Welcome to Unova! The world's largest and safest region. For only $49.99, you can learn all about the uniqueness and diversity of the Unova region along with the best tourist spots and hotels to stay at!
-Intro to Traveler's Guide to Unova
Charizard glides around Hydreigon's three Hyper Beams as he close's the distance between the two pokemon. His claw glows a vibrant violet as he prepares a Dragon Claw. The fire type nears his foe an—
*ding*
I whip my head away from the TV towards the door. An older man enters along with a Herdier at his side. He waves, "Good afternoon Samantha, I'm surprised to see you still in town."
"Good afternoon to you as well Albert, and why are you surprised I'm still in town?" I wave back.
Albert chuckles as he collects his usual pokefeed, "Well this year's circuit starts tomorrow. Most of the others your age have already left for Striation City. So I was wondering why you haven't left yet?"
I nodded and scanned his pokefeed, "Oh, I'm not going on a journey."
Alberts eyebrows raise at my response, "That is surprising. Most youngsters around here are eager to go on their pokemon journeys."
I shrug back as he finishes paying.
"Well, have a good evening Samantha," Albert waves as both he and Herdier exit the store.
My eyes wander the shelves looking to see if anything needs to be restocked. Rob's Pokesuppliments is a small local pokefeed and supplement store within Accumula. Most of the store's business comes from old retirees like Albert who settled in Accumula to live the peaceful town life.
Seeing that the shelfs were properly stoked, my attention wanders back to the TV playing Nimbasa's pre-circuit tournament.
"Wow, what an amazing battle, wouldn't you agree Steve?"
"I agree Catherine, Austin Brickwork's Charzard decimated the competition in this tournament. I'd say he has a good chance of winning the conference this year."
"Not just the conference Steve, after Alder's retirement I'd say he has a good chance of becoming Unonova's new Champion."
"You think Austin could become Champion?" Rob's deep voice asks. I glanced back to see that my elusive boss had emerged from the back. His dark skin pressing against his shirt that I swore was at least two sizes too small.
"Maybe," I leaned back in thought, "He certainly has the skill to become Champion but I'm not too sure who the competition is. A gym leader, or a member of the Elite four could push for the title. Maybe even an elite from Black City will take a shot or some rookie will, Cynthia became Champion at twelve."
"That's a good assessment. Although I would rather he didn't become Champion," Rob glared at the TV now showing an interview with Austin.
I tilted my head at that, "Does it really matter who becomes Champion?"
Rob nods, "Of Course it does. The position of Champion is not just a title, it also holds great political power."
"I don't remember Alder doing anything political," I probed, curiosity getting the better of me.
"You wouldn't," his lips thinned. "Alder was a passive Champion, he kept the status quo and that's it. With his retirement everyone with any sort of political ambitions will be aiming for the position of Champion. My problem with Austin Brickwork is that he is a mouthpiece for X-Tran, and if he becomes Champion, Unova will be basically ruled by that monopoly."
"Huh," was my eloquent reply.
Rob snorts, "Anyways enough of my rambling, I have a few errands to run in town so hold down the fort in my absence."
I shrug, with how often he has errands to run I could basically run the store by now.
Rob smiles, "Good, keep up the good work Sam and you might earn yourself a raise."
At the mention of a raise I make sure the store is in top form by the time Rob returns and my shift ends.
Accumula is a boring town. It's close enough to Striation to have a city feel yet not so far as to feel like you're living in the middle of nowhere like Nuvema town. Only folks looking to retire or raise a family away from the city move to Accumula. The idea of living a "town life" was so appealing the population of Accumula boomed and the town council was forced to stop expanding and place a population cap on the town so it wouldn't become another city. Trying to keep with the town feel means limiting the number of businesses to the town's main strip, everything else in Accumula is the same five or six cookie cutter urban houses.
Boring.
Walking back home my eyes naturally drifted away from the static background towards the local pokemon. Pidove flocked through the skies insearch of any free food, a crew of Timber's where building a new playground, and a pack Trubbish munched on some littered garbage.
Another left and I turned towards Accumula's only trailer park. A block later I made it to trailer #113.
"Hello," I called, as I entered.
"Hey," My twelve year old sister Elizibeth called back. She was lounging on the couch watching some sort of drama.
"How's Mum?" I asked while grabbing the remote and switching the channel to Pokebattle Net.
I felt Elizabeth's hazel eyes bore into the side of my head before she huffed. "She's still sleeping."
I hummed and we both settled in to watch the latest battle on Pokebattles. "Anything interesting happened today?" I asked, as Cryogonal's Blizzard covered the screen.
"Mmmm, not really. I was watching a new contest show when someone decided to change the channel on me," she snarked.
"Oh, you were watching a contest? Glad I changed the channel then, I don't want to watch people talking for hours on end only for the contest to be over in a few minutes," I challenged.
"Please, a few minutes of a contest are much more entertaining to watch than this slugfest," she gestured back to the TV where a Gurdurr slammed its bream into Cyrogonal. "Plus, the build up to the final contest is called a plot, something your battle brain can't comprehend."
I shrugged and tossed the remote back to her, "I concede on this battle being a slugfest, what are they fourth badgers? They battle more like first," I heard a quiet snort at that, "Anyways guess you can watch a show with plot or whatever, I'll go cook dinner."
In a flash the channel changed back and I made my way over to the fridge. Inside was a carton of expired milk, some processed Lechunk, and a bag of lettuce.
"Did you buy some lettuce?"
"No?"
I shrugged. Mum must want us to eat more greens or something. I checked to see if the lettuce was expired or brown.
"Do you want any?"
"Lettuce?"
"Ya."
"Why would I want plain lettuce?"
Welp more for me then. I opened the bag of lettuce to snack on as I made my way over to the pantry to see if we had any other food. There was a bit more in the pantry than the fridge. A bag of curly noodles, two cans of tomato soup, an empty bag of rice, a half empty thing of powdered cheese, and a box of crackers.
Grabbing the noodles, powdered cheese, and processed Lechuck I got to work. Boil the noodles, cut and fry the Lechuck, strain the noodles, add some powdered cheese, mix, add the Lechuck, mix, and viola Lechuck Mac and Cheese.
"Dinners ready," I called to Elizabeth and Mum if she was awake yet.
Elizabeth sat down at the dinner table with a frown, "Mac and Cheese again."
"If you want something different, go make it yourself."
Elizabeth just huffed and began eating. About halfway through dinner Mum emerged from her room.
People often say that I look like a younger, healthier version of Mum and I agree with them. Her long black hair has become dry and stringy, skin wrinkled to look a decade older than she was. Her once healthy and fit body had withered to become gangly and pale, and her shining blue eyes had dimmed to a dull gray. She smiled warmly at us as she sat down at the dinner table.
"Are you feeling better?" Elizibeth asked.
"Yes, the nap helped," she nodded, her voice quiet as a whisper. "How are you two doing?"
"Been watching contests all day, I'm not excited to go back to school tomorrow."
Mum gave her an understanding look, then turned her questioning gaze to me.
"Same old work with Rob. Nothing new or exciting," I repeated the same answer I had given her all summer.
Mum smiled at us both, "that's good to hear, and thank you Samantha for cooking dinner."
"Oh ya, thanks," Elizabeth mumbled with a mouth full of noodles.
"Elizabeth, don't talk with your mouth full," I sighed at her.
She shrugged back and continued with her meal. When we all finished and I was washing up the dishes Mum loudly cleared her throat. "Samatha dear, I have a gift for you."
A gift? I frowned, we haven't really done gifts since Mum got sick and most of our money went towards her hospital bills. Slowly and carefully she placed a small red and white ball on the table.
"A pokeball," Elizabeth whispered just as stunned about the gift as I was.
"Mum. When did you buy a pokeball?" I questioned. One pokeball cost about as much as I made in a week. Not a lot on the grand scale, but for our poor family Mum basically placed a brick of gold on the table.
"I took a few extra shifts from Ms. Joy."
"Mum, you can hardly walk let alone work!" I nearly shouted at her, "Besides, I don't need a pokeball."
"Thank you for your concern dear, but I've just been helping with the paperwork, nothing too extraneous." She shook her head, "But this isn't about me, it's about you, and this pokeball is my gift to you so you can go on a pokemon journey."
My pokemon journey!? Why would I go on a pokemon journey?
"We can't afford for me to go on a journey, what about your hospital bills? Who's going to take care of Elizabeth?" I pointed to my frazzled sister.
Me pointing at her must have snapped her out of her stunned state as she shouted, "I can take care of myself!"
I glared at her trying to convey that now was not the time to argue.
"Samantha Aurora Morrison," Mum barked, and my head whipped back to her at the sudden steel in her voice. "You and I both know that Elizabeth is a responsible young lady, secondly Ms. Joy and I have recently come to a deal with me working at home. Third, I know we have a solid amount of emergency savings and we will survive a year without your help. Lastly I know you young lady you've been glued to Pokebattle all summer and have been getting more depressed as the start of the season nears. You want to go on a pokemon journey and I am saying that you can."
Each point felt like a physical blow, both Elizabeth and I have been generally taking care of ourselves since Mum got sick. If Mum can work at home for her medication all the better, but those emergency savings were supposed to be for a cure for Mum. She needs the assistance of a high level pokemon to cure her sickness, not something easily affordable. As for if I want to go on a journey.
"I…" don't want to go on a journey, I almost say. Yet can't bring myself to utter those words. Instead I snatch up the pokeball, "I'm going to return this," and remove the temptation of going on a journey.
"Samantha—" mum started, yet I dashed out the door before she could finish.