We got back to work after Jayce and I were done settling whatever grievances we had with each other. The interpol shared with Elesa what we had done and found out thus far and she did the same on her end. Earlier, the interpol had noted a significant decrease in Plasma activities on the southeastern side of the region, but we certainly wasn't expecting that Jayce was the reason behind it. He was quite literally the sole reason why the Plasmas were so afraid of conducting their activities in southeastern Unova.
Imagine it. One person, being terrifying enough to dissuade a terrorist organisation like Team Plasma from expanding their operations in one part of a region. He only just reunited with his family very recently so it would only mean that he had achieved all of that on his own. He achieved that with no backup, no support, nobody other than himself and his pokemon. He had to start everything from scratch because like the interpol, he's new to the Unova region as well.
And he had to take care of and protect a little kid on top of it all. I have no idea how he managed to juggle all of that.
Iris was the name that the little girl chose for herself and from what I was told, was probably abandoned into the wild since birth. She is a feral child raised by wild pokemon- specifically, dragons- until she was found and taken by human traffickers. Now, she's under the care and protection of the Dandolos family, the best protection that could be offered to her in Unova. As such, the interpol has no reason to interfere with this affair any longer. Personally, I'm fine with such an arrangement as long as the girl's well-being is taken care of.
The Unova League made progress in their own investigations as well. To our horror, after learning what the Dandolos had uncovered we had now identified Isaac Euclid, the current head of the Euclid family and one of the Five Weapons of Unova, to be a supporter of Team Plasma. This is overall bad news but at the same time, aligned to what we had found out on our end as well ever since I identified the Carrillos as the perpetrator behind the attack on my person when I first arrived into the region. Everything is starting to fall into place.
Elesa is a Euclid, but she had been unofficially exiled from her family and obviously held no love for her grandfather from the tone of her voice. Jayce had proposed that he could go undercover into Team Plasma to obtain more information about their plans but Elesa was not agreeable about the proposition he made. I was inclined to believe that Elesa and Jayce were on the verge of breaking out into an argument until they both unanimously decided to not discuss it any further.
In the end, due to the nature and risk of Jayce's plan, it was decided that we would wait and see if the Unova League would agree to Jayce's idea, because for his idea to work Jayce would first need to gain Team Plasma's trust to infiltrate into their ranks. Team Plasma had been eyeing a specific item within the Unova League's possession for a while now, a fossil of what was supposedly an extinct mythical pokemon. Regardless if Jayce's infiltration succeeded or not, or whether the information obtained from a successful infiltration was worth it or not, we would be delivering the fossil of a mythical pokemon into Team Plasma's hands and that is not something any Pokemon League will lightly give away just for the sake of bringing down a terrorist organisation.
Our meeting ended there, and I decided that now was a good time to finally confront Jayce for real and reveal my status as a reincarnator to him. I managed to get him to leave the meeting room with me, leaving Elesa and Looker behind, and had Dolly Shadow Sneak us to my own room where we would not be eavesdropped upon, accidental or not.
"That was a very skilled usage of Shadow Sneak," Jayce complimented when we finally arrived in my room, a praise that I could feel was genuine.
"Thanks. Make yourself comfortable, this entire floor belongs to me, nobody else is here."
"If you have anything to say, say it," Jayce got straight to the point, knowing that I called him here to have a private conversation for a reason. I decided to heed his suggestion and be direct with my queries.
"You… have another set of memories, don't you?"
His eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing my question and he didn't give his reply right away. He remained silent for a short moment before speaking up.
"Mewtwo did say that there were people like me in the interpol and I had my suspicions. So, what do you want me to say? Welcome to the afterlife, comrade? Amitabha? Hallelujah? Wait, I just remembered, Jesus isn't real."
There it is. Now I have confirmation that we had indeed found the seventh. He was right here all along.
"There are seven of us, which coincides with a certain prophecy that-"
"Look, I'm going to cut you off there," Jayce interrupted me before I could say anything else. "I don't care, and don't wish to know about any of this prophecy crap Mewtwo vaguely told me about. So what if we all know that everything here used to be fiction? Does it change the fact that we are now here? It doesn't. I don't care what you guys are planning to do because this simply doesn't concern me. As you would have known, I don't have long left to live anyway, so this is none of my problem."
… Maybe I should have expected that. In any case, he doesn't seem willing to actively help out or be a part in averting the prophecy. Convincing him to join the interpol would definitely be a lost cause as well.
Nevermind, we can't have everything in life. I sort of expected this to happen anyway.
"I just knew it will be hard to get anything out of you. Then can you at least answer this to the best of your ability? Do you or do you not know for any possible reasons why we were brought here?"
"Who knows? Maybe fate? Everything seems to be just a sick cruel joke done by whatever supernatural beings residing up there, if there are indeed any."
"So you also have no clue?"
"Even if I do have one, what makes you think that I will share?" Jayce snarked back as he popped one of the sweets placed within the bowl on a nearby table within my room into his mouth. "The power of friendship? That bullshit never worked for me."
"It's still worth a shot," I shrugged before walking towards the table that he was leaning on and picked up a pokeball that was placed there. It's the pokeball containing haxorus, and I tossed the pokeball in his direction which he easily caught with his free hand.
I had finally found the girl, Iris. She is now under the care and protection of the Dandolos, and the method of reuniting the haxorus with Iris as per its wishes is now right in front of my eyes.
"You were the one who gave me the haxorus, weren't you? It doesn't want to stick with me, so you can have it back."
Jayce took one glance at the pokeball, then back at me, before deciding to just pocket it.
"I generally don't accept things that I had gifted others, but this saves me the trouble of trying to get a dragon companion for Iris," Jayce voiced his acceptance of my actions before continuing. "Take this as me owing you a favour, be it for this or for the mishap that happened when we first met, is there anything you would like me to help you with? Maybe remove someone that has been a pain in your ass?"
Unless I was mistaken, was he seriously offering to help assassinate anyone who I dislike? A certain Carrillo does come to mind but…
"No need for that. I already told you, we are now even, you don't owe me anything. As for help…" I paused, then quickly added. "Maybe next time, do consider sharing with me whatever information you come across, be it for this Plasma problem or anything relating to… our shared secret."
Because if this unsocial prick is really that good in espionage as people made him out to be, if anyone could uncover information that the six of us couldn't, he might just be the guy who could do it.
"Doable," he agreed without hesitation, which was a relief on my part.
"The seven of us are all Ability Holders," I explained further because I have no idea when we might meet again. "I have no idea where to start searching because such resources are not readily available and even my family's archives have very little information relating to it, but since you are one yourself and your family has been here for centuries, maybe they do have some records that might explain how we came to be."
Maybe my words managed to catch his interest, because he did ask me for more details.
"The other five, what typings do their abilities relate to?"
"Seven of us, one from each region that made up the PWL. In the order of the regions that were first founded, from Kanto to Alola, they are dark, flying, ghost, electric, psychic, ground, fairy. According to a prophecy we found we each have a title and yours is Shadow, Vanquisher of Darkness. Mine is Traveller, Companion of Chaos. The order of the titles not only foretold the region we were born in, but the title itself also clues in on the typing which our ability corresponds to. Figuring yours out was pretty straightforward but for mine, it took us a while to realise that chaos refers to ghost types. Our abilities are similar in the sense that we can very easily befriend pokemon of the typing we are "fated" with in accordance to what the prophecy had foretold, detect their presence around us, and we can also converse and understand what they are trying to say to us. You had also met your Johto counterpart before. Not sure if you remembered her but she was the Ranger you fought at the Johto National Park during the attack. Her title is Flier, Symbol of Courage."
Maybe it would be best to warn him in advance about Skye's intense hatred for him. My vendetta with Jayce had nothing on the one Skye had for this man. They probably will meet again one day, and it might be better if he had an idea of just how much Skye hated his guts.
"...Her? The one with the aerodactyl?"
He actually remembered her. What a surprise.
"And she really hates you."
"Splendid, that means that I did my job well," He remarked in such a carefree manner that I knew that he really doesn't care what the other six of us think about him. He really had no plans to associate himself with us anything more than strictly necessary.
"Pass her my thanks for the praise, yeah?"
"Are you always this unlikeable?" I asked, feeling a little annoyed that my concern had fallen on deaf ears.
"Being likeable never helped in my survival nor did it help in protecting who I wanted to protect. Are you done interrogating me? Cos I would rather not stay here for long."
"Nope, nothing else," I decided, knowing that he's no longer interested in this conversation. "Need me to see you out?"
"Why, thank you for your generosity, comrade."
This guy, I swear-
My first ever meeting with Jayce aside, I was really looking forward to the one week break that Looker granted us because I finally got the chance to travel around Unova for real without needing to think about work. As usual, Sebastian wanted to accompany me, worried about the possibility of being attacked by the Carrilos or even maybe from the Euclids in which the interpol is now aware that they might very well be supporting Team Plasma from the shadows.
Unfortunately, I prefer to travel alone and I had always been travelling alone ever since I became a trainer. It felt weird to have a servant tag along with me. It took me a long while, but I managed to persuade Sebastian to have some faith in me that I can take care of myself and to let me go alone.
Skye had recommended visiting Lentimas Town and Mistralton City because these places were known for their own unique charms. I chose to first visit Lentimas Town, a town well-known for their pottery and porcelain products made from the volcanic clay gathered from a nearby volcano, Reversal Mountain. In a way, it's very similar to Lavaridge Town in Hoenn because people had chosen to undertake the risk to build a settlement there due to the benefits brought about by living near a volcano. Unfortunately, unlike Lavaridge, there were no hot springs in Lentimas Town. It's been a long while since I visited one and I was kind of hoping that there might be a hot spring or two in Lentimas.
Come to think about it, it's been quite some time since I last talked to Flannery too.
I paid a fee for a teleport service to Lentimas Town in the interest of time. There was a huge market in Lentimas where pottery and porcelain products of all kinds were being sold, a sight that I never saw in Hoenn because Hoenn is not known for their pottery products. The market reminded me a little of the one I remembered visiting at Slateport, although where the individual stalls at Slateport were much more spaced out, the ones at Lentimas were very much packed together. I also bought several souvenirs. They were mainly little trinkets which I thought were cute and they weren't expensive, and I thought it would make great gifts for my family and also for Sebastian. Thankfully, the stall which I bought from does provide delivery services to foreign regions which in truth, surprised me a little. I had never thought that a roadside stall in a pottery market would be able to provide such a service and I was fully prepared to have Sebastian help me arrange a courier to help deliver my gifts back to Petalburg.
There were also stalls that, after paying a fee, allowed you to try your hand in making pottery and afterwards, you can bring your finished product home. I tried my hand in making a mug and even took a photo of it and sent it in my family's group chat. Vance was the first to reply with the message [Is that a bowl?] when it was clearly a mug.
My response was doing the really mature thing by blocking all of his text messages for the rest of the day. It may be my first time attempting pottery, but my product is not that bad to the point that an ordinary person couldn't tell that it is a mug at first glance.
There was nothing much to see at Lentimas Town after I finished touring the famous Lentimas Pottery Market, so the next attraction was Reversal Mountain. Kratos was delighted at finally being back in a mountainous region, announcing his presence with a deafening roar the moment he was released from his pokeball and scaring away all the wild pokemon in the vicinity. As usual, he was chided by Rena for his brutish behaviour, but it didn't seem like Kratos cared much about what Rena had to say anyway.
Reversal Mountain is a mysterious place, because from what I heard from Nova even the origins of its name were a real mystery that historians were still arguing about to this day. Some said that Reversal Mountain is a dormant volcano, some said that it is an active one. Some say that the mountain's interior is filled with huge bodies of water while others argue it is filled with magma. Somehow or another, nobody can seem to arrive at a consensus about what Reversal Mountain truly is and everytime an expedition team was dispatched to investigate the mountain the teams would return with starkly different findings. From what I was told there was a time where eight different teams were sent into Reversal Mountain at the same time from different points of entry, and four of those teams claimed that Reversal Mountain had to be a dormant volcano because its interior was filled with such large volumes of water that it cannot possibly be active. However, the other four teams immediately rebuked that claim, saying that they had also visited that particular spot which they mentioned and it was filled with scorching magma. Nobody ever managed to explain that mystery.
As for me, I have zero interest in going deep down into a volcano because I'm sure my body wouldn't be able to take the heat on the off chance that it is filled with magma. Besides, I didn't come prepared for such a level of exploration. I am more than content in enjoying the scenery from where I am and taking pictures.
"Let's see if we can go higher, shall we?" I asked, and after seeing that my team were agreeable to my proposition, I had Kratos help move us to a better spot higher up on Reversal Mountain. It was child's play to him as he could easily command stones and sand to do his bidding and he simply levitated the ground beneath us to rise until we reached a higher elevation. Kratos is in a good mood today from how eager he is to explore the place.
"Don't go scaring all the wild pokemon now, I don't want us to accidentally cause a wild pokemon stampede in the direction of Lentimas Town because they were trying to flee from you," I reminded Kratos when it seemed like he was actively looking for a fight. Kratos gave me a look that showed how hurt he was by my lack of trust in him, but I knew better. What I said was clearly something that he would do if given the chance, just because he can.
We spent most of our afternoon there, exploring the place, enjoying the view, taking pictures of the beautiful landscape and of my pokemon, maybe adding a few selfies to fuel my vanity and ego. Then, I heard a surprised roar from Toothless, which had me turning to his direction to see what was wrong.
"Toothless, get back here! Don't attack it!"
Thankfully, I had Rena, and she was quick in stopping Toothless in his tracks with her psychic powers before he could do something that resulted in a very irreversible outcome. Seeing the aeroplane flying past us overhead really had me breaking out in cold sweat because if Toothless was quicker or if Rena was a tad bit slower, Toothless might have just roasted the flying aeroplane in his shock and confusion.
This was my fault. It had totally slipped my mind that none of my pokemon had ever seen an aeroplane before. Of course they would be shocked and wary of a huge unknown object flying past our heads with such high speeds at such a loud volume. I was not surprised that Toothless' very first reaction was to try and launch an attack on what he perceived to be a possible threat. How Toothless reacted was one big reason why till date, aeroplanes are a very unpopular means of transport in the pokemon world. If Toothless was wild and that was his reaction from seeing an aeroplane for the first time, how is that aeroplane going to defend itself from a wild charizard? Its passengers are all going to die.
This was totally my fault. I was aware that Lentimas has aeroplanes, it is one of their unique trademarks. I should have briefed my pokemon that such a thing existed in this part of the world before coming over. I really owe my thanks to Rena because if it wasn't for her quick reaction I might have just committed an act of mass murder simply because I wasn't able to control my pokemon. Vera or not, I would have been sent to jail.
"Toothless, that thing you saw there, that is an aeroplane. It is a form of public transportation. Remember all the buses and cars you usually see on the roads back in Hoenn?"
Toothless nodded, obviously still a little confused and bewildered by the presence of aeroplanes. He was still glancing warily back up at the skies every now and then as if expecting another aeroplane to suddenly fly past us.
"Right. Remember how there are people sitting in those buses and cars? That's the same thing for those aeroplanes. There are people in there. You almost killed a whole bunch of people in that aeroplane earlier if Rena didn't stop you in time."
Toothless looked as if he just wilted from my stare, but still putting on the face that screamed that he's innocent because he didn't know.
"Yes, it's my fault. I should have briefed you about the existence of aeroplanes before coming over," I sighed, still trying to recover from the shock of what could have happened and the kind of outcome… I don't want to think about it.
"Anyway, guys, the same goes for the rest of you as well. If you see something like that, don't attack it. You guys will land me in jail, and by that, I mean that I will be punished and you won't be seeing me for a long long time. If Toothless were to destroy that plane earlier, I would have been arrested, and I may be an old hag by the time I was released, if I am released."
The atmosphere fell silent after my team heard what I had to say. Toothless looked very guilty with how his wings were tucked so close to his body and the expression on his face and I felt very sorry for it too. He almost landed me into big trouble, but at the same time I know this is not his fault. It's my fault as his trainer for not having warned him about the presence of aeroplanes in this part of the world.
"Nothing happened, so it's fine," I reassured the big bad fire breathing dragon that I had raised ever since he was a newborn baby, patting him on his snout and telling him that everything's alright. "It's my fault, not yours. Actually, I will be taking a ride in one of those later in about an hour's time. I have a ticket to Mistralton."
Toothless and Snap looked at me as if I had gone crazy, as if silently asking me why I would choose to take a seat in one of those things when I had them to ride on to fly from place to place. I guess they still are not used to the idea of aeroplanes or just not very accepting of the existence of aeroplanes in general.
"I haven't sat in one before."
My explanation to my pokemon as to why I wanted to sit in an aeroplane didn't seem to help my case. The last time I sat in an aeroplane it was in my previous life, and even then it was a local flight, not an overseas flight. Hoenn has aeroplanes, but they are so rarely used that I never had the chance to ride in one before. I'm not going to miss experiencing another flight now that I have the chance to ride one.
Toothless huffed and turned the other way, throwing a childish tantrum and telling me that he's offended that I would choose to ride an aeroplane as opposed to flying through the skies on his back. I simply laughed at his childish display, unable to control my laughter after seeing such a childish side from him.
"Aww, come on, don't be jealous. This is just a one-time thing," I coaxed and gently rubbed Toothless' scaly back with my hand. He's still determinedly not turning his head back to look at me. Now, even Snap had joined him in his little childish tantrum, standing side by side with Toothless with his back facing me.
"Guys."
Both of them gave a loud snort, still ignoring me. I'm still unsure if I should laugh or be mad at their childish display.
I was saved from my predicament when Ness simply walked up and knocked them on their skulls with her fists, huffing angrily at them and giving them a good telling off. The two adorable winged lizards of mine looked suitably chastised as Ness proceeded to talk their ears off and several other members of my team had no qualms laughing at their plight.
"How about the two of you take turns to give me a ride back to Nimbasa at the end of our vacation?" I proposed a middle-ground and Snap and Toothless finally ended their little tantrum, affectionately nuzzling their snouts at me and making me laugh from how ticklish it felt. Seriously, they are adorable.
We soon descended from Reversal Mountain when it got closer to the time where my plane would depart. There's a runway on the west side of the town where the aeroplanes would take off and land and it is where I would board my plane. There's no such thing as an airport in Lentimas Town, and the place where I was directed to looked more like some dilapidated old train station. I also spotted the plane that I am supposed to be riding on later, which looked like the antique vintage kind that reminded me a lot of the one I remembered reading the Wright brothers flying on from my past life.
I guess aviation technology still has a lot of room for growth in this world.
It was soon my time to board the plane and from what I could observe, I am the only passenger. I'm not sure if this is normal, or if I coincidentally chose a day where passenger traffic was at an all time low. I was about to climb the stairs to board the plane when Toothless gently pulled at my shirt with his claws. He was adamant at seeing a plane up close so I hadn't returned him back to his pokeball like what I did for the rest. I was planning to recall him after I walked up the stairs.
"What's wrong?"
Toothless simply shook his head and audibly whined, then got on all fours on the ground, spreading his wings with the universal gesture of inviting me to ride on his back instead. I simply facepalmed in fond exasperation.
"It will be fine, Toothless. The planes have been flying back and forth between Lentimas and Mistralton for decades and nothing ever happened."
Toothless furiously shook his head, punctuating his point with a low growl.
"You coming up, lassie?" I turned around, spotting a bearded man approximately in his fifties standing by the door of the plane. From his getup, he's obviously the pilot who will be steering the plane. He spotted my charizard soon enough, being too large to miss.
"Oh, your pokemon doesn't trust my little birdie to take you to your destination safely, I take it? That's normal, I saw that happen to many trainers and their flying types in my line of work," he laughed it off and I felt a little relieved that he's so understanding. "Though I would say, I think this is the first time I see a charizard up close like that."
"Is it possible to have him fly beside us throughout the trip? He won't hinder you, I promise," I tried my luck and asked, because I know it would give Toothless a peace of mind if he is able to fly beside the plane throughout the entire journey. He's simply worried about me and I would never fault him for it.
"Sorry lassie, I cannot do that, because your charizard is not familiar with how planes work and letting it fly beside us is just an inherent risk waiting for an accident to occur. There's always a chance that it might unknowingly obstruct me in my work just by having it fly alongside the plane, but if it helps to ease your charizard's mind a little…"
He released a braviary, a mandibuzz, and a skarmory out.
"These guys are more than capable of defending the plane from any possible wild pokemon attacks. That good enough for you, charizard?"
Toothless stood back up on his hind legs with a huff, releasing a large puff of ash from his nostrils in the process. He is still worried about me, distrustful of the security the plane can provide me because he himself had nearly shot one down earlier. Still, he had reluctantly agreed, choosing to place his faith in me when I said that I will be fine.
"Thanks for understanding. Don't worry, I will have Fuzzy and Rena beside me at all times, so nothing will go wrong. I have the ghosts too, remember?" I reassured Toothless and scratched him underneath his jaw. Toothless gave one last reluctant growl before he was willing to be recalled back into his pokeball.
"Yer got a good pokemon, lass. It clearly loves you a lot," the pilot laughed as I climbed the stairs to reach the door of the plane. "You want to sit in the co-pilot seat? You are the only passenger today anyway."
"Can I?" I asked in eager anticipation, not expecting to be given such a privilege. To sit in the co-pilot seat, how cool is that?
"I only give that offer on days with only one or two passengers for the ride. Come on in," he welcomed me into his plane, showing me to the pilot's cabin and the seat which he allowed me to sit on. The kind man also generously allowed Rena and Fuzzy to accompany me on the strict condition that they would not be messing around with the buttons and panels and the same goes for me as well. It was something I agreed to immediately, knowing that it was already very kind of the pilot to allow me to sit on the co-pilot's seat beside him.
"You can wear the headset if you want, complete the look and all. It will take me a while to start the plane so you can use this time to take some pictures or whatever you youngsters like to do and post on the internet. Brag to your pals that you sat in the co-pilot seat or something, just don't touch anything you are not supposed to touch."
I did little to hide my excitement and took the pilot on his offer, wearing the headset and quickly snapped a few pictures of the cabin, and also of me wearing the headset and sitting in the co-pilot's seat. Rena does seem to look a little nervous from how she was curled up in my lap and sticking herself closer to me than what she would usually do, Fuzzy just seemed unaffected and is sharing the same excitement I was feeling.
"Please don't touch anything you are not supposed to touch," I reminded the little troublemaker one last time and Fuzzy acknowledged my orders with a cute little salute that he learned after watching too many TV dramas through the TV in my room while I was busy doing my work in the office. I think Fuzzy's favourite drama is the recent one that's been trending in Unova recently, a drama with the background of the main characters being from the Unova Special Forces or something. That was probably where he learnt how to do a proper salute.
"Ready, lass?" The pilot asked after the plane was started and its engines warmed up. He sat in his seat, wore the headset over his head, and began speaking into the headset. I could also hear the conversation because I am wearing the same headset too.
"This is Swanna one-niner, requesting takeoff."
The other end of the radio crackled to life and we heard the response from the control tower.
"Acknowledged. Taxi to runway three four."
The pilot started to drive his plane into a specific runway and I am sure that I was vibrating at my seat in excitement at finally being able to experience up close what goes on during the departure of an aeroplane. I have no idea how similar or different this might be when compared to the departure procedures in my previous world, but being able to have the chance to experience it right now isn't that bad either.
The pilot parked his plane at the start of runway three four the moment he reached. It didn't take very long as our plane is the only plane currently present as far as I could see.
"Control to Swanna one-niner, you are cleared to Mistralton via SKR33 departure, RGR transition, then as filed. Climb maintain five thousand. Departure frequency one-four-seven, decimal niner, squawk four-seven-six-three. Swanna one-niner, you are cleared for takeoff runway three four."
"Cleared for runway takeoff three four, Swanna one-niner," the pilot repeated back into the comms and the engines really roared to life after he acknowledged the instructions he received from the control tower. I could tell that Rena really didn't like the scare from the loud noise resulting from the sudden revving of the engines. Unlike the planes that I remembered flying on in my previous life, the one I am sitting on now clearly is lacking behind when it comes to aviation technology, and that includes how to properly silence the noise from the engines such that it couldn't affect the passengers and the pilots within.
"If it's too loud I can recall you back into your pokeball," I offered, but Rena stubbornly refused to do so with a shake of her head, taking it upon herself to stay beside me for the entire duration of the flight for my protection. Like Toothless, she still wasn't able to completely bring herself to entrust my safety to the plane while we were flying because it's true that our options are rather limited in the event of an attack or accident.
What had I done to deserve such wonderful pokemon companions?
The plane began to accelerate in a powerful charge and at this point both Rena and Fuzzy actually clung onto me in fear, not having experienced such a thing before in their lives, too shocked and bewildered at what's going on to know how to react properly. If it wasn't for my prior instructions to behave they might have really done something that would have obstructed the plane's flight. Rena probably would have forcibly halt the plane with her psychic powers, Fuzzy might try pressing one of the many buttons in the pilot cabin in his panic, it really depends.
"It's fine, it's fine," I reassured them both and decided that it is better and safer to just hug both of them close to me. Like this, I can provide them some comfort while ensuring that they wouldn't do anything that they shouldn't do while in the pilot's cabin. I don't want to break the pilot's trust in me after he had so generously offered me to sit in the co-pilot's seat and experience the view from here.
The plane finally tilted upwards and took off, the familiar brief sense of weightlessness setting in before that was quickly replaced by the swift acceleration of the aeroplane as it ascended the skies. Soon, the plane righted itself and stabilised after reaching its required altitude.
"Not bad, lassie, couldn't tell that this is your first time on a plane with how calm you were."
"It's not too different from flying on a pokemon's back," I replied with a half-lie because I had been on a plane before, just not in this life. By now, curiosity had gradually taken over the initial fear that Rena and Fuzzy both felt as they tried looking out of the windscreen to glimpse at the view overhead. I could see the pilot's flying types flying beside the plane through the glass panes, easily keeping up with the plane's speed.
"I guess in a way, that's true," the pilot replied. "Most people still prefer flying on the back of a pokemon as opposed to riding planes and I don't blame them for that. This little baby here can only safely fly between Mistralton and Lentimas on this particular flight route, anywhere else is too dangerous. We will be shot down by wild pokemon."
"How many passengers do you usually have per trip?" I cannot help but ask, because from what I can see this plane's capacity was only at about twenty passengers or so. It's a very small plane.
"It depends on the time of the year and also the time of the day. It's our off peak season now, so we expect to have less traffic. Actually, the bulk of our business are the cargo planes segment, the planes that deliver cargoes between west and east Unova through Mistralton and Lentimas. That service line rakes in the bulk of our revenue, the passenger business is more like a side job. Cargo planes bring in good business as this is the fastest option for Unovans to get anything delivered between both ends of the region."
"I didn't know that."
"Well, now you do," the pilot gave a hearty laugh after hearing my reply. "Don't think I introduced myself yet, eh? Just call me Mike. Usually I would have to give an announcement before take off that goes something like Ladies and gentlemen, welcome onboard Flight Swanna 19 with service from Lentimas to Mistralton blah blah blah, but I think we are past that now and it's kind of a moot point with you being my only passenger for today. You are not local, aren't ya? Where ya from?"
"Hoenn. I heard that we have planes there too, but I never saw it myself."
"Ah, Hoenn, nice place. I've been there once in my youth. I love the beach at Slateport," Mike recalled fondly.
"Have you been to the Slateport market?"
"Of course! I remembered that the things there were nice and cheap… that was about twenty years ago though. Is the market still there?"
"It is, and the things there are still nice and cheap."
We had a pleasant conversation for the rest of the trip. It was a very lucky coincidence that I'm the only passenger for the day because I wouldn't be able to experience such a fun and novel experience otherwise.
This really should be what travelling the world should feel like. Fun, no stress, and simply enjoying the view, meeting new people and talking to the locals. It would be perfect if I didn't have to try to save the world while I'm at it, but I guess I cannot have everything in life.
For now, I should just enjoy the present and take what I can.
AN: I have no freaking clue what the conversation or standard protocol for the taking off of an aeroplane is like, so I simply googled and referenced from what I believed seemed to be the most likely or professional way of doing so. Was hoping it added on to the realism, but not too sure if it really had that intended effect.
In any case, hope you guys enjoy the story thus far.
Character and pokemon list:
Velda Vera, Age: 14, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Member of the International Police
Pokemon on hand:
1) Rapidash (Flamel), male
2) Swampert (Bigblue), male
3) Banette (Dolly), female
4) Flygon (Snap), male
5) Absol (Kelsa), female
6) Charizard (Toothless), male
7) Cradily (Lily), female
8) Espeon (Rena), female
9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male
10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male
11) Clefairy (Joy), female
12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female
13) Pangoro (Hulk), male
14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
15) Scizor (Archer), male
16) Lapras (Chill), female
17) Gengar (Wacky), male