The night brought rain. Lexi and Aiden woke up to muddy ground and wet tents, which were hard to pack. After a short breakfast they started their climb to the top of the hill, which was more difficult than they had expected. The rain had made the ground slippery, and it was overgrown with plants which blocked their way. Aiden sent out Pidgey to help them cut away some of the foliage, but it still took them hours to reach the tower.
''Why did Elena think this path would be shorter?'' Lexi panted. She pulled a stick out of her hair and looked at it. ''I don't think anyone has used it in years!''
''Well, if you compare it to going around the entire hill range, it probably is. Watch out, there a hole in the path.''
After much climbing they reached the tower. It was a massive rectangular block made of white stones, with an old sundial on the side. Below the sundial hung a copper plate with the name of the tower and it's build date. ''Turrim tower. It was build 400 years ago, doesn't look that weathered.'' Lexi looked at the filthy walls and damaged stone, and wondered how it would have been to stay at this building as a guard, scouting for enemy ships in the distance.
Aiden paid no attention to the tower and sat down on an old bench which overlooked the sea. ''Let's eat something before we start with the descent.''
Lexi nodded, but then got distracted by a small figurine hidden in the doorframe. ''Hey Aiden, do you know this pokémon?''
''I'm not standing up. If you want me to see it, you can bring it.''
Lexi picked up the figurine but noticed it was attached with a chain. ''I can't, it's connected to something. But it kinda looks like a long eared teddiursa….with spots'' Lexi turned the figurine a bit, ''it has some kind of imprint on the bottom as well.''
Aiden turned his head and tried to see something without having to get off the bench. Lexi grinned at his weird behaviour and then joined him on the bench, while searching through her pokédex. Aiden looked over her shoulder while the images of pokémon shot across the small screen.
''I think it's a Spinda, wonder who put it there. Why put a figurine in such a remote place, were they trying to hide it?'' Lexi looked up and saw Aiden had directed his attention to the tower.
''Do you think we can go up there? The view is probably amazing!''
Lexi frowned. ''It doesn't look very safe.''
''Let's just try it, these things are built to last forever.'' Aiden walked to the door and leaned on it with all his weight. Slowly the door moved away. ''I'll go first and call you when I feel it's safe okay?'' Aiden didn't await her answer and stepped into the tower. Lexi could hear his steps echo through the building and listened closely if she could hear any warning signs.
''It's fine, I don't see anything cracked or teared. It's just a bit filthy, nothing to be afraid of.'' Aiden assured her. Lexi pulled her backpack higher on her shoulder and stepped past the figurine. It was dark and damp inside the tower, but the primitive stairs felt strong and safe as she placed her weight on them. She could hear sounds coming from above, probably made by Aiden. When she reached the top she saw Aiden stand next to a big window with thick iron bars across it.
''Hey, there you are. Come look, you can see really far.'' Aiden beckoned her and Lexi stepped closer. She could see the forest stretch out in front of her, all the way to the big lake at her right. Beyond the lake and the river that fuelled it were endless plains. Lexi could see their destination, Rana. It was miles away but Lexi could see the sun bounce of the many roofs.
''We'll go through the forest and across the river,'' Aiden pointed, ''then we go to Rana, and continue to that swampy area to the left. I read there are lot of wooper, barboach and lotad there.''
''It probably has a pretty poor water quality, maybe I can get my magikarp there.''
''Am not sure if there are magikarp, and why would bad water be a good thing?'' Aiden questioned.
''That's what everyone in the village always says, those that are able to survive in the worst conditions are the strongest, and of course there are magikarp, magikarp live in pretty much every body of water. My niece once found one in her pool.'' Lexi glance out of the window one more time and then turned back to the stairs. ''I've seen it here, I'm going back down.''
Lexi waited for Aiden outside the tower and both started on the difficult way down. This side of the hill had some planks to improve their grip, but it still took them a long time to get to the bottom. ''Maybe I should let out Serafine to help us, ponyta's are good climbers.'' Lexi mentioned as she nearly slid down the path.
''Do you think she's strong enough to hold both of us?''
''She can't carry us, but maybe we can both hold her and she can support us as she leads us down.'' Lexi released her ponyta and both trainers held on to the small body as she guided them down the hill. Serafine carefully choose her path and was able to find proper footing for them to stand on.
''It will be so cool when she evolves, then we will actually be able to ride her! Think of how easy travel will become, we could get to Rana in a fraction of the time we need now.'' Aiden lovingly petted Serafine as he thought about it.
When they reached the bottom Lexi gave her pokémon a tasty treat and Aiden came to a realisation.
''We should have used her when we were trying to get up the hill!''
''Oh, yeah. I didn't think of it then. Oopsie.'' Lexi said, raising her shoulders.
''Okay, well, which way are we going? Do we follow the hill range or work our way straight through the forest?''
''The forest is probably quicker, as we can go in a pretty straight line, but it will also be easier to get lost. So, I'll just follow your lead.'
Aiden choose the forest and both trainers went on their way. Serafine stayed outside her pokéball and Aiden let out Hoothoot as well, ''Wouldn't want him to get jealous.''
They had just passed a big oak tree when a boy crossed their path. He had short blond hair and wore a ripped orange jacket. ''Hey! Can you please help me? My bag got stolen by a sentret, all my pokéballs are in it!'' the boy pleaded.
Aiden immediately stepped forwards, ''We'll help you, do you know where it went?''
''It ran to a big tree and climbed up, it might still be there.'' They followed the boy and found the sentret in a tree, holding the boy's bag open with its tail.
''Give me my stuff back' the boy screamed at the pokémon, but the sentret simply turned away from the noise and continued rummaging through the bag. The boy turned to Lexi and Aiden, ''So, what's the plan?''
Lexi shrugged, ''Maybe we can use Hoothoot's Hypnosis? Serafine wouldn't be able to get up there for a tackle and any fire moves will set the forest ablaze.''
'Good point, okay Hoothoot,'' Hoothoot perched himself on Aiden's arm, ''I want you to use Hypnosis on that sentret till it's asleep, alright? And when it is asleep I want you to grab the bag.'' Hoothoot stared at him for a moment before flying off.
As soon as Hoothoot came close the sentret pulled its head out of the bag and tried to hit him with its paw. Hoothoot moved out of the way and flew a few feet back before using Hypnosis. The sentret cried out angerly and broke a stick of the branch. Hoothoot dodged the stick and tried again, this time the sentret started swaying side to side. The pokémon slumped against the side on the tree and closed its eyes.
Hoothoot grabbed the bag and carefully dropped it at the base of the tree. The boy ran to the bag and took out three pokéballs. ''They're okay. Thank you guys!'' the boy looked through the rest of the bag and groaned, ''that thing ate all my food!''
''You can have some of our food,'' Aiden offered. He took a candy bar out of his bag and handed it to the boy, ''my name is Aiden by the way, and that is Lexi.''
''My name is Arvo. I'm from Otus town.''
''No way! I'm from Ibis! So we share the same water, haha.'' Aiden joked.
''Share water?'' Lexi said tilting her head.
''You know the Strig river right? There are eight towns all along the same river'' Aiden quickly explained. ''Otus and Ibis are two of them.'' He then turned his attention back to Arvo, ''I saw you had some badges, are you also a trainer?''
''Yeah, I've been traveling for a few months now. Went from Bitis to Rana, and meant to go to Pandam next, but I heard that there was a small competition nearby.''
''We're on our way to Rana, can you give us any tips for beating the gymleader?'' Lexi asked.
''I didn't fight her, she wasn't there. They didn't say why or when they expected her back.''
''Oh, well, then…'' Aiden said trying to process this new information, ''then we maybe need to pick a new destination. Not really useful to go there now if there is no gymleader.''
'Why don't you to come with me, we can all enter the competition, may the best one win!'' Arvo said enthusiastically.
''Yeah, that sounds great, right Lexi? Hey Arvo, what can you tell us about the gymleader of Bitis?''
The boys walked away in busy conversation and Lexi followed behind. Arvo told them about the multitude of bright colours inside the gym and its funny mushroom shaped outward appearance.
''I'm sure he has other pokémon as well, but for me he used a golbat and a qwilfish. He told me that the red spots and strings around the room were not allowed to be touched, as they were 'poison'. I didn't really understand what he meant, but they turned out to be covered with some type of acid which hindered my pokémon's defence. He was pretty difficult to beat, but my phanpy was able to win it for us.''
When Arvo finished his story, he and Aiden continued talking about their home towns till Arvo's eye fell on Lexi's backpack. ''Hey, is that an egg you have there?''
'Oh, yeah. It's a wild one, I found it a while ago in Grey Forest.'' Lexi slightly opened her backpack so Arvo could see it better.
''Wow, you also have a lot of Moomoo milk in there! Does your family own a farm or something?''
''Yeah, they do. That's how I got Serafine as well, my parents have rapidash and miltank.''
''So then you're pretty far away from home, all the way from the south east of Uniqi.''
''Oh no, I'm not from the farming cities! My parents have a small farm in Filium town.''
'Ah, okay, thought it was a bit strange how you had so few badges if you came from that far. Oh look, there it is.''
The three trainers walked out from under the trees and saw a small village next to the wide river. The buildings where small, most not even one story high, and were surrounded by bare green areas where the plant life had been cut away haphazardly. Big yellow machines were heard as they rode around carrying materials towards half-finished houses. The middle of the village was decorated with a big orange sign saying 'Welcome to Aster Village'.
''I think we need to go closer to the hills, there, where the little flags are.'' Arvo pointed to a small area between the village and the hill range, which was marked off with poles and rope. In the middle of the area stood a large wooden beam with little flags on the top, and on the ground next to it was a table where you could sign in. Arvo signed his name immediately and Aiden followed right after, but Lexi was still uncertain when Aiden handed her the pen.
''I don't know. I haven't trained that much lately, and I don't even know what kind of competition it is. What if I do really bad?''
''What does it matter? It's just for fun, don't take it so serious.'' Aiden tried to convince her.
Lexi hesitantly put the pen on the paper, but then stepped back and shook her head, so Aiden shrugged and joined the group of competitors.
The competition was still an hour away so Lexi decided to explore the village together with Serafine. It had only five streets, all of them starting at the park with the welcome sign in the middle. The streets were covered in sand and wheel tracks, but also small pieces of brick, so Lexi had to scrape out Serafine's hooves three times in their short walk. Only the groups of houses closest to the center were finished and looked clean and tidy, with smooth light coloured bricks.
There weren't many shops, only a handful of them, and Lexi was certain she recognized some items from the shops of Pandam. There were also barely any kids in the village, almost like the whole community existed solely of the people building it.
Lexi walked to a shop with cards near the entrance and looked through them to see if any were worth sending to her parents.
''Good afternoon, can I help you with anything?''
Lexi jumped a little when she heard the shopkeeper behind her and turned around blushing. ''No, thank you. I'm fine.''
The woman looked past her and noticed Serafine, ''Is your pokémon alright?''
''What?'' Lexi examined Serafine and realised what the woman meant. Oh, yeah, no I just haven't brushed her yet. We went down a hill a while ago.'' Lexi said, trying to discreetly wipe away some mud and looking self-consciously at her shoes, which were covered with dirt as well.
''Oh, okay then. But if you do have some trouble I would advise you to go to the waterfall.''
''The waterfall, why?''
''About a year ago we noticed that the water of the waterfall had healing properties, fatigue disappeared, ailments faded away. It might not work immediately, but if you drink enough it can help with pretty much everything.''
Suddenly a loud ringing emerged from outside the village and Lexi could hear someone speaking through a megaphone, though she was standing too far away to understand it. 'Okay, thank you, I will keep it in mind!'' Lexi hastily replied before hurrying back to the competition area.
''Hey, why do you have your pokémon out of their pokéball? You know how dangerous it is with all those machines!'' Somebody yelled at her as she ran past, and Lexi quickly returned Serafine to her pokéball while apologising.
By the time she got to the area, the benches that were put down for the audience had already filled up. Lexi had to stand at the back, and even on her toes she was barely able to see something.
''Welcome everyone! We are very happy to see so many people have come to our monthly competition, new and familiar faces alike. Today we will be watching which of our contestants can aim the best! They have all chosen their pokémon teammate and will try to get as close to the bullseye as possible. The best three will get a prize, so everyone much luck!''
The audience clapped and Lexi could hear the competitors walk to their positions. She didn't want to push her way through and was sure that asking people would be no use. So Lexi stayed at the back of the group, where she could incidentally see some fire or leaves that had been aimed too high, fly past. It was only when a whistle was blown and competition was officially over that some people walked away and a spot opened up.
Lexi quickly filled it so she was able to see the award ceremony. She could now see the white and black targets which stood on the opposite ends of the area. Aiden waited in the row of people with Krabby at his feet. Lexi waved at him but Aiden was too focused at the man holding an envelope with the results, Krabby however waved his pincher.
''Everybody did much better than we anticipated, good job! Still, we only have three prices to give away today. So, our number three did very well, hitting the bullseye four times, congratulations Aiden with Krabby!'' The crowd clapped and Aiden stepped forwards, taking his small ribbon and a Repel spray. Lexi waved again and this time Aiden saw her, and joined her to watch the rest of the ceremony. A girl with pigtails got second and received a Greatball, and Arvo had won the competition, getting as well a Super potion as a small trophy. The crowd dispersed and Arvo walked to Aiden, holding up his trophy. '' Good job dude, but there can only be one winner.''
Aiden stuck out his tongue, but then grinned and held up his reward. ''Yeah, yeah, but I'm still pretty happy with third place. I didn't expect to win anything today. But now I'm hungry, let's go eat something.''
The town didn't have any restaurants or hotels yet, so the trainers had to make do with what the small Pokémon Center had available. After a pretty salty meal, Aiden and Lexi went to their room. Lexi had been afraid Arvo would have wanted to join them, but as there were no bedrooms with three beds available and Arvo didn't want to use a sleeping bag if he didn't have to, that hadn't been a problem.
But Lexi wondered if she and Aiden could continue together tomorrow with the two of them, or if Arvo was now a permanent part of their group. She didn't necessarily dislike Arvo, but his slightly arrogant behavior and the fact that Aiden seemed to forget her whenever he was near, didn't make traveling with him a pleasant prospect.