Once Gardevoir got past the city limits, she took a deep breath.
Well, here goes half of nothing, she thought.
She began walking, feeling uneasy at first about her decision. It was a long way from Blackthorn to Celadon City. There were caves and mountains and forests to cross, not to mention many wild Pokemon that she had never seen before and would have a tough time fighting.
And there's so many other things to worry about, she continued thinking. What was I thinking?
She stopped herself in her tracks suddenly, nearly tumbling off a small cliff. It was at least four or five feet straight down, just enough to hurt someone if they kept walking blissfully on and didn't notice the ground beneath their feet vanishing into thin air. She carefully knelt down, turned herself around, and gently eased to the edge of the cliff. She got her feet and lower legs over the edge and began to search for footing. Eventually, she gained a tenuous foothold and began to slowly climb down. Soon, she ran out of room to climb and released her grip, landing lightly on her feet.
She straightened up and looked into the distance as she brushed herself off. There were a couple more cliffs some ways off, with knee-high grass in spots throughout the spaces between. The sounds of various creatures filled the air. She turned back to the cliff she had just climbed down from, and the realization struck her that she was not going to be able to climb back up it.
I guess there really is no turning back now, she mused.
She began walking again, trying deliberately to avoid going through the tall grass so as not to weaken herself by getting involved in a battle she did not need. Whenever she came to a ledge, she took the same careful approach to climbing down from them. It was a bit more time-consuming than she desired, especially where she was trying to descend and hold on to her bags at the same time, but soon, she found herself climbing down the last cliff in her immediate path. A large building stood some distance ahead. Maybe if there's someone there who can understand what I'm trying to say, I can get some directions to Celadon. This map only does so much.
She walked through the door, only to see that the building was empty.
"Hello?" she called out, although instinctively, she also used her Pokemon voice. "Gardevoir?"
There was no reply.
Strange, she thought. Isn't someone normally supposed to be here? She called out again, both telepathically and vocally, but there was still no response. Nothing except a loud snoring noise from inside the building.
Cautiously, she approached the front counter and peered over the edge. A heavy-set man in a uniform was sleeping on the floor, his mouth agape as a full-throated snore reverberated through him.
She tried to lean over the counter to try to gently shake him awake, but she couldn't reach far enough with her arms to even touch him. She searched for an object long enough to tap him with but found nothing.
Guess I'll just have to keep going, then, she decided.
She picked up her bags and walked out as the snoring continued.
As she walked out into the sunshine, she saw a strange tree off in the distance and she began walking towards it, a fruity smell wafting through the air. Approaching the tree, she saw that there were berries ripening on it, with fully ripe ones falling to the ground periodically. She picked one up and studied it, making sure that it was not rotten, and then she took a bite. It was much sweeter than any berry she had tasted before, sweeter, in fact, than any flavors that had ever touched her tongue. Quickly she inspected a few more berries and put them with the rest of her berries in one of the suitcases.
She continued walking through the grass, occasionally flushing out a Sentret or a Pidgey. She saw a sign just a few feet ahead:
YOU ARE ENTERING CHERRYGROVE CITY
Good, she thought. Gives me a chance to get rested up for the walk to the next town. Damn, I'm thirsty.
She started to walk again, but then stopped.
What if no one understands what I'm trying to say? she worried. They may not let me keep going, or worse, they'll ignore my ownership card in my luggage and think I'm a wild Pokemon to be caught.
"Snap out of it, Gardevoir," she scolded herself. "You'll find a way to manage."
She continued walking until she found herself in the middle of the town. It was a lot smaller than she had expected: just a few houses, a PokeMart, and a PokeCenter. She decided to go to the PokeCenter first before carefully getting extra supplies.
She walked through the sliding electric doors of the PokeCenter and marched right up to the front counter, where a Nurse Joy was reading a magazine in her boredom. There were a few other people in the building, and Gardevoir could feel their eyes upon her as she set her luggage down.
Must never have seen an actual Gardevoir before, she mused.
She looked for a bell on the desk but found none, so she knocked on the counter instead. The nurse seemed unfazed by the knocking, looking tiredly upward. "How may I help-"
She stopped suddenly as she saw the Gardevoir in front of her.
"Uh, are you OK?" she asked. "You're not lost or separated or something, are you?"
"I need to get to Celadon City, and FAST. Can you help me?" Gardevoir asked.
"Hello? Are you OK?" asked the nurse again.
Great, thought Gardevoir. She can't "hear" me. This is not going to end well at all.
She reached down, opened one piece of luggage, pulled out her identification, and set it on the counter, all the while looking for a pen and paper to try to somehow communicate with the nurse. The nurse took one look at the identification card and drew the wrong conclusion. "You're separated from your trainer? OK, I'll place a call out for-"
Gardevoir snatched the card away and shook her head. She started making scribbling motions with her hand.
"Oh, there was a note or a letter that came with you," said the nurse, still not getting the point.
Gardevoir facepalmed and made the motions more furiously.
"You want something to write with?" the nurse asked, and a relieved Gardevoir nodded. The nurse handed her a pen and paper, and Gardevoir wrote out, "I AM TRYING TO GET TO CELADON CITY." She handed the paper to the nurse, who stared at the note before giving her a blank look. Gardevoir sighed and wrote on another piece of paper, "MY ORIGINAL TRAINER IS DYING AND I'M TRYING TO GET TO HIM," before handing that to the nurse as well.
A look of realization finally crossed the face of the nurse. "Oh, I get it, you don't know how to get to Celadon."
Gardevoir nodded in relief again.
Nurse Joy led her to the map on the wall. "First off, you need to go north of here through Violet City, then you have to go down Route 32 through Union Cave. Then you go through Azalea Town and the Ilex Forest, then you go north to Goldenrod City. There's a railway station there, and the high-speed train goes to Saffron City. From there, just go straight to Celadon. Here, I have an extra rail pass. You'll need it to get on the train to begin with."
She walked back to the counter and handed her the pass. "Did you understand what I just told you?"
Gardevoir nodded.
"Good. If you want, you can rest here a few minutes before you go on. It's a long hike, and you probably won't make it all in one day."
About fifteen minutes later, Gardevoir walked out of the PokeCenter, the pass in one of her bags. She had gotten a drink before leaving and had a couple of lemonades placed in one piece of luggage, so she was able to head straight for Violet City without having to make too many stops.
As she walked away, a small child and his mother were walking around when the boy saw Gardevoir leaving and he asked in a loud voice as children are wont to do, "Mommy, why is that lady so white?"
"Shh, no need to be so rude," his mother scolded him.
Gardevoir snorted to herself as she kept walking.
"I have a feeling that I'm going to hear that a lot," she muttered.