A Journey
Summary: Ash's daughter has NO interest in Pokemon training. So, Ash, being the enterprising young Master that he is, puts her into the middle of the woods in the night while she's asleep with a pack, no map, a Pokedex, and a VERY angry Pichu.
A/N: That entire part in the ocean was inspired by the song Lilium, so I apologize. This is important, however. If you have any idea what the mystery is, point it out.
…
An overweight thirty-five year old man emerged from the dike fifty feet to the right of the sidewalk, walking into the pooling lamplight. He carried a fishing rod with him. Brett did a double take; he clearly was scared of what came out of the dark.
"Hi! I was doing some moonlight fishing. And how are you travelers on this fine day?"
"It's nighttime, not day!" Lavender said, looking, I swear to God, a bit confused.
The man, assuming she was trying to be funny, laughed.
"I like your style," he said to her.
"What's your style? What are you fishing?" Lavender asked with a furrow of her brow.
"I'm fishing for Tentacool." He said. "They love new moons like these. The moonlight makes it harder for them to communicate by flashing."
"How do you fish?" I asked. If it actually buried a hook in a Pokemon's throat, I figured it was extremely rude, and I don't know how Pokemon would befriend their masters after that.
"Simple. Attach adhesive-coated bait to the line, let it go." He spoke in bursts. "If you get a bite, you reel it in very quickly, while its mouth is still stuck on, fight it, and hopefully put it in a Pokeball. Tentacool are very hard to catch. I've been fishing eight years and I've caught only one. Probably because that they don't usually latch on, and they weigh a hundred pounds, I guess. I have a reinforced super rod, but I still have to be careful about breaking it."
"Can I try?" Lavender asked, cutely smiling.
"Sure," the man said. I have no idea why he'd indulge her. If he valued his net or his sanity, that is. She would probably try to catch a surfer, or accidentally reel in another human being, the way my mom met my dad.
After she struggled with the bait, the man smiled and attached it for her. She stood in front of the sea, and we walked towards her.
A moment passed, and she began to frown.
"Am I doing something wrong?" She asked in her I'm-a-little-baby-Lavender-don't-hurt-me voice.
"It's very difficult to get it on the first try. Just stand and wait a little. I have all night!" The man said cheerfully.
"Lavender, we need to get back to the Center. It closes its doors at midnight," Peter said tersely.
"Could you wait in the lobby for me? I really want to try it. Please?" Lavender squeaked, still frowning, staring into the water.
I stared at Brett, who actually was almost asleep, seated and leaning against the lamppost. Pichu no longer shocked Brett, most likely out of juice, but still struggling to get out of Brett's grip.
"Take the kid, will you?" I asked Peter. "I'll stay." Watching the dark waves crashing was oddly calming, and the sea breeze made my skin tingle, made me feel alive.
"I'm not a kid," was Brett's sleepy response, sounding like an eight-year old.
Lavender shivered from the breeze, and the man handed her his overcoat.
"You remind me a little of my daughter," the man said, turning to Lavender. Of course Lavender gets all the friends and luck, I thought a bit bitterly; she is so petite and cute; you would be nuts to not want to protect her. I wished I had an overcoat to give her. Her arm finally jerked, and her eyes, unreadable in the lamplight, snapped to dilated excitement.
She tugged with all of her strength, and an orange mass attached to the rod shot out of the water like a bullet, landing on the sand.
The man inspected the Pokemon, one I readily recognized as a Magikarp. What I didn't recognize, though, was its brilliant orange-gold color. It had a growing bruise from its hard landing, so he captured it without even having to weaken it.
"A shiny Magikarp! What're the chances of that!" He caught Lavender up in a fierce hug. Even then, I felt the jealousy in me flare up like burning embers. Why did she have such good luck, why'd she have it so easy?
"Here, take this!" He said, beaming, shoving the rod into her hands. "You've earned it! I can get a new one any day, but Goldy here is rarer than rare. The luck of the sea has shone on you today; you were meant to fish." He said, caught up in himself. "The very first time I fished, I caught a Tentacool. Very first time my daughter Maria fished, it was a fully grown Whiscash!" He smiled at her.
"Tonight. It's not today, it's tonight," Lavender said with a smile and a giggle.
"Good luck on your journey! I need to go home and give Goldy to Maria!" The man actually leaped for joy, then began to rush off in the opposite direction.
Lavender turned to me, squealed, and gave me a hug.
"Careful of the egg!" I scolded, readjusting my backpack with its fetal cargo inside. More than that, I didn't want to touch her; the jealousy burned.
"I got a fishing rod!" She said excitedly, in the exact intonation as the "I got a Kricketune!" of just a few weeks earlier. She was so much of the same things. Not only was she stupid, she was repetitive, and yet, the world shone on her.
She gave me an odd look at my lack of response, and I managed a weak smile.
"C'mon, let's go," I said to Chopin, who shook his head. He looked across the sea, and warbled a minor key, bittersweet tune.
"Do you ever miss Sinnoh?" I asked. Chopin shrugged. He gestured to me with one of his conductor arms.
"I'm glad you like me, Chopin, but we won't be together forever." I said. "Remember? I promised Lavender I'd give you back when she evolved the fish." Chopin nodded. He seemed a bit preoccupied. Maestro sat down when I did, and heaved a rodent sigh. I stroked his ears.
"It's so pretty out here," Lavender said quietly. I had forgotten she was there.
"Yeah."
"I love the ocean. It's so pretty and big and mysterious," she said even quieter, rubbing her fingers together. How cliché. She probably just loved the beach and getting a tan.
"Someday," she continued, "I want to spend a whole night by the sea." I looked at her. She probably also wanted a brain someday, but it was a nice thought.
"I'd totally join you," I said. "But not tonight. We should be getting back. Besides, I left Pichu with Brett and Peter. That's not fair to either of them," I said with a smile, watching a wave crash over the same rock over and over.
"Why not? It'd be like a sleepover party!" This was apparently her catchphrase. The tune Chopin was creating was rising and falling like the sea, happy and sad. It belonged in a music box, where I could open it again and again and hear it. This entire scene did. Without Pichu, I had a bug with the soul of a poet, and a rat I could call my friend. Without Peter or Brett, I had only one human mind; Lavender counted as a child, or an intelligent Pokemon maybe, I thought, feeling terrible as I thought it, but it seemed so true to me.
"Life isn't always a sleepover party," I said a bit louder than I needed to. "Come on. Let's go."
Checking a clock in a shop window after walking back from the shore, over the dike, and onto the street, I saw that it was 11:40. Lavender followed behind me, until I realized that I didn't know where I was going.
"Crap," I cursed to myself.
"Where?" Lavender innocently asked, her sweet, wide eyes blinking more than they needed to.
"In general, Lavender," I said, the irritation in me flaring up like hot coals. So much for the ocean tranquility, I thought. Back to normal again, I realized, and I sighed.
"Do you know how to get to the Pokemon Center?" I asked, not able to spot the sign anymore. "I'm fresh off the boat." I didn't smile at my own little boat.
I could wake up the old man sleeping under the bench by the sycamore tree, but I hoped it wouldn't need to come to that.
Maestro began sniffing the ground, and gestured to me with his head. He began to head right.
"You can sniff out Peter?" I asked him. Maestro nodded, and continued walking. And who said a Rattata wasn't useful? Maestro was a bit sharper than other Pokemon; he was fluent in English, and had problem-solving skills. Chopin was extremely complex for a Pokemon too, though, especially for a bug. He felt complex emotions, like apprehension. Wasn't I lucky to be able to meet them?
"Here it is!" Lavender said after walking. We rushed into the Pokemon Center. It was new, and had a glass ceiling through which we saw the clouds. The lobby was full of armchairs, and a single TV screen on mute played an old, grainy advertisement for rare candies.
"The last room just got taken," the red-haired Joy said a bit reproachfully. She had a trinket bracelet with a Pikachu on it.
Lavender smiled at the Joy. "I like your bracelet! She has a Pichu!" She said excitedly, pointing to me, her usual enthusiasm returned to her.
"I love Pikachu. They power our machines," she said by way of explanation. "We're always looking for more Pikachu." My ears metaphorically snapped up at that comment.
"What about Pichu?"
Joy frowned. "We're not a Pokemon shelter," she said haughtily. "But if you evolve it, we'll accept it for a fee."
"OK," I said, disappointed. Would that monster ever like me enough to refrain from shocking me, let alone evolve for me? "Could you give them a checkup?" I asked, referring to Maestro and Chopin. Joy nodded, and a Chansey escorted both of them back to an examination room at the end of the hallway.
"Where do we stay if the last room's taken? We don't have money for a hotel," I said.
"There aren't any hotels in Dewport, so I'll let you stay in the lobby for tonight, but I'm alerting all other Centers. Don't come late again."
"Thanks," I said, relieved. My enormous day began to catch up to me. In the course of one day, I awoke from a coma, got an egg, arrived on a new continent, saw the ocean, and ate some damn good soup.