The next day, I decided that it was about time for me to take a look at what kind of missions were available for me to take. In order to do so, I could choose to either look at the mission fliers posted on the board, which mostly consisted of jobs that needed to be taken urgently due to a deadline, or look on the mission database, which was accessible by any computer in the Center. It was also available in a limited capacity on my pokedex. I chose to browse the database in the computer room, which allowed me to narrow down the options by running a query for D rank missions that I could actually take only. There were a lot more trainers hanging around every area of the Center than there had been up to that point, a few of them with pokemon out. It was interesting to see the variety of pokemon other trainers had, and the way they all interacted.
A large majority of the jobs available involved patrolling or guard duty for the wall and gates, as well as a variety of areas within the city that tended to attract wild pokemon. Most other D rank jobs were requests for a pokemon with a specific move to help with a task; for example, there was one request for pokemon that knew the grass moves Stun Spore and Sleep Powder to help replenish the store of the spores they used to make tranquilizers. For myself, I decided to take a turn on guard duty at the south gate that evening, and with that done, it was high time that I went to visit my family.
I took the train again, and was once more given a wide berth and more than my fair share of stares on the train. I was starting to get used to it, but the trip felt like it lasted forever. The stop nearest my families house couldn't come soon enough, and when we finally reached it, I eagerly disembarked, walking the rest of the way.
My mother and father both worked on the farms of District 11, which was one of the largest districts, and was occupied completely by farmland. Not the highest paying of jobs, but with both of them working, they were able to afford a comfortable house in District 8, which was a lower-middle class district. I arrived in the district at nine thirty in the morning, and the walk from the train station only took around five minutes, which felt like no time at all as I approached my childhood home. The white painted door flew open before I could even make it up the porch.
"Dahlia!" my mom shouted, throwing her arms around me. I stumbled under the unexpected weight, but quickly adjusted. My arms automatically wrapped around her in return. The scent of her soft, floral perfume filled my nose, and her curly brown hair tickled my face as I relaxed completely into the hug.
"Aren't you going to let her in?" my father's rich, baritone voice queried. I looked up to find him leaning against the doorway with a smile playing on his lips. He was a tall man, enough that he had to slouch through doorways or risk beaming his head. I'd inherited my pin straight black hair from him, though his was peppered with gray, and where my skin was milky white, his was darkly tanned from years of working under the harsh sun. His slate gray eyes glowed with gentle humor. My mother loosened her hold in order to turn a playful scowl on him.
"Of course I was! Can't a mother greet her daughter in peace? Without all the critics chiming in?" she exclaimed, even as she guided me up the ramp with an arm around my waist.
"If she weren't also preventing a father from greeting his daughter," he replied, stealing a hug from me when she turned to close the door. She huffed in reluctant amusement.
"We'd best not keep her any longer, though. Beck is waiting in the living room," my mom informed me. Without further adieu, I was escorted to the room in question, where I was met with an excited welcome and a smile that lit up the entire room.
"Lia-Lee!" he cried, a nickname that had survived from when he was just learning to talk, and couldn't pronounce my name properly. He opened his arms and leaned forward in his wheelchair to ask for a hug. I happily obliged. "I missed you," he confided quietly in my ear. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my mother holding her chin and looking at us with suspiciously watery eyes, but then my dad pulled her away to give me and Beck some privacy.
"I missed you, too," I whispered back, smiling a little sadly. "How have things been?" I leaned back, and released me from the hug, though he kept a hold on one of my hands.
"Pretty good," he beamed. "Remember my project for the science fair? I won first place!" the hand not holding mine waved animatedly. The science fair had been an event that his school had decided to hold as a big event during the summer break for the first time this year. It had taken place smack in the middle of my Trial.
"Wow," I said, honestly impressed. Beck went to Aspertia's most prestigious school on a full scholarship, so he had been competing with the smartest kids in the city. Most of them where older than him, too, due to the fact that he'd skipped a couple of grades. "Was there a prize?" He nodded enthusiastically.
"I won a really cool laptop computer, and a tour of the GenTech science labs," he said proudly. I squeezed his hand and reached up to ruffle his hair with my other hand. He pouted, swatting my hands away and patting his hair back into place, causing me to laugh.
"Good job. I'm proud of you," I told him once I caught my breath. He blushed and smiled in equal measure at the praise. He really deserved it though. His project had been to build his own pair of teleportation pads that could send inorganic materials back and forth between them. While not on the level of the teleportation pads that could transport human beings for short distances, it was beyond impressive for a twelve year old boy. After a few moments, his mood seemed to change and his expression became melancholy.
"Dahlia?" he questioned hesitantly. "Why did you volunteer?" I felt my body tense slightly at the new topic. I had known that he would probably ask, but knowing didn't prepare me for the actual question. It was made harder by the fact that this would have been his first Reaping if it weren't for the pokemon attack that had paralyzed him. The only good thing to come of it was that it made him exempt from the drawing. I set my free hand on the large wheel of his chair.
"Do you remember when this happened?" He nodded solemnly at my question. "I wasn't there that day, but I always wished that I could have somehow protected you. But I know that even if I had been there, I wouldn't have even been able to do anything. This is my way of making sure that if anything like that ever happens again, I'll be strong enough to protect you," I said, "and mom and dad, and Thea. Besides," I continued, "remember all of the research we've done on pokemon? All of the fun little facts we've learned over the years made me think that it could actually be pretty fun, and it is." He tilted his head in surprise. "It's still very scary and dangerous sometimes, but I've had a lot of fun with the pokemon I've caught so far. I even made friends with other trainers." He looked conflicted for a few seconds, before conceding with sighed smile and a squeeze of my hand.
"All of this might be worth it for that alone," my mother teased as she entered the room with a tray of my favorite razz berry tarts. "We were starting to think you were never going to talk to anyone outside the family."
The next hour was spent munching on my mom's delicious tarts and catching up. Beck took the opportunity to quiz me on everything I'd done and seen in my short time as a pokemon trainer. After a while, though, my mom went into the kitchen to start on the dishes, and I followed to give her a hand. We quickly settled into the familiar rhythm of her washing while I dried and put the dishes away. Dad and Beck where watching TV. It was me who broke the silence after several minutes.
"Thea?" was all I said. She sighed.
"Your sister -" she started, but broke off and shook her head. I gave her a sad smile, but nodded my head in understanding. I had been expecting it, though it still hurt. It was another few minutes before Mom spoke again, changing the topic.
"Beck's school is talking to us about bumping him up another grade," she told me. I paused and gave her my full attention. "He doesn't know, but you know he'd be all for it if he did." I nodded in agreement, resuming my task. "Your father and I aren't so sure about it though. He's already younger than all of his classmates, and we don't want him to have to grow up too fast. He's a twelve year old and already in tenth grade for goodness sake." She handed me the last plate and set about draining the sink. "Any thoughts?" I contemplated for a moment.
"I think you should keep him back. While he's definitely smart enough to go up another grade, he's still being challenged enough were he is right now. And you know as well as I do that as soon as he graduates high school, every college of technology in the region is going to want to get their hands on him. It won't hurt if he's a little older when that happens." I put the plate in the cupboard and close the door. "It isn't really up to me, though, and I think you should tell him about it before you do anything. Even if you decide not to go for it, he'll be angry that you didn't tell him if finds out."
I had to leave soon after that, wanting to spend some time training with my pokemon before my first mission. We all ended up back in the living room to say our goodbyes. There was a round of hugs and loving well-wishes. Just as I was about to leave, my mom stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. My father retrieved something from the hallway, and presented it to me with a smile. It was a brown leather jacket with two buttoned pockets at the breasts and two more at the shoulders. There was even an outline of a pokeball carefully stitched onto the back so that it wouldn't break regulation.
"We wanted to get you something that would help you on your way to becoming a top pokemon trainer." My father wore a serious expression on his face as he spoke. "We all had a hand in picking it out. This jacket is the sturdiest we could find. It will hopefully provide some level of protection against physical harm, and we know that you get cold easily." I took the offered jacket and quickly shrugged it on. It was a perfect fit. After a moment of consideration, I stood on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around my dad's neck. In quick succession, I gave my mother and Beck another hug too.
"Thank you," I told them sincerely. "I love you all," I made sure to say as I was leaving, then I headed back toward the train station. I looked back one last time as I walked down the street, to the sight of my parents standing on the porch. My father was standing behind my mom, holding her, and they both reached up to wave when they saw me looking. I waved back before continuing on my way.
As soon as I was back in the training district, I headed to what was quickly becoming my regular training ground and released my pokemon. Luca placed a hand on my leg in greeting, while Ari cavorted about humorously, before coming up to beg for pets. I sat down on the grass for a while to spend some quality time with them. Luca climbed onto my lap shortly after I sat down, carefully adjusting his tail before leaning back against my chest, and I gently rubbed his belly, which he seemed to enjoy. For Ari I grabbed a frisbee from my bag that I'd retrieved from my room at home while I was visiting. He seemed to have a lot of fun chasing it. After the first few tosses, he challenged himself by trying to snatch it out of the air before it landed, which was actually great for his speed and coordination. When he was tired with catching the flying disc, he plopped down at my side, panting heavily in the heat, and I gently stroked his ears. After a further ten minutes of relaxation, in which Ari seemed to fall asleep, I pulled out my pokedex, getting down to business.
Utilizing the pokedex's information on my pokemon's species, I went over all of the moves they were able to learn naturally with them, and showed them pictures of select moves in use. From there I informed them that I wanted to get Luca started on learning screech, and Ari on bite, going over the videos of the moves in question again. I also gave them an explanation of what I knew about how the moves worked and what kind of energy they should feel for. They both payed rapt attention to my words.
Despite never having used a dark type move before, Ari had bite down within ten minutes, likely due to his species' predilection for biting. He took great joy in splintering the wooden posts with the move. I made the decision to move him on to learning flame wheel soon after, in order to avoid the destruction of every post in the training field. The talented fire pokemon quickly got a good start on that as well, only having trouble with the larger volume of flames he was required to produce to make the flame wheel work. In the meantime, Luca made great progress in learning screech. The both of them had their new moves almost completely down by the time I concluded training for the day, and I had just enough time for a trip to the Center to refresh my pokemon before I had to head out for the mission I'd signed up for.
I walked up to the guard post at the south gate with three minutes to spare, and was immediately greeted by a modest looking woman, who appeared to be around ten years older than I was. She turned out to be a C class trainer who had signed up to supervise the south guard post for the day. The job was fairly simple. If we spotted any pokemon that made it over the walls – mainly bird pokemon flying over – we needed to report their type and general direction to the control desk over the radio, who would relay the message to any patrols in that area to be on the lookout. If we saw any pokemon in the area surrounding the gate, we could choose to go down and battle them, but it wasn't necessary for the job.
I found myself bored out of my mind for nearly the entire three hour shift. The only saving grace was that I could let my pokemon out to keep me company. Only one wild pokemon approached in that time, a Purrloin that Ari made quick work of with an ember and a nearly perfected flame wheel. The experience did get me thinking though.
While the Purrloin had been the only pokemon to approach on the ground, there had been several instances of bird type pokemon flying overhead that we'd had to report. I felt that some of them would have been close enough for my pokemon to take down if they'd had the right moves, and I resolved to do some further thinking on the topic.
It was just after seven o'clock by the time I made it back to the Pokemon Center. I decided to pay a visit to Joey's room before visiting hours were over. Fortunately he was both awake and alone when I arrived, and he noticeably perked up at my entrance.
"Dahlia! Where have you been?" he exclaimed. "The others all came and left ages ago." I gave a wry smile as I took a seat next to his bed.
"I highly doubt it's been that long," I replied as I looked him over. While he was still heavily bandaged, his casts had been removed, so he appeared to be well on his way to recovery. No doubt thanks to the miracles of modern day medicine. "I was visiting my family this morning, training in the afternoon, and then I just got back from my first mission," I explained.
He nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I'll accept that excuse," he said with a straight face, before breaking into a grin. I rolled my eyes in exasperation, but smiled back at him nonetheless.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm great!" he said. "The doc says I'll be outta here by evening tomorrow." It looked like he was very nearly vibrating in place. "I can't wait to start training my Skarmory!"
"Speaking of your Skarmory," I start, undeniably curious, "how did you catch it?" Skarmory, like most single stage and evolved pokemon, where notoriously difficult to catch without severely weakening them first. Joey grew quiet at my question, and remained so for several moments. I was about to withdraw the question when he finally spoke.
"I didn't want to tell the others when they asked, but Zach and Linda told me about your Trial. You were out there for days, all by yourself, and you ended up with two pokemon. Everyone, me included, thought you were a goner when you didn't come back those first nights. You must have had a real tough time of it out there. " He looked at me in question, and I nodded, thinking back to the multiple times that I'd had a close brush with death. "A couple hours after I decided to try my luck in the mountains that last day, a Skarmory started following me. I only noticed it when it attacked me the first time. I was able to get away without any major injuries the first couple of times, but she always found me again. Eventually, she ended up driving me right over the edge of a cliff. That's how I broke my arm and leg.
"I sprayed repel every time she came back until I ran out, and after that I managed to throw a pokeball at her. She broke out of course, but I think it scared her a little because she stayed away for awhile after that. I don't know why, but she only watched me the next few times she came back, and the next time I threw a pokeball at her... she let me catch her. I still don't know why." He looked down at his scraped hands, then looked me in the eye. "I didn't want to tell the others because I didn't want them to be scared. They all were able to catch their first pokemon without a whole lot of trouble, so they don't get it yet." I nodded in understanding, and he smiled in relief.
"I didn't tell them the details of my Trial either," I confided. "The pokemon I caught are a Riolu that I named Luca, and a Growlithe I named Ari. It was my plan all along to head to the old Floccesy Ranch and catch a Riolu. Their evolution line is strong, and they're supposed to be able to see emotions in people's auras. I hoped that would help me develop a strong bond with my first pokemon if I managed it," I explained. "I had a few close calls at first, but nothing too terrible until I found the ranch." I looked down in remembrance. "I didn't even see him before he attacked me. I got separated from my bag, and I had to fight him off. He really would have killed me. It was pure luck that I fell next to my bag, and that the pokeball I threw worked on the first try." I scoffed at myself when I thought of the next part.
" I was so tired that I forgot to spray repel that night, and my Growlithe, Ari, came sniffing around for the berries in my bag. I had to use two pokeballs trying to catch him, and if my last pokeball didn't work, he would have killed me too.
"Luca, my Riolu, was pretty reasonable when I first let him out. It was scary, but nothing bad really happened, and we got along pretty much immediately. But Ari . . . When I was trying to tame him, he wanted to test us before he was willing to accept us, and if I'd been just a little bit slower, I would have gotten hurt." I fingered the two pokeballs that rested in my holster belt contemplatively, shaking off the dark thoughts.
"We're all friends now, though." I looked at Joey with a bright smile. "Once you earn their respect, we all get along fine. Maybe that's why Skarmory let you catch her. You survived multiple attacks and never gave up on surviving to the end. I know that took a great deal of strength. Maybe she respected that." Joey looked thoughtful as he digested what I had told him.
"Can I meet them?" he asked. "Since you've already tamed them." I looked him in surprise, turning the idea over in my head. I trusted my pokemon to be obedient, and who was I to deny an opportunity to get them used to being around other people. In two beams of light, my pokemon materialized in the room. Ari was on me in an instant, begging to be petted, while Luca patiently waited his turn. As soon as he really took in his new surroundings, though, Ari began cautiously eyeing the only other person in the room. Noticing that his hackles were beginning to rise, I quickly stepped in.
"Ari, Luca, this is Joey. He's a friend, and I want you to be nice," I told them, looking pointedly at Ari. He wagged his tail sheepishly, and curiously sniffed at Joey's offered hand, licking it in acceptance before butting it with his head, desiring to be pet and not caring who it came from. While Ari was otherwise occupied, Luca climbed sideways into my lap and contentedly rested the side of his head against my chest. He watched Joey and Ari's interaction with keen eyes, though they closed briefly when I started to scratch behind his ears.
It was getting late by the time I returned to my room for the the night, but I did a little over an hour of studying on the moves my pokemon could learn, not yet ready to sleep. I found videos of the moves I wanted them to start on next and showed them to Ari and Luca. Eventually, when I got tired, I did a little grooming for my pokemon and readied myself for bed. As we piled on my bed, a comforting thought occurred to me in that halfway place between sleeping and waking. If Joey and his Skarmory got along half as well as he and Ari seemed to, they would be just fine.