Wow, this town is so much bigger than depicted in the game. This town has at least twenty houses, and that'll put the approximate population of at least one hundred people. There's even a basic food mart if someone gets tired of cooking every day. Hmm, I should really ask someone for directions. I've got no clue how to get to Cherrygrove City.
I see a lone man in his forties sitting on a bench reading the paper. "Excuse me sir. May I ask you a question?" He looks in my direction, taking notice of a teenager walking to him.
"What is it that you'd like to ask?" he kindly replies, not in the least bit upset I interrupted his reading.
"How would I get to Cherrygrove City? I'm new here, and I don't know my way around." He sees that Layla is trying to hide her face behind me and knows immediately why I'm asking.
"You'd take this here road, Route 29, all the way to Cherrygrove City." He points his finger directly behind me, showing where Route 29 is located. "It's about a half a day of brisk walking to get to the city, or a day at a casual walking pace."
I look up to the sky and see that the sun is at high noon. "Thank you, sir. I better get going now if I want to make it to town before nightfall." I start going in the direction he pointed while the man goes back to reading the paper.
I scratch Layla behind her pointed ears as she gives a pleased sound. "Well, Layla, this is it. We're on a journey of a lifetime."
"Pi~" she says, pleased, as I'm still scratching her behind the ear.
We walk onto Route 29, leaving the confines of human settlement behind us and the territory of wild pokémon lies in front of us. A dirt path paves the way as the route went over hills and fields of short grasses with the occasional tree off to the side of the beaten path.
With Layla on my shoulder, we walk forward, staying alert for anything that may pose a threat to us. There's nothing around us as far as the eye can see and as this pattern continues for hours of casual walking, we ease up little by little till the point where we're talking casually.
"Layla, I'm going to need to take a break soon. My shoulders are killing me from this backpack." She jumps off my shoulder, relieving some of the weight, and starts walking on all fours by my side.
"Chu~?" she guiltily looks up to me, thinking she's the main reason for my shoulder pain.
"Don't worry; it's not your fault," I look down to her, smiling. "This backpack is heavy with all our travel equipment in it."
We continue to walk, and as we are coming to the top of a small hill, we see a young willow tree off the side of the road. "Hey Layla, let's go rest at that tree right there." I point to the willow at the base of the hill. "We should get something to drink and I need to relieve my back of this weight," I say as I rub my shoulder.
If only this willow was on the near a lake at sunset would this be a picture-perfect moment. But I guess encountering a willow while experiencing my childhood fantasy is just as good, maybe even better.
As Layla and I get under the drooping branches of the willow, I remove the backpack and set it at the base of the trunk. I sit down right by the bag, relieved that I can rest for a short while. Layla lies down on the grass next to me, her tail moving side to side.
"Ah, that feels so much better." I open the backpack and look inside for a sandwich and a bottle of water. While I'm searching inside the bag, something catches my eye. What's this, I wonder?
Grabbing the object in my hand, I feel that it's angular and it has a chain coming out from one side. Opening my hand as it exits the entrance of the backpack, there is a golden-colored lightning bolt-shaped pendant attached to a chain with the same color. Realizing that this is the same type of pendant Clara and Holly wore, I dig through the backpack to find the matching pair which is located at the very bottom of the bag.
Layla glances over from her current position and sees me scavenging through my bag. "Chu~?"
"Look here, Layla!" I show her the lightning bolt pendants. "With this, I think we'll be able to talk now."
Can we really be able to talk now? Yes, there are two identical pendants dangling right in front of me, but will they really work?
Nate beams excitedly at me, removing the pessimistic thoughts in my head.
"You wanna give it a go?" he asks, his voice brimming with enthusiasm. He looks really excited as opposed to his normal, casual demeanor.
He must really want to try this, and why not? What have we got to lose?
"Pika pi!" I say energetically, so he knows that I want to try this.
He smiles happily. "Alright, let's give this a go." He puts one necklace around him and then puts the other around me. The pendant reaches down to my abdomen, the cold metal touching my skin. After putting the necklace around my neck, he says, "So can you talk now?" He looks at me inquisitively, wanting to know if it works or not.
I muster up the courage to say his name, hoping it will work. "Pika?" Just realizing that it didn't work, I drop my head depressingly, knowing it didn't work.
I guess I had my hopes up too high. I knew it had to be a fake pendant.
Nate puts his hand under his chin in a thinking position. He's muttering to himself, too low for my ears to pick up what he's saying.
He returns his gaze to my sulking figure after thirty seconds of inaudible muttering. "Layla, I think I know why it doesn't work."
I cock my head to the side as he says that. "Chu?"
"Yep. I do." He takes off the necklace around my neck, placing it in front of my feet. I look up at him, unsure as to why he's doing this. "Here's what I think. You need to be in your humanoid form and then put this necklace on. I think that'll work, but the only way to know is to give it a try."
My humanoid form? I have never done that before in my life. I've never had a reason to transform before.
"Pi pika pika pi chu," I anxiously try to convey that I'm nervous of turning into my humanoid form. Luckily, he picks up on my anxiety.
"Okay, I get that you're nervous of me seeing you in your humanoid form. If this helps, you can change behind this tree, and I'll be on this side, looking the other way." He stays sitting by the backpack on the side of the tree he says he'll be at. "And I won't try and peek at you. You have my word," he tells me in a definitive voice.
Nate will keep to his word; I'm sure of it. He's been really kind, and he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'll go back on his word.
"Pi~" I tell him as I pick up the necklace between my teeth and walk to the other side of the tree. As the tree trunk isn't too big, I turn around and see Nate's shoulders pointed in the opposite direction of me.
He's keeping to his word. Okay, here it goes.
I drop the necklace from my teeth and close my eyes. I feel a swirling energy in my body as I concentrate on changing my form. The swirling energy within me expands and engulfs my entire body, creating a tingling sensation only lasting for a couple of seconds.
The first thing I notice when I open my eyes is that I'm much higher from the ground than before. Bending over, I grab the necklace and put it around my neck, my pointed ears no longer present.
Trying again, I muster up the courage to say his name. "Nate?" I say shyly, unsure if it'll work.
"Yes, Layla?" he replies casually after a bit of silence.
It works! Nate's idea works!
Forgetting that I didn't want Nate seeing me, with my new body I dash from behind the tree and come before Nate who's still sitting in the same position he said he would be in.
"Nate this is so great! We can finally talk now!" I say excitedly, bouncing up and down with joy. I notice that Nate isn't listening to me, instead he's staring at my body. I look down and realize that I'm completely unclothed.
"Wow..." he says as he stares at my body.
I feel my face getting hot, embarrassed that I have shown Nate my nude, humanoid body. Covering my body with my arms, I quickly hide behind the tree and sit down, pulling my knees into my body.
"Wow..." I say, captivated by the female figure bouncing up and down in front of me.
A mostly human figure stands before me. She is approximately five feet in height, shoulder-length hair, blonde in color but changing to black as it approaches the tips. She has a round face which complimented her large, round, black eyes. A dainty, petite nose and a wide smile beamed across her joyous face. A red pouch on each cheek the size of a quarter. Smooth skin flowing all over her body, yellow in tint, similar to that of her blonde hair. Not having the body of a ten year old girl, she has a pair of B cup breasts. A Pikachu's tail protrudes from her back end, dropping a length of about one and a half feet.
Damn! She's got a fine body! Do all Pokémon in their humanoid forms have these fine bodies?
She gets red in the face, covering her body with her arms and runs to the other side of the tree. I hear her plop down on the ground behind me, her breathing erratic.
I look through the bag next to me and pull out a foldable blanket. "Layla, here you go. You can cover yourself with this," I reach my hand back with blanket in hand offering it to her which she takes.
"Thanks, Nate," she says shyly. I hear her get up, putting the blanket around herself and covering her body.
Her voice shows that she's still uncomfortable, so I try to cheer her up. "Layla, if it makes you feel any better, you look really pretty." As I finish my compliment, I hear Layla walk around, the blanket covering her body as she sits cross-legged in front of me.
"Do I really look pretty?" she shyly asks, but eager to find out. Her eyes beam from my compliment.
Reaffirming my previous compliment, I say, "Yes Layla, you really are pretty." She blushes; her already red cheeks just get a tad bit redder.
The way she acts, it's so cute!
"Thank you, Nate," she coyly mutters under her breath. She lowers her head to prevent me from seeing her flushed face.
I grab a water bottle and open it, offering it to her. "Here, drink some. We've got a long ways to go still, unless you want to call it day and camp here for the night." I look up through the covered roof of the willow tree and see that the sun has about an hour of light left.
It's probably best if we stay here the night. Who knows if we'll find a place as good as this?
She looks towards the sun too. "Nate, I think we should rest here." Layla takes the bottle and drinks a third of it before giving it back to me. I then grab a prepackaged sandwich Holly gave us. I split it in half, offering one half to Layla and keeping the other half for myself. Layla takes the sandwich and we munch happily on our meal, which tastes strangely of turkey.
I look up to her as we finish our food at the same time. Content with the meal, we both let out a breath of gratitude. I rub her head, just like this morning. Layla thoroughly enjoys the treatment.
I keep rubbing her head till my arm becomes tired, my whole body following suit from today's exhausting walk. She looks up as she notices I'm no longer rubbing her. "Nate, what's wrong?"
I try to smile, but in my exhausted state, it comes out to be a lazy grin. "I'm just tired, Layla. It's been a long day," I say to her as I lie down under the willow canopy. I put my hands behind my head, entranced by the setting sun, and clear from pollution as opposed to the cities on Earth. "It's really beautiful, isn't it? The setting sun without the noise of the city, pollution in the sky, rolling fields of nature at its finest."
She doesn't reply right away. "I suppose you could call it beautiful..." she says as she looks to the setting sun, trying to see what I see.
"Just consider yourself lucky. From where I come from, this view is a luxury very few get to enjoy every single day of their lives." I continue to be entranced by the sun until it passes under the horizon, the stars slowly showing their presence in the darkening sky.
Layla lies down next to me, the blanket still covering her body. "Nate?" she says softly.
"Yes, Layla?" I say as I gaze into the night sky. Light pollution doesn't disturb the night sky, exposing the whole of the heavens under the willow canopy. The stars form in unfamiliar patterns from the ones I'm used to back on Earth.
She turns over and looks at me in which I do the same. Her eyes lack the same joyous look as before. "Do you miss your home?"
Memories pass through me of my life before this crazy incident: my loving family who I care about deeply, my friends who would surely miss me. A tear rolls down my face before I wipe it away.
"I have a loving family and great friends. I do miss my home." Memories keep flooding back to me as I feel the urge to cry. As the urge increases, I turn over so I don't show Layla my face, contorted with tears. "What if I can't find a way home? I'll be in a new world, all alone." My voice trembles at the thought of not going back home.
I feel Layla's body against mine as she pulls the blanket over me. "If that's the case then, I'll be with you, so you're not alone." She puts her arm over me, relieving me of the pain of being alone.
"Layla, thank you," I say, my voice still trembling, but slowly going back to normal. As I return back to normal, I chuckle a little.
"Nate, why are you laughing?" she asks, confused as I switched from grief to joy.
"I once had a dream that good things happen under a willow tree. I guess my dream has come true," I chuckle a bit more as sleep starts to overtake me.
"I guess you're right, Nate," she says, cuddling into me as my body warms her up. "I will never forget this night, the first night of our journey together."
"Nor will I, Layla, nor will I..." I mutter as I drift off to sleep.
"Boss, it seems our target is sleeping now," a man's voice says over the phone.
I have been viewing and hearing Nate's conversation over a monitor the whole time. I feel a little guilty, as I've been spying on him while he has been under the willow.
"What would you like us to do? He's vulnerable now, and we can easily subdue his companion," the same man says over the phone.
"No, don't do anything. Just come back to base," I tell the man over the phone. I hang up after I tell him that.
The live video feed is cut, leaving the monitor a blank screen in front of me. I close the laptop in front of me, and put it inside the desk drawer. I lean back in my leather chair, the moonlight shining in from the window behind me.
I turn the leather chair and observe the full moon.
Nate's right. It really is beautiful. The moon, the stars, everything.
"Well, he'll come here eventually to find the answer to his question. I'll let him enjoy it here for the time being. He deserves a break." I pull out a sketchpad from the desk behind me and sketch an image of the moon and stars.
It really is beautiful here.