Satori in Kalos

Chapter 7
Grass

"Ah, isn't this nice Satori? The refreshing sea breeze, the shining sun, the green grass."

Satori closed her eyes and let the breeze blow her hair around her face. "It is nice, although I'm concerned with how we're going to get across this river."

"It's a delta, not a river." Trevor chimed in.

"Okay, I'm concerned with how we're going to get across this delta."

Satori and her companions hadn't walked more than a few minutes out of Shalour City when the ocean came into view. It had been hidden for the most part from the rocks surrounding Shalour, but once they left the city it stretched out in all its majesty. However, there was no way to progress on Route 12 without crossing the delta. They could see the other side, but it was too far to swim comfortably.

"How about we use that to cross the delta?" Calem said, pointing towards a small shack built on the beach. The signboard read "Lapras Rides: 500P per person," and there was a thin man with a dark tan standing behind a counter.

"Well of course we're going to use that."

After handing the tan man the appropriate amount, he handed each of them a blue pokeball. There was a place they could return them on the other side of the river. They all tossed their balls out in sequence, and five Lapras appeared. They all climbed on, and the Lapras seemed to know exactly where to go so there was no need to direct them.

The swimming Lapras was soothing. It gently rocked back and fourth as Satori rested against its long neck. The ride was slow, and took about an hour to reach the other side. It wasn't boring though, it was nice to just gently rock against the ocean waves.

Satori's arm was for the most part healed, although it still hurt on occasion. There were some serious-looking scars that would fade away in time, but for now it really marred her skin. There was nothing she could do about that.

The Lapras made it to the other side in due time, and everyone recalled them into the blue pokeballs and walked them back to the shop. The cashier this time was a woman, who took the balls and thanked them for their business.

"So," Calem said. "Onward to adventure I guess."

Satori was remiss to discover "adventure" was a farm. The Baa de Mer Ranch was incredibly large, and although there was a low fence surrounding the property it stretched off far into the distance. Satori figured that this ranch must stretch hundreds of acres.

Frolicking amongst the grass—for no other phrase quite described it—were numerous Skiddo, a goat-like pokemon. Satori decided to just walk past the barn house and travel along the road, although she heard Trevor's thoughts about how he wanted to ride one. She decided to just ignore it and keep the group moving.

The road was long but ultimately uneventful. It cut through wide expanses of plains which were stunning at first, but quickly grew tiresome. Farmland wasn't all that interesting to Satori.

"So, Satori~" Shauna said. "How close are you with your pokemon?"

Satori looked down at her three pokemon at the question. Absol, Braixen and Pikachu could easily keep up with the group's pace, but Wobbuffet couldn't. Satori didn't want to exclude it, but regrettably convenience had to take priority.

"They saved my life," Satori said rubbing her arm where she had been bitten.

Shauna looked taken aback at the kind of seriousness of which Satori replied. "Oh, uh, that's pretty close then..." I don't think my Furfrou would do that for me. "I'm asking because, well, I'm thinking of what you were saying back at the tower of mastery."

Satori noticed Calem's thoughts drifting towards the potential dangers of mega evolution that she had brought up back at the gym. He seemed reserved about using it, with good reason to be. "What part, exactly?" Satori asked.

"You said your Absol didn't want to mega-evolve. I'm amazed that you're close enough to be able to know something like that. I have trouble figuring out whether my Furfrou is hungry or not."

"Mmmm..." Satori muttered. She didn't want to reveal the real reason, she had tried that with Calem and it didn't work out very well. "Well, pokemon are more than just animals." Satori finally said. "Some are just as smart as you and I, others probably smarter. They have goals and desires all of their own. My pokemon trust me to help them out and support them, and I trust them to do the same."

Calem chimed in at this point. "So you know what each of your pokemon wants? That's a crazy level of connectedness, I'm not sure I can believe that."

"Braixen wants to broaden her horizons and experience the world. Pikachu wants to become stronger than any other pokemon. Absol is trying to prevent a future disaster. Wobbuffet—well, I'll admit I'm not sure what Wobbuffet wants. My guess at the moment is he just wants to have fun."

"That's amazing!" Shauna exclaimed.

"No way." Calem said. "No way you actually figured that out. You'd have to be able to speak with them to know that."

Satori shrugged. "Maybe I'm lying. Or maybe I'm just that much better than you at being a trainer."

Calem didn't engage Satori in any further conversation on the topic, although Shauna picked up where he left off. Satori always deflected and gave non-answers if anyone asked how exactly she learned this information. She hoped no one noticed her evasiveness.

The walk to the next town took days and they didn't run into a single wild pokemon. They didn't actually stray away from the road so it wasn't too surprising, but Satori thought it would have broken up into tall grass at some point. It never did though, and before they knew it they arrived in Coumarine City.

The part of the city that the route opened onto was not so much of a city as it was a port. There were lines of ships docked to Satori's left, with low buildings and market stands on the right. It was a fish market, and surprisingly active. A plethora of thoughts rushed into Satori's head as she and her party walked into the marketplace. And on top of the noise was the smell, which all of them disliked.

"So, do you guys want to split up then?" Shauna asked.

Calem rubbed his chin. "I suppose. Satori, when did you plan on challenging the gym?"

"Tomorrow." Satori said. Then she added, "Probably. I'll do some preliminary research on the leader first."

"Smart. We should all meet in front of the gym tomorrow then." With that, the group broke up and went on their own ways.

Satori did her best to walk away as fast as possible from the fish market. She originally headed into what she thought would turn out to be the inner city, but that was a false assumption. There was a large hill that was impassable and Coumarine City literally was just a port. As far as she could tell.

It was strange, though. Satori couldn't even find a hotel or a pokemon center. Certainly not the gym, which she knew existed. She had a nagging suspicion that she was only seeing part of the city, and the rest was hidden somewhere. But by the life of her she couldn't find out where.

She ended up running around for over an hour trying to find the rest of the city when she finally decided to do the easy thing, and just ask somebody. There was only one place in the fish market which was relatively peaceful, an incense shop. It was actively burning its products—for advertising purposes, Satori suspected—which generated a nice aroma around the stand.

"Welcome, young miss. Can I interest you in some incense? We have a wide range of different scents, I'm sure you'll find some that please you."

Satori shook her head. "Sorry, I'm trying to find the Pokemon Center."

The shopkeeper started laughing. "I'm not surprised you're lost, most newcomers are. We really need to do something about that." The man adjusted his collar. "The rest of Coumarine—yes, I said the rest—is on the other side of the hill. It's only accessible by the monorail on the far east side of the city."

"I knew there was more to this city." Satori said. "Thank you."

"No problem. And remember, if you're in need of any pleasant aromas, you know where to come!"

Satori headed to the eastern part of the docks, and sure enough there was a small monorail station. The service was complementary, although Satori would rather it have been well advertised. Still, she opened the wooden door to the station. She was greeted with two people she did not expect to see.

"Ah, my promising student Satori." Rung the voice of Professor Sycamore. "I've been waiting to see you."

"Professor!" Satori exclaimed.

"Allow me to introduce you to Diantha. She's the Kalos Pokemon Champion, as well as a very prominent actress in Lumoise."

The woman stretched her hand out and Satori shook it. "Nice to meet you, Miss Satori." Satori nodded.

Sycamore waited until Satori and Diantha finished their formalities before speaking. "Well then," he said finally, "I suppose I'll get right to it. I talked with the guru, I'm glad you guys went to see her. But you couldn't possibly imagine my surprise when I heard that you turned down the offer for the ring, Satori."

"Ah, that was—"

"No no, no need to justify your actions. Your decision is a sound one, who are we to say what is the best course of action? The dangers of mega-evolution are very possible indeed, although from a scientific standpoint I will state that currently there is no evidence to suggest there are any adverse long-term effects. But we are on the very border of knowledge, and we have not yet witnessed repeated mega-evolution for more than a year at most. There simply hasn't been enough time for a longitudinal study."

"I'm surprised as well, Miss Satori." Diantha said smiling. "You may find that lacking the ability to mega-evolve your pokemon will prove to be a major handicap. I won't lie, I use it. If you hope to face me at the end of victory road someday, be prepared for it."

"Ahaha, very true." Sycamore said. "But no gym leader will use it. The only one who can is Korrina, but she's decided it's not fair to do so in official matches." The professor paused for a moment. "Oh, look at me rambling on. Satori, since we're here, I thought I would answer any questions you might have."

Satori had to think about that one for a moment. She was caught off guard by the prompt for questions since she didn't really have any. Though she remembered that one inquiry she had before she got attacked.

"Can you tell me about Geosenge?"

"Ah, that's an interesting one." Sycamore nodded his head. "I assume you mean the rock formations and why Pokemon act strangely around them."

Satori nodded.

"Well, the specifics can be found in numerous publications. The basic idea is that there is a psychic resonance between the stones that pokemon respond to. We know a lot about the resonance itself, but we have yet to find a cause for why it occurs only there."

"Is it harmful? Because I liked it there."

"Not in the least, though Pokemon don't seem to like it." Sycamore was going to go on, but Diantha gestured to interrupt him.

"Sorry, but I have to be going." Diantha turned to walk out of the station, but before she left she turned to Satori. "I hope to see you in my hall, one day."

Satori and the professor watched her go. After she left, Sycamore turned back to Satori. "I can refer you to some books on the matter. Is there anything else?"

Satori shrugged. "There hasn't really been anything pressing, I don't think." She said. Sycamore nodded.

There was a bit of an awkward silence. Satori could hear Sycamore gathering his thoughts though, making it less awkward.

"Forgive me for dispensing a bit of wisdom on you, Satori." He started. "But as a professor it is sort of my role. We scientists—there is a question we love to ask. It's what we live for. A question so simple that most people overlook it, but it is a question that can slay monsters and topple gods. You seem to have an innate nature for asking it."

Satori looked at him questioningly. "I do? That seems dramatic enough that I would notice."

Sycamore laughed. "Perhaps I gave it flare, but the sentiment stands. The question is, quite simply, why. We ask why things are they way they are. Why people do this, why they do that. Why Pokemon think and act the way they do. The simple act of asking why makes learning the answer possible. And if we know why..." Sycamore spread his arms wide. "...we can move the world."

"Sorry," Satori said. "I don't really get what you mean."

"Indeed. For all its simplicity, really understanding what I just said is rare in people." Sycamore sighed. "It's not that they're not capable, they just don't seem to care. It saddens me. In any case, I hope you at least remember it."

"I will."

Sycamore smiled and bid goodbye to Satori shortly after, some business to tend to. Satori watched him go before boarding the monorail to the lower part of Coumarine. The ride was short, no more than ten minutes, and when she arrived it was clear this was the real town.

She found the Pokecenter without too much trouble and checked into a room. She spent the rest of the day playing and training with her pokemon before turning in for the night. The next day was bright and sunny like the day before it, and Satori walked to the gym.

Standing in front of the gym was Calem, but none of the others. He waved as he saw her. "Hey, Satori." He said. "Glad you made it."

"Mmhmm."

"The others haven't arrived yet."

"I gathered."

"I hate you."

Satori turned to face him. "I figured," she said, "but what brought that on?"

"You just had to say something. I was perfectly content with getting the mega ring and finally dabbling in some mega evolution. And then you go and ruin it forever." Calem didn't seem truly angry, it was more like he was venting. "I spent the entire walk debating whether or not it's worth using mega evolution."

"It's like you were given a cookie and I ripped it from your hands and licked it first," Satori said.

"Basically."

"Glad to be of service."

Satori and Calem spend the next fifteen minutes or so standing in relative silence. Calem pulled out his holo caster and started doing miscellaneous things on it. The point being "we don't really have anything to say to each other so let's distract ourselves."

Shauna arrived first, followed shortly by Tierno and Trevor. With the entire cast finally here, they decided to head into the gym. Satori was the first to comment.

"Not another tower!"

"Well, have fun you guys." Tierno said. "Us spectators will just go use that convenient elevator over there to the audience seating."

"So you three have just given up all pretense of collecting badges then?"

Instead of answering they happily trotted off to the elevator, leaving Satori and Calem to the obstacle in front of them. The tower was different than the one back in Cyllage in that there was no rock climbing involved. No, instead they had to climb up vines. Satori had a feeling one of these gyms was ripping off the other.

Unlike Cyllage, however, this tower was very brightly illuminated in a white light. The tower's construction was of white material, and on it grew bright green vegetation. It was suitable for a grass-type gym.

Calem shot up the vines and up the tower before Satori could even pretend to follow in his wake. He was definitely more physically fit than her, she couldn't deny that. Sighing, she grabbed the first vine and began to pull herself up the first wall to the next level of the tower.

She didn't make it up more than halfway before a sharp pain shot through her left arm. Caught by the sudden shock, she let go and fell to the ground. Luckily there was padding so she wasn't hurt. Except for the arm.

"Dammit." Satori cursed under her breath and inspected her arm. There was nothing visually wrong, but that didn't stop it from hurting. The pain subsided quickly enough, but if she had to endure that sort of pain then this gym was going to be way harder than she predicted. And she didn't like the idea of putting that much strain on it anyways.

The next thought Satori had was to be clever and have her pokemon assist her. But she couldn't think of a way any of them could actually help, which scrapped that idea. And there was no way she was going to ask for special assistance, even though Satori had a feeling it was available for disabled trainers.

So she decided to fight the pain and climb it anyways. She took special care to favor her right arm as much as possible, but after each climb to the next level she had to take a break. "God damn Team Flare and their god damn orange jumpsuits." Satori spat through her teeth as she climbed the fourth vine. "I swear if I ever see them again I'm going to stab somebody."

By the time Satori made it halfway up, it was fairly clear that Calem had already finished his battle and left. This only generated more streams of curses from her lips as she climbed up the next vines. After an inordinate amount of time, she finally reached the top. Before even looking at the gym leader, she turned towards the audience to see if her companions even bothered to stick around.

They had. Satori wasn't sure if that made her happy.

With that, Satori turned back towards the gym leader. He was an old man in dark green clothing. "Hello, young miss." The leader said. "I'm Ramos. How did you like my garden?"

"I don't like climbing." Satori said.

The man walked over. Despite being old, it was clear he wasn't frail. Satori had a feeling he climbed up here every day on his own accord. "That's a shame," he said. "This gym here, you may find it trivial or immensely difficult depending on the pokemon at your disposal. If I may, how many badges have you collected up to this point?"

"Three."

"Ahhh...so then if you win against me, you will have collected half the badges in Kalos. That would be very impressive, whippersnapper. Are you up to the task?"

Satori nodded and brought out her roster. First up was Braixen.

Satori's battle, as it turns out, fell into the first category of Ramos's explanation. A fire type wasn't threatened at all by a grass type, and Satori's Braixen cleaned up. It was clear that Ramos wasn't giving it his all, although he did his best to play it smart. Still, Satori couldn't help but think limiting oneself to a single type was extremely detrimental.

It didn't even feel like a victory, it felt like bullying. Or at least it would have if Ramos wasn't holding back. But Satori could tell. She was going to press him on it but before she could she looked towards her Braixen. It was glowing.

"My my," Ramos said. "It seems your pokemon is evolving."

Satori watched in wonder as her Braixen glowed white, and then grew larger and reformed before the white faded away. Standing in its place was a pokemon that looked very similar, but somehow more mature. Satori pulled out her pokedex.

"Delphox. Using physic power it can generate localized vortexes of up to 5400 degrees Farenheit."

Master, Delphox said, I feel different.

"Delphox?" Satori said out loud. Ramos was still in earshot so she didn't make it obvious she was talking with it. However, apparently the effort was wasted.

Master, I...I can hear you. Your thoughts, I mean...

What? Satori communicated. You have a Third Eye now?

N...no, it's...I can consciously focus on you and listen to your surface thoughts. It's not quite what you describe.

But you can hear me without me speaking? That makes things ridiculously convenient. Satori said to her Delphox. We'll have to train with this, we can cut down reaction times tenfold.

"Ahem," Ramos said. "Is something wrong, miss?"

Satori looked up to realize Ramos was holding out a wooden box. Satori had not taken it, and she blushed as she took it. "No, nothing, sorry. Thanks." Satori opened the box and took a gander at the badge. It looked like a leaf.

"That's the plant badge," Ramos explained. "And of course your complementary TM comes with it with a sizable sum of cash. There is a lift behind me that will take you back down to the ground floor. Congratulations."

Satori smiled and headed towards the lift, sticking her new badge into her case. She was eager to train with Delphox and see the range of is new abilities. It made her immensely happy that Delphox could listen to her thoughts. It was such an unexpected bonus. And after such an easy gym battle it felt somewhat undeserved.

She found Calem and the others in the entrance of the gym.

"Woo, that was easy." Satori said. "Is it bad that I derived a lot of pleasure from lighting those grass pokemon on fire?"

"Probably," Tierno said with a smile. "But that's pokemon for you!"

"Ahem," Trevor interrupted. "The actual point is that unless you have some really clever tactics going face-to-face can be crushingly difficult or trivially easy. It can come down to luck..." Trevor slid his glance towards Calem. It took awhile for Satori to realize he looked down.

Don't rub it in, Trevvs... Calem thought. Satori made the connection quickly—he lost. A wide smile drew across Satori's face which Calem noticed. She didn't say anything though. Her silent, creepy smile said more than any taunt could.

"Screw you guys!" Calem said. "I'm going to kick Ramos's ass next week, just you wait."

The group laughed, and Satori was going to respond when she got a blip on her Holo Caster. She pulled it out while the others talked. It wasn't an audio message, it was text only.

To: komeiji_satori (holocasternetwork)

From: Asycamore (Sycamorelabs)

Subject: Someone wants to meet you

Satori,

There is no rush, but one of my colleagues would like to talk to you. Well, perhaps colleague isn't the right term, but we're both scientists. She'll be in Lumiose for the next two weeks or so before she returns home, so if you can make it that would be wonderful.

When I told her you refused mega-evolution, she took quite an interest in you. Sorry for revealing that if you didn't want it known, but it's kind of a bragging right for me! Haha!

Just head over to my lab and I'll introduce you two. Her name's Alice, and I've attached one of her papers. See if it interests you.

Enjoy,

Sycamore

Satori glanced up after reading the email, but her friends were still talking about something irrelevant. She shrugged and opened the attachment Sycamore had given her. It was a ten-page report titled "A Trivial Understanding of Consciousness in Pokemon and Creating Artificial Poke-Intelligence." Satori's first response was that it sounded incredibly dry, but the fact that it discussed consciousness worried Satori. Did this mysterious woman somehow know about Satori's ability? Her Third Eye?

Probably coincidence, Satori reasoned as she put away the Holo Caster. But still, it was worth investigating.

"Excuse me," Satori said. Her friends stopped their conversation. "Professor Sycamore wants me to come back to Lumoise."

"Really?" Calem asked. "Why?"

"Not exactly sure, he wants me to meet somebody. I imagine that you'll be staying here to prepare to take on Ramos again, so I'm just letting you know I'll be leaving."

"Wait, you can't do that." Tierno said. "South of here is the badlands—you can't cross that alone!"

"Why not?"

"It's called the bad-lands. It's clearly terribly dangerous. Let me come with you."

"If you insist," Satori said. The rest of the party decided they would stay with Calem in Coumarine. Shauna said she didn't explore it nearly enough and Trevor gave as similar reason, although he used the phrase "research."

Satori and Tierno then made plans to set out the next day. Satori got all of her items together, and early in the morning set out to meet Tierno by the southern gate of Coumarine. He gave her a wave, and they set out to the south towards the badlands. Plenty of trees had been planted south of Coumarine to hide the view of the badlands, but they didn't have to walk more than twenty minutes before they came across them.

It was like the forest just stopped suddenly and everything died. Satori and Tierno stood atop a cliff, the bottom of which not a single thing lived. It was just dark brown-orange dirt. Worse, it looked to be extremely windy as large plumes of dirt were kicked up.

Tierno made a gesture to get Satori's attention. She looked over at him and saw he was holding up a pair of goggles and a bandana. "Here," he said. "You'll have to wear these."

"T-Thanks," she said and took them. The goggles fit surprisingly well, although the bandana was a tad large. It would do. "Let's go," she said after she suited up.

There was a well-made staircase leading town to the badlands, but that was where the convenience ended. There was no road, not even a pathway. The staircase just opened up to, well, the badlands.

Satori's pokemon decided they would not like to partake in this excursion, and Satori let them rest in their pokeballs. Tierno was happy to talk to Satori and didn't respond at all to her cutting remarks.

"So why did you decide to make a pokemon dance troupe? Not good enough to train them in combat?" Satori asked.

"Dancing is more fun." Tierno responded. Satori scanned his mind to see if her remarks cut deep into his soul, if he was hiding behind a mask of uncaring when his heart was truly broken by her words.

It wasn't. He was truly unphased by everything she threw at him—he didn't even think about it.

"I always watched Pokemon on TV and thought they looked super cool," Tierno followed up with. "I knew that if I could become a pokemon trainer, I wouldn't be interested so much in the combat aspect of it. I wanted to bring out that epic coolness that Pokemon have."

"A lot of people think that Pokemon shine brightest in combat. Combat is where they are coolest."

Tierno shook his head. "Maybe I'm not 'most people' then. I think creating a dance troupe of coordinated pokemon would be so cool. I applied to Scyamore Labs to be a trainer and told the professor this was my plan, and he accepted me as his student anyways. I think that was the happiest day of my life. So far."

This made Satori felt kind of bad. Learning she was accepted to be a trainer was far from her happiest day. She actually couldn't think of what her happiest day was, but being told she was a trainer wasn't it.

She knew what her worst day was though.

That particular day was far too vivid in her mind's eye.

Satori and Tierno traveled during most of the day. Even with the goggles and bandana around her face the wind and blowing sand still proved to be a major inconvenience. Satori really wanted a shower, but there was no way she could do that until she made it back to Lumiose.

It was at times like these she wished she had a water pokemon.

Sunset rolled by quickly enough, and Satori unpacked the tent. They couldn't really find a good place to pitch it, but if they dug the nails in deep enough the wind wouldn't blow it over. Satori learned the ins and outs of pitching a tent after the first few days of her journey, and they were very well designed. Satori was confident the tent could withstand a hurricane if it had to.

It was while Satori was hammering in the third nail that she felt something strange. The ground shifted beneath her feet, and she saw her other nails dislodge from the ground. It was strange, but Satori shrugged it off and continued to hammer in the nails.

Not a few hits later and the entire ground lurched beneath her feet and Satori suddenly found herself falling. The dirt collapsed all around her and Tierno was dragged down with her. Satori clamped her eyes shut and felt her body being knocked around by the dirt. It felt like just seconds before everything settled down again, and Satori hesitantly opened her eyes.

The dust obscured her entire vision, but as it cleared she could make out a tunnel leading into the darkness. Standing in this tunnel was a man in an orange jumpsuit, his hands holding an automatic rifle pointed in Satori's direction.