It felt like it had been a while since we traveled afar again after a few days of stay in Lavaridge.
However, I knew that I was slowly but surely running out of time if I plan on challenging all ten Gyms before the Ever Grande League. As such, soon after Sip left, I readied myself to continue my journey in the Hoenn region.
The day I left, I finished checking out of my room and walked out of the PokéCentre as I slightly covered my eyes from the light as I looked at the sky. It was afternoon time but the temperature was not too high and the weather was being clear as ever; perfect for continuing our explorations once again.
I took a deep breath, jumped off the ledge and left Lavaridge Town.
It has been great here in Lavaridge.
Thanks for the wonderful experience.
We consecutively traveled through Fiery Path, the underground route which travels through Mt. Chimney. Steam could be seen erupting from the ground, which took me extra time to stay aware and get through the area slowly but surely. Apparently, the area undoubtedly is the famous attraction for Fire types and Poison types, as they clearly existed around the path, giving us a harder time than I hoped for.
After taking a longer time than usual, we finally got out of Fiery Path as I was slightly worried about not being able to make it to Fallarbor on time.
I guess we just have to speedrun through the next route-
My thoughts were interrupted as I saw a different scene than what I imagined: The tall grass around the route in front of me was painted a dusty gray. What I originally thought was snow was falling around the area, but the "snow" definitely seemed more tainted than its usual colour. I looked closely, and I was certain that it was definitely something different from snow: the texture, the smell telling me so.
The time was not letting me hesitate much longer as I walked forward into the route, my hair immediately covered with some of the "snow". Unfortunately, it seemed that the "snow" was falling way heavier the moment I traveled through the route. To make things worse, the sky started to turn dark, indicating that day time was almost over.
Just my luck... I slightly grumbled as I continued trying to leave the route. However, the "snow" combined with the darker sky, was minimizing my vision as I lost my sense of direction.
I don't think I can get out of here... I probably need to find some place to stay for the night.
But... is there even a chance that someone lives around this area?!
I frantically looked around the area, hoping that some signs would be shown to me before my vision was completely gone. Luckily, my prayers seemed to be answered as I saw a small glimpse of light, giving me some hope as I ran towards there, the light being more visible as a small house was seen. There was a name board located near the roof of the building with a blinking light illuminating the name of the place.
Glass Workshop
"Turning volcanic ash into magic."
I guess I was right... this definitely isn't snow.
Anyways, I should enter and ask for a place to stay. Hopefully they have some room for me to spend a night...
I knocked on the door, hoping for a response as soon as possible. Luckily, the door opened as an adult man showed up in my sight, "Oh? What is a trainer like you doing out here at this moment, huff puff?"
I rubbed the back of my head, removing some volcanic ashes from that area as I did so, "W-Well, I miscalculated and got a little lost. Do you have any place to stay here?"
I could see a sign of hesitation from his reaction as he answered, "I do have another room available in this place, but the condition isn't the best, huff puff. Are you alright with that?"
At that point, I just needed a place to spend the night and rest up for the next day. I nodded, "That'd be great! Thank you so much."
The man welcomed me as I entered the house. Several glass-made products were shown in display cabinets, seemingly high quality. There was also a couch and workbenches along with glassblowing tools and equipment around the house.
"The room you need is upstairs on the second floor, huff puff," The man pointed towards a series of stairs, "it has a basic bedroom along with a small bathroom, and the room can be locked from the inside if you don't feel as safe, huff puff. If you're up for a conversation or need any help, you can find me somewhere around the workplace, huff puff."
I nodded and headed upstairs and checked the room. It definitely was not the best, but it had what we needed to stay through the night, which was more than enough for me. I quickly put my backpack in the bedroom and took a well-needed shower to wash the volcanic ashes away. After that, I got myself a set of casual clothes as I decided to head downstairs to see how the helpful man was doing with his work. After sending out my Pokémon to let them have their activities, I left the room and walked downstairs.
Just as the man said, he was working hard with his glassblowing work as I quietly sat on the couch. Eventually, he noticed me, "Need any help, huff puff?"
"I'm good. What are you making right now?"
"Our place uses volcanic ashes to produce glass, huff puff. I'm trying to make a Glass Flute right now for a customer's order."
"Volcanic ashes can turn into glass?" That was not something I knew until that moment.
"Not many people do this, so it's normal for you to not know, huff puff." He said.
"Does anyone else work around here?"
"Just two, me and my assistant, huff puff." The man replied, "I usually do the glassblowing, and he does the volcanic ash collecting. However, he got injured recently, so he's currently taking a break, huff puff. The room you're staying in right now was originally his."
"Ah... I hope he feels better soon."
"Hopefully. It has been harder without my assistant, but I'm managing, huff puff."
"You can always find more workers to help you out with glass making, perhaps?"
"Others wouldn't want to, huff puff. There are glass factories out there with better equipment and located at places with much better conditions than this route. With better options, it's normal if they don't wanna come here, huff puff." The man said, not seemingly upset by the competition.
"Not planning to move to other places for your glass-making business?"
"Our business doesn't have much budget, huff puff. Although the weathers are extreme here most of the time, collecting volcanic ashes and being able to turn them into glass is a challenge I always enjoyed and feel satisfied about, huff puff. Volcanic ashes are blessings from the environment and are free of charge, so in a way it helps us with our business, huff puff."
"I guess it works out for you, then." I said.
"Definitely! Working here also has some interesting happenings here and there, like how you visited at night time today, huff puff. It's much more interesting than just aimlessly and endlessly working in another glass factory where everything was filled with work, work, work. The weather here is just here to balance out the benefits, huff puff." The man smiled as he continued his work.
"That's a positive mindset to have." I was impressed by how the man thought.
"Years of life experience brought me here, huff puff. Once you've grown older, you'll be able to understand this idea fully."
I continued observing the man's work while continuing the conversation, until he applied the finishing touches on the Glass Flute with relative ease.
...No matter what, everything has a balance.
While the other Pokémon were busy with each other's activities, Woody was staring out of the window, looking at the worsening condition of the weather in the route.
It doesn't seem like it's gonna get better anytime soon...
"Woody." A soft feminine voice interrupted his thoughts as he noticed Grace, who got herself close to him when he was wandering off.
"G-Grace! What's up?"
"Just noticing you staring into space, that's all." She followed suit and looked out the window as well, "The volcanic ashes are filling the sky right now, it seems."
"Yeah..."
"I don't think I've ever seen such poor weather conditions in my life. I was always staying on the route near Petalburg, and besides a heavy rain or two, the weather was always clear."
"This is quite bad... but I-I had worse." Woody expressed.
"Hmm?"
"When I was with my former partner... there was a storm that happened around the town. The rain was heavy, the thunder was loud and terrifying. Then..." Woody stopped with a painful expression.
"Woody?" She lightly touched his arm. It was trembling.
"The wind was too strong... It separated me and my trainer and launched me into the sea."
"Oh my..." Grace gasped slightly.
"I don't remember much afterwards, except me holding onto a piece of wood to save myself from sinking into the waves. It was... unforgettable, to say the least."
"Woody... that sounds horrible. I'm sorry..." Grace did not know what to say to comfort her friend.
Woody shook his head, "It's okay, you don't have to. The past was not the best, but at least things are better now. I have a team who supports me, and a trainer who treats me just as well as my previous one."
"That's true." Grace smiled, "Everything has their reasons to happen. I didn't have a good time before joining Lows' team, either."
"What can go wrong?"
"Getting almost beaten into a pulp and forced to be captured by a cold-hearted trainer? That's what went wrong." No anger can be seen from Grace. Instead, she chuckled while recalling the incident that happened before Lows saved her from trouble.
"A-Ah..." It was Woody's turn to not know what to reply with.
"It's alright. If that didn't happen, I wouldn't trust Lows nor join his team, which led me to so many delightful experiences and meeting such good friends like you." She smiled.
"I-I didn't do much..." Woody blushed slightly.
"Give yourself some credit, Woody." She giggled, "But anyways, I believe everything has its reasons to happen. We just tend to notice them at a later time."
Woody responded with a grin, understanding what she said.
"The past might be painful, but it will all be made up in the future, hopefully." Grace looked at Woody and smiled, "So let's move on with hope instead of reminiscing about the past with pain."
Then, they stayed silent and continued looking at the scenery outside the house, both with different thoughts filling their minds.
"...Are you sure this is the place you want to be at?"
Charmaine grumbled slightly as she followed Wally into the route filled with volcanic ashes. She was more worried than angry: She knew about Wally's not fully recovered condition, after all.
"Of course! Are you scared of some filthy volcanic ashes covering your face?" Wally chuckled.
"...You know what I'm worried about." Charmaine was not willing to joke around as she stared at him.
Wally stayed silent for a moment before replying, "Don't worry, Charmaine. I know what I'm doing."
"It's obvious that you don't."
"I just want to see how my lungs could handle this weather condition now."
"How can I trust you to handle it just fine when years ago, you almost had to go into the hospital while traveling through this route in your journey?!" Charmaine went into an outburst.
"Hey, it may have gotten just slightly wrong last time-"
"Correction, replace 'just slightly' to 'very'." Charmaine corrected him.
"...Okay, that. But things are different now! I'm sure I can do it much better now." Wally tried to reassure her, "Now, let's take a walk through the route to reach Fallarbor."
"I can't stop you, can I?" Charmaine sighed before following by his side as they entered the route.
It seemed to be fine at first, but soon, it was obvious that Wally's breathing became more frantic. Charmaine's worry only increased as she said, "We should get out of here now."
"I-I'm alright." Wally said before coughing lightly.
Charmaine facepalmed, "You're forcing yourself way too hard on this!"
"Come on, Charmaine. Y-You're even more worried about me than myself-" He couldn't finish his sentence as he inhaled more volcanic ashes and started coughing heavily. His facade seemed to have disappeared as his asthma seemed to have taken effect on him once again,
"Wally!" Charmaine exclaimed as Wally struggled to point towards one of the pockets of his shirt. Charmaine then searched through that pocket, revealing an inhaler inside. She quickly took it out and put it inside his mouth as he tried to breath. Knowing the poor weather condition would continue in the route, she hurriedly carried Wally on her back before starting to sprint towards the end of the route and finally got out of the place. Wally continued to use the inhaler and his condition finally seemed to become better.
"T-Thank you..." Wally chuckled lightly, "I owe you one, Charmaine."
"...You're hopeless." Charmaine shook her head, "You really need to learn how to take care of yourself."
"I try to..." Wally shrugged.
"That attempt definitely wasn't a good example of doing that." Charmaine sighed.
"I was just hoping my asthma has turned for the better after all these years... I guess it can't be helped." He smiled helplessly.
"You know you can't force it." Charmaine said.
"I suppose..." Wally looked at her, before grinning and holding her hand, "But at least I know that if something like this happens to me again anytime soon... I have some fool who would help me out no matter what."
"Humph..." Charmaine groaned lightly, "Let's just head to Fallarbor and rest for a bit."
"Sure thing."
Just like that, they continued walking towards their destination.
No matter what incident that happened, life must continue on, after all.
Lows' Pokémon Team:
Surfer (Wartortle, Male) Jolly Nature, Moves: Bite, Water Gun, Water Pulse, Sand Tomb
Ziggs (Linoone, Male) Naive Nature, Moves: Dig, Headbutt, Swift, Facade
Grace (Kirlia, Female) Calm Nature, Moves: Teleport, Magical Leaf, Shadow Ball, Psybeam
Woody (Grovyle, Male) Lonely Nature, Moves: Pursuit, Leaf Blade, Bullet Seed, Rock Throw
Power (Machop, Male) Timid Nature, Moves: Fling, Focus Energy, Karate Chop, Low Kick