Save State

By: Aviantei

File Two: Name Entry

While I would have preferred to take the straight route to the Pokémon Lab, that wasn't something I could bring myself to do in good conscience. Fuji had run off on the direct path, meaning Fri was more than likely in that direction. While what Errat had told me was enough to make me feel bad, I still couldn't convince myself that helping out with the festival preparations was the right thing to so. If that something important came along, I needed to be able to tear myself away in a second.

Of course that was just an excuse at this point, an automatic mechanism in opposition to actual reason. I had tried to make myself think otherwise—that I shouldn't be thinking about a dream so seriously, that I should be helping out Fri with whatever she needed to do—but couldn't manage to do it. The more I tried not to think about it, the more it got stuck in my head that there was still something important left to do.

Taking the long route had its advantages. While the sky was still impeccably clear, the road I was forced to take was surrounded by trees, giving me the blessing of shade I had been in desperate need of. Since most of the stalls were gathered in the more open areas without trees to interfere, I was in good shape of avoiding everyone unless someone was off on an odd run to their house to grab supplies. The chatter of the preparations quickly faded into the distance, giving me a moment of peace.

My hometown was small, just barely a town and nestled into trees at all sorts of odd angles and turns. As a kid I had to learn just which paths to take to get to a number of places, Fri and Errat's houses, the park, the lab, the store whenever Mom needed me to buy something. This involved the arduous task of memorizing trees and turns as landmarks, which had gotten me lost a fair share of times. Now they had built in signs to help out with the process, but I was confident that I could still remember exactly which way to go if I needed to.

The lab itself was nestled into a particularly dense pack of trees, a field cleared out behind it. The only boundaries were more trees, and wild Pokémon mingling in with trainer Pokémon was a common sight. I had heard that this was an unusual setup for a lab, and other regions didn't utilize it. Something about worries of trainer Pokémon running off, which I didn't see as an issue. My own team seemed to be perfectly content out here, and even had made friends with some of the local Pokémon.

I decided that it was better to play things safe than sorry. I snuck around the trees, trying to check the paths while still remaining in hiding. The lab usually ran a service for the kids during the festival, letting them play with the Pokémon so long as their trainers agreed. Fri shouldn't have any reason to come here, but that was all the reason for her to go out of her way and help someone else out. The fact that the Professors participated in the shrine ceremony didn't make me feel any less anxious.

Since the coast seemed clear enough, I decided to make a run for it. I snuck around the trees then made a sprint across the road. I bet I looked ridiculous running for all of three feet then stopping, I wasn't willing to take any chances. I even took a precursory glance around the lobby to double check that no one unpleasant was there. The lab assistant stared at me from behind his glasses, eyes wide.

"Um… can I help you?" he asked, a hesitant tone in his voice. I knew he recognized me, so it was probably my odd behavior that was concerning him. I looked around the lobby again, but didn't move from the door.

"Hey, Wato," I said, glancing behind my back. I probably looked like one of those guys that ended up thinking someone was following them all the time so they just ended up as a paranoid mess. Then again, that wasn't too off of a descriptor for what I was becoming. "There wouldn't happen to be any of the festival prep committee lurking anywhere, would there?"

Wato seemed confused at first, then his eyes took on a look of understanding. I guess that he knew what was worrying me. "No, they're not," he said. "Fri stopped by earlier, but only to get the professors. I'm the only one that's here right now, and I'm just holding down the fort."

I sighed in relief and stepped into the lab properly, enjoying the burst of air conditioning. While it wasn't too hot outside, the temperature was constantly monitored and put to the optimal temperature to keep as many of the Pokémon that stayed indoors were comfortable. The more I thought about what went into running the lab, the more I thought it seemed like one the nitpicky kind of jobs Fri would like.

"Well I came here to check on Wicker, that's all," I said. At the moment, I was barely even a Pokémon trainer anymore. I had placed my entire team under the care of the professors for the moment, and wasn't even carrying around a single Pokémon with me. All of my supplies were sitting in my bag in the living room back home. As far as it was concerned, I was just a normal teenager at this point. "Is it alright if I go into the fields?"

Wato nodded. "That's fine; you know you're always welcome here," he said smiling. Then his eyes lit up, as though he had remembered something. "Your Naleef—ah, that is, Wicker—is doing well. She really seems to enjoy the trees, so you'll probably find her over there. Although, I must say, it really is impressive that you went out and captured a legendary Pokémon so shortly after becoming Champion, —! Especially one that's an unknown type, as well! It's an amazing accomplishment."

I blushed, not used to the praise anymore. Once I had come home, it had been a steady phase of compliments from everyone. Congratulations on becoming the Champion! Way to go! Can I see the legendary Pokémon? I had been buried under the words for weeks, and then it had faded out as people accepted the facts and moved on in favor of the festival.

"Ah, it's not that impressive," I said, trying to get that look of admiration out of Wato's eyes. With the way things were going recently, I didn't feel like I deserved it at all. "It was more like luck, really. I ran around for months on her tail and didn't come anywhere close to catching anything. The fact that Wicker decided to stay in the pokéball was a miracle in itself."

Despite my intentions, Wato shook his head. "You shouldn't say things like that, —. After all, they say that Naleef will only become partners with a trainer that is truly determined. That determination will be met with destiny. The fact that you had to work so hard and never gave up and came to succeed shows that it's fate." He smiled. "Besides, not many trainers become Champion, let alone capture a legendary. The fact that you've done both only shows just how skilled you are."

"Yeah, I guess."

A skilled trainer without a memory or any self-motivation ability, that was something new. I wondered if I would have to tell Wato just what I had become for him to stop looking at me like that. It wasn't the type of look I deserved. Even simpler, I could just have him talk to Fri. Her words would more than likely make him experience a healthy dose of disillusionment towards me.

"I'm gonna head out back, okay? If Fri stops by, would you not let her know I'm here?" I asked. Wato nodded, although he was clearly confused by my words. Maybe after the festival was over, I would give him an explanation, if he really cared to know.

The fact that there was still this much natural clear land out in the middle of the woods still surprised me. You would have to go over a few hills before you could even see the end of the trees on the other side. Artificially installed biomes for the other Pokémon types were scattered about, but I couldn't see any of them from here. When I was little, I thought that this was the biggest clear spot in the world. You can only imagine my reaction when I first stepped out of town to start my Pokémon journey.

I kept on the side of the trees, like Wato had said. Other trainers' Pokémon were all over the lab grounds, playing with each other or just laying around. When one of my Pokémon recognized me, they usually came over and I stopped to play with them a few minutes. By the end of the day, I planned to walk all over the area, just to make sure everyone was doing all right.

I had one place I needed to stop at first, though. Keeping to the trees, I would run into it eventually. I ran my hands over the bark, letting it scrape against my fingers. It didn't really hurt me much, but it was enough that keeping track of the grooves in the trees left my fingers feeling numb afterwards.

By the time I made it up to the top of the hill I was heading towards, I was more than a bit out of breath. I reached for my pack to get a bottle of water before I remembered that I had left it at home. I should start carrying it around since I always seemed to need a break by the time I got here, but it almost felt cruel to give Fri any sense of hope I wouldn't go through with.

At the very least I should have grabbed something to drink while I was still inside the lab.

My goal had been a swing firmly attached to one of the solo trees at the top of the hill. Errat, Fri, and I had spent so much time at the lab as kids that the professors had installed it for us to have something else to play on. The hilltop offered a pretty impressive view of the laboratory grounds as it was, but once you started swinging you could see everything.

We had spent so much time here. Errat and I used to see who could jump the farthest off the swing until Fri had joined us and told us we would break our necks if we kept it up. From there, we had found other ways to amuse ourselves, like aerial Pokémon I Spy or setting up picnics with lunch from Errat's family restaurant. Fri had taken a long time to understand how to swing properly, and Errat and I took turns pushing her up into the sky.

What I wouldn't give to be that young again, for a number of reasons.

Even now, I couldn't stop coming back to the place. It had been where the three of us had spent the morning before I headed off on my journey, and where we had held the party to celebrate me becoming the Champion. It was the perfect place to go and think, just losing myself in the act of pushing my legs back and forth until they were sore.

Thinking about it, it probably was an obvious place for me to go. That being said, I was honestly surprised Fri hadn't thought of it and found me already. Of course, it could have been too obvious, making it stupid to go there in the first place.

I couldn't tell if that meant she had faith in my intelligence or was just counting me as not stupid enough to go there. Consequently, I couldn't tell if I should be insulted or not.

Wicker had also seemed to take a liking to the place, which was really good for her. I guess that the place must have smelled like me or something, because I was told she even slept in the tree after running around everywhere else all day. I guess it was a bit cruel to just drop her off here and leave her, but I also didn't want to just keep her cramped up in her pokéball all day. At least here she had other Pokémon she could play with.

I swung for a few minutes, even though I was still breathing hard. This made me tire out rather quickly, and I simply coasted out the rest of my kinetic energy supply. Once I was at a slow enough speed, Wicker jumped into my lap. I stopped so I could hold onto her properly.

Wicker was a Naleef, a legendary Pokémon. Even so, she was small for a legend, fitting onto my lap easily. Simply described, she looked like a small Deerling made entirely out of wood with leaves sprouting out in bunches where her horns and tail would have been. She could have been a grass type, except her leaves shimmered with color that designated her as a type that even the professors couldn't yet identify.

I honestly didn't care. Wicker was powerful, and she was an impressive catch. Somehow, I had known just where to look while I wandered the region, the goal of capturing legendaries in mind. It had been almost too perfect, not getting lost in the woods on the other side of the continent, way to similar the ones at home. I didn't falter at any of the turns that would have been traps, and found my way into a sparkling part of the woods where she slept.

She regarded me, as if she was trying to figure out if I was worth waking up for. Apparently the answer had been yes. I already had the Master Ball, a gift from the professors, in hand. I was about to throw it before she ran past me, and the chase began.

I ran around an insane amount the next few months. I went through every corner of the region I had already been in, and others I hadn't. I made new friends, wasted pokéballs on other Pokémon I had yet to capture, and wore out the tread on more than one pair of sneakers. It was exhausting, but in the end I succeeded, and headed back home to rest.

Except it wasn't really to rest and I had that crazy dream and now I was just one big giant stagnant mess running away from my best friends by planning on a swing when they would really use my help. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Wicker let out a cry—the same pure, sad note as always, like she was reflecting my thoughts. I kept her steady with one arm, holding onto the swing with the other hand, starting to swing. My path was a bit caddywompus due to physics, but Wicker seemed to enjoy it.

"What do you think, Wicker?" I asked. "That wasn't a dream, right? Or it was and I just keep using it as an excuse to do nothing. I just don't want to do anything I would have wanted to do before. Oh man, isn't that supposed to be a sign of depression. Damn, you don't think I'm depressed, do you?"

Wicker cried out again, and it sounded more like she was scolding me for cussing than trying to cheer me up. She let out a series of notes, which I chose to take as her telling me I wasn't crazy. As much as I loved Wicker, we had yet to form a definite bond where I could understand exactly what she was telling me based off a few sounds.

"No, no, it's more like… melancholy? No. A lack of self-motivation? No, I have that skill, I just can't work myself up to use it right now. Ugh, what's the word for when you have a crazy dream that you're certain is reality but you can't find any proof of it but it nags at you to the point that you can't do anything else with your life because you're using said dream/reality as justification without telling anyone that?"

Wicker's cry was short and succinct. I guessed the Pokémon language was way more diverse than that of humans.

I dug my feet into the ground, stopping the swing short. Sensing my intention, Wicker squirmed out of my grip before I had the chance to let go and landed on the ground. I stood up, looking over the lab to figure out where we would go first.

"Come on, Wicker, let's go see the others."

My legs finally told me to rest once we had made it to the water habitat. Two bodies of water were next to each other, one for fresh water and the other for salt water Pokémon. I chose to ditch my shoes and soak my feet in the fresh water side, and Wicker took a drink next to me. I considered asking one of my own Pokémon for a drink once I caught my breath.

Man, sitting around the house and not doing anything had done a number on me. What had happened to the me that could run around the region multiple times in a few months without hardly ever stopping? That me could've run a marathon against some serious athletes and done well. This me was seriously lacking in comparison.

Hey, maybe if I exercised properly, Fri would be less on my case. The only problem with that was that she would use my newfound motivation for evil.

"Ah, so this is where you were."

I froze at the sound of the voice, then relaxed. Wicker, picking up on my discomfort, jumped to the defense, only to end up rubbing against the legs of the person who had shown up seconds later. Professor Maple smiled, laughing as she petted Wicker's head. In the end, she sat down next to me on the lakeside, and Wicker settled in between us.

"Good afternoon, Professor," I said. At least I guessed it was afternoon, judging by the sun. Other than that, I had no other way to accurately guess at what the time was. "Please don't tell me you came out here on a hunch because Fri said she needed me."

The professor shook her head, looking out onto the lake instead of me. Some of the Pokémon, including a few of my own, noticed her and began to swim over. "I came out here on a hunch," she said, "and Fri does need you, but the two aren't really connected. I just wanted to talk about some things with you."

I couldn't tell whether or not I should be relaxing. On one hand, she could have meant to talk to me about just about anything not festival related. On the other, she really could be here to guilt trip me about Fri without necessarily coming from the source itself. I focused myself on attending to the petting needs of my Pokémon. "What about?" I asked.

"Oh, just some small talk." Professor Maple started to play with someone's Lapras, but I could tell her intentions were also more serious. Her hands slipped over the Pokémon's skin and shell, almost as if checking its wellbeing at the same time. "Pokémon really are amazing, aren't they?"

Wicker made a happy cry, taking the statement as a compliment. I chuckled a bit, the tension draining from my shoulders. "Yeah, they really are. I've seen so many of them while I was traveling, and I never went without being surprised. There's just so many species and I haven't even seen them all yet."

"Is that why you became a trainer?" the professor asked. I felt myself going to say yes, but that wasn't exactly true. For the second time that day, I found myself recalling a certain event from my childhood. Noting my expression, Professor Maple laughed. "No? Well then, go on."

There wasn't an easy way for me to get out of this conversation the same way I had gotten out of it with Errat. I sighed, relenting. "I wanted to be a trainer ever since I was a kid. When I left town, it was because I had people pushing me, telling me to go for it. While I had almost forgotten, they didn't forget the reason why I had wanted to be a trainer. There was something important I wanted to do…"

Professor Maple smiled at me. "And did you do it?"

My cheeks heated up in embarrassment. The more I looked at it, the stupider the dream seemed, catching a sacred Pokémon. I shook my head, and the professor's smile dropped. There I was, letting more people down because of some stupid dream I couldn't accomplish. That made two important things I wasn't able to do.

"So why don't you try again?" the professor asked. I looked up at her. "You've already accomplished so many things, —." She gestured to Wicker, who tipped her head up into the professor's hand. "I'm sure that if you keep trying you'll get somewhere. Also, if you were trying harder, then you wouldn't have to worry so much about Fri worrying about you."

I went to tell the professor that Fri wasn't worried about me, just angry, but stopped myself. Fri was a difficult person to read at times, but I was her best friend. It should have occurred to me that I was making her worry herself sick by lying around and doing nothing.

Okay, maybe "worry herself sick" was a bit too much, but the point still stood. I looked down to Wicker, who cooed at me in inspiration. My Pokémon surrounding me seemed to do the same thing, and Professor Maple nodded as she stood up.

"You've raised your Pokémon very well, —," she said. "That's why I believe in you. I'm sure you probably don't think what I've said is true, and I know you probably won't be better in an instant. But really, all I've said is a little something for you to think about, that's all." With those words she waved and left. I reminded myself to wave.

"A little something" wasn't the choice of words I would have used to describe what she had just said.

I ended up dreaming. I couldn't exactly call it a strange dream, since it paled in comparison to The Dream that had started this mess. Everything was dark, but Professor Maple was talking to me, her voice soothing and professional. And in the end, just as I was about to return to consciousness, I was asked a question.

What is your name?

"That's a weird question…" I said as I woke up, but I found myself thinking about it way longer than I should have. I chalked it up to the fact that I had just woken up, but that didn't seem right.

Only after a few minutes was I able to remember the fact that the name I had been given was Jijri.

So our protagonist finally has a proper name! Way to go! It gets really hard to remember when to omit out names and gender terms and all that, but I'm not quite out of the woods on those grounds yet.

A thanks to pokekid543 and Something dictionary related for your respective review and follow! I truly am grateful for your support.

A quick request: If anyone notices weird looping sentence structures in this chapter or others that don't really make any sense, please let me know that they do and where they exist! I seem to have an issue that when I upload some of my files, my text gets distortions. I try my best to fix these, but I am only human! Letting me know if I miss any would be a great help!

Next time, Jijri takes a proactive role in the worlds of others. Please look forward to it!

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