"Oh, there it is!" exclaimed Gabe. He was pointing to a sign that said that Nuvema Town was just ahead.
"We're way ahead of schedule now," Ray said, checking the time on the C-Gear he had gotten in Castelia City. The two had been briefly captured by the magic of the huge metropolis, but quickly realized that there was no time to lose if they wanted to go to Nuvema Town and be back in time for the Science Festival. Ray had bought the C-Gear, while Gabe had acquired a couple of Poké Balls.
They had sped by Striaton City and Accumula Town without much sightseeing. Gabe wanted to see the sights, but Ray had easily convinced him that they could do that on the way back, when they were surer of how much time they had until SciFest. Nonetheless, they had seen many native Unova Pokémon on the way.
The road ahead sloped upwards gently. Nuvema Town was probably on the other side of the hill. And just in time, Ray thought. After walking for nearly two days, he deserved a rest. A comfortable one in a building, or a bench, or something, not in a sleeping bag on the ground. He glanced down at Spolt, who looked just about as tired as he was. We're almost there, he silently said to his Manectric.
It was about noon when they reached the town. Ray had expected such an outlying place to be at a slow pace like Verdanturf back home, but it was fairly active. Nuvema took advantage of its proximity to the ocean, it seemed. They could have possibly found a ship that went here instead of Castelia, but Nuvema's port looked mostly fishing-based from what Ray could see.
Gabe pulled out the map of Unova, getting straight to business. "The lab is this way," he said, walking down one side of a fork in the road. Ray, Spolt, and Gabe's Growlithe followed.
The lab was one of the largest buildings in town. Featuring a more modern design than the other buildings in Nuvema, with large windows and sharp angles, it was almost too scientific-looking. Nonetheless, Ray felt drawn to it. If it was anything like Birch's lab, just about everything inside would be incredibly interesting. He withdrew Spolt, and Gabe withdrew his Growlithe; neither of them knew how Juniper ran her lab. Birch always allowed them out, but Ray and Gabe both knew how to be polite. They were also a bit nervous.
Before they could approach and ring the doorbell, the professor opened the door and emerged from within. Ray could tell the woman at the front step was Juniper, since he had seen pictures of her in magazines and on television. She was fiddling with the buttons on her lab coat. After she put some sort of sign on the front door that probably said that she was away, she turned to leave. When she saw Ray and Gabe, her eyes lit up briefly, like she could tell at a glance that they were the kids Birch was talking about.
"Hello!" she called, walking towards them purposefully. Once they were close enough to talk comfortably, she said, "I'm going to guess that you two are Ray and Gabe. Am I right?"
"Um, yeah," Ray said, shaking her hand. "I'm Ray."
"I'm Gabe," Gabe added, copying the gesture.
"I'm Professor Juniper," she said, although it was really just to finish the circle of introductions; it was obvious who she was. "I'm glad Birch sent you my way. I could use somebody to talk to on the way to the Festival."
"Are we going already?" Gabe said, getting excited again.
"I don't see why not," the professor said. "If we leave now, you can have plenty of time to see the other towns on the way. There isn't much to see here in Nuvema, anyway."
"It's very relaxing here," Gabe offered politely.
"I guess it is," Juniper mused. After a moment, she asked, "Are you tired?"
Ray and Gabe looked at each other, trying to wordlessly decide whether they really wanted to rest or not. Eventually, Ray said no.
Then, the two Trainers began the journey back to Castelia City, with Juniper's company this time. On the road between Nuvema and Accumula Town, Gabe's fatigue finally caught up to him, and he called for a rest. The three of them sat down on the grass, by a wide stream that ran along the road for a while. The water was perfectly transparent.
"We walked all the way to Nuvema Town from Castelia in, like, two days," Gabe said, stretching his legs out in front of him.
"Did you skip most of the towns, then?" Juniper said. "You can see them this time around. We have more than enough time until SciFest."
"What is SciFest, exactly?" Ray said, peering into the stream. "We lost the pamphlet."
"It's just an event where we celebrate the discoveries science has made in modern times," Juniper answered. "Most of my colleagues will be there, and lots of exhibits will be up about things like evolution, Poké Balls, regional diversity, ecology, move theory, and biology and genetics."
"It sounds pretty cool."
"It's the first annual. I hope a lot of people turn up."
As they sat there, between the road and the stream, they could see another person walking down the road, towards Nuvema Town. When the guy saw Juniper, his step quickened, and he waved amiably. The professor returned it.
"That's Alex," she said to Ray and Gabe. "He lives in Nuvema. I see him all the time."
Alex had come close enough to talk without yelling. He looked about Gabe's age, which meant he was a couple years younger than Ray. "Are you leaving for the Festival thing already, Professor?" he said. He peered at the two Trainers sitting with her.
"Yep," Juniper said. "Alex, this is Ray, and this is Gabe. They're coming with me."
"Trainers, right?" Alex said, spotting the balls clipped to their belts. Ray nodded.
"Let's battle, then."
The directness of his challenge caught Ray by surprise. Alex had clearly meant it to be for him.
"If you really want to," Ray found himself saying.
"I do. Two on two?" Alex backed away, to give some fighting space for the Pokémon. Ray backed away in the opposite direction, uncertainly, while Gabe and Juniper sat down a bit farther away from where there would soon be battling Pokémon.
"Sure," Ray said, fingering Spolt's Poké Ball nervously.
Alex quickly and unceremoniously began the battle by tossing a Poké Ball to the space separating him and Ray. The ball flashed brightly, and let out a barking, growling Herdier.
"Watching battles is extraordinary," Juniper told Gabe. "The connection between the Pokémon and its Trainer is unmistakable."
"Ray is awesome," was all Gabe said.
"Alright, Spolt!" Ray said, letting out his Manectric. It was relaxed for a moment, but it quickly realized that it was in a battle. Within moments, the Manectric and Herdier were staring each other down.
"Wait," Juniper whispered to Gabe. "Something's odd about that Manectric."
"If you mean it's fur is colored a bit different, then yeah," Gabe replied. Numerous people from Hoenn had told them countless times that Spolt was colored oddly. Neither Wattson, who owned a Manectric of his own, nor Professor Birch, who specialized in ecology, could rightly identify what caused it—or what it meant. Spolt's colors were more subdued than the typical Manectric's: instead of bright blue and yellow, Spolt was navy and gold.
"Incredible," gasped Juniper, her eyes glued to the battle. The two Pokémon (and their Trainers) were still sizing each other up.
"Get ready, Spolt! Charge," Ray prompted. Spolt began to muster some electricity from the air, but the lack of recent battles meant that Spolt's fur was packed with charge anyway.
"Get him, Herdier! Take Down!" Alex yelled. The Herdier obediently began to rush towards Spolt.
"Dodge it! And use Spark!"
Spolt just barely slid out of reach of the Herdier in time. Its counterattack was a short succession of electrical bursts. Some of them missed, but enough hit the Herdier to cause some damage.
Within moments, though, the Herdier was charging forward again, without any command from Alex.
"Watch out!" Ray yelled.
But it was too late. The two Pokémon collided, and both ended up rolling on the ground. A yelp from the Herdier indicated that Spolt had discharged some electricity during contact.
Spolt and the Herdier backed away from each other. Spolt's back was to the stream, now.
"You can do it, Spolt!" Gabe cheered.
Beside him, Juniper said, "Does Ray have any League badges?"
"Three from Hoenn," Gabe revealed. "We didn't start seriously battling until we came back from Kanto."
"Keep going!" Alex demanded.
The Herdier repeated its attack, and Spolt didn't even need Ray's guidance to dodge it. The Herdier flew past and tumbled into the stream, sending a couple Basculin splashing away in protest.
Seizing an opportunity, Ray ordered, "Okay! Jump in and Discharge, Spolt!"
"Get outta there, Herdier!"
Before Alex's Pokémon could climb out of the gently-flowing stream, Manectric jumped into the water and let loose the remainder of its stored electricity. Sparks flew every which way, and the Herdier yowled in pain.
"No! Stop!" Alex cried. But Spolt had already finished the attack. Both of the Pokémon climbed out of the water slowly; the Herdier was utterly defeated, while Spolt was completely exhausted.
"You did great, doggie," Alex said quietly to his Herdier, before withdrawing it into its ball. "Go, Ducky!" he said, continuing the skirmish. His Ducklett squawked when it found itself in the midst of a battle. "You can do it," Alex assured it.
"Let me switch out, too," Ray said. "Spolt is tired."
The Manectric retreated to where Gabe and Juniper were observing the battle. Panting heavily, and slightly bruised, it lied down on its side and watched the battle continue. Juniper looked like she was about to explode, and her time was equally divided between watching the battle and staring at Spolt.
Ray trotted over to the stream. It was about six feet across. Perfect.
"Go, Felsin!" he said, throwing a Poké Ball straight into the stream.
"Whoa," said Alex. He moved over to the water, as well.
The new scene of the battle was a bit harder to see from where Gabe and Juniper were sitting, so they got up and crossed the river, using some large rocks as stepping stones. Juniper proved to be unafraid of getting wet. That, or she was too excited about the battle to care much. From the bank opposite Ray and Alex, Gabe and Juniper had a much better view of the action.
Alex peered into the stream, looking for his opponent Pokémon. When he saw it, he cried out incredulously, "An Anorith? How?"
"Oh, my!" Juniper gasped. "I guess… the regeneration program in Hoenn is successful! Birch didn't tell me!"
"Felsin is Ray's newest Pokémon," Gabe told her.
"Now I really want to stop the battle and take a look at it," the professor whispered, blushing. "It's things like this that make me proud to be a scientist."
Gabe wasn't quite sure what she was talking about.
"Ducky!" Alex called, resuming the battle. "Go find it and attack it!"
"Felsin, smack it when it's not looking!" Ray said to the stream.
The Ducklett quacked. It landed in the water comfortably, floating instead of standing up. The stream was deeper than Ray thought. Felsin had the advantage, then.
The Ducklett peered through the water. Everyone watching the battle was looking for the Anorith, too. Even Spolt had picked itself up to watch.
All of a sudden, one of the rocks in the stream budged and slid. Out from its hiding place came Felsin, Ray's Anorith. With a mighty shove, it launched the stone—through the water—at the Ducklett. And it struck dead on. The rock had been nearly the size of Ducky's head, and it had moved in a flash despite the water's resistance.
The sudden attack from below made the Ducklett squawk once again in panic. It flew up from the river and back to Alex's side.
"Come on, Ducky," Alex said gently. "You can do it."
Ducky quacked shakily, clutching Alex's leg. "Well, I guess you win," he said. He slapped his hands to his side in a brief moment of frustration.
"That battle was exciting!" Juniper said immediately. "You both did so well."
"Thanks," Ray said shyly. He went over to the stream, where he found Felsin happily piling up rocks in the stream. "Thanks a ton, Felsin. You were awesome." The Anorith seemed to beam with pride. He withdrew it into its ball.
"Well, I'm running a bit late, now," Alex said, subdued. "I'll see you later, Professor." He quickly jogged off towards Nuvema Town, with Ducky on his shoulder. From a distance he yelled, "That was a good match, too, Ray!"
"I think that was good enough rest," Juniper said. Even though Ray felt like he had not rested at all, the battle had energized him. He was glad to have used Felsin, because he wasn't sure how many opportunities there would be to use an aquatic Pokémon in battle. Spolt had also battled valiantly. Ray offered a bit of painkilling medicine for the few bruises on the Manectric's body, and it gladly accepted.
"Well, let's go, then," Gabe prompted. He picked up his bag, and Juniper shouldered her satchel.
"Alex is very kind, if you get to know him well," Juniper said once they were on the road again.
"He's an aspiring Trainer, right?" Ray asked, kicking a rock in front of him. It bounced and rolled a bit before veering off the road and into the grass. "He's definitely motivated."
"Dangit!" Gabe exclaimed. "I forgot to show Growlithe the battle!" He let his Pokémon out, so that it could at least walk with Spolt. "I totally forgot to let you out in time, Growlithe!" he said to his confused companion. "Ray battled this guy we met named Alex, and it was really cool! Ray used Spolt first, and Alex sent out a Herdier, and the Herdier used Take Down! And Spolt dodged it, and..."
Juniper smiled as Gabe went on about the battle. The Growlithe wasn't paying very much attention to Gabe; it looked like it was interacting with Spolt.
Better a first-hand account, right, Growlithe? the Professor thought, entertaining her imagination that the two Pokémon were talking. Of course, maybe that's what it was.
Then, she mentally scolded herself for not asking to take a look at the Anorith. She occupied herself by theorizing about how Spolt's fur was unusually colored. Nothing could keep her away from the scientific method for long.