Got a request to keep a list of nicknames, so here we are:
Whirlipede - Entoma
Dwebble - Gargantua
Wimpod - Cocytus
Heracross - Kyouhukou
Ribombee - Leinas
The Ribombee were more than willing to let us sleep in the valley; in fact, they encouraged us to stay. I swear, if bees were this friendly back in my old life, I would have actually cared that they were dying off. Sure, they made some honey, but we can keep farms for all that.
Actually, I'm pretty sure bees are an invasive species to America. Now that I think about it, aren't most Pokémon invasive species? Note to self: study Pokémon ecology when given the chance.
Speaking of probably invasive species, we have a Scyther to find.
After packing up the next morning, we bid the hive farewell. They were sad to see us go, but not overly pushy about it. Leinas wasn't particularly sentimental, so hopefully homesickness isn't going to be a big issue.
Scouring the Poni Plains was the bigger issue. Hapu claimed there were Scyther roaming about occasionally, but I had no confirmation on that. Furthermore, the Plains weren't a particularly contained area like the Grove or Meadow. The area made up for its lack of anything but grass and the occasional tree with its vast size.
I hadn't really realized just how expansive it was when making my way towards the Meadow. I had assumed that it was only five or so miles wide based on the sandstone mountains in the distance. I was forced to re-evaluate this, as after about two hours of walking they didn't seem to come any closer.
Furthermore, in those two hours, I had seen no signs of any Scyther around. I had Kyouhukou and Entoma following behind me with Cocytus still latched on my back. I figured that Gargantua and Leinas weren't particularly necessary to stay out, as Kyouhukou could handle flying after the Scyther and Entoma could chase after it with some solid speed. The Larvesta egg was still in the bag, seeing as it was an egg.
I kept Cocytus out purely for the company.
About five hours after that, I was forced to concede. The mountain in the distance had gotten substantially closer but was still clearly miles off. Furthermore, the Scyther hunt was going very poorly.
In the seven total hours of searching, I had seen one Scyther. It was flying through the tall grass of the Plains, just a few hundred feet away. I had quietly motioned to Kyouhukou to start flying its way and lead with Aerial Ace.
Of course, before that could happen the Scyther noticed us heading its way. Faster than Kyouhukou could get into the sky, the Scyther was coated in a purple aura and blasted itself in the opposite direction of us. I assume the purple boost was Agility.
I swear, it must have been going eighty miles an hour. That Scyther was gone before I could even think to do anything, and it was incredibly demoralizing.
I think I'm done with this. I've got plenty of Pokémon for now, I'm not dealing with what's essentially a roaming Pokémon just to get a chance at a steel-type. Worst case scenario, I can get a Durant. Those things aren't as cool as a Scizor, but still spooky as hell.
Frankly, I was getting sick of Alola. Sure, the Poni Breaker Coast and Meadow were nice, but everything else was terrible. Long walks, harsh sun, Team Skull, and even a bug-lady of godlike strength.
Speaking of the white menace, it appears my trouble with her is far from over.
I had set up camp for the night, prepared to have some lovely generic rations with a side of pollen puffs and honey. I had let out the whole team rest up outside their balls, making sure to have them hold a perimeter. I sure ain't letting some random rat sneak up on my tent tonight.
I had already removed the rations from my bag, given a bit to Cocytus, and had Leinas prepare some pollen puffs for the lot of us. I wanted to keep the rations tasty with a bit of sweetness, so I went to pull out the jar of honey that the two locals had so kindly given me.
I pulled it from my bag, but before I could pop it open and pour any a flash of white and a gale of wind tore through the camp. I could only see her for a second, but that was clearly the Pheromosa who had ever so kindly given me a minor case of internal bleeding.
Curiously, none of my Pokémon were harmed. Everyone except Leinas, who hadn't noticed anything due to being engrossed in preparing pollen puffs for everyone, was tensed and ready for a combat engagement. Despite that, there simply wasn't any follow-up.
In fact, it took a solid half a minute before I realized what had happened.
"THAT BITCH STOLE MY HONEY!"
Completely absent from my possession was that glorious amber mason jar. It had been held mildly firmly in my hands, so evidently, Pheromosa possessed not just the speed, but the dexterity, to rush through and swipe the jar from my hand without the jar being forcefully ripped from my grasp.
That's some The Flash levels of bullshit superspeed. I'm going to have to report this petty theft to the Justice League if I want any hope of getting my honey back.
But alas, neither the Justice League nor any other crime-fighting organization near me was equipped to deal with an extradimensional anthropomorphic cockroach with superspeed. I'd be bloody impressed if anyone could, at least. At best, Hapu could earthquake and hope for the best.
I had no choice but to grieve what could have been while munching on my rations as there was no way to feasibly recover my honey to make it nice and sweet. At least the pollen puffs make for a good dessert.
Yup, I'm sick of Alola.
The trip back to Seafolk Village was unremarkable. My motivation was rather low, so we ended up walking for six hours at a time and then camping for the rest of the day. I had the whole squad work on practicing Protect in the meantime.
I think I'm burning myself out. Even back on the boat without anything to do, I never really relaxed. I was always thinking of some move I need to teach, stuff I needed to do, Pokémon I needed to catch. I was always thinking of something.
I assume it's the stress of being in an alternate world. I was always really good at ignoring my problems, but stress builds up regardless of my efforts. The only time I've really relaxed was... huh. When I was partying around Castelia with Roxie.
I guess I have a plan. I was going to go and head to Nuvema Town as fast as I could and try and... err... liberate a Genesect from that one Team Plasma research base. Now, I need to relax.
Partying with a punk rocker sounds like a hell of a way to relax.
Plus, we could work on teaching the rest of my team Toxic- NO! I just said no focusing on work. Damn, I'm just in the mindset.
Speaking of work, the team was putting in work during the trip back. By the time we made it to Seafolk Village, which took about three days, Cocytus and Kyouhukou learned Protect from Entoma, and Leinas and Kyouhukou learned Bug Bite from Gargantua.
Yea, Kyouhukou was getting a bit ridiculous with his variety. Cocytus wasn't particularly capable of attacking still, but at least he was moderately defensive. Still, I couldn't wait till he would evolve. Leinas was still a sweetheart, of course.
Seafolk Village was the same as usual, quiet people with quiet lives. The ferry situation was not the same, however. For whatever reason, Aether Paradise was shut down.
I had a small suspicion of exactly why that was, judging by the dimensional hopper currently running around Poni Island. Instead of waiting around for the squid-fucker Lusamine herself to get fixed up and let us leave, I just caught a ferry to Akala Island port.
Akala had happily began accepting new visitors to their port. They were clearly a port town that was a bit put down with the Aether Paradise new status as "the big port," and were making the most of the influx of travelers to boost their economy a bit.
The city itself was called Heahea City, and it was positively loaded with tourist traps. The whole place was bustling, and it was a bit of a shock after coming from Poni Island. Poni Island was considered the boonies of Alola, with the only things interesting for tourists being the Poni Beach, Meadow, and Battle Tree.
The Beach was overshadowed by all the other beaches around the archipelago. Every island had a Meadow of its own, so Poni Meadow wasn't considered to be worth the long walk to get there. Finally, the Battle Tree was mainly a Pokémon Trainer thing, so there wasn't much reason for the random tourist to visit unless they were really interested in battles.
Akala Island, though? Akala had the Lush Forest, the Wela Volcano; hell, they had the Hano Grand Resort, the fanciest resort in Alola. Akala had dozens of reasons for tourism, and they made the most of it.
To put it simply, Akala was Alola, or at least the public's perception of Alola, and I have about a day to tour the heart of it.
Cocytus was my choice to keep out. Of all my team, he was probably the most chill. A little skittish, sure, but he was nice to relax with.
"Oy, Cocytus, want to tour around with me? See the lighthouse, all the sights, the whole nine yards?"
Thankfully, he seemed up for it. He gave a little wurble and climbed up on my shoulder. He had mainly been latched onto my backpack for most of the time he was out, so it was a bit unusual but not all that surprising.
He seemed to appreciate the little scratch on the head I gave him, so I think we bonded a little bit there.
I figured the first thing to do was to visit the beach. A boy and his water-type, visiting the beach: a tale as old as time. Frankly, I just didn't care much for gift shops and wasn't particularly hungry.
Cocytus was taken with the idea, letting out a few happy clicks as we neared the beach.
"So, what do you want to do? I'm more of a follower for now."
Hopping off my shoulder, Cocytus nodded his head, seemly indicating for me to follow him. I had no reason to refuse, so I trailed behind. He led me through the crowded beach, weaving through groups of sunbathing tourists.
Every so often he would find a bunch of rocks and start digging into the cracks, searching around for... something. I had no idea what exactly, but that didn't stop me from taking a pair of sunglasses he managed to stumble on.
That trend seemed to continue, with every few sets of crevices we would find some random knick-knack. It dawned on me when he handed me an empty Pokéball with a proud look on his face, that this was what we were doing. We were just scouring the beach, looking for some neat stuff.
Eh, dumpster diving was always a jam.
I joined in, Cocytus and I looking around for random junk and collecting the useful stuff. We got a few nasty looks from the rich cunts just trying to enjoy the beach whenever we celebrated a new find, admittedly a bit too loudly.
A revive here, a full heal there, and we were just having a good time scavenging. The crowning jewel was when we found a pearl. Cocytus happily polished it, leaving us with a lovely little marble that was likely worth a fair bit. Hopefully this one doesn't get stolen.
We didn't end up with all that much for our troubles besides that, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. On our way out, though, we were accosted by an individual running a booth on the beach.
"Hello, sir! Would you like to try some Mantine Racing? We offer great prizes such as vitamins, rare candies, and move tutors to those who do well!" advertised the attendant.
Now, I wasn't much of a surfer, but that move tutor offer was interesting.
"Move tutor, eh? How would one get ahold of one of them, and furthermore, what selection of moves do you offer?"
"Ah, here's the list of moves. As to how earn them, you pay in Beach Points! We award more points based on how good your tricks are and quick you go!"
The list of moves was decent, but not extraordinary. The moves that caught my eyes the most were Iron Tail, Giga Drain, Signal Beam, Fire Punch, and Water Pulse. All of the moves cost 8BP, except for Water Pulse which costed 4BP.
This was perfect. Cocytus needed a water move to be my anti-fire countermeasure, and I had no clue when he was going to get one. Judging by the extreme weakness of first-stage bugs, it could be after his first evolution that he would get a move. Frankly, that was not an option.
"Say," I questioned, "Would you know if there's any way to get BP besides riding a Mantine?"
I had no intentions of trying to figure out if my brain would even let me get on a Mantine. For all I know, I could have a mental breakdown as I got on it, and that would be rather embarrassing. If I'm going to cause a scene in public, I'm going to do it of my own free will.
The employee looked a little disappointed, but still responded to the question, "Yes, well, we offer a currency trade in for BP. For every one thousand Pokedollars, you get one BP."
Shit, that's expensive as hell. But for a free pass on getting Water Pulse? Sacrifices must be made, and my greed won out over my hoarding instincts. Four thousand was an acceptable loss, but it meant that I wasn't going to be getting any more easy moves.
"Excellent, I would like to purchase four BP and teach my Wimpod here Water Pulse."
Still a bit disgruntled, the employee responded, "Certainly. But, are you sure you don't want to try some Mantine Racing? I assure you, it's very exciting!"
"I'm quite alright, thank you."
I felt a little bad for the employees, admittedly. He clearly loved his occupation, or at least was incredibly good at faking it. I would hope I would know the difference, I've worked customer service before.
Regardless, the needs of me... and my Pokémon come first. I suppose I hold some responsibility for their care, having mercilessly ripped about half of them from their home. Eh, I can't say I feel too bad for doing it though. A little bit of bonding and Stockholm Syndrome ought to get us nice and chummy.
So, I handed over the cash, and he called out a Slowbro.
"Slowbro here will handle the move tutoring. He'll transfer the knowledge through a bit of a Psychic connection and then have your Wimpod get the hang of it in practice."
I agree, so Cocytus scuttled forwards to the Slowbro. After a moment of Cocytus standing in front of the not-crab-thing, it began to glow a light purple. A second later, and Cocytus too was engulfed in the Psychic energy. All this Psychic energy is giving me a flashback to that damn Scyther.
A minute later, and the glow died down. Cocytus had gone a bit cross-eyed, and thus shook his head to clear his thoughts a bit. After a moment of recollection, he looked at the Slowbro with an intensity I hadn't seen in a while, clearly ready to attempt to harness the newfound information.
The Slowbro let out a few low not-quite-growls, presumably trying to speak with Cocytus. Receiving a nod from him, the Slowpoke turns its head, preparing a Water Pulse. From the Slowpoke's mouth comes a cluster of water, not quite an orb, that's visibly vibrating despite traveling at high speeds.
The water hits the ground with the normal concussive force you'd expect from a decent-sized blast of water, but more interesting are the slight tremors I can feel beneath my feet despite the attack landing a good ten feet away from me.
So, Water Pulse seems to be better than just the intermediary special water attack before you get ahold of Surf. I assume Water Gun is a more sustained spray of pressurized water, while Surf is likely a lot more torrential of a water attack. Water Pulse seemed perfect for use as a single shot of decent strength.
Cocytus took a few tries to get Water Pulse down. It was clearly less powerful than the Slowbro's, but it was a definitive, moderately powerful, ranged water attack that Cocytus so desperately needed to help fill his niche.
I thanked the employee for his time and left. We had spent at least three hours perusing the coast, and there was only so much time to scout around the town.
On our way out of the beach, when we were finally alone, I started to talk to Cocytus, "Now that you've got a solid move, I'll be using you in battles if I deem it necessary."
He seemed a little uncomfortable, but I could still see that little determined glint in his eyes.
"I know you're more of the skittish type, not much for fighting. But, I can see you've still got a bit of fight in you. I respect the hell out of that. I remember hearing a fancy quote a while back. Something along the lines of 'bravery isn't the absence of fear, but the willingness to fight through it.'"
Cocytus perked up.
"Now, that could be bullshit. I'm not a thesaurus, or a dictionary, or whatever," his eyes had a hint of disappointment, but I kept going, "I don't know semantics, but I know you're going to help out in battles, regardless of how spooked you get. How's it sound? You and me, and the rest of the team too, of course, the strongest around? I'll get you to evolve eventually, and we'll have you so damn threatening that you won't have to be worried?"
"Creee!" He chirped back, enthusiasm in his tone.
"That's what I'm talkin' about! We'll kick the world's ass, eh? EH!?"
"CREEE!"
"WHOO!"
Heh, I'm really riding a high of progress. I can't help but get hyped when shit works out. And, well, I really do love the sound of my own voice.
We spent the rest of the day carousing around the town, just the two of us bros.
The boat back to Unova was a fair bit less crowded than the one taking us to Alola. I assume it has to do with the whole Aether Paradise situation, but the difference was notable enough to be a surprise.
Whereas the boat on the way here was almost too crowded to have more than the two Pokémon I had at the time out, this time I easily was able to keep the whole party out. It was also partially boat design, this one seemed to have more emphasis on keeping a large, open deck. Any sort of attacking moves were banned still, so that's off the table.
Regardless, I was enjoying this ride back way more than the previous one. Having my whole team out meant some more bonding and even a bit of training. I hadn't gone out of my way to get them to train, either. Gargantua, Kyouhukou, and Cocytus had approached Entoma on their own time, hoping to learn Iron Defense and Protect. Leinas had tagged along trying to participate, but I had no clue if she could learn it.
On that topic, it was interesting to see the group dynamics develop when left on their own. It seemed I was right, Gargantua and Kyouhukou naturally gravitated towards each other's battle mania, even if Gargantua clearly still held somewhat of a grudge. Entoma was drawn into that circle by virtue of her and Gargantua being the most senior members and thus just knew each other better in addition to helping them train.
Cocytus was surprisingly chummy with Entoma. He had taken my little speech to heart and had dedicated himself to learning under her. His more skittish behavior seemed to play off Entoma's reserved nature, seemingly forming a pretty quick friendship. Despite training with Gargantua and Kyouhukou quite often, he just didn't connect quite as well with them.
Leinas was pals with everyone. She was just too nice, handing out food when someone was hungry and healing anyone who was just a little too tired. She didn't stick to any group, just content to fly around and be friendly with whoever she was around at the time.
Entoma was still quite affectionate with me, despite not being able to latch onto my head like a hat anymore. She was just a tad too big to keep out while in my room, but whenever she wasn't training with the others she would keep to my side, occasionally rubbing against me like a large, circular cat.
My relationships with Gargantua and Kyouhukou were still pretty distant. They didn't have quite as much of a natural desire to be friendly, but as the person who defeated and caught them, they kept a decent level of respect for me. Perhaps they'd warm up over time, hell, I'd not even had any time spent individually with Kyouhukou, but for now I was fine with the chain-of-command style of interaction.
The more time spent with Cocytus, the more I realized how spot-on I was about the "bros" comment. He seemed to really want to please me, but at the same time, he had no qualms with simply sitting around and chowing down on a meal or relaxing with me on his off time. He worked hard, but he also played hard. I could jive with it.
Leinas was lovely. I don't get hugged often from what I remember, so the sudden shift to constant affection was like a hit of drugs, and I was addicted. I didn't have quite the reliance on her pollen puffs like I did out on the road, but they were still a nice snack. Not entirely sure how she managed to create them, but it's probably the same mechanism that lets water-types summon veritable tsunamis from naught.
Of course, the Larvesta egg was completely inert and I had no relationship outside looking at it every night, wondering when it would hatch. Unfortunately, Pokémon egg hatching cycles aren't based on the number of steps walked, or it would have hatched ages ago.
All-in-all, I was enjoying myself far more than the first ride through. Then, the fifth day hit.
"I'm telling you, man, there's something on this boat. Something fast, I can't keep up with it."
A chill shot through my spine when I heard a random passenger say that to his friend on the evening of the fifth day. It had been such a good day too, Gargantua had finally managed to get a basic Iron Defense working and Kyouhukou figured out Protect.
I got up from my seat and started to walk towards the man. He and his friend were about eighteen or nineteen and pretty forgettable appearance-wise.
Giving him a little wave, I butted in, "Hey, I couldn't help but overhear you. Might I ask why you think there's something on here?"
If he was irritated with my invasion of conversation, he didn't show it. Instead, he seemed rather relieved to find someone willing to hear him out, if his tone and friend's disbelieving face were any indication.
"Alright, hear me out. I'm just making my way back to my room, right? I round a corner, and boom. I see something turn the corner down the hallway, just a blur. Now, I'd think nothing of it, but it kept happening. It's only in the hallways and once in the food court, and I haven't seen any sign of it on the deck."
Pressing for more information, I question further, "Any clue what it looks like? Anything at all?"
"It's white, or yellow, I'm not entirely sure. It's all a blur, and usually, I only see it out the corner of my eye."
"Huh, thanks. I'll keep an eye out for it, and let you know if I see anything."
Well, that was concerning. I'd noticed that the little white flashes I'd come to associate with Pheromosa weren't there despite her clearly being around us long enough to snatch away my honey. But, the implications of her being on this ship were rather horrifying.
Not only had she managed to infiltrate a ship on a crowded dock without anyone's knowledge, but she was also currently on the ship and managing to keep a low enough profile that only one person that I know of has even seen a blink of her.
Now, I'm not one to inflate my own importance unless it benefits me, so I'm completely honest when I say that I think I'm being stalked. Furthermore, if I am being stalked, my stalker has managed to keep me so unaware that I didn't realize she was even on the boat, which was worrying.
Why the hell was I being stalked anyway? Did she hold a grudge still? Was there some weird Pheromosa imprinting process I was unaware of? Most importantly, was she going to steal more of my shit!?
I think it's understandable that I didn't sleep all that well that night.
Nor did I sleep well for the rest of the ride. I had the team keep around me for the rest of the trip, and it was a relief to get off the ship on the final day. I didn't see a hint of Pheromosa anywhere, but that didn't exactly comfort me. That just meant either she wasn't stalking me or she was capable of avoiding my gaze without me even realizing she was there, and the uncertainty didn't comfort me.
The boat ended up back in Castelias Docks, just a short walk from the Pokémon Center. I booked a room there, and seeing as I was finally back in X-transceiver range, called Roxie.
"Nico! You're back!" Roxie's voice rang out through the speaker. "How was Alola?"
"It was... nice," I reply, not sure how to explain exactly what went wrong.
"Hey, don't act like I can't hear that pause. What, 'ya not get all the catches you want?"
"Ah, something like that. I gave up on finding a Scyther, I just wasn't feeling it. I did get a few others, though."
"A few? Well, I can't wait to meet them. Though, you'll have to hold off on that for a minute. See, I had a bit of an idea, yea?"
"Should I start guessing?"
She snorted, "Nah, nah. See, if I'm going to be a gym leader, I'm going to be strapped down to the town. I've already been a bit localized, see? So, I thought, "Hey, what if I go travel around with Nico when I get back." After all, I'll be needing to get a strong team to go along, and traveling around is the best way to build up the team."
"Are you asking me to travel with you?"
"More of me traveling with you, than you with me, I'll be tagging along for the most part."
Huh, that's an idea. I've gotten pretty chummy with my Pokémon, but I'm not sure of how nice it would be to have another human around all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love the occasional conversation, but all the time?
I thought about it for a few seconds, made a pros-and-cons list, and all that. What finally swayed me was my earlier decision to "party" with Roxie. I wouldn't be partying like I intended, but maybe having a second member would let me pace myself.
I nodded at the camera, concluding, "Eh, why the hell not? How are going to go about this? I'm in Castelia, you're in Virbank, plus, you'll probably have some shit to get ready first."
"Ah, don't worry about it. I already made plans with the band to take some time off, and Pops is fine with me going out on a trip. I even went and caught a Koffing so I'd have all the poison-types in the area. Trust me, I'm all prepared," She stated confidently.
"Ah, well, fair enough. The plan, then?"
"I just told ya', I'm tagging along. Shouldn't you tell me the plan?," she giggled. "But nah, I'll meet you in Castelia, if you don't mind. I would like to trudge through the sewers a bit too, if you don't mind."
Huh?
"The... sewers?"
"Yup, I've heard there's some Zubat hiding out in there."
Ah, that makes more sense. I had forgotten you could head down there in the second game. There was also a tunnel in there that led directly to Driftveil, if I remember correctly. I wonder if that's open? It would save me the trouble of going through Route 4 again.
I hummed, "Hmm, seems like we got a plan. I'll wait here, when are you going to show up?"
"Should be around tomorrow. There's no scheduled boat heading across the pass, but there's perks of being a sailor's daughter. I'll letcha know if anything changes, yea? So, what's the plan after we go spelunking under the city?"
"I was planning on heading over to Nuvema, y'know, see if there's anything interesting. Maybe do the gyms on the way back."
"Nuvema? The only thing interesting over there is the Pokémon Professor. But, hey, I did say I'd follow your lead."
"Alright, sounds good. Anything else?"
"Nah, don't think so. See ya tomorrow, then!"
"Goodbye."
So, I have a new traveling companion. At this rate, I'll become a Pokémon Anime protagonist. Heh, nah, I don't have a near-useless fan-favorite keeping me down. The closest I have is Leinas, and the only people who diss red mages are the people who min-max in Final Fantasy.
Which was me.
But hey, I didn't have an arbitrary four-character limit, so there was no reason to not have an incredibly versatile character that needs a little more leveling than the others. The food is a massive benefit as well, so don't forget that. An army runs on its stomach and all that.
The next day, and I was waiting at the pier for Roxie to arrive. She had called me earlier in the morning to tell me that the plan was still a go, and her boat was on the way. She seemed to have also taken a cruel delight in knowing that she woke me up with her call, laughing at my bedhead.
I assume that the small speedboat approaching the dock she told me to meet her at is the one, but I had already been faked out by another boat coming into the same dock.
I was able to confirm that, yes, this is Roxie's boat, mainly because that when it pulled in, Roxie waving to me.
"Thanks for taking me, Dad!" She hugged her father, stepped off the boat, and started to walk towards me. "Sup, Nico! Ya' ready to smell the sewers?"
I grimaced, "Well, not when you put it like that. Mind just keeping it to "ready to go and catch a Zubat" or something?"
"Hey, I figured I'd best get 'ya ready for what's to come. Besides, they keep 'em pretty clean from what I hear."
I rolled my eyes and motioned for her to follow me.
"Let's walk and talk. I looked up how to get into the sewer system last night, it's over near Skyarrow Bridge," I informed.
Castelia City was much larger than the games made it out to be, but it was still relatively similar in design. The entrance to the sewers wasn't a few steps away from the bridge like the games portrayed, but the dock connected to the sewer entrance was only a five-minute or so walk away from the bridge.
Despite my intention to do so, we didn't really get to talk as we made our way through the city. The crowds were frankly too dense and loud. Every time I tried to speak to Roxie, the only response was a "WHAT?"
Soon enough, we found ourselves at the dock. Unfortunately, there was a man blocking off the path.
Roxie began to mutter into my ear, "Alright, here's what we're going to do. I'll have my Koffing send out a smokescreen to cover the dock, and we'll hop over the railing and down to the entrance. Here, put on this mask, just in case."
Oh, so we're breaking and entering? I hadn't considered the logistics of allowing people into a city's critical infrastructure, so I suppose it's understandable. Honestly, not sure how much a medical mask will help, but we're also in a world where Jessie and James can get away with putting on mustaches.
Nodding back at her and slipping the mask over my face, I quietly reply, "Alright, I'll follow your lead."
She smirked, put her mask on, and released her Koffing from a Pokéball. Nobody took notice of a couple of teenagers playing with a Pokémon on the dock, so we were completely free to enact our plan with the element of surprise.
We wandered over to the edge of the dock, able to see the entrance to the sewers just below us. There wasn't a door blocking it off, so we wouldn't have to worry about busting it down once we hopped the rails. The drop itself wasn't particularly far, only about six feet. It would hurt my feet, but virtually no chance of anything breaking.
Roxie tapped my leg, her three fingers stretched out. I watched as she lowered them individually.
Three, two, one.
"Koffing, SmokeScreen," she whispered to the toxic orb right next to her.
Noxious black smoke began to spew out of Koffing, covering the dock in a matter of seconds. I had held my breath, but the people around the dock were not prepared to suddenly inhale smoke. Koffing-induced coughing resounded throughout the dock as everyone was enveloped in the smoke.
I heard Roxie recall Koffing and hop over the edge, so I followed. The smoke persisted as I landed, but I could make out Roxie's footsteps as she rushed through the entrance. I broke into a sprint, though I clipped the side of the entrance with my shoulder, causing me to hiss in pain.
As I made it through the entrance, the smoke cleared out. Roxie was about five feet in front of me, also in a sprint. She looked back, and even though her face was still covered by the mask I could tell she was smiling.
We kept sprinting through the sewer tunnels, taking random turns just in case anyone was following us. After a couple of minutes, our sprints petered into a walk as we panted for breath.
Roxie looked at me, still gasping for air, "That, hah, went, hah, well."
I took off my mask and replied, equally breathless, "Yup, hah, I think, hah, the plan worked.
Roxie also took off her mask, and we both leaned against the side of the wall for a minute gathering our breath. After her breathing had calmed down, she turned to me with the same ecstatic smile I could see on her face as we first rushed in.
"That was fun, yea?" She laughed almost manically.
Oh, god. I've partnered with a true adrenaline junkie. I suppose I should have figured that out earlier.
"It was... something. Have you done this before? You seem like you have."
"Not this exactly, but runnin' from people and getting into places you're not supposed to is always fun."
I snorted, "Fair enough. I can respect the lack of respect for authorities."
"'Ya know it. So, now that we're here, what say we start lookin' round for some poison-types, yea?"
I looked around. The barren, concrete halls stretched out in a grid pattern. Every once in a while, a hit of movement from wall to wall by some Pokémon dashing about was made. Man, this place was eerie.
"Well, we came here for a reason. Let's get you that Zubat."