Chapter 5: The Search Begins
Hefting her satchel bag on her shoulder, Phoebe took a deep breath of the clear, salty air and glanced back at Dusclops. The towering, mummified creature was hunched over, groaning as it walked. "What's the matter?" Phoebe snickered, spreading her arms in the warm sunlight. "Afraid of a little daytime?"
Dusclops lifted her head and stared with unamused frustration at her trainer, then slumped again.
Sighing, Phoebe made an exaggerated slouch and turned around, patting Dusclops' heavily wrapped torso. "There there, Dusky, it won't be for too much longer. After we find Juno we can go back home to nice, foggy Mt. Pyre."
Dusclops nodded wearily and plopped to the ground, causing a small tremor as she sat. Phoebe took a seat on the creature's lap and flipped open her PokeNav, opening the map screen. "Okay, here we are…" she pointed to the screen and glanced up at Dusclops, elbowing her to get her attention. "See? There's Route 123, where we are now." She moved her finger to a mountain chain on the west side of the map. "That's where Juno was last seen: Meteor Falls."
Dusclops slumped her head, groaning again.
Phoebe sighed and snapped the device shut. "Okay, so it's a long walk! You need the exercise anyway!" Standing up, she kicked the creature's large ankle with her bare foot and stubbed her toe.
Dusclops lolled her head and slowly stood back up, trudging forward as Phoebe shook her pained foot.
Tilting her head back, Phoebe stretched her strained neck and straightened her spine, then shook her arms and resumed her walking pace. "So quiet…" she observed, glancing at the forests bordering trail as they passed under the shadow of the trees. "It's nice," she smiled.
Taking a few more steps on the dusty, dirt-covered trail, she felt a continued throbbing in her toe and tapped Dusclops. "Hold up a minute…"
Dusclops slowed to a stop and Phoebe gripped her arm, pulling herself up onto the gargantuan's shoulder and taking a seat. "Okay, continue," she grinned.
The creature sighed audibly and continued her march down the path; Phoebe leaned against her and patted her head with a smile. "Thanks, Dusky."
Climbing over the hill, the pair looked down to see a valley dotted with buildings, highlighted by a gym and a casino on the western side. The east side greeted them with a quaint bicycle shop, little more than a brightly painted shed beside a gated yard of bicycles. Sliding down from Dusclops' shoulder, Phoebe set her feet on the warm tarmac street and strolled into the town.
"This must be Mauville…" she spoke to herself, flipping open the PokeNav to confirm her guess.
Dusclops rumbled at her side and she looked up to see a trainer emerge from the Pokemon Center, staring at her. The trainer was a young girl, around age 10, clad in a simple white dress and carrying a Marill in her arms. Her eyes were fixed on the towering ghost and the oddly tropical girl standing beside. Her face carried a mixed expression of awe and confusion; the Marill's expression was the same.
Lowering the PokeNav, Phoebe waved a hand. "Hi there!"
The girl took a trembling step back as the strange ghost lady approached. The Marill chirped.
Phoebe frowned and held out the device, showing Juno's picture on the screen. "Has this woman passed through here lately?"
The girl's eyes widened and she squeezed the spherical blue mouse, staring up at the massive phantom. "Mommiieeeeee!" she squealed, dashing back inside the building.
Phoebe stared blankly at the spot where the girl had been, then shrugged and looked up at Dusclops. "Well, it was worth a try."
The Dusclops grumbled in reply.
Proceeding through the Rusturf Tunnel, Phoebe emerged expecting to shield her eyes from the light, but discovered instead that night had fallen. The moon hung low in the cloudless sky, its light reflecting gently off the verdant evergreens. The grass felt soft and cool between her toes; the air carrying the scent of a warm summer night. Pokemon scurried through the grass and between the trees, nocturnal insects rustling to and fro.
Phoebe smiled to herself, enjoying the pleasant weather, then frowned as she heard a buzzing beside her ear. Slapping with her open palm, she knocked the flower from her hair but missed the noisy insect. "Darn bug…" she grumbled, kneeling down to pick up the flower. "If you were a Pokemon I could just capture you."
Adjusting the wide petals in her hair, she glanced back at Dusclops, who appeared unaffected by pestering bugs. "Guess death doesn't smell too good," she smirked. "Not like tropical blossoms, anyway."
The Dusclops stared blankly at her, then shrugged and followed.
Glancing furtively from side to side, Phoebe swatted at the air and walked along the trail. Catching sight of streetlights in the distance, she quickened her pace, breaking into a full run by the end.
The soft grass changed to paved stone as she passed under a streetlight, entering the refined Rustboro City. Hunching forward as she caught her breath, Phoebe leaned back against one of the ornate metal fences lining the street and gazed back down the path, watching Dusclops trudging after her through the tall grass.
"Come on!" she called, raising a hand to her mouth. "We don't have all night!"
Dusclops rumbled a reply and stomped toward her, slowing to a stop and slouching beside her.
Patting the Pokemon tiredly, Phoebe looked around the darkened town, then glanced north toward the mountain. "Almost there… let's get some rest for the night so we can wake up bright and early."
The ghost nodded wearily and lifted the girl in her thick hands, setting her on her shoulder and trudging to the Pokemon Center.