"Happy birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you" I sing down the phone as Togepi claps along
"Stop stop you are making me feel old Dusty!" Grandma shouts down the phone
I smile
"Are you sure you don't want me to come home, it would be no trouble"
"Not at all young man, you're out on your journey doing excellently might I add" She says with a smirk
She was right, since Ecreteak I had been on a real hot streak, the power up from Quilava to Typhlosion was incredible, every match since I had one either with a combination of the starters and Lapras. It suited Sudowoodo who wasn't much of a battler but had chipped in while Togepi had her first battle against another trainers two Abras who were both novices too. I was currently on a 12 win streak heading towards the Whirl islands back from Cinewood after getting my 5th Badge
"Well I hope you have a good time, make sure Farfetch'd helps you cook" I say with a smile
"Oh he will plus Charles has invited me somewhere for a surprise"
"Daisy's Uncle? Thats nice, any ideas?"
"He didn't give any hints"
"That nice of him though, I'll ask Daisy to thank him next time I see her" I say as the boat jolts to a stop
"Are you okay? You jolted!" Grandma says
"Yeah, the boat just stopped not sure why though, I'm going to go and check it out" I say
"Let me know when you get to the island please!" comes a shout
"I will don't worry" I say smiling into the phone before clicking off
I wander out of my cabin, there only two other trainers on board heading for the Whirl Islands, there apparently a tournament for water type Pokemon that I wanted to take part in. I originally wanted to head out on Lapras who was really enjoying being able to swim openly on the ocean, however there has been a spate of strong storms and big whirlpools so local travel not in power boats had been restricted. I walk up the hallway of the boat up to the top of the boat to take a look. The sea is dark and still as the night draws in, the setting sun dimly lights up the horizon just as it pokes slightly out.
"Uh hello, is everything okay?" I say as I come up onto the top
"Uh yeah, sorry lad about the quick break" comes a shout back
I look behind and see the captain of the boat. He's dress in white shorts and a black t-shirt, he has a blue baseball cap on with a Poliwhirl on it. He is walking about the hull of the boat trying to find something
"Lad is there a turner there?"
"A turner?" I questions
"Looks like a big alan key?"
I look around on the stairs and see what looks like a big crowbar
"This?" I say holding this up
"Thats it lad! Bring it here!"
I step up and hand it to him, he pushes it into a hole of the compartment and it opens up a hatch to the engine, he sighs deeply before taking a seat on the side of the hull
"Again its taken it"
"Everything okay?"
He wipes his brow and look out onto the ocean
"Yeah, we might be here for a little but though, silly little thing taken the battery again" He mumble
"The battery?"
He pats the seat next to him and I gingerly walk up and take it
"See in here is the motor or engine depending on how you wanna look at it, on the under side is a vent that allows air in to keep it cool but it also lets in certain unwelcome visitors. I'm forever having to take out Remoraids, Shellders and Corsola. Once had a Mantyke to that was eventful. However there a certain Pokemon that's learnt it can get in and steals my battery that powers everything basically on the boat. I've got my Elekid who is powering up the emergency powers but there no go now"
"Whats taken it?"
"A Chinchou, it notorious in these parts, been taking battery for a few weeks now"
"A Chinchou, whys it taking them?"
He sighs again
"About a month ago there was a huge storm and I mean huge. I've be sailing on these seas for nearly 40 years now and its the worst I have ever seen. There was a huge pod of Chinchou and Lantern that would regularly guide you in the storms if you needed it. The Whirl Island landing crew they were referred to as, they got swept away. Only this little Chinchou was left, we think they must have all been you know"
"Thats so sad"
"Yeah, a lot of us all searched and searched for them. Generally they hold up in one of the caves but we think they just couldn't get there in time"
"How did Chinchou survive?"
"No idea, it was the only one left though the next day when we set off"
"So why does it steal the batteries?"
"We went out searching in the days after to try and find them, after a week of nothing we gave up as we were wasting resources. Chinchou didn't take kindly so started taking batteries and thing to get people to help it look in different places"
"I see so Chinchou just really lonely?"
He shrugs
"I'd say so but something needs to change, it can't keep disrupting things"
"Do you know where it would be?"
He point off towards a cove
"It generally takes it over there, we will have to wait it out, it will generally bring it back acting like its found it"
I stand up and look out, theres a small cove just off to the west, I can faintly see a glowing yellow light which I assume is Chinchou
"I'm going to head over there" I say pulling Lapras's ball from my belt and sending it out
The captain just sits and nods as I jump to Lapras back, it coos happily and I point it over towards the cove. She gently glides across the water as we come up onto the cove, I ask Lapras to wait by the front as I wander it the cove. On one side of the cove is a lot of discarded wood, tarp and the captains battery, at the back is a small pool of water in which Chinchou sadly bops up and down in looking towards the roof of the cove
"Uh hello?" I say bracing myself for an unwelcome response
"Chin!"
Chinchou jumps up out of the water expecting the captain but spots me, it looks at me slightly curiously. I walk in a little more before sitting cross legged on the floor
"Hi there, its nice too meet you"
Chinchou coos looking at me even more cautiously, I take a look at it all over, it looks okay but there is a small gash on its fins
"Oh your fin, thats look painful, can we help?"
"Chin!" it cries hiding it away
I grab a ball from my belt and send out Sudowoodo
"Sudo!"
"This is Sudowoodo, he great at healing Pokemon he can help if you let us take a look"
"Chin…" It looks anxiously at me and Sudowoodo
"How about this" I say pulling from my bag some food pellets
"Try this" I say throwing some out
It hops up and sniffs it, he takes a bite before scoffing down the rest
"Glad you like it" I say with a laugh
"Chin?" It says hopping up to me
"Can we take a look at that fin?"
It looks down at its damaged fin before allowing us to look at it. I take it and it winces a little, it a gash but only seem to be a flesh wound, Sudowoodo looks at it and managed to cover it in a paste of some roots and berries it has found. We then bandage it up tying it tightly, we then cover it in some waterproof tape so the bandage can't get wet
"There we go, a few days and you should be fine"
"Chin Chin!"
It bounces up and down happily
"So how did you get that?"
"Chin….." it calls sadly
"Was it when everything happened to your pod?"
It nods and flops down
"I'm sorry that happened to you, its sad but you can't keep looking for them, if they're gone they're gone"
It pulls itself up onto its bottom and stares up at me sadly
"I know how you feel, my family, my mom and dad they're both gone too"
"Chin.."
"It happens but even though they are gone you kind of just have to keep going on, plus you meet your found family, like I met Sudowoodo, Lapras and the rest. You just have to find your group" I say reassuringly
"Chin.."
"Hey, why don't you come with us?" I question
"Chin?"
"Yeah, at least for a little bit, till that fin has healed. I'm heading to the Whirl Islands for a water type tournament and if you were up to it, it would be great to battle with you there"
It looks down sadly before up at me and nodding
"Heres what we will do, I'll catch you in this" I say holding up a Pokeball
"If you wanna stay once that fins healed and we are heading off then I'll release you?"
"Chin Chin!"
"Great!" I say before tapping it against Chinchou's head, it rolls three times before confirming the capture
I smile down at the ball before returning Sudowoodo, I send him off back to Elms lab. I hop onto Lapras with the battery and head back to the boat.
"Well young man thank you for retrieving the battery, how was the little one?"
"You're welcome, his fin battered but he's agreed to come along with me for now"
He baulks slightly
"you caught it?"
I nod
"Yeah, I going to get its fin looked at once we get to the islands and it agreed to stay with me and my team for a little bit, once its healed it going to decide whether to stay on the islands or not"
"Well that is unexpected but I'm pleased the little guy may have found a new place to belong"
He takes the battery and fixes it back up to the boat and we head off towards the island. We touch down about thirty minutes later. We are on one of the smaller islands on the outskirts, I thank the captain and head off towards the nearest centre
"Hi nurse can you take a look at my Chinchou, its hurt its fin before I caught it, we have treated it as much as we can"
"Uh okay, nice work young man, we will look into it for you"
"Thank you"
I take a seat up in the lobby area, I sigh deeply. It probably the first time I have thought about the fact Mom was gone without bursting into tears. Its hard but applying the logic to a different situation kind of help contextualising my own. Yeah Mom is gone and I'm sad but, I still have Grandma, Ryan, Daisy even people like Louise and Oscar with me. All my Pokemon too, so ultimately I'm not on my own.
"Uh are you Dustin by chance?"
I look up to see a young lady dressed in fine dress, its a satin dress with seashells and pearl emblazoned across it
"Uh yes"
"Excellent, could you accompany me please?"
"Uh I can but I have to wait for my Chinchou"
She stares off to the desk
"Don't worry we will arrange it to be brought to you"
"Uh right sure" I say confused
She walks me out of the centre and up some white stone stairs, it comes to the end of the road to a grand big house. She opens the door into the main room and there is a huge brown table, adorned with huge masses of food. A few people sit around and one familiar face
"Dusty!" Grandma shouts waving to me
"Grandma!?"