Moving through a bustling crowd was far from fun. Arceus forbid they pick up the pace to actually get to where they want to go on time. The markets had just opened though, so I supposed it was alright for people to have a bit of a look around. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't also having a bit of a gander.
The berry stand caught my attention.
"Get your berries here!" a lady, or so I presumed, shouted. She wore an obviously oversized apron with different berries stitched across the front.
"Do you sell any Oran berries by chance?"
She positively beamed at me. "Yes, of course, we do. We can get you some Oran berries straight away! How many will it be?"
I looked to the placard stood against her stand and tallied the number in my head.
"Six please, thanks," I said.
She turned around and rummaged through something on the floor. I craned my neck to the left to try and see what else was on the floor. I froze when I saw a horrific burn lining the nape of her neck, it stretched up through her brunette messy hair. Over the years I had seen some pretty bad injuries, mostly on television, but hers was bad. Possibly the worst I've ever actually seen in person.
John Ackworth had the worst injury that I'd ever seen, I saw his on television. During a battle between himself and Cynthia, his Noivern lost control and burst his eardrums with a misdirected Boomburst, permanently deafening the man. He, of course, lost the battle 6-1, as only Cynthia's Lucario had gone down after a particularly nasty Hyper Beam from John's Gyarados nearly split it in half.
Even today, years after the battle concluded at the forty-sixth Conference finals, people still spoke about it.
"Sir?" she asked with a perplexed expression. I had no idea how long she'd been holding the bag of freshly picked Oran. My cheeks bled red in embarrassment.
"Sorry, I get lost in my own head sometimes," I tried to play off. I handed her 250PD and grabbed the bag, however, she didn't let go.
She frowned and ran her right hand over her neck, tracing the scarred skin with a grimace. Oh so she had noticed I took a bit of a look, that's awkward.
"I promise I meant nothing by looking at your neck–"
She held up a hand in front of me. "The names Anne, Anne Bickley."
I shook her hand and took a glance down her forearms. There were other scars there as well, just how many burns does this woman have? "My name's Eric Voldbee, it's a pleasure."
"I take it you're just a visitor?" she asked, her face changing a little when she caught sight of my Poké ball.
"Nope," I proudly stated, "I'm here to stay!"
"Not that many people like to stay in this city for too long," she turned to face the vast water with an unexpectedly angry face. "They say this city is nothing more than a cargo port for the rest of Sinnoh. Some days the pollution here gets so bad I have to go home early."
"Is it because of the boats? I hate travelling on them anyway–"
"Planes are just as bad, just better for P.R. reasons. But at least they don't stay, at least they aren't an eyesore."
I brushed off the indirect insult and nodded my head in agreement. "Yeah, I hate the things, looks annoying when all you should see is the surrounding waters."
She hummed in agreement. We came to a comfortable silence but were interrupted when a Charizard flew over ahead.
Anne visibly flinched and reached for one of her Poké balls, no doubt out of fear. "Hey, it's just Flint, right? Nothing to worry about?"
I was a little curious as to why Flint of all people was coming to this city. Did it have something to do with that strange man I had hit earlier on? I thought it likely, it made no other sense for a member of the Elite Four to come here.
Especially when the Gym Leader here is Byron, a Steel-type specialist.
"Flint is the reason for my scars. He and his Magmortar… they… never mind. Thank you for buying my berries." Now that was a way of ending an uncomfortable conversation effectively. Despite it being a little bit rude clearly this was a topic she wanted to steer well clear of.
I took the hint and nodded my head.
The street, otherwise known as 'Stands Street' seemed to never end. There were so many bloody people here that I couldn't even breathe sometimes. Some levels of traffic control seemed to be solely based on muscle memory. I simply tagged along with everyone else exploring the city before I had to try and find where my new home actually was.
There was quite a lot to such a small city. One of the main reasons why I did come here was because of the more… breeder friendly regulations in this area. With direct access to shipping lanes literally outside your doorstep, getting Pokémon shipped to your doorstep was little to no problem.
At least for every type of Pokémon that wasn't a Fire-type. Ugh, I still technically needed to get my special permit by the end of the week. It was only Monday though, so I did have enough time to look into the Canalave Library. I'd heard rumours of secrets hidden in their books so incredible that even Cynthia visited every so often.
Of course, the Library would close whenever she would arrive. But what's the harm in trying to get a little look at my new Champion? Ew, just saying that in my head makes me feel sick.
"Woah…" I stopped outside of the Legendary 'Harbour Inn' and stared in awe. Apparently, nobody had ever been able to get inside. At least not in fifty years… or so the stories say.
I walked past it with the odd sensation that something inside was peering at me through the windows, observing my moves meticulously.
The sun was now blazing in its full glory, giving me a full view of the streets ahead, so I didn't come upon a random dead end. After searching forever, I finally spotted the small house located atop of mossy bank to the eastern side of the city. Behind it, there were trees galore.
"Finally," I breathed and wiped the sweat from my brow. I searched for my keys and, with a big smile on my face, unlocked the front door.
"Oh, what the hell!" I shouted.
There were small slug-like Pokémon on the floor, the television, and hell even the ceiling. I liked Shellos, really I did, but now was seriously not the time to get in my way. I was hungry and so tired. S.S. Oceania may have had glorious reviews for its service but sleeping on it was literally impossible. I'd need a week to correct my sleeping pattern.
I shooed the last of the Shellos out into my garden, which was quite expansive, and slid the glass panel back into place. I settled down on a rustic brown couch and reached for my bag of Oran berries. Some dust dropped from the ceiling before I could actually grab anything from within, setting my nerves on edge.
Had someone been squatting in my home? I didn't know about any kind of squatter's rights in Sinnoh. Crap. My heart dropped to my stomach when even more dust fell.
I took a look at my Poké ball and weighed my options. Ah, fuck it, who needs a Pokémon to do a man's work anyway? I repeated that mantra in my head all the way up the stairs until I pushed open the guest bedroom only to find…
"Oh," I quickly and quietly shut the door. It appeared that my burglar was a Tentacruel. I wasn't about to let my home fall under the domain of a Water-type Pokémon!
Alright, that's it. I have no other real choice here and I did have a Pokémon. With newfound confidence, I pushed the door open and heckled at the Pokémon. "This is my home now, please leave!"
It was worth a shot.
And it ended about as well as expected. Huge missile-like deposits of cyan liquid flew toward me before I could move. Just before the water made impact, an enormous, blazing flash of light encompassed the room and all of a sudden my Poké ball felt much lighter.
The temperature of the room before was nearly frigid, likely because the Tentacruel wanted an environment similar to which it would feel most comfortable, that being the deep sea. Now though? Now it was hot. Really, really hot. I could see the windows lose their icy-like texture. Condensation started to build up, as did the sweat on my forehead.
The flames weren't the standard orange, no, they were a deep red, deeper than the fire I saw in the cargo hold of the S.S. Oceania. I had to take a step back to even see what my Pokémon was.
My expectations at first were ridiculously low, I even believed it was a Numel at first, not that there was anything wrong with them of course. Despite this, though, my expectations appeared to be far lower than I could have ever imagined possible.
I was looking at some kind of insect which had two strange small abdominal segments. The bottom segment was shaped like a cone and was brown in colour with thin lines tracing the shell, meanwhile, the top segment consisted of a white fuzzy mane that protected its face from the environment. Three pairs of stubby legs were poking out from beneath the white mane and were present halfway down the second segment of its body.
The main distinguishable characteristic of this species of Pokémon was the five orange whorled horns that adorned its head, cresting the skull with a crown of sorts. There was only one Pokémon in the world that looked like this and had the gases needed to turn flames a scarlet red. Larvesta, the torch Pokémon.
The small holes in my Larvesta's shell exuded a reddish gas that encapsulated its entire body. Only now had I noticed that Larvesta never seemed to stop moving. It slowed down sometimes at the cost of building up more gas inside its body, as a result, it made the room that much hotter.
It might've just been due to my own self-grandiose belief, but I could've sworn that Larvesta was actively moving so that the gases wouldn't cause me too much harm. I didn't even notice I was smiling until the Tentacruel finally made another move and wrapped its poisonous appendages around Larvesta's mane. That made my frown return.
"No!" I grabbed a chair and threw it as hard as I could, causing the Water-type to now focus its efforts on me.
It seemed that Tiena and her morals were starting to rub off on me!
"Vesta–" my Pokémon warned. I lowered the other chair in my grasp and watched on. Larvesta exploded into a flame charge so hot, so quick, that the room instantly caught ablaze.
The long, pearlescent-like appendages of the Tentacruel quickly let go of my Pokémon, sizzling like a Miltank burger on a hot summer's day. "Yeah take that you squatter!"
Knowing that this challenge wouldn't be worth any more horrific injuries, it let out a quick Smokescreen that thankfully took out all flames in the room, at the cost of blowing the window off its hinges. The window of opportunity that the Tentacruel had been given was shrinking; within a minute, it was back into the safe shallows of Canalave's canal.
The temperature in the room receded.
Larvesta spun around and approached me, albeit very slowly. My initial fear of the insect was assuaged after twenty or so seconds – just observing it moving that slowly made it seem weak. Then I thought back to the fight that I had just witnessed and quickly refocused myself. This was not a Pokémon that I wanted to piss off.
"So…" I went to my knees in front of my Pokémon. "My name is Eric Voldbee and you're… my Pokémon? I'm not sure how this usually goes, to be honest."
"Vesta, Larvesta!"
"Right," I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Out of all of the potential Fire-types that my mother could have had access to, she somehow had a Larvesta lying around. How had I never noticed it before?
"Are you a boy?"
No response.
"Are you a girl?"
She made a strange resonating noise from beneath her white mane. Ah, so it was a girl. It did make a little more sense when she got closer. Female Larvesta were notorious for their larger size and more intense fires, I just hadn't pieced it together. Arceus, if I intended to become a breeder I needed to know these things right off the bat.
Larvesta were well known to eat literally double their own body mass on the daily, which made my situation really difficult. Pecha berries would be a nightmare to come across in Canalave as Pecha berries were farmed in warmer areas. The more arid the better, hence why Pokémon like Darumaka and Larvesta loved them. Plus there was the added benefit of providing Fire-types with sufficient nutrients to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
"Ok, I've got a plan," Larvesta started to slowly circle me but made a sound to make sure I knew that she was still listening, "it begins with us taking a little trip to a stand on Stands Street and talking to a girl, like you, well not like you but a girl."
She wandered back in front of me and nodded her head. For such a menace, she seemed awfully tame. Mother must have had her for a very long time, the question being how long? It's not every day you come across such a monumentally powerful Pokémon out of the blue, especially not as a gift from a lower-class woman.
My mind started to drift and I was only brought back to the present by Larvesta climbing up my leg, reaching for her Poké ball with one of her whorled horns.
"Sorry," I apologise and quickly returned her. The weight of the Poké ball somehow grew back to its original weight. Odd.
I quickly departed from my house, completely aware of how utterly tired I was, and made my way back to Anne's stand. Huh, that rhymed. I laughed at it and drew the ire of some passing drunkards who were trying to load up a boat, and were failing horribly. I would have laughed at them regardless, however, in this case, I was just minding my own business.
"You think that our sufferin' is funny?"
"Uh, no. Bye."
"I challenge you to a one-on-one battle, the winner gets 100PD, what do you say?"
"No. Bye." I tried to sidestep the man but he was having none of it. More people started to congregate around me, and my grip on Larvesta's ball tightened.
"If you won't defend yourself…" he gave a lopsided grin, "then I'll take your Pokémon anyway."
I smiled at the memory of Tiena's bravery, only a few hours ago she faced such a hard challenge and came out of it unscathed. Ah what the hell, might as well let Larvesta have some fun.
"Glameow, I choose you!"
A small, spindly Pokémon emerged from the white light and hopped around in circles. It was wearing an adorable eye patch and growled like some kind of pirate.
Adorable.
"Larvesta, I choose you!"
Gasps and murmurs were all that I heard around me. I felt perturbed by the sudden interest of some spectators because I knew they wanted her.
Larvesta propelled herself in a charged ball of flames so quickly it caught the Glameow off-guard. Glameow's tail burst into flame and her whiskers suddenly looked brittle and black. I didn't utter a command and it was already over. May the gods of Sinnoh provide me with a Pokédex soon. I hadn't a clue of the moves that she could even use yet.
"What the…"
"You're Pokémon is so cool…"
"Where can we get one?"
I quickly took my prize money and offered the fisherman an apology. That battle was way too violent. Damn it, another splash in Sinnoh made for all the wrong reasons.
My heart was racing when I finally managed to make it to Stands Street. It appeared to be at its busiest time, although Anne seemed to still be free. She wouldn't be for long.
"Anne!" I waved.
She gave an awkward wave back. I neared the stand ready to ask her for Pecha berries, but just before I did, she spoke.
"I'm so sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to cause you any harm."
Harm? What was she on about?
"I'm fine," I waved her fears away. "But I need your help. I've come upon a… fascinating dilemma."
"Oh? Related to berries I hope? If not, then you must take it up with Canalave authorities, their building is over–"
"Yeah, I know," I didn't, "my issue isn't anything illegal. I, uh, have a Pokémon with special dietary needs."
"Go on," she said, crossing her arms clearly miffed that I had cut her off.
I ignored her raised eyebrow. Now was not the time to annoy the only person that could help me.
"I need Pecha berries. Lots and lots of Pecha berries."
"Oran berries should be fine to feed to pretty much any Pokémon, even Dusclops like them. Creepy buggers." She shivered with a smile. "I hate their evolved forms even more but even they like Oran berries."
"I don't doubt that–"
"Then why are you asking for Pecha berries?"
This woman was oddly nosy about a customer's business. Why did I need to justify any purchase I make to her? Oh, that was right, it's because she's the only person selling berries in the entire city.
I sighed. "Can we speak somewhere a little more quiet? You can come to my place if you want–"
"Huh?" she sounded perplexed. And then she didn't. "Y-you mean a… but I…"
"No not a date, definitely not a date. It's a Pokémon dietary problem, remember?"
"Hm. Fine, where do you live?"
I gave her a somewhat crappy set of directions until she asked me to point to it on her Pokédex. "So you see where those trees line up there?"
She nodded and followed my directions trying not to laugh. "Yeah, ok, cool. I usually close my stand at four. I guess I'll see you at five then?"
"Sure!"
"Here's a gift," she quickly slid a bag across to me. "As an apology because of my attitude earlier," she quickly added.
I tried to return it but she remained adamant about paying me back. No matter what I told her she didn't shift on her stance whatsoever. She even went for the jugular and said that if I kept this up she might not help me at all. That got me to accept the gift if nothing else did. She seemed pleased afterwards and waved me off with a smile.
I soon forgot about her and the fact that it'd take her an hour to get to my place.
My thoughts drifted to my Lavesta. She seemed really strong for her age. Actually, I hadn't the faintest clue of how old she actually was and there wasn't any information in my mother's will about her, only that I should take the Poké ball.
A smile graced my face when I thought back to her smile, ugh. Why was she taken so soon? It wasn't fair. It wasn't right and I wanted her back. But I'd never be able to have that without running the risk of losing myself in the process.
I shook my head. Stupid melodramatic Poké dramas on the television were getting to me again. That's all. Or so I told myself.
Eventually, after walking down the wrong alleyway and almost getting attacked by a feral pack of Rattata, I made it home. The sun was starting to fade behind the group of white clouds in the sky. For a second I swore I heard the low rumblings of thunder.
I released Larvesta, who immediately started circling me so as to keep her body temperature regulated, and opened the fashionably designed berry bag. If Anne stitched these herself she really did have a hidden talent.
"Pecha berries?" I muttered in surprise. These weren't cheap at all, what was she thinking?
Larvesta perked up at that and started to climb my leg after seeing the dual-leafed berry in my hands. Out of curiosity, I didn't stop her. I wanted to know what it felt like when a Larvesta walked across bare skin.
The discomfort I felt could never, and I mean this, be put into words. Honestly, I thought it felt like a million Caterpie were assaulting me and biting at my skin wherever possible. I didn't let this on though and let her eat from the palm of my hand. Interestingly enough, whenever she stopped still whilst eating Pecha berries, her body didn't build up any kind of gas in need of immediate release.
My next move made me regret underestimating the sheer volume of heat Larvesta could give off whenever irritated by the likes of myself.
With her eating the berry in my left hand, I used my right hand to touch one of her horns and I immediately wanted to die. I quickly plopped her on the ground and ran to my sink. Fucking hell that hurt. What the hell was I thinking? I literally researched most if not all Fire-types in the world and the first thing I did was touch the extremely dangerous horns of a Larvesta with intrigue. I was glad nobody else was here to see that.
Larvesta hadn't even noticed that she was on the ground, nor that my right hand was literally bleeding so much that I had used half of my bandages already, to no avail. I breathed through my teeth and tore off the soaked-through bandages and quickly replaced them with a new set. This time the blood hadn't the volume to go through, thank the gods of old for that.
Soon, however, five o'clock came and the doorbell rang.
I opened the door and paused when I saw what Anne was wearing. Gone was the puffy, long apron from earlier. She now wore sandals, jeans, a bright red t-shirt emblazoned with the title, 'Berries for days,' and her hair was rearranged into curtain bangs with a shaggy finish.
"Hi."
"What happened to your hand? An accident whilst cooking?" she observed my right hand with worry.
I grimaced. "Yep."
"Like how I burned my forearm making rice?" she questioned with a judgemental tone. "A Fire-type did that, didn't it?"
"In a way, it was more so me doing it to, well, me."
Her expression faltered and her lips parted with a sigh. "I don't understand. Oh, and I brought a Pecha cake with me!"
A cake made out of Pecha berries? Now I'd heard it all. It smelled incredible though. I owed this to Larvesta for the whole Glameow thing earlier today...
"Please, come in," I flattened my back against the door.
"Okay!"
We both sat on the sofa sipping on coffee that I had made. Yes, made by me and totally not the coffee machine that I had quickly hidden away when she entered the kitchen asking what was taking me so long. 100% Voldbee-style coffee, which probably explained why it tasted so bad.
"First time making coffee?" she eventually asked with a wrinkled nose.
"Yeah, sorry."
"Eh, it's passable," she laughed. "I made my father nearly vomit with my coffee once, right before he made a speech."
"Oh? Where does he work?"
She suddenly looked downcast and I immediately went on an apologetic tirade, similar to what Rayla had done with her coworker. That was how I instantly knew that I was in the wrong. At least unlike the blue-haired devil, I was self-aware. Like how I know my own internal monologue is very rude sometimes.
"…and so sorry. Are you ok? Want more coffee?"
"No more for me, thanks," she gently nudged my arm. "He worked as a fire marshal. I think he'd have liked you."
"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"
She sighed, not so from annoyance, but from understanding. She had probably been thinking about mentioning this tonight anyway.
"He was tasked with putting out a fire," she began, her voice wavering. "It was a small thing but quickly grew out of control. It started in a fight between a Charizard and a Nidoking. It was brutal. They fought for days atop a grassy plane before the fire grew out of control. The villagers had contacted the League for help days prior but nobody came. The League's resources were stretched thin… so my father went a little rogue."
I bent forward to listen closer.
"He stole a government-sanctioned ship and tried to stop the blaze with his Politoed and Golduck… in the end, it didn't matter. He died in the flames with his Pokémon. I was on that boat, he wanted to show me what being a hero meant. I don't think he believed that death was even a possibility. Or maybe he did, such is the bane of all hero stories am I right?"
"I guess…" I muttered. I supposed that she had lied about Flint and his Magmortar earlier, but I let her off the hook. I couldn't imagine losing my mother like that.
"No hero survives for long, and that Charizard burnt my hero to a crisp. One day, when I get to Fullmoon Island, I'll make that Charizard and Nidoking pay."
"…But Charizard that are wild are not to be trifled with, you'd die for nothing."
She went quiet at that but shook her doubts away. "Aren't we here to help you? What's your Pokémon? Is it a Chimchar? They're literally the only Fire-types in this region anyway, but to do burns like that…" she looked at my hand with disdain. "It must be a strong Chimchar."
"Who said anything about it being a Chimchar?"
"What else could it be? You're a newbie trainer."
I didn't respond to the insult. I grabbed my Poké ball and pressed the release button. She didn't say a word when Larvesta clambered up the side of the sofa to walk circles on my lap.
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."