Chapter 2: Jubilife City
The sun was just beginning to set as Eugene and Cúchulainn walked along the brick path of Route 204. These last remnants of Jubilife's expansive roads were bordered by a series of fences which separated them from small ponds, some of which had Bidoof nests on their borders close to the forest, which seemed to continue endlessly.
Eugene made a mental note that this would be a good place to take his girlfriend on a picnic, once he had one. If he had one that liked the outdoors. What if he met a girl who preferred to stay indoors, who enjoyed reading books or watching movies or going to parties? Or the kind of girl who liked the outdoors, but preferred to hike desolate mountains instead of the tranquil outskirts of a city? That kind of girl probably wouldn't have the patience for a place like this.
"Cúchulainn, how will I know which girl is the right one for me?" he said. But Cúchulainn's attention was elsewhere. Specifically, Cúchulainn's attention was with a young schoolgirl, who had called him over while Eugene's mind was elsewhere. It was a pity too, because she was way too small to be girlfriend material. Certainly not the right one.
"Is this your Growlithe?" the girl asked. She was bent down on her knees, stroking Cúchulainn with both hands as she looked up at Eugene.
"Yeah, hes mine. Do you have an older sister or anything?" Eugene asked.
She brushed off her legs as she stood up. "I'm old enough to be out alone. Besides, I'm a trainer, I can take care of myself. And you are too. So, you know what that means," she said as she pulled a Pokéball from her bag, grinning from ear to ear.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're talking about." Eugene said.
"We're trainers, we have to battle! It's like, the rules, and I've been training all week. You're not afraid, are you?" she said. She threw her Pokéball between her and Cúchulainn, which released a Bidoof in a flash of light.
Cúchulainn came running to Eugene's heels, circled around his legs once and then stood in front of him, ready to fight. Eugene was shocked at how quickly the peaceful path had become the stage of a Pokémon battle. He made a mental note that, if he was going to be taking his future girlfriend on picnics, he should probably pick a more remote location so he could avoid being pestered for battles by every other trainer who passed. Towards the West there was nothing but beaches, and he figured very few trainers would bother going over there. And girls love beaches, right? Not to mention that the sun sets in the West so they could share some really nice beach sunsets. If girls love anything more than beaches, it would be beaches with sunsets. It was practically guaranteed to win over any girl who happened to be there with him. It was, all things considered, the perfect plan. Foolproof. He would have a girlfriend in no time.
"Weren't you even going to tell your Growlithe to do anything?" the girl asked.
"What?" Eugene said. He looked down at Cúchulainn and noticed that the girl's Bidoof was sitting on the Growlithe, and Cúchulainn wasn't even putting up a fight. "Cúchulainn, buddy, don't just lie there! Do something!" Eugene yelled, but Cúchulainn did not move. The girl's Bidoof made a cooing noise as it waddled back over to her.
"Looks like we won, Bidoof!" the girl said, bending down and giving the Bidoof a large hug.
"Wait, wait, no you didn't! I've still got another Pokémon!" Eugene said as he fumbled around in his bag for his Pokéballs, eventually finding Saint David's, which he quickly tossed towards the girl. "Saint David, I'm counting on you!"
The Pokéball released his father's Dragonite, which towered over both Eugene and the girl, not to mention the Bidoof. Saint David ambled over towards the girl, patted her on the head while bellowing a low tune, turned around, ambled back towards Eugene, patted him on the head, reached down to the ground, picked up his Pokéball, and returned inside.
"Saint David, I was counting on you," Eugene said while staring at the calm Pokéball on the ground.
"So...this means I still won! Cool!" the trainer girl cheered, returning Bidoof to his Pokéball and running back towards Eugene, looking up at him to speak. "Thanks for the match, wait till I tell this one to my friends at school. I beat a guy with a Dragonite!" She began to skip back to town, singing her praises to herself.
Eugene stood there, staring at Saint David's closed Pokéball and the limp Cúchulainn at his feet. "Come on buddy, lets go. We've still got a ways to go before we get to Floaroma town, and we're not gonna get there with you just being lazy."
But Cúchulainn did not move.
Eugene squatted so that he could get a closer look at his Pokémon. "Oh my god, stop being a baby. I'm disappointed we lost too, but that doesn't mean you can just give up already. You're not impressing anybody. Come on," he said.
And Cúchulainn remained motionless. Eugene began shaking Cúchulainn. "Would you just get up? Please, we've got to get going." Cúchulainn replied with a stiff wheezing.
Eugene froze. What was he supposed to do with a near-dead Pokémon? Cúchulainn had never battled before. Eugene had never battled before. He had graduated from trainer's school as a kid, but that was practically a decade ago. It was all one big, fuzzy memory of sitting in class and goofing off with his friends and somehow still passing. Had he actually learned anything? He couldn't remember anything from his class, but he could remember things from his job. Was his job useful in this situation? He could name all of the TV personalities. Popular actors and this year's Pokémon League contenders, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what happened after the matches. They never broadcast what happens after a Pokémon battle! What could help him in this situation? Who could he turn to?
Eugene realized that he knew someone who knew everything there was to know about Pokémon. He didn't want to ask him for help, but it was his only option. He stowed Saint David's Pokéball in his bag and picked up Cúchulainn, who had gained more than a few pounds in his years of following Eugene from his bed to the kitchen. "Alright, Cúchulainn, this is just a minor setback, we'll take you to Dad and it'll all be okay, buddy." Eugene said to himself as much as he said it to Cúchulainn. "Everything's gonna be okay."
Slightly reassured, Eugene turned around and began to walk back to town.
"Everything's gonna be okay."
It was a very fast walk, and it wasn't even that for very long as it quickly became a jog.
"Everything's gonna be okay."
The jog bowed out in favor of a run.
"Everything's gonna be okay."
The run was succeeded by as much of a sprint as Eugene could muster while holding a Cúchulainn that much have weighed at least fifty pounds.
"Everything's gonna be okay."
This was more of a sprint than Eugene had done in many years so it quickly became a jog once again.
"Everything's gonna be okay."
He was about to take the turn to his parent's condo when he heard a familiar voice that made him stop in his tracks. "He even had a Dragonite, but it didn't feel like fighting so I still won! Isn't that the best thing you've ever heard?"
Eugene stared across the street to see the little girl from earlier bragging to one of her friends next to a fountain. Same age and same school uniform, so definitely not girlfriend material.
"Oh wow, a Dragonite? My dad says those are super rare! How did such a bad trainer get one? Do you think he'd let me use it?" the friend asked.
Eugene had an idea that would save him a lot of his dignity. Well, some of his dignity. Enough of his dignity. Definitely worth it, anyways. Instead of walking to his parent's condo, he crossed the street towards the girls.
"I'm not sure, he seemed kind of..."
"Do you think you could help me with a...uh, something?" Eugene asked, still gasping for breath.
Both girls became silent and their eyes widened once they noticed that Eugene stood next to them. The new girl looked at the trainer girl from earlier, who nodded, and they both looked back up at Eugene in silence.
"I'm sorry, but, well, I really need your help so if you wouldn't mind just please helping me a little bit I'd be very thankful," Eugene said in between gasps.
The new girl looked at the trainer, and kinda jerked her head in Eugene's direction. The trainer seemed startled before she said, "What, uh, what can I help you with?"
Eugene knelt down to her height so she could see his Growlithe just as well as he could before he said "He hasn't moved since our battle and I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to make him better again since I'm a little bit worried about him."
The two girls gathered round Cúchulainn, and then looked at Eugene, giggling. "You're really dumb. Did you, like, flunk out of school school or something?" the trainer girl said.
"Would you just tell me what the heck I can do to make him better?" Eugene asked.
"Okay. Just follow me. Come on, Samantha," said the trainer from earlier, who began walking down the street. The new girl, Samantha, followed diligently, and Eugene eagerly did the same.
They only walked about a block until they reached a building with a luminous orange roof. The young trainer entered the sliding glass door, and Eugene and Samantha followed suit. Inside was a bright, sterile room, with escalators leading both up and down, and a public computer in the corner. The walls were lined with pillows and seats for weary trainers to rest. The trainer girl was standing in a line of people that led up to the counter, all looking mildly annoyed at having to be here, chatting inanely on their phones or with the person next to them. Eugene couldn't help but feel a bit stupid. He had been in this exact building multiple times to help conduct interviews with trainers for public polls, but hadn't even thought to come here on his own to find someone to help him.
"This is the Pokémon Center! We just gotta wait in line, then the nurse will take care of anything. Shes super nice, we had a field trip here last year, and she let me run the machine!" the trainer girl said.
"The machine?" Eugene asked.
"It heals the Pokémon! And I got to run it too! You just hook up the Pokéballs and it just heals them." Samantha said.
"Then what does the nurse do?" Eugene asked.
"She takes the Pokémon from you and hooks it up to the machine," the trainer girl said.
"Why do we need the nurse? Why not just have a machine that is self-service?" Eugene asked.
"Not just anyone can operate the machines, you dummy!" the trainer girl said.
Eugene decided that this topic probably wasn't worth delving into, and even if it was, these girls probably didn't know the actual answer. After a moment of quiet, Eugene said, "So, I never learned your names."
"Our parents told us not to talk to strangers. What's your name?" the trainer girl said.
"I'm Eugene, and you've been talking to me for a while. I don't think telling me your name is going to cross the line," Eugene said.
"Still," the trainer girl said, "We're not supposed to."
Eugene rolled his eyes, and let his attention wander away from the girls. Their group had moved pretty far up the line without him noticing it, and were now almost at the front desk. Even with the superfluous nurse and the ridiculous amount of people waiting, the line moved pretty quickly. Looking ahead, he could see the machine-like motions of the nurse as she accepted the Pokéballs and ran the large, blinking machine. He supposed he would have to put Cúchulainn back in his Pokéball in order to get him in the machine, which was a relief because he had gotten very tired of lugging around the fat Pokémon.
He set Cúchulainn down and started digging into his bag for his Pokéball. He couldn't actually remember the last time Cúchulainn had been inside the Pokéball. At home there was no need for them, but Eugene could appreciate their use now. If he caught any big Pokémon, there was no way he could carry them back to the Pokémon Center like he had carried Cúchulainn. He finally found Cúchulainn's Pokéball behind his computer, and faced it towards Cúchulainn while pressing the button. A bright light encapsulated Cúchulainn, and then the Growlithe had vanished from the room. The ball had gained a certain reassuring heft to it afterwards.
"Hey Eugene, its your turn, get up!" the trainer girl said, staring down at Eugene from the front counter with her hands on her hips.
Eugene made sure his bag was closed and stood up, walked to the counter.
"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" the Nurse said.
"Yes, please," Eugene said.
"OK, I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds," the nurse said as she took Cúchulainn's Pokéball, hooked them up to the machine and pressed a button. A few lights flashed, and she handed the Pokéball back. "Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokémon to full health. We hope to see you again!"
Eugene said thank you as he turned away, Pokéball in hand. It was warm, like a pair of socks fresh out of the drier. Another trainer quickly took Eugene's place at the counter. The girls, who had started chatting while waiting for him, quickly caught up with Eugene as he made his way out of the building.
"So, we were thinking, because you don't know how to train Pokémon, maybe you want us to help you catch a Pokémon?" the trainer girl asked.
Eugene was starting to suspect that she enjoyed being in a position of superiority to someone who was nearly twice her size. But he also didn't remember much about catching Pokémon, which was probably aided by the fact that he had never caught one. Why wasn't this stuff covered in trainers school? Or did fall asleep in class more often than he thought he had?
"Uh, yeah, that would be great," Eugene said.
"Alright! Come on, lets go!" the trainer girl said, immediately running ahead. Samantha was on her heels. Eugene trailed behind again, but didn't let them get too far ahead.
As the girls discussed what Pokémon they thought would suit Eugene the best (answer: Wooper), Eugene looked at Jubilife. The sun had set now, and in the night the city had lit up with clusters of lights that left no room for darkness in the sky. Many people close to Eugene's age swarmed the sidewalks, searching for entertainment in one of the many open shops. The hazy glow of apartments and late-night shops faded as they reached the outskirts of the city.
Route 204 was different in the darkness. Jubilife's glow was strong enough to superficially light the area, but also cast deep shadows behind every fencepost and transformed the knee-high grass into a dark wilderness and the thick forest into an impenetrable maze.
The girls stopped in front of the tall grass and turned to face Eugene, who was a few strides behind them.
"Alright, Eugene, heres how you do it. Pokémon live in grass like this, so you gotta go in there and grab one! Its easy," the trainer girl said.
"Don't I have to use a Pokéball for something?" Eugene asked.
"Duh. You have to catch it in the Pokéball," the trainer girl said.
"Its easier to get them in there if you battle them first!" Samantha said.
"So I battle them and then I use the Pokéball once I win?" Eugene asked.
"Thats what our teacher said," the Samantha said.
"Have you guys ever actually caught a Pokémon?" Eugene asked.
"Well, no, but we're better trainers than you so you should listen to us!" the trainer girl said.
"I was just asking! Just asking, no big deal," Eugene said as he inched into the grass. Perhaps having them help him was not the best way to get things done. But it beat asking his dad, which would have been humiliating. He just prayed nobody else was watching him be bossed around by two little kids.
Eugene stumbled through the grass, which wrapped around his legs and threw him off balance with every step, until he reached the middle of the patch of grass. He stood there, silently, looking around at each corner for signs of life. The girls were a fair distance away now, but they could still yell to him.
"You've gotta run around if you're going to find any Pokémon!" the trainer girl shouted.
"That'll scare them away! If I stand still, I can watch them and sneak up on them!" Eugene said with a raised voice.
"That'll never work you dummy!" the trainer girl shouted back, crossing her arms in exasperation.
Eugene ignored her and continued to stand silently, waiting for something. A chirp or rustling blade of grass: any indication of life would be welcome. But nothing appeared. It would have been entirely silent if the girls weren't giggling, probably amused at Eugene's perceived incompetence. But he still waited for at least ten minutes, with no sign of Pokémon.
This was normal, right? Pokémon probably were scared to come out with people around. They could smell you, or something. Wild Pokémon don't like interacting with humans. It made sense. Why would they like trainers? All Eugene wanted to do was pound one into oblivion with Cúchulainn and then capture it in a tiny little ball and use it in further battles. Completely understandable.
There was a rustling in the grass. Eugene looked to find the Pokémon, and there was definitely movement. He began to run over to where he had seen movement, tearing any grass that dared strangle his legs out of the ground with his sheer momentum.
A tiny bird launched itself at Eugene's side, coming from behind.
"Cool, it's a Starly! You've got this one in the bag!" Samantha yelled from the side of the field.
Eugene grabbed his Pokéball from his bag quickly and released Cúchulainn to battle the Starly. "Cúchulainn, attack!" he commanded.
Cúchulainn tore into the Starly quickly, nipping at the small bird and pouncing around, trying to bring it down. The bird was quick and fluttered around a bit, diving in to scratch at Cúchulainn, but every dive brought it closer to the Growlithe's teeth. In a final motion, the Starly dove down and Cúchulainn jumped up, tackling it to the ground and tearing it apart.
Eugene ran over to survey the situation, and found the Starly in the same limp state that Cúchulainn had been in earlier. He reached into his bag, found an empty Pokéball, and pressed the button to capture the injured Pokémon.
No light. No sound. The Starly was still on the ground, and Cúchulainn sat beside it, barking. Eugene tried pressing the buttons a few more times, but was met with the same lack of a response. He stood up, looked over at the girls and shouted, "Hey, why won't my Pokéball catch it? Its lying on the ground, not even fighting back!"
"You must have knocked it out! You can't catch it like that! Find a different Pokémon!" the trainer girl shouted back.
"That doesn't make sense! What difference does it make if the Pokémon is conscious or not to the Pokéball?" Eugene yelled.
The girls looked at each other a bit, then looked back at Eugene and just shrugged.
"You should try running again, you found a Pokémon really quick when you did that!" Samantha said.
"My older brother swears that running back and forth in a straight line is the best way to catch a rare Pokémon!" the trainer girl added.
Eugene hated the fact that they seemed to be right about the running around thing. Ten minutes standing brought nothing but the suggestion that a Pokémon might be somewhere, while a few seconds of running had literally gotten him assaulted by a Pokémon eager to fight. But Eugene tried again, running further into the field with Cúchulainn right behind him.
In just a few steps he had come across a small Shinx drawing lots of attention to itself by sparking and growling. If it wasn't so cute it might have stood a chance of being intimidating. Cúchulainn stayed behind Eugene, looking up, unsure of what to do.
"Cúchulainn, take it down but not out! It still needs to be conscious for us to catch it!" Eugene said, pointing at the Shinx. Cúchulainn barked and jumped straight into action, continuing the same game of trying to bite and tackle his opponent. The Shinx arched it's back and clawed at Cúchulainn. The two Pokémon circled around each other, trading blows, until Cúchulainn had pinned the Shinx down underneath him.
Eugene could hear the Shinx's stuggling cries still, and ran over with the empty Pokéball. He aimed at the Shinx and pressed the button. In a quick flash of light, the Shinx had disappeared from underneath Cúchulainn, and Eugene could feel the weight of the Pokéball.
"Good job, buddy! We caught a Pokémon! We're on our way to becoming serious Pokémon trainers!" Eugene said as he hefted the fat Growlithe up, squeezing him tightly. "We've got this trainer thing in the bag, and its just our first day!"
"Are you gonna nickname it?" the trainer girl shouted.
"Nickname?" Eugene asked. He hadn't considered this. He put Cúchulainn down to think. He wanted strong, dignified names for his Pokémon. Names that inspired fear in his opponents and respect from his peers, names that would make a girl swoon with the sheer force of their intense, fiery machismo. He liked Cúchulainn's nickname, and thought something in a similar vein would be appropriate. Besides, girls like consistency, right?
"Irusan," Eugene muttered. He faced the girls and lifted the Pokéball in the air, shouting "My Shinx's name is Irusan!" Shoving the ball back into his bag, he ran back out of the grass with Cúchulainn at his heels, avoiding the barrage of wild Pokémon.
"Show us your new Pokémon!" Samantha said.
"Sure," Eugene said as he fished into his bag to grab the ball back out, quickly releasing Irusan on the ground in front of him. The Shinx lay on the ground quietly, with sullen eyes and heavy breath, yet to recover from the battle. Eugene was a bit disappointed, but Samantha and the trainer girl still stooped down to pet the Shinx while making cooing sounds.
"Maybe he'll be more...alive if I take him to the Pokémon Center?" Eugene suggested. The girls were content with just petting the weary creature, so Eugene sat down a few feet away with Cúchulainn and let them do their thing.
It had been a busy day, and Eugene hadn't realized how tired he was until now. He should have already gotten to Floaroma Town, but he wasn't sure if that was an option at this point. He couldn't go back home for the night either, that would be like giving up. Sleeping in the outdoors didn't appeal to Eugene. So where would he stay? He couldn't afford a hotel in town, and Floaroma didn't promise anything that Jubilife was missing aside from a fresh start for his journey. And flowers. Girls liked flowers. At the very least, it was a better start than Oreburgh or Sandgem, there weren't many girls in either of those towns. Maybe those escalators in the Pokémon Center led to beds for Pokémon trainers? And if not, maybe Eugene didn't need to sleep. He could just keep going as long as he needed to.
As that thought crossed his mind, even Eugene wasn't sure if it was true. Could he keep going? What if something like today happened, where he wasn't prepared to handle the situation? There won't always be other trainers to rely on for help. No little giggling little schoolgirls to take control of the situation. It was ridiculous, how his friends like T.J. and Kyle were already accomplished trainers and he was getting help from kids half his age. He was unlikely to get a girlfriend at this rate.
He had to start somewhere, make a change. Staying in Jubilife wasn't going to get him anywhere. The sooner he left the better, and tonight was the night. All he had to do was get to Floaroma, he could figure things out from there.
Eugene stood up, made his way over to the girls, and put Irusan back inside of his Pokéball. "I'm really behind, I've got a long way to go still and its late. I'm gonna take this little guy to the Pokémon center and then I'm gonna be on my way. You girls should probably be heading home," he said as he began to walk back towards town.
The girls got up to follow him.
"Are you gonna say thank you?" the trainer girl asked.
"For what?" Eugene asked.
"For teaching you about the Pokémon Center and helping you catch a Pokémon," she said.
Eugene paused, allowing the girls to catch up to him. He forced a smile for them and said, "Thank you," before continuing to walk towards Jubilife City. The girls walked a few paces behind him, talking about girl things as usual, but their high pitched giggles had been replaced with hushed tones and secrecy.
Once in Jubilife, the girls drifted away quickly into some neighborhood and Eugene made a beeline for the Pokémon Center. There was no line this time, though a few trainers sat in the corner talking amongst themselves. Eugene walked straight up to the nurse.
"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" she said with the exact same intonation as before.
"Yes," Eugene said as he handed her all three of his Pokémon.
"OK, I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds." she said with the exact same intonation as before while she took the Pokéballs and hooked them up to the machine. In a few moments, the process was done. "Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokémon to full health. We hope to see you again!" she said with the exact same intonation as before. Eugene flashed the nurse a smile as he tucked his Pokémon away inside of his bag and left the Pokémon Center.
Outside, Eugene fumbled into his bag and brought out Irusan's Pokéball. He pressed the button, and a moment later Irusan sat in front of him. Eugene could tell an immediate difference in it's disposition from earlier. While Irusan was not as eager to please as Cúchulainn, he was much more active than he had been after the battle, sniffing at Eugene and rubbing against his legs, possessing even the occasional hop in his step. Eugene scratched behind Irusan's large ears before beginning to walk towards the North edge of town once again. Irusan did not follow Eugene in the same way that Cúchulainn did, but instead stayed a few steps behind, sniffing and investigating their surroundings as they traveled.
The walk through Jubilife to Route 204 seemed longer this time. Eugene had lost the eager spirit of adventure from his first trip and the anticipation of catching a Pokémon from the second. The night had progressed to the point that the streets were quiet and dull, possessing no surprises or twists. It seemed like the entire city had gone to bed. And now that he had seen what was beyond town, Eugene somewhat dreaded going back this way. It had lost its wild charm and was just an obstacle on his way to Floaroma now. But he had made up his mind. He would make it to Floaroma town.
As Eugene reached the last two lampposts of the city, he stopped. He tightened his shoes and played with Irusan's ears a bit more. "Maybe this time we'll actually make it all the way there, huh?"