Game Freak's Pocket Monsters, Chapter 43
Even by air, getting to Olivine City required us to make a stop in Ecruteak City along the way. Dragonite wasn't the fastest flyer, and he was carrying extra weight with myself, Vulpix and the load of junk in my bag. I really had to sift through it at some point to lighten the load.
Rather than stay at the Pokemon Center as usual, Lance offered to pay for a hotel room. Naturally, I didn't turn him down, though I did try to at first. Mom always taught me to be humble, but if the offering party insisted... you get the idea. So we each stayed in our own rooms that night, and I even got to phone Mom in private from my room!
Well, that would've been extra cool, if only I didn't have to pay for it the next morning. Long distance call to Kanto, after all. And I certainly couldn't let Lance pay for that.
From there, we took to the skies again, and arrived in Olivine City just after noon. Dragonite touched down outside the city's north entrance, on Route 39.
"This is where we say goodbye," Lance mentioned after I got off Dragonite's back. "I have to get back to Indigo Plateau to report to the Elite Four."
"I understand. Thank you for taking me all this way, Lance. I was afraid I wouldn't make it back in time if I had gone on foot." Though to be honest, I didn't even know how much time I had left before the cruise arrived in the city.
"That's right, you mentioned heading off to Hoenn from here." Lance checked his own Pokegear, punching in a few commands before turning back to me. "The SS Aqua is due to arrive today, and will depart in four days for Hoenn."
"Guess I should go buy my ticket then, huh?" And if I was lucky, I'd be able to watch as the ship pulled into the harbor.
"Indeed you should. Take care on your travels, Star. And good luck in Hoenn!"
Lance gave me a salute, then took off on his Dragonite. I waved to him as he vanished from sight, then turned around and headed into town. Of course, my first task was to purchase my cruise ticket, then I had to pay someone a visit.
~o~
As it would turn out, I missed the SS Aqua's arrival at the harbor. I was distraught, but at least knowing the ship was in the city made it easier to find where to purchase my passage. I asked to see if I could share a room with Yunie, whom I'd be traveling with, but the man working there couldn't guarantee anything. Not much I could do to plead my case either, and it might not have been a bad thing. Yunie and I had hit it off when we met a while back, but perhaps not sharing a room together was for the best.
From there, I asked around the pier for directions to Yunie's address. She had invited me over, so I figured I could take her up on that offer. After wandering the streets in a corner of Olivine City for a while, I finally found the apartment building she lived in. Sure enough, her name was scribbled next to one of the buzzers next to the front door. I took note of the handwriting before I pressed the button.
"Hello?" Came a familiar-if-muddled voice through the intercom.
"Hi, Yunie?"
"That's me, who is it?"
"It's Star. We met-"
"Star!" She screamed, nearly breaking the sound on the intercom in the process. Even Vulpix was left startled by the sudden outburst. "Come on up! Quick!"
The intercom went silent, and the door to the building started buzzing. I pulled on the door, and it swung open without any problems. Vulpix ran in first, and started clawing at the elevator. Unfortunately, there was a sign covering the call button.
"'Out of Service'," I read aloud. I looked to the stairs nearby. "Yunie lives on the ninth floor."
Vulpix clawed at the elevator door a few more times in desperation. I started up the stairs, and she tried to climb up into my arms. Of course I didn't let her; if I had to climb up to the ninth floor, so did she.
After a grueling hike up to the ninth floor, I knocked on Yunie's door, marked 9-F. Guess that fit, considering her last name was Fields. The door swung open to reveal the girl I had met on the ferry.
"Hey, Star!" She said as she threw herself onto me. Yunie was roughly my size, if a bit taller. Though I couldn't be sure just how old she was. I was working under the assumption we were the same age.
"I was afraid you wouldn't make it back here in time!" She finally let me into her place. It was messy, like any kid's bedroom. Only this was her living room, and from what I could see, so was the kitchen equally messy.
"I made sure I wouldn't miss the ship," I half-lied. Were it not for Lance, I wouldn't have made it back.
"Don't mind the mess," Yunie explained. "Mom's been so busy, she hasn't had a chance to clean up after me."
"That's okay, my Mom's the same!" Another lie, this one completely so. Mom would spank me if I turned our house upside down like that. I knew that from experience, mind you.
"Listen, since you made it back in time, want to go somewhere with me tomorrow? It's really cool, I'm sure you'll love it!" By this point, Yunie had cleared off enough of her couch in the living room to give Vulpix and I a place to sit.
"Sure. I went to buy my ticket for the ship already, but they said we couldn't be in the same room together." And I forgot to mention it nearly left me broke.
"Leave that to me. I'll make sure everything works out!" She said with a wink. I was skeptic, to be sure, but at the same time I had a feeling Yunie would make good on that promise.
From there, Yunie was nice enough to invite me to dinner. Even if it was at a fast food place near her place; least it was free. Call me cheap, I don't care. She even invited me to stay over at her place, but that was one offer I turned down without even thinking twice. I appreciated the gesture, but if her living room and kitchen were that messy, I honestly didn't want to see her bedroom.
So after we ate and hung out for a while, we went our separate ways. Not to be mean, but hanging out with Yunie was tiresome. That girl had the energy of a toddler on a sugar rush.
At least I had several hours overnight and into the early morning.
~o~
"Hey! Wakey-wakey, Star!"
I instinctively slapped away whomever was trying to wake me the next morning, which resulted in nearly poking out Yunie's eye. Of course, I didn't know this when I was actually slapping her away, or while it happened, as I just rolled over and pulled the blanket over my head. After drifting in and out of a dream, one where I had just been awarded a tiara and become a princess, I was once again pulled into the waking world.
"Come on, Star! We have so much to do today!" Yunie continued to push and poke my back, trying to get me to move faster. After traveling across the region and back in less than two weeks, finishing my badge collection for Johto, and hanging out with Yunie for a few hours the previous day, was it wrong of me to want to sleep in a bit more?
"Can't it wait? I'm still tired." I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. There were still a few days until the ship arrived, so I saw no reason to rush anything at this point.
"No can do, Star! We'll miss the opening event!" Yunie pushed me around a bit more, which finally convinced me to get up.
"Event for what?"
"The Pocket Monster Convention!"
Thanks to Yunie, I didn't have to spend money on breakfast, nor spend it alone and silent, for better or worse. While I dined quite well on some pancakes, a food I sorely missed from my time back home, Yunie shared with me the happenings-to-come at this 'Pocket Monster Convention'.
See, Pokemon permeate almost every aspect of our world and culture. So, naturally, businesses and the like would do all in their power to make money off it. Reason why you see Pikachu backpacks and Jigglypuff underwear for girls. Not that I wear anything like that!
Well, the PMC, as Yunie shortened it, was an annual convention for the companies and fans to revel in all the latest trinkets and toys. They usually held it in Goldenrod City, but with the incident regarding Team Rocket, they relocated this year to Olivine City at the last minute. Despite my efforts back when I was in the city, the PMC didn't want to take any chances. I could only imagine the anger of some of the Goldenrod locals upon hearing this.
Yunie had taken all of yesterday to have her camera's film developed, lens cleaned, and internal make up scrubbed spotless. It was her first chance ever to get into the convention, and she wanted to make the most of it. I was just along for the ride, it seemed. She mentioned being able to bring along one 'assistant', which implied I was to help her along.
"Don't worry, I won't make you do anything! I just wanted you to have fun!" She assured me.
The event was being held in the center of the city, in a massive building that had been turned into party central almost overnight. Balloons of Pokemon both familiar and not covered the building, with performers in costumes greeting people outside the doors. The crowd was also immense; the last time I had seen this many people was back in Celadon City, during the festival. Yunie told me it would be a better idea to have Vulpix put into her Pokeball, and considering the amount of people all jammed into one place, I would've considered it, had Vulpix ever been in a Pokeball.
Yunie dragged me through the crowds, leading me by the hand while my other arm held Vulpix close to my chest. Because we were smaller than most of the people making up the crowd, we were able to slither through them towards the main entrance. We took up a spot just in front of the building, half a dozen glass doors just waiting to be smashed to pieces once the crowd was given entry into the building.
"Yunie, what's going to happen here?" I asked, feeling more than a bit nervous all of a sudden.
"Hold up, Star, busy." Yunie had her camera in her hands, snapping pictures like a girl possessed. I kept hearing the device click repeatedly, sometimes more than three on a single object. Wouldn't just one shot be enough?
"Sorry, had to get all this down. In a few minutes the security will let everyone in. Just hold onto my hand, and run as fast as you can. If you're not careful, they'll run you over in the chaos." My heart skipped a beat. This was scarier than any Pokemon encounter!
"Really? I thought you said this was your first time at this thing?"
"Actually, my second. I came once with my dad when I was little, but I don't remember much. When I asked him what it would be like, he said it changed a lot since he last came to one." Somehow, that seemed vaguely familiar.
Before I could say anything more, someone's voice echoed throughout the area on the speakers. I think he said something about the convention getting underway, which was probably it. Thing is, I didn't get a chance to even register it completely. Before I realized what was happening, I was running after Yunie, trying to keep up as the crowd behind us charged at full steam. We ducked through one of the glass doors, and through the security checkpoint without stopping. I think Yunie flashed her ID or something, because no one tried to stop us.
Of course, the reason why they didn't was because the mass of people behind us needed to be stopped first. Once we were in the clear, I looked back, seeing people being slammed against the glass outside, desperate to funnel into the building. It was worse than watching a stampede of Tauros in the Safari Zone.
"Listen, Star: things are going to get wild in here pretty fast. Just don't let go of my hand, and we'll be fine. Got it?"
I nodded, hardly able to voice anything with the impending rush just ahead of us. Yunie dragged me away from the entrance, zigzagging through the aisles towards some unknown destination. After a few moments we arrived at a wall, most likely at the other end of the floor.
"Why are we here?" I asked, before asking another question. "Where are we?"
"Cover," she said, pointing at a spare seat against the wall. "We'll stay here for a bit, wait until most of the people get inside."
"What? Why? Wouldn't it be smarter to start checking out everything while it's still empty?" Seemed like the logical thing to me, but Yunie shook her head.
"Nope, not a good idea. If you were a six foot tall guy, you could get away with that, but a pair of little girls like us? We'd get trampled by the crazies. We'll wait until the initial heat dies down, then take our time and check everything out. Save my spot, will ya? I need to go snap some pictures before the good costumes vanish!"
~o~
Like Yunie said, within minutes the building was packed to the brim. I had Vulpix sit down in Yunie's chair, keeping it safe from guys and the occasional girl from trying to take it. Most of the people there were dressed normally, though I did see a few in Pokemon costumes, usually a Charizard or Blastoise, with the kids in Pikachu ears. Maybe it was just me, but I noticed the Blastoise costumes were generally friendlier, while the Charizard guys were constantly picking fights. Pretty sure that'd mean something to someone out there.
After about an hour of waiting around for Yunie, she made her way back to the chair, crashing into it just as Vulpix moved out of the way. Her shoulder-length hair was a mess, no doubt from being pushed around in the crowd. I didn't say anything at first, letting her get a chance to breathe easy.
"Well," she said, taking a few deep breaths, "I got all the pictures I needed. Look!"
She dug into her jacket's pockets, and produced a few rolls of film. Each one probably had enough space for sixty or more photos, and there were three of them!
"Are those...?"
"Yup, all full. I can sort through the garbage later. At least I'm finished." She pulled a bottle of lemonade from her backpack, and chugged down almost half of it in a single gulp. Vulpix poked at me, clearly wanting to sample the cool beverage.
"Here you go, girl!" Yunie offered the rest of the drink to Vulpix, who gladly latched onto the bottle like a baby.
"Thanks. So, what are we going to do now?"
"Well, the rush is about done, we could get moving in a few minutes. There's a few stalls I'd like to show you."
Indeed, just like Yunie said, after another little while of waiting, the crowds started to thin out. She told me it was because a number of the stalls were mainly for sales, so once they ran out of new merchandise, plenty of people left the convention. The ticket for the SS Aqua had cost me quite a bit, so I didn't have a lot to spend here. Still, any small trinket to remember the convention by would be enough for me.
Along the way, we passed by a stall selling all sorts of little trinkets, from charcoal to an ice cube on a string! When I asked the clerk tending the shop, he said they were items for Pokemon, like the scarf I had won at the National Park earlier that month. I honestly didn't believe they could actually do anything to help a Pokemon in battle, but I was also sure the clerks would say anything to get you to buy them. They were also pretty expensive, too.
"At the very least they make great accessories for girls! You know my ribbon is actually meant for Pokemon!" Yunie pointed at the ribbon in her hair, which she had fixed into a ponytail before we set out from our chairs in the back.
"I have one too, I just haven't used it. It was a gift for Vulpix from some fashion people in Goldenrod City." Just mentioning that place got Vulpix all riled up, as she started scouring her surroundings for signs of those designers.
"After we get out of here, I'll tie your hair up in a ponytail, like mine!"
After glancing over a few other stalls, which sold anything from toys to eating utensils with toy Pokemon heads attached to the ends, we arrived at the first spot Yunie wanted to show me. It was run by a company called Game Freak, which was quite an odd name for a company. As it turned out, they were selling something called 'Pocket Monsters Version Red & Green'. They were handheld devices like a Pokegear or Pokedex, but weren't meant for trainer use. They were actually video games designed to emulate capturing Pokemon!
"Neat, huh? With this, you don't even have you leave your house to become a trainer!" Yunie picked up one of the games, and showed me the screen. On it, she was playing this boy with a red hat, a Bulbasaur following closely behind him. As she walked around in some tall grass, the screen started flashing, and suddenly the picture of a Spearow showed up opposite the kid. He released his Bulbasaur, and the game awaited Yunie's input.
"How are you supposed to play this?"
"Just tell your Pokemon what to do, like in real life!" She moved about the menu, selecting for Bulbasaur to use his trademark Vine Whip attack. The static image of the green critter shook a bit, then a pair of black vines poked the image of the Spearow. Its health bar ran out, and it fainted, which granted the Bulbasaur points for its victory.
"Try it, Star." Yunie thrust the device into my hands.
"Okay," I said, staring down the screen. I walked out of the tall grass, and continued north, when the surroundings went from green to gray, and I was in a city. I explored the locale a bit, and found a big building with the word 'GYM' plastered all over it. Intrigued, I went inside, and there was a little character vaguely reminiscent of Brock inside! I walked up to him, and the game displayed some text about Brock being challenged by the boy in the red hat.
The screen flashed again, which kind of hurt my eyes, and I was going head to head with a Geodude. Memories of my own battle with the real life Brock flooded my mind, but I kept my focus on the game. Since Bulbasaur was a grass type, a simple Vine Whip would easily down that pesky Geodude. And indeed, one hit later, it was knocked out, my Bulbasaur gaining a ton of points! I was actually getting into it, when the next Pokemon showed up, an Onix. Because this was a game, it looked no bigger than the Geodude that came before it, so I stuck with the same strategy, and used Vine Whip.
A few exchanges of poorly animated attacks later, the Onix fell, and Bulbasaur racked up even more points. The Brock in the game awarded me the Boulderbadge, and I was free to be on my way. It was certainly novel, but nothing like the real deal.
"You're quite the natural, Star. Sure you wouldn't just want to buy this and not go around endangering yourself?" Yunie joked.
"Nah, I'd prefer traveling with Vulpix. Video games can only do so much, and the animation was ugly. Some of the Pokemon hardly looked like the real things." I put the device back on the table, ready to move on. To my surprise, Yunie was picking up a copy for herself, the green version. As she paid for the game, I noticed it would cost her ¥4200!
"One more stop, Star, then we can leave or walk around a bit more if you want."
"Why'd you buy one?" I asked, a bit stunned she paid that much for the little trinket.
"You know I don't much like fighting for real. With this, I can pretend I'm actually on an adventure like you!"
We left the stall, and made our way down another few aisles, stopping by to glance at a number of other things here and there. I finally made a purchase along this route, a fluffy doll of a Jigglypuff. It was a bit big to be carrying around at all times, but it was too cute not to buy! A Jigglypuff was a Pokemon I never could get my hands on, anyway. There were also dolls of Vulpix, but with a real life version always at my side, I didn't need one.
The last stop was closed off from the rest of the convention with a fence. Inside, there were several tables, and people sitting down at each placing cards on and off in front of each other. Yunie paid the guy blocking the entrance some money, and he let us both in, giving each of us a small cardboard box the size of a playing card. Once we took a seat at an empty table, Yunie opened the box to show me what was inside.
"Playing cards?" I asked, opening my own pack.
"Trading cards! It's the TCG, or Pokemon Trading Card Game! It's another little invention by Game Freak." She spread out her cards in front of me. Unlike normal cards, these all had pictures of various Pokemon on them, with names of attacks and numbers written all over them.
"What are we supposed to do?" I looked at my own deck of cards, noticing mine was themed after fire critters, whereas hers was themed after thunder and psychic types.
"Well, the rules are a bit long, so we'll just play a quick free round, just so you get the hang of it. Basically, we take turns using our own Pokemon to fight each other! Only in card form, and because you have to shuffle the deck, the random chance makes the game pretty exciting!"
Following Yunie's instructions, I shuffled my deck around for a little bit, then drew seven cards. She walked me through the steps; selecting a critter, placing it on the field, 'benching' Pokemon for later use, attaching energy cards so that they could do battle. It was quite a convoluted process, though not overly complicated. In fact, compared to the lackluster recreation of a trainer's journey that the video game had, this made Pokemon battles feel more about strategy and timing than abusing type advantages.
We didn't finish the game we were playing, mainly because Yunie skipped over a few of the rules that eventually broke the game. She handed me a rulebook, and told me to read it if I was serious about getting into the game. After all, the deck I was using was a gift, one which I thanked her for considerably.
"You didn't have to! You've already bought me so many things while we've been hanging out together!" I was already feeling bad that I hadn't done anything for her.
"Don't worry about it! I just want us to have a great time together! Plus, this photography job pays a lot of money for a kid like me!" Yunie stuck out her tongue in a playful fashion.
"Still, I'll make it up to you! Want to grab something to eat when we leave?" The frugal part of my mind was screaming for me to stop, but I couldn't let this keep going. I had to at least offer her something.
"Well, if you want. Have anything in mind?" I looked down at Vulpix, who was looking a bit tired from the trying day. A nice little restaurant dinner would be ideal to relax and enjoy a food I hadn't eaten in a long time.
"How about we go somewhere where they serve pizza? I haven't had any in forever!"
"Sounds good to me! We can go whenever you want!"
We left the convention after sifting through the decks and trading a few of the cards we had. Where Yunie went looking for the more useful cards, I gave away mine for the ones of Pokemon I found cute. I was looking forward to learning how to play, but that didn't mean I had to take the same approach I did to battling. The joy of a card game was that even the weakest deck could win with a bit of luck and plenty of planning.
As we said our goodbyes to the security guards watching the entrances, I looked back one more time. It occurred to me that there was one photo Yunie hadn't taken.
"Hold up, Yunie! Come here!" I took her camera, pointing at where the film was supposed to go.
"There still some empty film?"
"Yeah, there should be. Why?"
"Excuse me!" I called to one of the security guards. He walked up to us, and I handed him the camera.
"Could you please take a picture of us?" The man nodded, and I grabbed Yunie by the hand and dragged her in front of the building. She caught on, and released her Pichu, so that he could join us in the shot.
"Say cheese, girls!"
We both looked straight into the camera, and gave it our best smiles. The flash that followed would create a physical memory we could, and would, treasure forever.