Chapter Thirty-Two:
Farewell

Disclaimer: I do not own the series Pokémon. Like, at all. It and all its respectable characters are © to Game Freak and Satoshi Tajiri. However, all writing contents and semi-plots here are © to me; unless it is stated otherwise. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.

Notes: I managed to get this banged out after I finished the last one. I'm glad I did!

Current Team: Keno the Marshtomp, Sela the Mightyena, Ambrose the Kirlia, Faye the Taillow, ? ? ?

Badges Won: Stone Badge, Knuckle Badge, Dynamo Badge


"My Little Bird. This isn't goodbye. I'm not going to say goodbye."
Jonah Maiava, "Tomb Raider" (2013)


The center was quiet and leisurely in the early hours. There were no emergencies to account for, no urgent matters to attend to. There was an air of calm, just another day.

Shay stared over the room she had called her temporary home for the last several weeks, scanning it visually for anything she might have missed.

"I think…that's everything."

Her gear was packed, her supplies refilled. The room seemed so bare without things strewn about, her team relaxing on the furniture or the floor. It would house some other trainer once she left, and the cycle would continue on like that.

'You're stalling,' Ambrose said gently.

I know.

Shay glanced at her pack, her limbs heavy and leaden. The urge to simply refuse to leave, to delay the inevitable, has risen more than once throughout the morning while she and her team packed up. She was hollowed out and saying goodbye to the little room was surreal.

I guess…we can't put it off anymore.

She hauled up her pack, her back giving a twinge of protest as it swung into place. She clipped the hip belt together and tightened the straps. Satisfied, she gave a nod to her team, and they all moved toward the door.

They stopped by the front desk to drop off the keycard for their room. Shay ran her hand along her belt and felt the empty space where two pokéballs should have been. Her heart sank a little.

She fidgeted with her x-transceiver while she waited for the nurse to finish checking her out. There were some apps that reminded Shay of things from back home. There were social media and video apps, like MewTube or Fletcher, but she hasn't had the heart to even entertain the idea of creating a profile.

There wasn't a camera feature on the device, but there was a photo album app she could access.

Should I get a phone? An actual phone…? No, I'd probably waste time on it. The laptop I got was enough of a tech-splurge. But at least we can watch movies in the evenings when we're relaxing.

Shay poked at the touchscreen and selected the photo album. A simplified, smiling Rotom face filled the screen briefly before a short selection of pictures popped onto the screen. She selected the latest one, added only just the other day.

It showed Meryl in her lab coat and a sensible work outfit, kneeling on the ground with Breela and Luna both in her lap. She was smiling at the camera, no doubt Jacob the one taking the picture. Luna looked even more pampered, now that she was no longer a Skitty. Her silky fur was no longer the cotton-candy pink and cream Shay was used to seeing her with, but a light lavender taffy and delicate eggshell white.

The Moon Stone Meryl had had at the lab worked out perfectly...

"Excuse me, Miss Kenway? You're all set and checked out now."

Shay turned her x-transceiver off and sighed, turning back to the counter. The nurse had a tray in hand, and she offered it to her. Two gleaming pokéballs sat in the recessed impressions. Shay reluctantly plucked them up and slipped them both onto her hip. Somehow, she was expecting the weight of them to be different, for the finish of their surfaces to feel different.

It wasn't, and they weren't. They still felt just the same as Breela and Luna's pokéballs.

Sela bumped into Shay's other hip, gently nosing her elbow up until Shay relented and scratched the Mightyena on the head.

"We'll get the new pups trained up, and don't worry about Luna or Breela. From what you and Keno have told us, the humans at this 'lab' place will take care of them. If you trust them, then so do we."

Shay's lips itched upward, fleeting and gone so soon. She bid the nurse at the desk farewell and turned away. She gave the lobby of the center one last glance before making for the door.


The northly route that leads toward Lavaridge was cinched at one point through the cleft of a canyon, according to her map. The rolling and rising hills ahead, however, didn't reveal it and Shay figured it must still be a ways down the road. Whenever she chose to run this way in the mornings, she never did get far enough to see it.

And now we get to hike right past it. Okay. And it's about…ten miles out from where we're standing. We should clear that and then some in a couple of hours.

She gave the map on her x-transceiver one last look over, nodded to herself, and turned it off. Shay rolled her shoulders and glanced at her team—sans the two newcomers.

"Will you let them out?"

Shay turned her attention to Keno. His broad brow was crinkled, worry shining in his tiger-orange gaze.

"Maybe when we're a little further down the trail, maybe after our first break. We'll get them acquainted with all of us, okay?"

The worry was still bright in his eyes, but Keno nodded, reluctantly appeased for the time being.

'You're worried for them. You don't have to hide that.'

I know. Just gotta psyche myself up for it. And I didn't want them freaking out with all those people around us. Being out here might be an easier transition.

'That, and one of them can't exactly breath on dry land. A bit hard to do with gills.'

New Mauville was slow disappear behind them. It didn't help that their route was angled upwards and onwards. She could, however, safely say that it wasn't nearly half as bad as Pendleton or Hawaii.

By noon, they had made good headway. They had started out early enough, ate a hearty enough breakfast. As the sun climbed to its apex height, Shay called for a break and dropped her pack. Everyone else collapsed to enjoy the reprieve, sprawling as they did so.

Shay dove into her pack to pull out quick snacks and dishes for water. Everyone took their fill as she tended to her feet, changing her socks and making sure she didn't have any potential blisters she might need to cover up. Overall, she was tentatively optimistic.

If her feet were getting tougher, she wouldn't have to worry as much further down the line…

"Here," Keno interrupted her musings, holding out a bag of jerky to Shay. "You need to eat, too. Can't have our trainer collapsing from hunger!"

Shay chuckled, taking the offering. "Aren't I the one who's supposed to be taking care of you guys?"

"We take care of each other, you furless dummy." Sela said between bites of her chow. She leveled her trainer with a stare that meant one thing and one thing only: 'Are you stupid or something?'

"…you guys are too fucking wholesome for your own goods, you know that?"

"We try," Faye murmured from her perch, holding her own bevy of food in one clawed foot. She took pause to nibble away at a particularly stubborn piece of seed stuck in the amalgamation that reminded Shay of bird treats sold in stores back home. When she'd first seen the treats that she could get for Faye at a camping store in Mauville, it had reminded Shay of treats she once got for her birds as a child.

Watching the little Taillow now reminded her of them again, the way she methodically picked at the treat to loosen her prize. Shay smiled, heartened by the small sight.

"Five more minutes, guys. Then we're back to it."

There was a round of affirmations from everyone and they tucked into their quick meals. Shay finished up with her feet, slipping clean socks on, and then her boots followed after. They felt much better after the fact and once everyone was ready, she threw her pack on, and off they went again.

It was less than an hour before they came to the most cinched point in the canyon, the mountains from west and east coming close to one another and yet never quite touching. Walls of stone rose above them, dozens of feet into the air, not completely sheer, but still steep, nonetheless. They passed under an incomplete crown of rock, one that looked as though the mountains had, once upon a time, been connected by a stone bridge of natural means and make. Stone refuse lay about on the grounds as a result, having long since been worn by weather and time.

Their footsteps echoed lightly as they stepped through the gulch. Faye retreated from the skies to return to Shay's shoulder, claws catching on the straps of Shay's pack as she huddled tightly to the woman's neck.

"You okay?"

"It's hard to hear when everything's repeating back at us," Faye said quietly in Shay's ear. "It's too loud in here."

"It's the echo," Shay said. "It's confusing you."

"Yes."

"Hmm. I guess just stay down here with us until we're past this place. Okay?"

Faye hummed back, already having come to the same conclusion as her trainer.

They passed through without incident, mercifully enough. Once they were clear, Faye took back to the skies, tilting effortless, almost lazily into the wind and updrafts that carried her higher up.

They stopped a second time a few hours later, taking just long enough to eat something a little more substantial than trail mix or jerky. Shay wrapped up the trash when they were all finished and tucked it away into a sealable bag inside a separate pocket of her pack.

'Leave no trace' was a camping strategy that Shay had instilled in her years ago, and one she adhered to as best she could.

"We have a couple of hours left before we hit our mark," Shay mused as they got back to the road, checking her x-transceiver. She studied the pin marker she'd placed in it earlier that morning before they'd left. She turned it off. "How's everyone doing?"

"Tired, but we can manage," Keno answered. "How're you holding up? One of us can take your pack, you know."

"I appreciate it, Keno, but this is my pack. There are many like it, but this one is mine."

She chuckled at her subversion of the Rifleman's Creed and supplementing her pack in it instead.

Her pace was slower toward the end. A part of her wanted to call it quits, multiple times over, but she kept telling herself, just five more minutes. Five more minutes, and then she'd stop. They'd all stop and then they'd set up camp and then they'd start up a fire, cook some dinner, and have some downtown to rest, relax.

Shay pulled her x-transceiver up and startled when she saw that they had reached the projected mile marker. In fact, they had bypassed it by nearly a mile. Her legs chose that moment to tremble and buckle, exhaustion finally rearing its ugly head belatedly.

"Here, let's stop," she called to everyone as she dropped her pack with shaking arms. Numbness had spread down her right arm, the strap clumsily tumbling off her shoulder as she clenched and unclenched her hand, attempting to get feeling back in it. She rolled her shoulders, pinpricked tears of relief welling at the corners of her eyes.

She collapsed to the ground, leaning heavily on her pack for a few minutes to catch her breath, and to let her shoulders and back to recover. The rest of the team did the same, relaxing in a disjointed semi-circle around their trainer. When the feeling returned to Shay's arm, and her legs no longer felt like they'd buckle beneath her weight, she pushed herself upright to her feet.

"Keno, can you help me find some firewood? Ambrose, there's a large collapsible pot is in my pack and needs some water for tonight's supper. Can you get that out and filled up? I think I hear a creek not too far from here. Sela, go with him."

"I'll keep an eye on the camp," Faye announced from her perch in a tree. The clearing Shay had picked out was just within the forest that lined the mountainous region, hidden behind the tree line. The clearing was small, but it provided enough room to move about and for camp to spare.

Shay and Keno stepped into the forest, picking through little trails that wove around thick underbrush and prickly bushes. The two of them gathered up armfuls of wood and kindling on the forest floor; another learned behavior Shay had learned. Never take from standing trees that were still living. The wood didn't burn as well as fallen branches and the standing dead did. One such young tree had suffered such a fate, its bark cracked and dry and crumbling, its insides brown and decaying. Shay took hold of the axe she carried for just this purpose—for breaking down kindling and branches too big to burn on their own and felled the little tree. It would be enough to last the night and for morning cooking as well.

Shay stripped down the branches, hacking away at them and bungeed them together. When she was done, Keno grabbed one end of the tree, and she the other.

It was heavy work, but they managed to navigate back to camp, where the others waited for them patiently. Shay finished the job at the camp, hacking up enough pieces for the fire. She cleared a space out for the firepit, ringing the area with stone and as much sand as she could with Sela's help. Sela cracked a branch with her teeth and set it ablaze when it was ready to go, and Shay added it to a carefully piled collection of kindling at the bottom. Slowly, their fire worked up to a nice blaze. Shay set up the tripod for the pot, thanking everyone for their hard work.

Shay rounded the rest of camp off with setting up her tent and setting her stuff inside. She'd worry about her sleeping bag later. She was more worried about getting dinner settled first.

It was only after she began to pull out ingredients for their nighttime meal that Shay remembered she had yet to let out the two new members. She hesitated, their pokéballs still clipped to her belt. Carefully, she extracted one of them, setting aside her knife.

"Okay. C'mon out, Gunner. Meet the team," she called out as she released the first.

From the pool of light coalesced the newest member, shining steel plates catching the evening sunlight in merry glints. Baby-blue eyes blinked rapidly into the bright of the day, a stubby snout shaking back and forth.

Tiny claws ended in stubby limbs and scratched at the earth, testing the firm ground beneath them.

Gunner blinked a few times more before turning his gaze upwards to stare into the face of his new trainer, and at the strange faces of the teammates he was faced with.

"Where…where am I? This isn't Granite Cave."

"You're with us, out on Route 111," Shay said gently. "Don't you remember the Makuhita? They damn near killed you. We got you out of there and back to the Pokémon Center back in Dewford."

The steel brows crinkled a bit upon the Aron's angular face. He kneaded the ground beneath his claws.

"I…vaguely recall that. Um…thank you for helping me," he replied at last, inclining his head toward Shay. He glanced over the others, as if assessed his new team members.

"Is this everyone?"

"There's…one more. He needs to be in the water, though. He can't breathe on dry land just yet." Shay ran a thumb over the pokéball still lingering on her hip. "Which reminds me…Sela? Which way is the creek?"

"Over there, beyond those trees and a large mossy rock. Can't miss it." Sela replied, jerking her nose into the direction Shay needed. Shay thanked her and turned her attention back to Gunner.

"Why don't you get acquainted with everyone? I'm going to let our little fish out so he can recoup too."

"I'll come with," Keno said, propping himself back up to his feet again. He followed after Shay, noticing how she kept running her hand over the pokéball.

"Are you okay?"

Shay faltered in a step, nearly tripping over an exposed room and she stumbled. Keno caught her, helping keep her aloft until she managed to keep herself upright.

"Thanks. And…I dunno. I'm still feeling weird that Breela and Luna aren't here. But I didn't want to force them to stay. I'd feel even worse if I did."

"You can't help how they felt. Luna wasn't really feeling things, and Breela was…tired. They both wanted to sit it out."

Shay nodded a few times as they picked the easiest trail toward the creek. She could hear the burble of running water, gentle and soothing even at a distance.

"I know. I don't fault them for that. Breela's sensitive and Luna is a bit…"

"Prissy?" Keno supplied, which earned a chuckle from his trainer.

"She didn't like the traveling life, but yes. A bit prissy. But we love her."

"We do," Keno agreed with a laugh. "They'll be missed, but it's not like we're saying goodbye for forever. We can always call the lab to see them when we start to miss them too much."

She hummed back in reply as they approached the creek. It was shallow, perhaps only by a few feet deep at its deepest point. The waters were crystal clear and shining as they approached, with tiny fish darting beneath the glimmering surface. Shay sat down on the bank of the creek and began to unlace her boots and stuff her socks inside them.

"You're going in?"

"Just gonna dip my feet in." Shay replied as she rolled up her pant legs up toward her knees. Once she was satisfied, she unclipped the last remaining pokéball on her belt and called out, "Let's go, Nux. Time to come out!"

The pokéball flew and popped open, and from the center of the brief nova of light, formed a scarred Magikarp. The light caught on the incandescent scales, casting it in a brilliant shower of sparks. Nux twisted in the water, taking in his surroundings before turning his fishy gaze on Shay and Keno.

Shay hissed as the cold water struck like a thousand needles against her skin when she stepped into the creek. "Ooh! Cold, cold, cold! Not made for cold!"

The Magikarp scarpered backwards, mouth opening and closing at even intervals.

"It's okay! It's okay, Nux. I'm not gonna hurt you."

Shay moved a little closer. The littler fish in the creek were quick to make themselves scarce and vacated the area. Nux remained where he was, caudal fin slowly swishing back and forth to keep himself in place. She squatted, and gently wrapped her hands around the Magikarp. She held him there, feeling his sides expand and deflate against the palms of her hands as he gulped in water and blew them out his gills.

"Easy does it. See?" She began to knead his with her fingers, giving him a firm massage. "How's that, huh? Does that feel good?"

Nux wriggled in her hands but made no attempts to get away. She laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Hey, it's starting to get dark. I can stay here with Nux while you start on dinner if you'd like."

"I think I might have another pot big enough to hold him. That way he can spend time with us at the camp instead of staying out here by himself."

"I know what you're talking about. I can go get it."

"You sure?"

Keno nodded enthusiastically. "The rest of us will spend time with Nux soon enough. You stay with him. I'll be back!"

He was quick to turn on his heel, waving over his shoulder as he retreated back towards camp. Shay watched until he was gone and then continued her ministrations, careful to keep the pressure measured and firm. Nux continued to wriggle in delight, leaning into her touch. Keno returned shortly, carrying one of the collapsible pots in his broad hands. She sized it up and found it would suffice for the time being. The pot she would be using for tonight would be better suited for Nux, but, well…

"Okay, I'm going to lift you out of the water now and put you in that pot. You can hang out with the rest of us at camp. Sorry if it's a bit cramped," Shay said. As she spoke, Nux grew still, barely a stir from him as he waited. Keno filled up the pot in the creek and sat it besides Shay. She picked up the Magikarp, fingers clutching into his sides tightly to keep him from slipping. She let him slip once she had him over the pot. Keno picked it up with ease and offered his toothless smile at her.

"I've got it."

"Thanks. Let's get dinner started. And no, Nux, you're not dinner. Don't worry."

Nux shivered in the water and spat up a glob of water over the edge of the pot in what Shay could only assume was delight or relief. It was hard to tell.


"You two doing good? How're you settling in?"

Shay eyed Gunner and Nux expectantly, but she did scan the rest of her team as well. Sela was licking her chops, clearly enjoying the scrapped remains of her meal. Ambrose was picking away at his own bowl, nearly completed himself. Keno and Faye were already done, with Keno having rinsed out their bowls with his Water Gun. Shay would have to scrub them clean with some of the powdered soap she had, but for now, they were stacked by the pot of stew, now off the tripod beside by the fire.

The fire itself crackled merrily, wispy embers rising only a foot or so before dying out in the rush of cool air.

Gunner kneaded the ground with his paws, taking a cautious bite of his food, his bowl nearly empty. Shay had to feed Nux pieces, one at a time, and she did so by dropping in chunks of vegetables or meat into his awaiting jaws. He peeked over the edge of the water expectantly, watching and waiting for more. Shay obliged and offered another morsel, which he happily guzzled down.

"It's different out here," Gunner said at last, lifting his head to peer up at the sky. The stars were out in force, a scattering of bright lights overhead. The dazzling tapestry was dizzying to look at for the Aron.

"I can recall you, if you want," Shay offered. Gunner hesitated before shaking his head.

"No. I think I can sit out for a little longer. I just…need time to adjust, I think."

"Just let me know," Shay said back. She startled when Nux, tired of waiting, nipped playfully at Shay's fingers dangling above him. She snickered and wiggled them enticingly to the Magikarp before scooping up another piece of food and dropping it to Nux.

"Hungry fellow, ain't you?"

"Is it always so…big out here?" Gunner piped up, his voice strained and hushed as he cast his gaze above to the treetops, the sky, the stars.

"What, the outside?"

'He's never ventured out of Granite Cave before. It's all he's ever known. This is all new to him,' Ambrose quietly said, with that itch-shiver-scratch at the back of her skull. It dawned on her then how scared Gunner had sounded just then.

"It's kind of scary how big the world is, isn't it?" Shay started softly, scooting over to Gunner, and placing a hand over his back. She was surprised to feel his body flex and curve into the palm of her hand. She didn't think the steel of his flesh would be so malleable to the touch. Gunner nodded in answer but said nothing.

"I can understand that. I…I'm not from around here, and this whole place was a bit scary to me too, at first."

Gunner turned his head to watch Shay from the side, tilting slight upward in her direction. Shay could see Nux was peeking up from over the rim of the pot, watching her as well.

"But I want you to know that if you don't want to be here, I won't keep you. If you want to go, I'll let you go. I don't want to force any of you to stay."

"We're with you," Keno piped up, and a round of affirmations rose up from the others. Nux bobbed up and down in his pot, scooping water in his mouth and spitting it out over the side, lashing his caudal fin excitedly. Shay took that as a positive sign and turned her attention to Gunner.

The Aron was quiet for a time, and the only sounds any of them could make out was the haunting tunes of the forest around them and the merry crackle of the fire. Gunner looked around at the expectant gazes of the team until he rounded back to Shay. He blinked his bright blue eyes up at her, inclining his head.

"Okay. I'll stay too."


Additional Notes: I didn't want to continue my Nuzlocke run without Luna or Breela in-game, but I knew if I did, that I'd lose them eventually. That's how emotionally vested I was with them, I sat them out so I wouldn't lose them. I truly was paranoid. Now they're safe and sound!

So, without further preamble, please welcome Gunner the Aron, and Nux the Magikarp!