For what felt like hours, Mary-Sue tossed and turned in her tent; she was exhausted, but she couldn't keep her eyes closed. All the day's crazy events kept spiraling around in her mind, and she couldn't get comfortable. Even the familiar pattern of textures on her beloved shirt didn't soothe her.
I wish I had dad's Chimecho with me, she thought. I wish I was home. Everything made sense at home…
The air in her small tent started feeling stuffy, and with a groan, she wriggled her way out of her sleeping bag and unzipped the front flap to let in the fresh night air. Something inspired her to crawl outside, and she emerged, bare feet exposed to the invisible sticks and pebbles hiding just beneath the grass. Above her, the moon was high and bright, and she could see the clearing almost perfectly; through the leaves, she thought she could glimpse a yellow twinkle or two from the not-so-distant city.
Hugging herself, Mary-Sue walked over to the log and sat down in front of the ashy pit that was all that remained of the campfire. A Hoothoot trilled somewhere nearby, and she wrapped her arms tighter. Out in nature, the air tasted so clean, so crisp; she'd already started to love it, being away from a crowded, smelly city. But though the part of her that had always yearned for freedom wasn't gone, it was now overshadowed by fear, by doubt.
She tucked her chin to her chest and whimpered, reflexively reaching for her favorite patches on her shirt. How had all her dreams come crashing down so quickly? It hadn't even been two weeks since she'd turned ten! Budew, Cipher, Shadow Pokémon…not a single thing had gone the way it was supposed to. Being a Pokémon trainer had always sounded so easy…
"Hi?"
Mary-Sue jumped and turned around, only to see Jovi standing in the clearing behind her; like Mary-Sue, her hair had been let down to flow freely, and she wore a set of pajamas that seemed to match its color in the moonlight.
"Sorry," Jovi whispered, "I didn't mean to startle you."
"That's exactly what he said," Mary-Sue remarked, hating the whine in her voice.
"Huh?"
"That Cipher guy."
"Oh…" The grass rustled softly as the teenage girl walked over to sit in the grass beside her junior. "Are…you okay?" she asked. "I would have thought Aaron would be the one who couldn't sleep…"
Scowling, Mary-Sue hugged herself again and shifted away from the other girl.
Jovi sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I was so mean to you before," she said. "I'm sorry I broke your Pokédex, and I'm sorry I hit you, okay? I was just really frustrated. I've been scouring this region for months trying to get a lead on Cipher, and you just…" Another sigh. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I really can't blame you for thinking I was the bad guy, you didn't know."
"I was going to go with him," Mary-Sue whispered.
"What?"
"That Cipher guy," Mary-Sue confessed. "He asked me to join his group, and…if Aaron hadn't been able to see that Pokémon's aura, he wouldn't have attacked us, and…I was gonna go with him." She turned to Jovi then, her lip trembling. "He said he'd turn my Budew into a fighting machine."
"Your Budew?" Jovi asked, her tone surprisingly gently.
"My Budew won't fight," Mary-Sue said, and she couldn't stop her voice from cracking. "I tell it to fight, and it just won't, it runs away. I thought…I thought Pokémon were supposed to fight. So if that guy could fix it, I thought-" A sob cut off her words, and she squeezed her eyes shut; she'd done enough crying in front of this stranger.
For a long minute, Jovi didn't say anything; a breeze rustled the leaves overhead, but didn't penetrate into the clearing.
"Have you ever heard of animals, Mary-Sue?" the teenager asked.
"Huh?" Mary-Sue rubbed her eyes and blinked them open to meet Jovi's gaze questioningly.
"Apparently, a long time ago - like, decades and decades ago, before most people can even remember - there were creatures in this world that weren't people or Pokémon," Jovi told her, propping up her elbows on her knees to rest her chin on her forearms. "They didn't have powers like Pokémon, or technology like people…they evolved, but not the way Pokémon do, it supposedly took them hundreds or even thousands of years to evolve."
"They lived that long?" Mary-Sue questioned.
"No," Jovi shook her head, "but like…the individuals didn't evolve. It was more like, when they made babies, their babies were, like, slightly-evolved versions of their parents. Or something. I don't know, it's weird…it's hard to understand how they ever survived, they were reportedly just dumb, useless things. It's pretty easy to understand why they died out - Pokémon were just better at surviving, better at hunting, better at everything. But…what's weirder is that, even though animals died out, humans didn't. Even though we don't have powers like Pokémon, somehow, we survived, still survive in a world full of Pokémon."
"…What does that have to do with anything?" Mary-Sue asked.
"Well…" Jovi heaved a deep, heavy breath. "You know how I said we don't really understand what closing the door to a Pokémon's heart means? My mom's been trying to figure it out for the last ten years, like, really figure it out. She started digging really deep into the history of creatures in this world looking for a lead, and…well, long story short, she has a theory. About why we didn't die out like animals, I mean," Jovi clarified.
"What?"
"She thinks it's because we have something that Pokémon have, but that animals didn't," Jovi answered, and she put a hand to her chest. "We have spirits."
"Spirits?" Mary-Sue repeated, tilting her head.
"Like I said, the name 'Team Spirit' really does suit us," Jovi chuckled. "See, apparently, animals weren't…intelligent, at all - they didn't have language, or complex emotions, they basically just did stuff on instinct. What connects us to Pokémon is that we both have something…more. My mom thinks that maybe closing the door to a Pokémon's heart means taking that away from them."
"Emotions…" The word stirred a memory from a picture book the red-haired girl had read in school years ago. "Memory, emotions, willpower," she recited. "The three creator deities of the spirit. That's from an old Sinnoh legend."
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Jovi nodded, offering her a smile. "I mean, I guess animals kind of had those things, but not very much, whereas humans and Pokémon have all three in full. So, my mom's guess is that, when you close the door to a Pokémon's heart, they completely lose all three. I mean, it adds up - they don't seem to have any free will of their own, they only seem to know violence, and since their happiest memories unlock the doors to their hearts, they probably don't have those memories while they're locked, either."
"So Shadow Pokémon…are like animals?" Mary-Sue surmised.
"Not exactly," Jovi admitted. "Like I said, I don't think animals were obedient or violent, at least not like Shadow Pokémon, I think they had some amount of spirit. But Shadow Pokémon…it's not that they have no spirits anymore, it's that their spirits get locked up somewhere they can't access it anymore, leaving only their power in, like, basically an empty shell."
"Uh-huh," Mary-Sue mumbled, and she looked down at the grass at her feet.
Another pause filled the clearing; Pokémon cries sounded in the distance, but nothing seemed close.
"…Do you want something, Mary-Sue?" Jovi eventually asked.
"Huh?" Mary-Sue blinked and looked over at her quickly.
"In life, I mean?" Jovi elaborated. "Like, do you have a dream or something? You must want something, since you decided to become a Pokémon trainer."
"I…" Mary-Sue swallowed. "I want to be a great Pokémon master, just like the Champion," she said.
"And…what if someone took that dream away from you?" Jovi went on pointedly. "What if someone took away all your memories of everything you ever wanted, everything that ever mattered to you, and you couldn't want or decide anything for yourself, you only knew how to, like, punch anyone in front of you?"
Mary-Sue swallowed hard, shivering from more than the cool nighttime air. "That would be horrible," she whispered.
Jovi nodded approvingly. "That's why Shadow Pokémon need to be saved," she said, "why they're suffering. Turning Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon takes away everything that they are. Pokémon are basically people, Mary-Sue."
"Pokémon…are people?" Mary-Sue said faintly, looking at the ground again. If someone made it so she wouldn't even recognize her parents, or couldn't daydream about great Pokémon battles, or didn't know that hitting people was only okay if they agreed to it…if everything she'd ever known and cared about was just taken from her… "That's horrible," she repeated softly. "To do that to a person, I mean."
"It is," Jovi agreed.
"And Pokémon…if they're people, then…" Mary-Sue pressed her lips together, trying to withhold a sob.
"What did you really know about Pokémon before today, Mary-Sue?" Jovi asked. "What did you think they were?"
"I don't…I grew up watching Pokémon battles on TV," Mary-Sue said. "And Contests, but…those have battles, too. I guess I just thought…Pokémon are so powerful, why wouldn't they want to use it?"
"Not everyone does," Jovi shrugged. "That applies to humans, too - humans can have strength, or smarts, but not want to make the most of it. Kind of a waste, if you ask me, but, you know."
"Yeah…" Mary-Sue did know, she suddenly remembered. Her best friend in preschool, Chip, had been fairly decent with Pokémon, and she'd always had it in her head that he would be her rival and they would become great trainers together; but then, when he was given the choice, he'd opted out of the trainer program and left her alone. She hadn't understood him, either - that day had basically been the end of their friendship, she hadn't even thought about him in years. But she remembered now that, when she'd come home crying about it, her parents had told her that that was his choice to make, that everyone had the right to live the way they wanted to live and shouldn't be forced to do something they didn't want to do.
Silence claimed the campsite once more.
"Can I please be alone?" Mary-Sue finally whimpered to Jovi.
"You sure?" the older girl inquired.
"Mm-hmm."
"Okay then…" Jovi stood up, all but towering over the younger girl. "Try to get some sleep, okay? If you want to travel with either of us tomorrow, you need to be rested."
"I will," Mary-Sue said, and for a moment she thought of her father, nearly drowning in a wave of emotion. "Good night," she choked.
"Good night, Masie," Jovi chirped, and she started walking away.
Mary-Sue gasped. "What did you call me?" she exclaimed at the retreating girl.
The teenager stopped and turned back to her. "I called you 'Masie'," she repeated. "Your full name's kind of a mouthful, it needs to be shortened - like the Shadow Pokémon Rescue Team, you know? Shortening it to 'Mary' or 'Sue' doesn't really work, since that just ignores part of the name entirely, and abbreviating it to 'M.S.' sounds weird, so I thought of maybe abbreviating it more roughly, the same way we abbreviated 'S.P.R.T.' to 'spirit' - so, 'Masie'." She tilted her head. "Is that okay?"
"My name's not that complicated," Mary-Sue grumbled, folding her arms with a huff. "I guess it's better than 'Mary', though."
"Masie it is," Jovi grinned, and she turned back around. "Good night!"
"Night." The younger trainer watched the other girl go until there was nothing but a faint blue silhouette beneath the trees, then hunched over and stared at the ground again, alone.
Pokémon…are people, she thought. Just like Chip.
…Like me.
Hugging herself again, Mary-Sue stood up and walked back to her tent, trying not to poke her feet on the ground too much. When she got to the open cloth structure, she knelt down for a minute, then reached in and rummaged around before finding what she was looking for.
"Come on out, Budew," she said softly, opening the capsule she'd retrieved.
"Budew?" squeaked the small plant as it emerged.
"Shh," Mary-Sue shushed it quickly. "Don't wake anyone," she whispered.
"Dewew?" whimpered the little bud, barely audible.
"Listen, I…I just wanted to say…" Mary-Sue choked, struggled a moment, then finally lost the battle with herself as tears began to spill down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she croaked to her partner. "I'm sorry I was gonna give you to that creep. I never thought about what you wanted or - or that you could really just not want to fight."
"Dew…"
"I won't ask you to battle anymore," Mary-Sue avowed, sniffling and forcing her eyes open so she could meet Budew's little pinpricks. "If you don't want to fight, that's okay. And I - I won't release you, either, unless you want me to, I - I'll just take care of you and feed you and protect you and you can just be yourself, okay? I promise." She wiped her face. "Can you forgive me for not realizing sooner?"
"Dew…Dew! Budew dew!" the baby Pokémon said, and Mary-Sue felt it bump against her knees; when she looked down, it was rubbing its little face in her shirt, pressing against her with all its tiny strength. "Dewew, dew dew!"
"Thank you," Mary-Sue choked, and she put a hand on the timid creature. "May I hug you, please? I know you don't like hugs, but…"
It turned to look up at her, meeting her eyes for a moment, then nodded. "Dew," it agreed.
"Thank you so much," Mary-Sue sobbed, and she reached down and wrapped Budew in her arms, not too tightly. "I promise I won't throw you away just because you weren't what I wanted, I'll love you and respect you just the way you are."
"Deeeew," it whimpered, and it sounded like it was about to cry too.
They sat together for a minute longer, until Budew started to squirm, at which point Mary-Sue immediately released it, setting it down on the grass. The moment it was on its own stubby feet, the little Pokémon darted for where its Pokéball lay and quickly bopped its face against the button, returning to its confines in a cloud of red light.
Mary-Sue giggled, tears still flowing, and crawled back into her tent to try to get some rest. She didn't really feel better, but…in a way, she kind of did.
~X~
"Good morning, sleepyhead!"
When Mary-Sue emerged from her tent fully-dressed, the sun was high in the sky, and Jovi and Aaron were both already packed up and washing their breakfast dishes, their Pokémon frolicking around them.
"Jovi said you'd sleep in late, so we were going to wait for you," Aaron went on, and he brought a dish of curry over to the young redhead. "I saved you some food."
"Thanks," Mary-Sue smiled at him, and she brought out her Pokémon to share the meal. "Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked, eyeing the bandage on his arm as Budew and Magikarp tried and failed to eat the curry from the bowl.
"It still hurts," Aaron admitted, and Mary-Sue bent down to help her Pokémon with the food, as well as eat some herself. "But it wasn't going to heal overnight."
"Have you…thought about going with Jovi?" Mary-Sue inquired tentatively.
"I've thought about it," he said softly, and he let out a deep breath, turning to look at where Grookey and Plusle were chasing each other around the tree he'd been resting against yesterday, while Minun and Toxel chattered at each other, and Zigzagoon sat passively, tongue lolling, seemingly staring off into nothingness. "I don't know what to do. If I can help Pokémon who are being hurt, I should, right? But…it's all so much…"
"Yeah," Mary-Sue sighed. "I couldn't sleep last night because it was all so confusing. But…I mean, it seems like you were meant to help Shadow Pokémon, between your music and your eyes."
"It does feel kind of fated," Aaron conceded. "But…I came to Kanto for a quiet Pokémon journey with Zigzagoon and my other partners. I don't know, I don't want to just give all that up. It's selfish, but…I never wanted to be part of something big and dangerous."
Jovi walked over. "I know it's a lot to ask," she said without prompting, having apparently been listening. "Honestly, right now, I have no leads and nowhere to go. If you're already exploring the whole region, it might work out better for me to follow you for the time being. I mean, at least you have a direction in mind." She smiled.
"I mean…" Aaron frowned. "I guess, if you just want to follow me while I gather badges, that's not a problem…"
"Hey, Jovi?"
"What's up, Masie?" Jovi asked the younger girl.
Mary-Sue stood up while Budew and Magikarp licked the bowl clean. "Can I join Team Spirit?" she asked.
"Huh?!" both Jovi and Aaron gasped.
"I can't see Shadow Pokémon, and I can't play music," Mary-Sue said, "but I want to help. The Champion stopped bad people from hurting Pokémon on his journey too, and I want to follow his example. You know…" She deflated. "…if there's anything I can even do…"
"Hmm…" Jovi tilted her head. "You said you're a local, right? You grew up in this region?"
"Uh-huh," Mary-Sue nodded. "I grew up in Celadon City, right here in Kanto. I, uh…never really went far from Celadon before my journey started, though."
"But you have a local pass," Jovi half-asked. "My biggest obstacle here is explaining to gatehouse guards who I am - I'm not a trainer, I'm not a local, and I can't really explain what I'm even doing here. Maybe you can help me get around?"
"Sure!" Mary-Sue exclaimed, brightening. "I'll just say you're with me!"
"That would be a huge help," Jovi told her.
"Though…I bet Aaron could do the same," Mary-Sue realized out loud.
"Eh, getting past gatehouses can be a little tricky for me," Aaron spoke up. "Being foreign, and all. I mostly just try to go around them."
"Wait, you can do that?!" Jovi gasped.
"Er…" Aaron shifted uncomfortably. "Not really," he admitted, "but it's a victimless crime. And besides," he added quickly, "even if Mary-Sue hasn't seen the whole region in person yet, I bet she grew up studying it."
"Yeah!" Mary-Sue said, lighting up again. "I studied the entire quad-region area really hard to prepare for my journey! I kinda panicked in the forest and got lost, but I basically know where everything is."
"Quad-region area?" Jovi asked.
"Oh, this continent is divided into four regions," Mary-Sue explained. Noticing that Budew and Magikarp were done, she called them back to their Pokéballs, then finally started packing her things. "Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Most regions are basically their own landmasses, but this continent is big and populated enough that we had to split it up. Passage between the four regions is relatively easy, though, since they all pretty much border each other, with only a little wilderness between them. The four regions are kind of like one big nation, separate but not." Packing complete, she hefted her backpack onto her shoulders and stood up, and Aaron bent down to take and wash the last dish. "I studied the maps of all four regions, since it's pretty common for Pokémon journeys to cross borders between them. Though…" She sagged again. "It all looks really, really different in person…"
"Well, that's more than I've got," Jovi offered. "If we're all going the same way, we might as well go together for now. Neither of you have to officially join Team Spirit just yet."
"Sounds good," Aaron said. "I'm heading to Cerulean City after I restock in Pewter. Mary-Sue, you said you were going to do the same?"
"Yeah," Mary-Sue nodded. "The gym in Pewter City is rock-type, so my Magikarp can't really fight there, and of course, Budew doesn't want to fight; I might as well go to Cerulean."
"I have no plans, myself," Jovi repeated, "so I'll just go with you guys. Sounds like a plan!"
They finished breaking camp, stored their Pokémon, and walked to the dirt road to Pewter together. Despite everything, Mary-Sue felt a spring in her step, as though glad simply for the fact that she wouldn't be traveling alone again for a little while.
"Hey, Masie," Jovi spoke up as they finally resumed the trek down the road, "I'm kinda curious, what made you want to be a Pokémon trainer?"
"The Champion," Mary-Sue answered happily.
"Oh, don't get her started," Aaron groaned. "She'll talk your ear off about Ash Ketchum for hours if you let her."
"He's so cool, though!" Mary-Sue proclaimed. "How can I not talk about him?!"
"I'm just wondering what it's like to grow up in a region with a trainer program," Jovi said. "Like I told you, wild Pokémon only just started returning to Orre when I was four."
"So you don't have any gyms or anything?" Mary-Sue asked.
"We have one gym, in Phenac City," Jovi said, "but it's more like a school than anything, it's not part of some bigger program. And we have a couple of stadiums, but those are mostly for people who've been practicing for a while."
"So then, what do people do all day?" Mary-Sue questioned.
"School and work, mostly," Jovi shrugged. "We have several factories, we have schools to teach kids whatever they might need to learn, and that's about it."
"So no Contests, either?"
"Contests?"
A huge grin split Mary-Sue's face. "There are special trainers called coordinators, who take on a special challenge with their Pokémon," she told Jovi. "Contest challenges aren't just about strength, they're about beauty and style, too - you can't just be strong, you also have to look good on the stage."
"Huh…" Jovi frowned pensively.
"We don't really have those in Galar, I don't think," Aaron added. "At least, I've never heard of any."
"My mom's a coordinator," Mary-Sue went on, "and while she may not have the most Contest finals victories in the world, she's definitely the most famous. Have you ever heard of Jessie Jones? That's her."
"Jessie Jones?" Jovi repeated. "No, I don't think so…"
"Doesn't ring a bell," Aaron concurred.
"Ugh, don't either of you know about anything?!" Mary-Sue exclaimed. Lifting her chin, she took a breath to tell a long story. "My mom's been a coordinator since way before I was born - when she and my dad were teenagers, they traveled all over the world, and my mom entered in all kinds of Contests."
"They traveled?" Jovi asked immediately. "What for?"
"Uh…" Mary-Sue blinked, putting a finger to her mouth. "I don't…actually know. They just talk about it like it was something they always did. Maybe they had money…?" But even as she said it, she remembered the new story her mom had told her when she'd called from the Vermillion Pokémon Center. "I don't know, maybe it was just easier to travel back then. I…never really thought to question it." She shook her head hard. "Anyway, the point is, they used to go everywhere, and my mom got a lot of practice in Contests in all sorts of regions. Eventually, they came back home to Kanto to settle down, but my mom kept it up as a coordinator, and my dad designed all her outfits. One time, she took a trip to Unova, and she caught a wild Trubbish specifically to enter it in a Contest there, and my dad made a whole outfit for her out of trash."
"A Trubbish?" Aaron questioned. "I thought Contests were for attractive Pokémon?"
"That's my mom's style!" Mary-Sue said proudly. "She can bring out the inner beauty of any Pokémon, even ones most people wouldn't look twice at. I've seen recordings of the appeals part of that Contest, and she was amazing! You wouldn't think of trash as something pretty, but it was all sparkly and glittery, random bits of metal and plastic and junk became works of art under my mom's coordinating. She got the Trubbish to the final round, then lost in the battles since it was a new Pokémon and they didn't know each other well enough to fight together yet, but she wasn't really trying to win so much as make a point. No one remembers the name of the coordinator who won that Contest, but everyone remembers Jessie Jones and her Trubbish." A gleeful giggle escaped her as she pictured Trubbish's display in her mind's eye.
"Sounds interesting," Jovi remarked.
"My mom's awesome!" Mary-Sue grinned, nodding. "And like I said, my dad designed outfits for all her Contest entries, he's really talented with fashion. As my mom got famous, people started asking where she got her clothes, hoping they could get similar stuff, and my dad started selling his designs, with my mom basically acting as his first model of every new outfit he comes up with."
"Quite a power couple," Jovi laughed.
"My mom and dad work really well together," Mary-Sue confirmed happily. "Apparently they were like that from the day they met. While they were traveling the world, they spent some time in Galar, and my dad caught an Applin for my mom when he decided he wanted to be more than friends."
"Oh yeah, I've heard of that tradition!" Aaron said. "If you catch an Applin and give it to your special someone, and they accept it, you'll be together forever."
"Uh-huh!" Mary-Sue smiled. "It evolved into an Appletun, and it's practically my mom's signature Pokémon as a coordinator now. Her Corviknight is a lot cooler, but it's so good at dazzling a crowd that using it goes against my mom's brand at this point, so it's had to sit out for years."
"So her brand is using ugly Pokémon…?" Jovi asked.
"Yup! Like I said, my mom can bring out the inner beauty of any Pokémon!" Mary-Sue hopped a step. "She's won Contests with Pokémon like Yanmega, Gorgeist, Appletun, Seviper, Pokémon you'd never think could shine in a beauty contest."
"So neither of your parents took the trainer program, then?" Jovi inquired further.
"I don't think so," Mary-Sue answered. "The way they tell it, they just traveled, and my mom discovered her passion for being a coordinator, while my dad discovered his passion for fashion by supporting her." Again, the new story her mother had told her about childhood failure crossed her mind, and she wondered for a moment, but dismissed it.
"Huh," Jovi mused. "Growing up in regions with Pokémon sounds like a whole other world." She turned to the other young trainer and asked, "What about your family, Aaron? What do they do?"
"Nothing interesting," he answered, smiling almost sheepishly. "My parents just run a nice little tea shop in Ballonlea, that's all."
Both girls stared expectantly at him for a long minute.
"…Really, that's all," he added, seeing their looks. "It's a very nice tea shop, don't get me wrong, but my parents don't do anything remarkable. Honestly…" He turned to face forward, a distant smile crossing his face. "It wasn't my family that made growing up interesting, it was the forest."
"Oh yeah, you said the forest around Ballonlea was really dangerous," Mary-Sue remembered. "Have you seen it, Jovi?"
"Not really, though I know of it," the older girl answered. "From what we could tell, Cipher mostly stayed out of that corner of the region."
"Smart of them," Aaron remarked. "I doubt the fairies of the forest would tolerate people like Cipher, and even when you're not on their bad side, they can still make your life miserable. Ballonlea's one of the most dangerous places in the world."
"And you grew up in the middle of it?" Jovi inquired.
"Yeah," Aaron said. "Kids technically aren't allowed into the forest without adult supervision, so my friends and I snuck out together all the time."
His companions gasped. "Did you get in trouble?" Mary-Sue asked.
"Only once," Aaron answered. "Really, it's kind of just how things work in Ballonlea - kids sneak into the forest, and adults turn a blind eye as long as no one gets hurt. And we weren't stupid about it, we knew it was dangerous, so we had rules - always stick together, and never go somewhere where there isn't some sort of landmark in sight, even if you have to make a landmark yourself. Fairy-type Pokémon like to play tricks on any travelers, young or old, but it's harder to trick people in a group, and even if it might not seem like it sometimes, the forest itself doesn't actually change around you, as long as you have a way to keep your bearings it's totally safe. Of course, compasses don't work in the forest, and the sky is completely blocked out, so you have to find your own way, but we were careful."
"What about the one time you did get in trouble?" Jovi asked.
Aaron's smile vanished instantly, his head bowing. "One of my friends split off from the group one time," he said softly. "We…never saw him again. It hurts to think it, but he's probably a wandering Phantump now."
Both girls exclaimed in horror.
"He should have known better," Aaron continued in a subdued voice. "Everyone knows it's too dangerous to go alone. I don't know what he might have seen to make him break form like that…" He drew a deep breath. "But, from that day onward, my friends and I were extra-super-careful."
"You mean you still kept sneaking out into the woods?" Mary-Sue exclaimed.
"Of course," Aaron replied. "It was what we did. And we found some really cool stuff out there, too." His smile returned, if faintly. "One time, we all told our parents we were going to be staying at each other's houses, so we had a whole day to explore, and we managed to find this little house way out in the woods. I think it was abandoned, but you wouldn't know it by looking - a bunch of Indeedee kept the place spotless, constantly. When we got there, they even offered us tea. Indeedee aren't devious Pokémon, so we knew we could trust them, and we were definitely glad for the refreshments. I never saw any signs of any person going there besides us, but we put together a whole trail to lead us to and from it, and it basically became our clubhouse." The smile became less forced as he took out one of his Pokéballs. "That's where I met Zigzagoon. I heard some commotion a little ways away from the house, and when I went to look, I saw some Impidimp attacking another Pokémon. I…" He turned serious. "It was a couple of steps out of sight of the house, and I was on my own, but I was really careful to remember which way I'd come from, and I was able to drag their victim back to the clearing. Zigzagoon was in bad shape; I had my friends help me carry it home, where it could recover at the Pokémon Center. Of course, I told them the Impidimp had been attacking it on the border of the town." Then, he put the ball away and grinned. "Zigzagoon and I have been inseparable ever since then - I tried to get it to stay behind when my friends and I went to play in the forest, but it always insisted on coming along. One time, a Shiinotic tried to bother us, and it was Zigzagoon who protected us. That was when I knew I wanted to be a trainer."
Mary-Sue stared at him, eyes wide. He's had so much more experience than me, she thought. All I knew before I left was what I saw on TV and in books…
"Sounds like you've always been a hero," Jovi said. "Come on, you'd fit right in with Team Spirit."
"I know," Aaron sighed. "And I do want to help Pokémon in need, if I can. But…I already gave up on a future in music to be a trainer, I don't think I can give that up, too."
"Well, if we're going to be traveling together for a while anyway, there's plenty of time to think about it," Jovi said.
"Hey, has Aaron shown you what he can do with a leaf?" Mary-Sue asked Jovi suddenly.
"Huh?" The blue-haired girl blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Show her, Aaron!" Mary-Sue encouraged. "Come on, show her!"
"I, er…" Aaron's cheeks colored. "Well, if you insist…" He reached into his backpack and carefully took out the leaf from the previous day. It looked a little wilted, and he frowned. "I need to see if Grookey can rejuvenate it," he muttered. "Still, it should be able to play just fine for now."
Just like before, he brought the leaf to his lips tip-first, his fingers cradling it in an intricate way, and began to blow. Again, an energetic warbling filled the air, sweet as a flute, fluctuating with the movements of his hands. The boy almost seemed to get lost in his own music as they walked, and by the time he stopped to catch his breath, the gatehouse to Pewter City was looming in front of them.
"Wow!" Jovi exclaimed, clapping enthusiastically. "You're quite the musician, Aaron."
"Thanks," he smiled, and he put the leaf away again. "Anyway, uh, we're here."
Nodding, Mary-Sue took out her Pokédex and stepped forward through the doorway, Aaron and Jovi right behind her.
"Hi there," Mary-Sue greeted the guard. "I'm a new trainer taking the gym challenge, and these two are my friends."
"Hello there," the guard said with a friendly smile. "Let's see, then…" He took her Pokédex, opened it, and frowned. "This Pokédex is damaged," he commented.
"Oh, uh…" Mary-Sue glanced at Jovi, who winced, then turned back to the man and said, "I did that. That was the distress call button, so I took it out so I wouldn't be tempted to use it if I got a little lost. Going on a Pokémon journey is all about finding your own way, after all, I don't want an easy way out."
"Hmm…" The man narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her, but she met his gaze steadily, and after a moment, he sighed and shrugged. "Your loss, kid," he said, waving the Pokédex at a device, and it beeped, a light on it turning green. "You three are free to go through."
"Thank you!" Mary-Sue exclaimed as he handed her Pokédex back to her, and the trio walked to the open doors to the city.
"Thanks, Masie," Jovi whispered in Mary-Sue's ear on the way out.
"No problem," Mary-Sue told the older girl quietly. "Honestly, I never wanted that button anyway."