Chapter 18: Wish Upon a Star
Thursday, July 31st, 7:36 PM, Cliff Mountain
Cliff Cave was a fairly well-known location in Johto, since it served as the common route many trainers took in order to reach Johto's Safari Zone. However, that was not the path that Rudy and his two companions ended up taking. Macy encouraged them to instead hike up the mountain that Cliff Cave cuts through. Todd was easily taken in by her declarations regarding how good of an exercise it was and how little people would be up there. Before Rudy knew it, he had been outnumbered.
The hike wasn't that bad all things considered, it was just needlessly tiring compared to taking the cave route. However, getting to see the rest of Johto from a tall vantage point had made it worth it. He was shocked by how many fewer people took this route given how vastly superior the scenery was to a boring old cave. He guessed that convenience mattered to more people than he would have guessed.
The hike would have been a lot more manageable if Macy wasn't taking the lead. Her idea of 'walking' mimicked the running speed of a Tauros. It was almost impossible for the other two to keep up, and this was her idea of walking.
Eventually Rudy became so exhausted that he had to sit down to catch his breath. Macy and Todd noticed and jogged back to meet him.
"Hey! What gives?" Macy asked loudly. "We're not even close!"
"We should stop for the day and set up camp to preserve our energy for tomorrow." Rudy answered, not in the mood to hear her complaining.
Macy muttered something to herself before answering, "Fine, I guess we can stop."
Todd breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had been doing a better job of keeping up with Macy than Rudy had, he was clearly even more exhausted.
The group pitched their tents up and ate their packed dinner. Then they spent a few rounds playing some games with the deck of cards Rudy brought, where Macy would never win. After that, Rudy and Todd retired to their tent while Macy spent the next hour jogging around the area with her Pokemon. The two boys figured they would try and get some sleep before their female companion inevitably woke them up at 4 AM.
Inside the boy's tent, they both saw a moving light penetrate through the thin fabric that separated them from the harsh wild. Macy and her fire-types were still awake.
Todd unleashed a sigh as he laid down in his sleeping bag.
"Tired?" Rudy asked.
"Yeah, Macy and all."
Rudy chuckled, "There's never a dull moment with her, that's for sure." Todd chuckled back but didn't build off of Rudy's statement. Recognizing that the silence wasn't going to be broken by him, Rudy changed the subject, "Have you ever been to a Safari Zone?"
Todd gave a short yawn before answering, "Yeah, I've been to the one in Kanto a few times, but only to take some pictures. This is the first time I'll be catching Pokemon in one, though."
"Any ideas on what you're going to try and catch?"
Todd placed a hand on his chin and thought for a moment. "I think Larvitar can be found there. It'd be awesome if I managed to catch one, but I'd settle for anything strong."
Rudy nodded, "There's definitely no need to be picky. Just remember not to overestimate yourself. If you catch something too strong, it might decide not to listen to you."
Todd was a little surprised to hear that, "Wait… really?"
Rudy laughed out loud. "Do you think every Pokemon you catch will listen to you unconditionally?"
Todd paused for a moment, afraid of what Rudy might say no matter what he said; "Umm… yes?"
Rudy gave an amused sigh and shook his head, "Most Pokemon automatically listen to their trainers out of respect. If someone successfully manages to catch a Pokemon, said Pokemon will take the opportunity to be trained by someone who 'defeated' them."
Todd sat up completely, intrigued.
"However, if a trainer catches a Pokemon that is far beyond them in turns of strength, they may treat it as a sign of luck rather than strength." Rudy explained. "They will refuse to obey orders, even though you legally own them. After all, they are still a living creature with a will. You will need to work your way up to catching powerful Pokemon."
Todd blinked, "Oh, well with you as my mentor, I'm sure I'll get to that level soon! You're one of the best trainers I know!"
Rudy normally would have given an egotistical response like: 'I'm one of the best trainers I know too.', but he just sighed. "That's… not what I was trying to tell you."
His exasperated words fell on deaf ears, as Todd had already settled back into his sleeping bag and was starting to snore. Rudy chuckled at him and gazed at the brilliance of Macy's fire-types seeping through the tent fabric once again. Only a few seconds later, a bright white light flashed six times, which dimmed the radiance of the original light upon each flash. It seemed that Macy was wrapping up her late night training.
Rudy breathed a tired sigh and plopped his head on his pillow. Before he closed his eyes to fall asleep, he thought about the group of teenagers that he had reached out to. He had heard about their noble cause from Chuck, a gym leader that lived in Cianwood City, who himself heard about them from Whitney.
At first, he didn't pay much attention to them, as young people trying to combat criminal organizations was an oddly common occurrence in the world. However, after hearing about their battle against the mutant in Mahogany Town and discovery of one of Team Rocket's largest hideouts, he figured that he would at least offer them the opportunity to get more involved. They were likely getting their intel from the news, so they'd probably be an even bigger help if they knew what the League kept hidden from the public.
What were they like? He pondered this question for a few moments. The only thing he knew about any of them was the fact that the girl who discovered the underground hideout was recently hospitalized. She was probably a reckless type, though he had no way to know for certain. At last, his thoughts began to disappear as his brain slipped into a deep slumber.
Silence followed for almost an hour afterward, as all three friends rested from the day's journey, dreaming of… various things. Soon, the wild Pokemon began to fill the silence with a nocturnal symphony. First, the hooting of Hoothoot and Noctowl sounded out as they hunted under the cover of darkness. Then, the buzzing of Yanma came as they looked for food and avoided their predators. Finally the otherworldly singing of a Jigglypuff turned the cacophony into a true song. It was a good thing that the Jigglypuff was singing now and not during the day, as its voice would surely lull all who heard it into a deep sleep.
But there was one noise that subtracted from the music instead of adding to it. It was the unpleasant noise of tearing fabric. The sound was coming from Todd's backpack, which was now jostling around like it had a mind of its own.
Finally, a hole was ripped through the bag, and out tumbled a small, red Pokemon with a yellow belly and beak, along with a few orange shards. Three claws were positioned on each of her hands, and two more were on each of her feet. The top of her head was soft and billowy, like a pillow. This was a Magby, who had finally hatched from the egg Todd received from Macy when they first met.
Magby was a little confused after she hatched, since as soon as she was ready to experience the outside world for the first time, another layer appeared to stand in her way. She had to use her claws to rip through the soft, yet tough material, which ultimately took more effort to break through than the egg. After too much time, she had finally managed to escape her fabric prison, but doing so had made her very tired. She was ready to lie down and rest for a while. However, she was also eager to experience the outside world, so she ignored her body's desire to rest and looked around.
The outside world was… boring… It certainly consisted of enough space to live in, but there was nothing else! Even worse, there were two other living things in here! Was she really expected to spend her entire life in these tiny confines with these two monopolizing all of the available space?
She desperately looked around to find a place to call her own. She noticed the zipper that sealed the inhabitants of the tent from the dangers of nature. This observation, along with noticing the chattering of all of the nocturnal Pokemon made Magby realize that there was more to the world than she first thought. She walked up to the zipper and tried to open it; however, having been just born, her hands were too sloppy and her claws were too long to get a grip on it. After a minute, Magby resorted to her regular method of ripping through the blockade.
The tent fabric wasn't too hard to rip through, though it combined with Magby's tiredness from ripping through Todd's backpack made the endeavor take longer than it needed to. After an undue amount of tribulation, Magby had finally ripped a hole large enough for her to pass through. With the final barrier behind her, the Fire-type could finally take in the world in all of its glory.
The first thing she noticed was the stark contrast in terms of space. While the fabric prison seemed too small for even one creature, this world seemed endless. Dark landscapes stretched out for miles, receiving only a little bit of light from the luminescent moon and the thousands of stars speckling the night sky. This sudden change in scale was rather disorienting for the young Live Coal Pokemon; but that feeling was soon replaced with an insatiable desire for adventure. Magby immediately sped away from the campsite and into the vast expanses of Cliff Mountain.
Despite the darkness, there wasn't an ounce of fear in Magby's fiery veins. She bounded up and down all throughout the rocky terrain that made up the mountain. Some of the wildlife would look her way, amused by her radiant wonder. Some merely scoffed at her innocence, while others reminisced about the days where they were as young as she was. Regardless, her excitement was very hard to ignore.
Even from the inky ocean of ozone that was the sky, she was easy to notice. A horde of Minior all turned their attention towards the ground as they floated high up in the atmosphere. One of these Pokemon was particularly amused with the baby Fire-type and floated down to get a closer look at it.
As Magby was happily strolling, the ground it was skipping on began to slant downwards. The change was too subtle for the newborn to notice, so she didn't look down at the impending dropoff. Before she knew it, the ground she was anticipating to land on disappeared, which caused her foot to plunge down the cliffside without a clear target, taking the rest of her body with it.
Magby's wonder was cruelly taken away from her, as she plummeted off the mountain, screaming at the top of her lungs. Most of the observing Pokemon just laughed or sighed. Every Pokemon that might have had sympathy for the Live Coal Pokemon had gone to sleep hours ago. The one exception was the lone Minior, who had descended from its place in the clouds to observe the curious Magby. The Meteor Pokemon knew that it was probably the Fire-type's sole hope, as the other nighttime Pokemon didn't care about her, and it had the ability to fly.
Almost immediately, it sped downwards after Magby, with speed akin to that of a shooting star, which easily allowed it to surpass the effect that gravity had on the distressed newborn. As soon as it was below the baby, it quickly halted and expertly positioned itself below Magby. Not even a second later, its body was struck by the force of a falling child, which wouldn't be all that much for a human, but for a small Pokemon like Minior, this was enough to make it start falling too.
Panic radiated through its body as it helplessly fell towards the Earth. It knew that it didn't have enough strength to slow down, so its only option was to remove the excess weight that Magby was responsible for. It suppressed its panic and concentrated. Three rocks materialized around the Meteor Pokemon, then it levitated one of them over to the distressed Magby. Minior transferred the newborn onto the rock and slowed down the object's momentum to prevent it from hitting the ground. Then, it used its levitation to stop itself from crashing.
Minior took a few seconds to stare off into space and comprehend what had just happened. Once it had come to terms with the fact that yes, it was still alive, the Meteor Pokemon floated back up to the top of the cliff with Magby in tow, who herself was shaking uncontrollably, trying not to fall off the small rock. Once they were over the cliff, Minior set Magby down near the edge. However, the Fire-type refused to get off, instead choosing to cling to the rock that had prevented its premature death.
Minior pondered its predicament for a few seconds. On one hand, it could just leave Magby there and go about its merry way. On the other hand, it also knew that it would be much more courteous to make sure that such a disaster never happened again, which would mean finding the young one's parents. Minior once again levitated the rock with Magby on it and took her with it to look.
Meanwhile, the campsite was in a state of panic. Todd had woken up due to a cold breeze that had invaded from the hole in the tent that Magby ripped open. Upon noticing the hole in his backpack and the leftover egg shards, he immediately woke up Rudy and then Macy, and now they were all turning the campsite upside down for their missing Pokemon.
Macy, who was especially irate at the loss of her Pokemon's child, piled insult after insult on her two older companions. "How did you two Sleeping Uglies NOT hear it?" she shouted with the intensity of a raging inferno. "It ripped a giant hole in your tent you morons! And you just SLEPT through it?"
Todd on the other hand, was under a similar amount of stress that Macy had, but as he was in charge of watching the egg, he had no right to be mad. "I'm so sorry!" He apologized for the umpteenth time. "I… I really don't have an excuse or explanation! I didn't think it'd be able to rip through the tent, let alone do it silently!"
Rudy, once again needing to be the reasonable one, was also rather concerned for the newborn; however, he was getting a little tired of the unending noise coming from his two friends. "Calm down you two. Let's make sure Magby is safe first, then you two can have your lovers' quarrel."
Macy turned her death glare towards Rudy; "Don't make that joke ever again! You hear me?"
"I said calm down Macy."
The girl huffed and haughtily turned her head away from them. Rudy sighed and refocused his eyes on the environment around him, hoping to find a small Pokemon stumbling its way through a new thing called life.
While Rudy maintained a straightforward investigative approach, Macy and Todd were much more frantic and thorough, checking every tiny crevice and behind every tree for any sign of the baby. While their search involved thorough investigation, they also failed to look at the more unorthodox locations where the Fire-type could be. It was because of this behavior that Rudy was the first to notice a floating object in the sky. Shining his flashlight at them, he found a Minior, and their missing Magby.
Though he had been keeping a straight face the whole time, Rudy felt an immense feeling of relief swell through him when he laid eyes on the Live Coal Pokemon. "Found it!" he exclaimed, which caused his two companions to immediately perk up and run over quicker than you could utter 'Pokemon'.
"Where is the child? Are they hurt? Do I need to kill Todd?" Macy fired around a dozen questions a second, whilst scanning the area for any sign of her Pokemon's child.
Rudy ignored her and waved for the Minior to come down. The Meteor Pokemon's gaze was drawn to the young man's signal, which led to the natural conclusion that Rudy must be looking for Magby. The Rock/Flying-type allowed gravity to slightly take over its body again, causing it to slowly float down to Rudy's level along with Magby.
As soon as she was within reach, Magby was plucked off of her transport rock by Macy and was promptly squeezed between the girl's arms and chest.
"You're okay! You're okay!" the teenage girl exclaimed while bouncing up and down.
Todd was the next to have a loud reaction: "Ah! Is it okay? Is it hurt? What's the situation?" The boy tried to get a closer look, but Macy used her body to shield the baby Pokemon from the older boy's prying eyes.
Rudy sighed at them before turning to the Minior that they both had seemingly forgotten to thank. "Thanks for looking after Magby. Sorry for the trouble." he said.
Minior's lack of appendages made its response a little hard to make out, but it appeared to be thankful for the praise.
Magby wrestled her way out of Macy's grasp and leapt onto the ground. Todd tried to reach down and grab her himself, but she dodged right before his hands could make contact, causing him to lose balance and crash into the ground. Macy snickered at his misfortune as Rudy shook his head. To make matters more embarrassing, Magby crawled on top of Todd's back and made a cry of celebration, which only caused Macy's snickering to turn into full-on roars of laughter.
A few seconds passed as the girl's anger died down. Then, she released her Magmar from his Pokeball. Upon doing so, Magby immediately quieted down. Despite having never seen him before, she felt an instinctual desire to rush up to him, and as a newborn, she couldn't resist it. She hopped off the boy and ran up to the Magmar, looking into his eyes the full way there. When she was at his feet, he reached down and picked her up. Unlike with Macy, Magby didn't want to leave his arms. In fact, it only took 5 seconds for his warm embrace to entrance the baby into a deep slumber.
Rudy helped Todd to his feet as they followed Macy back. The girl refused to look at either of them, especially Todd. Her indignant stomping showcased to the two boys exactly how she felt.
"I have a feeling I really messed up." Todd whispered to his older friend.
Rudy groaned and placed his right hand on his forehead, "If someone is at fault, it's both of us. However, I honestly don't think anyone's at fault. The hatching was a surprise, as it didn't show any signs of being close to that stage at all. We just got unlucky. Let's just be glad that Magby's okay."
"Well, Macy doesn't seem to share your opinion, and I don't think I do either."
"I don't think she'll go back on letting you keep Magby. But, if you want Macy's full trust, you'll need to prove that you can raise her properly. I still think no one's at fault, but that won't change how she feels."
Todd nodded wordlessly as the two finished their trip back to the campsite. Macy offered (insisted) to keep Magby with her Magmar, who she was going to let rest outside. The two didn't argue, and went back inside the tent to rest up. Rudy fell asleep almost immediately, while Todd stayed up a little to ponder on the night's events. Before long, he too found rest.
Friday, August 1st, 8:49 AM, Cliff Mountain
"Wake up losers."
A voice rang out in the two boys' ears. Groaning, Rudy pushed his blanket off of his body while Todd buried his face into his pillow. Rudy looked at the closed entrance to their tent and saw Macy's silhouette standing outside. He unzipped the polyester door and stuck his head out to greet her.
"Morning." He said half-heartedly.
She narrowed her eyes in his direction, her expression uncharacteristically unreadable. "It's almost 9 o'clock. We should start heading off if we want to get to the Safari Zone today." Then she turned a heel to him and walked over to finish packing up her things.
The auburn-haired man yawned and nudged Todd awake. The younger boy sat up groggily and shot Rudy a death glare.
"It's almost nine," Rudy began, "Get up."
He got out of the tent to help out Macy while Todd began to wake himself up fully.
The group spent the next 20 minutes packing up their campsite in quietude. The only noises that sounded between the group during that time were hushed conversations between Todd and Rudy. Every so often, the younger boy would look at the girl, a pang of guilt piercing his gut every time.
Once they were finished, Macy started walking towards Todd. He stiffened at this and started panicking.
"Todd." she said simply.
"Y-yeah? Listen, I'm really sor-"
She cut him off, "I know you are. I guess I can forgive you too."
Magby walked up to Macy's side and tilted her head at the two boys. Todd cringed at the sight of the Live Coal Pokemon.
The girl picked the newborn up and reluctantly held her out to Todd. "Despite last nights… incident. I still gave you Magby's egg, and I don't feel justified in declining your ownership of her just because of one mistake. But please… look after her properly. If this kind of thing happens again, I will take her back. Got it?"
Todd simply nodded solemnly. "Yes I understand. I will make sure Magby is properly cared for from this point forward! I won't let you down!"
Todd's conviction softened Macy's expression a little. "I'll hold you to that. Take good care of her." Todd nodded.
Rudy, sensing that the conversation was over, clapped his hands to alleviate the atmosphere. "Now that that's settled, how about we get some training done before heading off?"
Todd would have pumped his fist in the air if he wasn't holding Magby, so he simply exclaimed: "Yes!"
Macy shrugged, "I already did mine at four today, but a little more couldn't hurt."
The trio spent the next half hour training their Pokemon, though it was mostly Todd's two Pokemon that were being trained by the much more experienced partners of the other two. Todd really got to know Magby during that time and they quickly formed a bond with each other, something that almost quelled Macy's inner fury, almost. Magby grew fond of Totodile too, mostly because Totodile constantly tried to look cool to her new teammate, and it worked.
They never noticed the small spherical creature floating a dozen yards away, closely watching Todd interact with his Pokemon.
After their quick session was finished, everyone returned their Pokemon to their pokeballs with Todd catching Magby for the first time. As they were about to leave, Todd felt something hard nudge his shoulder. He turned around and noticed a small, orange, spherical Pokemon with five white spikes on its body. Its swirling, cosmic eyes stared into Todd's with unreadable intent.
"Oh hey! Is that the Minior that brought Magby back?" Rudy asked, having noticed the newcomer.
Macy whipped around as a wide smile stretched across her face. "It is! I didn't tell you this last night but thank you so much for bringing Magby back! I don't know what I would have done if we never found her!"
Todd shivered at her words. He was glad Macy didn't have to figure out what she would have done.
Minior's eyes narrowed a little and its tiny mouth curled upwards upon hearing the praise.
"So what are you doing here?" Rudy asked.
Minior looked at Todd once again and bumped into him with its body.
"Do you want to go with Todd?"
Minior repeated its earlier happy expression and eagerly looked at the younger boy.
A moment of silence passed over the group as Todd inspected the creature, his expression remaining neutral all throughout. Minior was pleased with the attention at first, but after a while it started to grow anxious for Todd's answer.
"You…" Minior braced itself for impact "...don't seem very strong."
With five words, Minior's jovial attitude crumbled. It could only watch in horror as Todd continued. "I'm really flattered that you want to go with me, but I just don't think you're the kind of Pokemon I'm looking for."
Minior remained strong on the outside, but moisture was beginning to gather under its eyes.
"I'm sure you'll find the right trainer someday." Todd finished. Silence passed for a moment before he shrugged. "Well… I'll be off! Thanks again for all your health."
As Todd walked off, Rudy and Macy stayed behind. Rudy looked at the Meteor Pokemon in sympathy as it started to shake from the rejection. As a Pokemon veteran, he knew that Todd had made two mistakes. One, Minior really wasn't often considered a weak Pokemon at all. It's not used very often by trainers, but that's simply due to the fact that they're hard to find. But second, and more importantly, Todd had judged a Pokemon's strength based on its appearance. Even if the Pokemon he was rejecting was traditionally considered weak by the majority, that didn't mean that it couldn't be strong. He once heard about someone who won the Ever Grande Conference with their ace Pokemon being a Meowth, and another who had used a Pikachu to defeat a Tapu Koko in the Alola League. Rudy believed that with enough hard work, any Pokemon could be a competent battler.
Out of his mental rant, Rudy refocused on his surroundings and saw that Minior had left. He turned to look at Macy before flinching. Plastered across the young girl's face was an expression that emanated an uncontrollable rage as she stared in the direction that Todd had left in. He was shocked that such rage hadn't compelled her to do something yet.
"Um, Macy? You okay?"
She jumped and her expression dissipated. "Huh? Yeah I'm fine, just a lot on my mind."
"Worried?"
"I wouldn't say that. I would say I'm 'concerned'"
Rudy knew that 'concerned' wasn't the right word either.
"Are you worried?"
Rudy rotated his head back to where Minior had been, then looked at Todd's cheerful marching a few dozen yards away. He turned back to Macy and looked her straight in the eyes.
"More than you can imagine."
Next Chapter: Siege on the Safari Zone