. Then another ring. Please answer!

Then, voicemail. "Hey, yall, Mrs. Viridian here. Leave a name and a number, and I'll return your call when I'm able. Beepers!" The phone beeped. I had to give voicemail.

"Mom, it's me, Brenda!" I shouted. "I got really far from the campsite after some stranger in a red suit tried to kidnap me! I took a cart through this cave and now I'm in Caper City at a Professor Ilk's lab! Please pick me up! Please! I'm, uh, I don't know the number, but it should show up on caller ID, right? I'm scared! Mom, please come quickly!" I slammed the phone into its resting spot and hugged my knees. "Ah, aah."

"Careful with my technology, Brenda." Ilk came out holding two brown beverages in large styrofoam cups, each containing ice. "I had some iced tea in the fridge. Though, if you'd prefer something hot, I could make you coffee."

"Aaaaaaaah!" My tears poured out.

Ilk walked closer to me. "You alright, Brenda? I don't have a couch, but I have another chair. And a pillow. I'm sorry, I don't usually expect guests."

I grabbed one of the glasses and gulped it down.

"Whoa!" Ilk shouted. "Not so close to the computer!"

I stopped drinking. "I-I'm s-s-sorry!" I stammered out, spitting some tea onto the floor. I put the cup back onto the tray and gripped my forehead. "All I wanted was to be independent! Why can I do nothing except make other people and pokemon's lives worse? Why couldn't I just listen like a good girl?" I let out a whimper. "Aaaaaahagh!"

Professor Ilk stared back at me for a moment. He put the tray on the counter, right next to the book he was struggling with, and pulled a chair next to me. He sat down, arms crossed and face concerned. "Sounds like you've had a rough day. I'm no psychology professor, but I can at least hear you out. That sound good?"

I stopped moan for a moment to meet his gaze. "Thank you." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "It means a lot."