Celadon City: This is also not Saffron City. Here lies a Pokémon Gym, hotels, an orphanage, a Pokémon Center, a casino, and a tent.
Because we're oddly interested in mundane details, let's look into the tent first— Oh dear.
Strange to see Hogoki in a tent in the middle of a city in the daytime, but it's even more unusual to see him lying on his side, holding the emotional support seal while trying not to sob too much.
Of course, given what had happened recently...
You wouldn't expect Kwaru to be trying to comfort him by presenting a slice of bread, though.
Hogoki's mind was like a sheet of glass, shattered into pieces on impact and difficult to put together again, much less by itself, and it still didn't seem like it would be quite the same again even if things went ideally. For most of his life, he'd learned that most people simply could not be trusted, that they would take advantage of him upon the first opportunity if he wasn't equally cunning, or at least completely untrusting. Why had the very people who told him that just... done it to him? They'd wanted to keep him safe, right?
He didn't understand. He didn't understand any of it at all. Every thought on it cracked the pieces of glass in his mind further, yet he found himself compelled to keep letting it shatter over, and over, and over, until perhaps they would become atoms and then form a whole naturally again.
However, the shattering never seemed to stop. It was like his mind was trying to repair the cracks and only partially succeeding before more damage happened, mostly undoing any progress. He wished it would let the damage happen until the damage could only lead to reconstruction like it always did.
...Oh, wait. Usually there would be something familiar to build on. The absence of that would change things, so of course...
Well, guess he'd let it keep going.
"Izumi, what the fuck?!"
"We agreed on this, Kai."
"We did not agree on that!"
"Then why did you agree to it?"
"I didn't!"
The Taki household wasn't exactly faring well today.
For instance, there's the rarity of Kai Brantley freaking out over something Izumi did while she calmly defends her judgement.
"We agreed that his purpose was to become the gym leader. He went against that."
"That wasn't what we decided. You said he'd travel with Foccai, get badges, maybe go for the League — you know, regular trainer things — and then he'd try for Misty's title. Sure, sure, that's fine. Builds character and keeps him safe on the road. But! We also agreed that, if he didn't want the job, he didn't need to keep it! That we'd find a good replacement for him and he could do anything he wanted after that!"
"He's free to do as he wishes now, is he not? There's no need for him to challenge a single trainer now if that's his desire. No need to grow stronger if he wishes. In fact, traveling isn't necessary anymore if he grows tired of it. The only caveat is that he must find a new home, which I believe is perfectly reasonable, and even delightful given the advantages! Don't you agree?"
"Izumi. He's ten. He gets lost walking to the grocery store. Foccai's probably the only reason why he's still alive right now, and not just because of wild Pokémon. How's he gonna get a home?!"
"If I remember correctly, he was nearing Celadon City recently. He may use their orphanage, or spend some money to live in the Condominiums, or, given years, he might find a well-off lover..."
"Why can't you just let him live here? A ten year old with parents shouldn't be relying on any of those things."
"He's competent. Did you not teach him how to survive on his travels?"
"I did, but—"
"Then he can be independent."
"For the love of the Tapus, you just made the kid an orphan! Do you know what that's gonna do to him?"
"I have taught him to only rely on himself. If he's hurt, he will recover shortly. However, if you would like to support him, by all means, try. If you truly wanted, you could even afford housing for both father and son, so it shouldn't be such a difficult task..."
"...Honey, you know I can't find work in Kanto that pays well. I'd have to go back to Alola, and it's been twelve years—"
"You've never quite adjusted to Kanto life, have you? Given the circumstances, you might feel more at home there..."
"...Fine. I'll stay. But if something happens to him, I might reconsider that."
"Very good."
They then properly sat down to eat, Izumi lacking many troubles and Kai fuming inside.
Perfectly normal household.
How long had it been since he got in this tent? He forgot. He'd taken a nap anyway, so it wasn't easy to tell just yet. The sun was up, at least.
He was still absolutely exhausted. Felt different from most other times when he was tired, though.
He looked down and saw something strange. A Pokémon was looking inside the tent curiously from the entrance, and when they noticed each other, they stared for a moment before the boy tried to approach it, and then it ran away. It had something green covering its back, and was on four legs. ...What was that green stuff, anyway? It looked like something between grass, fur, and needles.
Oh no. No no no. Not that impulse to follow. He was already tired, and he always got lost when he had to act against that to get to a city or a gym or anything like that...
Then again, he didn't have much to do now — he supposed he could spend the day with a wild Pokémon. That was exactly why he decided to act on that urge and crawl out of his tent quickly, getting on his feet then hurrying in whatever direction he guessed the Pokémon went. Foccai was startled awake by all of this, so he followed because it was probably necessary for his trainer's safety, first telling a Kwaru still on the incubator to watch the tent.
Honestly, the Ducklett didn't hear, but it's not as if he was gonna leave the tent right now anyway.
...
"Hey! Watch where you're running!"
That was close. He nearly crashed into that old man, and he didn't even have time to apologize for the near-miss. That Pokémon was still in sight, and he had to keep going after it! He didn't know why, he just did!
...It was fast, though. He wasn't sure he'd be able to pursue it for much longer. His legs were tired, but they still kept going, somehow. Foccai had to hold onto him to keep up.
Did it just disappear? He saw it jump to the left, and then... Wait, no. That was an alley. Probably meant it would be harder to pursue... So of course he was gonna keep trying.
He entered the alley, trying to not crash into the walls or anything, then had to stop two turns later, and not just because of the dead end. He had to take a moment to take in the view of various greenery, twigs, and random items which you'd normally call trash, yet were being used as material for a nest of sorts. There was even a roof made of cloth of some kind.
He saw the Pokémon he was chasing in the middle of that, trying to blend in yet watching nonetheless. He decided to stand there and see what happened, and eventually, it began to approach, slowly climbing out of the nest until—
"Foccai, wait a second!"
...Until he had to restrain a certain crazed seal from energetically throwing himself at it, causing his trainer to faceplant with arms outstretched to continue holding him. He could've just waited until the Pokémon came to them by itself...
Now it was hiding again. Sigh. Hogoki knew better than to disturb a scared Pokémon's nest, but he hadn't wanted this to happen.
...No point in staying, he supposed. He'd find his way back to his tent.
Visiting your hometown can be a strange experience, as fun as it is. You come back expecting either nothing or everything to change, and turns out, the thing that changes the most tends to be you, and then that becomes almost what it used to be before you set off for the time you're back home.
What's strangest, however, is that there's a tent sitting in the middle of a city of housing. In the daytime. And it's not destroyed.
This demands investigation.
In this kind of situation, you look into the tent first to make sure nobody's in it, then crawl in to figure out why it's even there, then—
"quack"
"Huh?"
"quack"
...Then apparently stumble upon a Ducklett calmly sitting on an incubator while it stares into your soul. And also you see a backpack.
"Is that egg yours?"
"quack" There wasn't a change in tone, but y'know what, that was probably a yes.
"...Are you waiting for your trainer?"
"quack" How does one get an answer from such a profoundly consistent sound?
"I can take you to a Pokémon Center if you could find them there..." And, being an expert in friendliness, you'll of course approach the Ducklett, and finally—
" K" Well, this was unexpected.
"Owowow, let go, let go of my hair, that hurts, you're pulling it, I'm sorry, just let me go and I'll leave...!"
"quack" Ah, sweet relief...
Who knew a beak could be so painful?
No more of that, thankfully, so time to check in on more parts of Celadon.
Finally... back in the tent.
He wasn't gonna question why Kwaru seemed oddly satisfied, but he wanted something to do, so Celadon Gym it was.
They just needed a moment to sit down...
His legs hurt, but he didn't mind too much. No worse than his forehead.
—
Pokémon battling and other Gym Leader duties weren't of much concern to Erika. The city normally governed itself quite effectively, other than the rare case when it resorted to some absurdity such as reducing funding for the apartments and other housing, where in such situations she of course intervened; otherwise, there was no need to involve herself. Due to Celadon's prominence in Kanto, it was common for her gym to be challenged as a trainer's fourth, at latest, and so battles were normally not complex enough for her to give much attention to training.
Of course, Pokémon trainers were important. Their profession had highly reduced crime rates in Kanto once the youth decided to replace violence with the sport in their competitions, and nobody could argue against peace after such long periods of war inside and outside of the region. ...At least, that was what her grandmother had told her. Personally, however, she believed that the world was still trying to adjust to this new order, where instead of inventing new weapons, the local wildlife could simply overrun cities given enough time and work to strengthen them.
It was disconcerting, though thankfully the convenience of having a Pokémon perhaps made it a great equalizer for the dedicated. She preferred public service and peaceful mediation sessions in the gym, herself.
All that aside, she'd received a panicked call from that Alolan who'd become a gym leader in Vermilion — she didn't know how, considering how rough he was in the eyes of any Kantonian — and he'd warned her, to put it lightly, of a mentally unstable child who had arrived in Celadon, likely to challenge her gym. Apparently the child had been related to the former gym leader of Cerulean.
It wasn't as if there was much to be concerned about. She could fight a water trainer easily, and detect a concerning mental state even moreso. Both could be addressed within an hour.
And if the trainer was truly a threat, she doubted they would carry out anything against her title defense roster.
Izumi was a strange woman when given power. Even when faced with a meeting of all gym leaders or Liberation commanders, a circumstance where negotiation was demanded by those who outnumbered and often outranked her, she simply declined to participate in any sort of reasonable discussion, often obtaining many of the concessions she requested in the process.
She was relieved that Misty had obtained the gym title and that that strange fighter known for his eyebrows had obtained the Liberation rank. Meetings were much more productive, and even more relaxed.
Ah. The tea was ready. She would move on to that, and then it was time to accept challengers.
Hogoki found himself at the Celadon Gym somehow, Foccai and Kwaru with him. It felt odd to be at a Pokémon gym despite that being something he thought of as natural. Maybe it was because he was at a grass-themed gym.
...Nah, he knew why. He still didn't have anything better to do, though, so he would just do the usual routine until then. Go to a city, find the gym, win the badge, repeat... until whatever would come after eight badges.
...What would come after eight badges, anyway? He wasn't interested in some grand tournament where you got a title that just gave you more unwanted attention. He just wanted something to do.
Even so, badge four lay ahead. He'd try to claim it.
Going through the doors, he thought he saw a maze at the start, but they seemed to just be... tunnels of some sort. That was relieving... Well, he nearly walked into the walls multiple times, but that wasn't very unusual for him.
Once he finally got to the end of the tunnels, he found himself in a rather secluded, fieldlike area filled with flowers and the like. In the center of it was a woman in full kimono, with other fashion signs of a traditional style... sleeping while sitting?
The sight was already peaceful yet unnerving before he noticed she was doing that. It was even more unnerving once she seemed to notice his arrival and open her eyes with a calm yet intense gaze directly at him, as if staring into his soul.
"...Good day to you. I suppose you're a challenger?"
That measured tone and precise wording not only worsened his nervousness, it seemed to force him to match her in them and in expression. "That's right. Against your fourth-badge team."
"Very well... I'm sure that you knew that this would not be a simple match, correct? I will give you time to prepare, should you need it."
"No need. I'm ready." He was starting to doubt that.
"Then please rest assured that I will hold back." ...That of all things was what she said before walking to her trainer's box. He wanted to win a badge by fighting at the right level, not being pitied just because he had a Popplio! He'd had enough of that from Surge, after all... She then sent out what looked like a giant mass of vines. "I start with Tangela. You are the strategic type, aren't you? It would explain your unevolved party. I assume because of that you'll pick the Ducklett—"
"Foccai."
"*quack of what the fuck*"
To be fair, he didn't think Kwaru was a safe choice unless angered. Foccai would at least fight if told to. He was reliable like that.
"...You're entitled to that choice. You have the first move, of course."
He'd noticed that most grass Pokémon he'd seen had used ranged attacks. Therefore, he'd fight the same way.
"Bubble."
Guess how that ended?
"Vine Whip..."
Mainly with popping and a sigh.
This exchange repeated twice before it was obvious to both that this just wasn't gonna work.
It only made sense that, since the usual starting attacks failed to even scratch the Tangela, he'd have to resort to his other option.
"...One that won't pop, then." The usual giant, thicker bubble was formed, lying on the ground for whatever followed. "It'll just be Pound this time."
The hilarity of a flying seal was not lost on a cackling Kwaru this time either. Foccai, as usual, rose up to a high point, started to descend, and readied a strike with momentum and was probably going to hit hard.
And then the Tangela casually used its vines to grab the seal and launch him across the arena to cause a crash. After that followed the giant bubble, hitting the Popplio directly and popping for maximum humiliation as he was knocked out.
Tangela still hadn't been hit. What a shock. Nobody could have predicted this.
A laughing Kwaru was picked up and placed on the field.
Erika gave a look of pity for trainer and Pokémon alike. "If you ever choose to forfeit, your loss will not prevent you from trying again later."
"But we haven't lost." He wasn't willing to lose unless he was forced to, anyhow. "We'll start with Peck. ...Peck, the attack. What're you trying to sing?"
Seems Kwaru likes jazz, particularly quacking it at the worst possible time.
For his troubles, he got slapped with a vine. That of course snapped him out of whatever high he was going through and angered the duck enough to cause him to attack of his own accord, blindly diving at the Tangela to strike after going airborne.
"Bind and slam as usual..."
The duck was able to finally injure the Tangela a little by biting through a few vines, but then got thrown around in the other vines, hitting the arena repeatedly while probably screeching at it the whole time. This sort of thing continued to happen, Kwaru disobeying increasingly frantic orders that might have helped him avoid more pain until the Ducklett had fallen.
Whatever Erika had done, she'd managed it with all the effort of a sunbathing cat, and it seemed Hogoki had lost the match. Her closing remarks were with similar effort.
...She nearly nodded off in between battle and closing statement.
"Your Ducklett is very stubborn, but also very strong. However, even if it would obey, you clearly have issues in your battle style."
"...What are they?" Honestly, this kid is looking genuinely shocked that he lost bringing two underleveled water types to a grass gym.
"You could improve how you vary attacks, how you approach an opponent, how you select which Pokémon to use, your use of type matchups, and..." Yawn. "Frankly, everything. You've learned a dull style that can't adapt well, and your choices of Pokémon are terrible for this gym..."
...He knew better than to be visibly angry when insulted by someone with her demeanor, even if Erika's was less intense. He only nodded slowly, recalled Kwaru, and carried Foccai out.
He'd come here to return to something he understood, but he was leaving with an unconscious seal, a duck that wouldn't listen and willingly got humiliated, and himself. ...Maybe the gym challenge wasn't really suited for him. He was doing what he was taught to do for four years, yet he still found himself being insulted by someone able to easily defeat him in a challenge.
He'd consider it at the Pokémon Center. These two needed it.
"A Shaymin? Did you drink half the wine we brought out last night?"
"Of course not! I tell ya, it was a Shaymin! You never see 'em in Kanto, so how would I mistake something for it?!"
"You make a ridiculous point and a wonderful one at the same time."
"Always do. That's the magic of being brilliant."
"...Anyway, what will we do with it? It's rare, but not particularly strong for a mythical Pokémon."
"I hear Celadon's kids get excited an' try to catch it sometimes, but never manage. How about we hold a contest? Have most of them work together. Maybe find good Pokémon for 'em to fight it with. Then we pay the winner some ridiculous amount of money."
"...Maybe you're less insane than I thought."
"Insane? I eat raw coffee powder in my boss's office once, and now I can't escape my reputation..."
"...What?"
"Pretend you never heard that. Anyway, we gotta make posters."