Chapter 13: Choices in Eterna
We traveled through Eterna Forest, chatting calmly and trading stories. It turns out that Cheryl is from a rather well-off family that lives near Hearthome. Her Chansey was given to her as a birthday present a long time ago, back when it was a little Happiny. Eventually, wanderlust took over and with her newly evolved Chansey in tow, Cheryl set off to travel the country. She had been on her way to Eterna when she got lost in the forest.
"Thanks again for traveling with me." Cheryl said for the fourth time.
"Don't mention it, really." I muttered. "Like you said, you're helping me out by healing my team." We turned down a corner and discovered two young trainers, their twin Abra floating behind them.
"Oh, hello." one murmured, a girl with short black hair. "This is quite fortunate. Would you be interested in a battle? My brother and I wish to test our strength."
I looked back at Cheryl over my shoulder. She nodded and I smirked back at the twins. "No problem. Go get them Franklin!"
The battle wasn't very eventful. The Abra were fast, and teleported all over the place, but they just weren't strong enough to handle Franklin's brute strength backed up by Chansey's healing. Both psychic-types went down in short order, giving us the victory. "Awesome job Franklin!" I cheered, patting him on the shell. That's when I noticed the glowing. All I could say was "Oh, sweet!" as my starter pokemon evolved.
Gone was the small turtle from before. Now, a rather large tortoise stood before me. His shell was gold and had gotten larger, three small ridges running down it. It extended a bit down his head, giving him an armored look. The biggest change were the two large bushes growing out of his back. He shook slightly, sending a small cascade of leaves onto the path. "I feel great!" he exclaimed, stretching and getting used to his new body.
"Congratulations." Cheryl piped up. The other two trainers nodded, giving their regards to Franklin before moving on down the path. I smiled and patted him on the shell again, no longer having to bend over to do so. "That's awesome buddy, I'm glad you finally evolved."
It turned out that Franklin evolving wasn't the most exciting thing to happen that day. Giving him a rest, I had let out Mufasa and we moved deeper into the forest. "Hey Cheryl?" I asked. "Don't you think it's weird that we haven't ran into any wild pokemon?"
The green-haired woman was silent for a while. "I think it has something to do with Team Galactic." she eventually answered. "I've heard they have a base in Eterna and they might be using the forest to capture new pokemon."
"Wouldn't that mess up the ecosystem or something?" I asked. "Like over-hunting?"
Cheryl shook her head. "This forest is so large, it's almost impossible to capture enough pokemon in it to have an impact like that. Although, wild pokemon may be avoiding the path now, knowing that trainers are waiting."
"Man, that bites." I muttered. "I wanted to catch something in here. There's all kinds of cool pokemon in forests." Right as I said that, a flash of white bounced across the path ahead of me. Before I could even react, Mufasa took off, animal instincts kicking in to chase the prey. "Mufasa, wait!" I cried, tearing after him. It was all I could do to keep up with the electric-type, darting in and out of the foliage, around trees and on at least one occasions, up a tree. Finally, I heard a small cry and a thud. I burst into a clearing and saw the strangest sight I'd ever seen.
A Buneary, a small rabbit pokemon, stood defensively before a large thicket of thorns. It was to tight to move through, or else she would have kept going. Flat on his back, trying to gather his thoughts, was Mufasa. "What happened to you?" I asked sarcastically. I was pretty sure the Buneary had knocked him on his ass.
Mufasa merely got to his feet silently, trying his best to keep his pride. I tried my best not to laugh to spare his ego. "Alright, since she's the first wild one we've seen, how about we try to catch her?" I said, grabbing a spare pokeball out of my bag.
Upon seeing the pokeball, the Buneary's stance softened a bit. She bounced across the clearing moving right up to me. In shock, I held still, wondering why this wild pokemon was suddenly so docile. She sniffed the pokeball, then my hand. She hopped back a bit and stared up at me. Her amber eyes were filled with curiosity. "Uh, want to come with me?" I asked dumbly, shaking the pokeball slightly to get my point across. She nodded and closed her eyes, waiting for the catch. I leaned forward, lightly tapping the ball on her head. She was caught without a fuss, a simple three shakes and a click.
I straightened out and looked over at Mufasa, who was busy cleaning himself like nothing had happened. "Well that was certainly weird." I said, tracing my steps back to the path as the pokeball faded away. On the way back I stumbled onto another path. Looking down it, I noticed it was the exit, a sign spelling it out for me a short distance away. I stopped, pondering about what to do. I can grab Cheryl and come back here and be in Eterna before I know it. But then, I won't have her free healing, which has been doing wonders. If I can keep her around the rest of the day, I bet I can train the whole team up to top form for the next gym. I nodded to myself, decision made and trudged back into the woods, Mufasa following silently. A short time later, I found Cheryl exactly where I had left her when the cat had taken off. "What happened?" she asked.
"Mufasa found a Buneary and we ran after it. I managed to catch it, but it's in the PC now." I explained. I looked around. "I guess we should keep going this way right? Hope we get out of here soon." Cheryl nodded and we started down the path. I tried to ignore the look Mufasa gave me, though thankfully, he didn't say anything.
A long day later, the sun was starting to set. I had managed to train everyone up to a condition I thought was great for the next gym, except for Rebecca. The Bibarel had decided that she didn't want to train and had opted for a nap instead. That's fine. I thought, pocketing her pokeball. I was planning on switching her out for that Buneary anyway. Turning to Cheryl I said "It's getting dark. We shouldn't be that far from the exit now."
"I hope you're right." she said wistfully. "I can't imagine spending the night in this place."
I agreed, taking the path that I knew led to the exit. About ten minutes later, the exit came into view. "Hey, there it is!" I exclaimed, probably a little more animated than I had planned.
Cheryl didn't seem to notice. "Thank goodness! Eterna City here I come!" she jogged a short distance ahead before stopping and running back, digging in the pockets of her dress. "I want to thank you again for helping me. Here, take this." she said, handing me a small bell with a ribbon. "It's a Soothe Bell." she explained. "It'll make the pokemon that wears it happier. Bye!" She took off again, not waiting for a thank you. I watched her go for a bit before staring down at the bell. Someone clearing their throat caught my attention and I looked around, before seeing Mufasa, staring at me pointedly.
"Come on, I didn't ask for the damn thing." I muttered, shoving the bell in my bag and following Cheryl out of the forest. I moved across a small wooden bridge, purposely ignoring the fisherman lining it. I didn't want to get drawn into a battle with them and I'm sure they were busy with their catches anyway. A short walk later, I arrived in Eterna City. It was definitely smaller than Jublife, but still a large city. Tall buildings were scattered here and there, but for the most part it was simple, two-story structures. Asking around, I quickly found the PokeCenter and checked in for the night. I caught the look the nurse gave me after reading my card, but ignored it. Seems like things are just gonna get more difficult for me now that everyone knows I'm a Nuzlocker I thought.
The next day, I withdrew the Buneary from the PC, placing Rebecca in. We had a long talk the night before about her laziness, and it seemed like she didn't mind being taken off the team. In fact, she seemed kind of relieved that she would be out of danger, safe in the PC with the other pokemon I had captured. It made me a little depressed that my pokemon seemed happier away from me, but I shook it off, focusing on training the new recruit.
I made my way back to the pond with the fisherman, stopping at the edge of the bridge. Tossing her pokeball, I released the little rabbit. She stretched a bit before hopping around the area, investigating. "Wow! I knew getting caught wasn't a bad choice!" she remarked.
"You might change your mind after we've had out little chat." I called. She whipped around, looking up at me in shock.
"You...you can understand me?" she asked, wide-eyed.
I nodded. "Yep. And that's not all..." I began, noting the mark on her folded ear. A short while later, I had explained everything about the challenge to her and shown her the mark using the water as a mirror. She kept staring at it, moving in different ways and positions to see it from every angle. I wondered what it was all about before she started talking again. "Well. I don't think this thing will hurt my chances with the boys, will it?"
I did a double-take, gawking at the small bunny. "Uh, excuse me? Did I hear that right?" I asked.
She glanced at me, annoyed. "Yeah, I didn't mumble did I? Just because I look like a fluffy little innocent bunny doesn't mean I'm a kid. I'm 20 years old dammit." she snapped.
I could only stare in shock. Franklin acts so young, I just assumed all little pokemon were kids. It didn't occur to me that they would age. "Huh. Well, I can only ask you not fool around with anyone else on the team. I know Armstrong and Mufasa are in your egg group but..." I trailed off, embarrassed to be even having this conversation with a foot tall bunny.
"Armstrong and Mufasa?" she giggled. "Where did you get those names from?"
"Don't laugh Lola, you get a funny name too." I smirked.
In a complete reversal from what I expected; But what isn't with this one?; Lola put a paw to her chin, thinking the name over. "Lola huh?" she finally said nodding. "Yeah, I think I can get behind that. So, what are we doing here, other than small talk?"
"Training." I said, gesturing at the various fisherman lining the bridge. "Everyone else is ready for the gym, and even though I probably won't need you for that fight, I want you in line with everyone else, as backup."
The Buneary rolled her eyes. "Backup? Seriously? If that cat you had chase me yesterday is any indication, I'm the best fighter on your team."
"We'll see about that." I smirked. I like her already I thought. It turned out, see was mostly right. The only offensive move she knew was Pound, although she quickly picked up how to use Quick Attack after a few battles. Combined, the two moves made her a powerhouse against the Magikarp and Goldeen brought to the table by the local fisherman. After four battles in a row, I decided that she still needed a bit more, so we headed into the Forest.
"So what do you get out of this?" Lola asked suddenly, after easily dispatching a wild Burmy.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"This challenge. At the end, what do you get?" she replied.
I thought about it for a minute. "In a word? Nothing." I answered. "I could be champion of the region, but I don't plan on staying. In the end, I guess I just get bragging rights. And I get to go home." The answer didn't seem to please her, but she didn't comment on it. "What about you? Why'd you let me capture you so easily?" I asked.
Lola sighed. "I've lived in this forest all my life. It's home to me, and many others. Problem is, I like to party, to have fun, to live. This place, it gets so dull most of the time. I want to go out and do things, meet new people, have an adventure! I figured traveling with a trainer was the best way to do that." She chuckled lightly. "Guess I picked the right trainer. Nothing more adventurous than risking your life."
"I'm sorry about that." I muttered. She gave me a confused look. "I mean, I knew going into this that you guys could die, but for some reason, I didn't think it mattered. Like, to me, your lives weren't important. Then Brittany died." I stopped, staring at the ground. "Honestly, I never thought I would care about a Bidoof. I hate the damn things, they're only useful for HM's. But the fact that it was my Bidoof, someone I had talked to and trained with...that made all the difference."
We stood in silence for a long moment before Lola groaned. "God, what a mood killer this conversation turned out to be, let's get back to fighting the random bugs." she muttered, hopping down the path. I snorted a bit, unable to completely resist chuckling at her party-girl personality and followed. The rest of the training session went by pretty quickly, and by noon Lola had learned a new move, Jump Kick, and was caught up with everyone else according to the PokeTech. "Alright Lola, your training's done. Let's go back to town, have some lunch." I said, already walking down the path. We arrived back at the city about a half an hour later, having not gone very far into the forest. I was feeling pretty confident about my chances going up against Gardenia, daydreaming about my impending victory, when I saw a flash of yellow speeding towards me. I barely had time to brace myself before Barry slammed into me full speed.
"Nick! What's going on man, haven't seen you in days!" he crowed excitedly, squeezing me in a bear hug with strength that would have surprised me if I wasn't busy trying not to suffocate. Luckily, Barry seemed to notice this just in time and released me, allowing me to gasp for air. "How've you been man, did you beat Roark? What am I saying, you wouldn't be here otherwise. Oh, that reminds me, check this out!" he said, floundering around in his bag before withdrawing his badge case. "I got the Forest Badge!" he exclaimed proudly, shoving the now opened case in my face. Sure enough, the green diamond badge was wedged right where it should be next to the Coal Badge.
"Congrats man." I said, genuinely happy for him. I mean, I knew he was going to win anyway, he's supposed to, but more and more I come to think that this world isn't just the game I was playing. Looker, for one thing. "Let me guess, George and Will did all the work?"
"His name is William, and if you must know, yes." Barry muttered. "I do have some more pokemon, but I figured that they could handle it. After all, it is the grass gym." He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts as he put the badge case away. "Oh hey! I just remembered! You know that legendary pokemon we tried to capture in the lake?"
"You mean the one that didn't show up?" I asked.
"Yeah, that's it!" he said, nodding vigorously. "Well, there's a statue in the local park of another legendary pokemon! Let's go check it out, maybe it'll explain how to see it!" Before I could give my answer he took off. I sighed and trudged after him.
"You have weird friends." Lola muttered. I couldn't agree more.