Some days later, one early afternoon, Slub went down to make some food for himself and his Pokémon when he saw Thaddeus and two other characters talking in the main lounge of the shop.
"Ah, don't worry about it," he heard Thaddeus say. "He's a clever lad. I'm sure he'll find them. No problem at all. He got me Custap Berries, after all."
Thaddeus turned his head and spotted Slub.
"Oh good, you're here. Come in and meet my…" Thaddeus drew his breath, clearly putting on a fake tone, "my… buddies," he said.
"There's nothing in the whole wide universe I want less," Thought Slub as he said "Oki-dokey" and walked out.
"This is Goro," Thaddeus pointed to a small, wide man with a big face and a silvery white buzzcut hair, dressed in salaryman's attire.
"And this is Dave Cueball," he pointed to a biker dressed in all leather from head to toe. He didn't have any hair at all.
"Hallo," Slub said flatly. Both men nodded, but didn't say a word.
"Got a mission for ya," said Thaddeus.
"Goodie," said Slub, leaning on a wall and crossing his arms in sheer excitement.
Thaddeus showed him another printout on dot matrix paper. Digital media wasn't quite Thaddeus' style and as such more analog, and more importantly, untraceable technology was the order of the day. Slub took it and squinted his eyes trying to make out the lousy quality image. It looked like a stick.
"Dave Cueball and Goro here are in want of a special herbal tea made from the Energy Root. It's said to… convey some useful effects."
"Mmmm…" Said Dave Cueball contently, his bald head gleaming like a thousand suns from the light coming through the windows.
"Mhm…" Grunted Goro, affirming the former's opinion.
"Right," said Slub and folded it into his pocket.
"I'll be right back," said Thaddeus, "don't go anywhere!" While he was away Slub turned to the two, very quiet, men.
"So… How'd you get the nickname, Dave Cueball?" Slub asked, unable to help himself.
Both men did an angry squint in his general direction.
"Alrighty," said Slub, none the wiser.
Thankfully Thaddeus returned, a rare opinion, and handed an envelope to Goro who put it in his back pocket after having a quick peek inside.
"Mmmm…" Goro noted in a tone of mild appreciation. Slub noticed how heavily Thaddeus was sweating.
"And as we agreed, gentlemen, the rest will come in the form of the… Energy Root…"
Goro and Dave Cueball got up, did a quick nod towards Slub and Thaddeus and then walked straight out without a word before getting in their car and driving off. Slub and Thaddeus watched their progress and only when their engine was no longer within earshot did Thaddeus dare breathe again.
"Nice guys," Slub said, breaking the silence, "I never thought I'd get a single word in, though."
Thaddeus looked at Slub, unimpressed.
"We really need that Energy Root," Thaddeus said.
"Sounds to me like – you – need that Energy Root."
"Nono, you don't get it. We – really – need that energy root." Thaddeus' left eye twitched.
Slub sighed.
"Well as much as I'd love the help out, I was actually going to tell you that I'll be moving along very soon… I just need to collect a bit more points. I found this Ghost Type Gym online that's only like half an hour away from here called Foggy Clearview Hotel and Bistro so I'll be going there later to try and grab another badge and some LP. Did you know Ghost Type attacks are Super Effective against Ghost Type Pokémon by the way? Cuh-ray-zee. Anyway, I can't help you with the root thing, so you'll have to do it yourself…"
That phrase was not part of Thaddeus' vocabulary.
Thaddeus suddenly closed the distance and leaned in close.
"Those guys… really need that Energy Root… and if I don't give them that Energy Root we'll both be…"
"Be that as it may," Slub said with a newfound annoyance. For a long time he'd had no plans of any kind, neither short term, nor long term. But now he actually was putting some effort into doing a thing on his own terms, he was constantly being interrupted by everyone and everything. He was getting sick of the constant game of 'red light/green light' where everyone, but him, decided what he was going to do with his life.
Now this paradox rejected the fact of his overall goal being a return to a state of irresponsibility and inaction, back at home in Mauville. Such introspection was, alas, still beyond Slub.
He had briefly mentioned his plan to Thaddeus who simply didn't acknowledge what he was doing as an option at all.
Thaddeus' eye twitched again as he wheezed frustrated.
"Alright, look," Slub shouted "I'm not gonna drop everything I have and–"
"I can't believe I dropped everything I had and went along with this," Slub shouted into the woods.
The forest, known as 'Mirewood' by locals, was borderline tropical in its humidity. This in and of itself wasn't uncommon in Hoenn, but there was another twist too. The 24 hour torrential downpour from a few days ago had given everything a moist, damp feel. Every step of the way he felt himself sinking down and his shoes made a disgusting squish. Slub trekked along the tourist path going from the bus stop and came upon a big mossy sign. He wiped the sweat off his brow, having walked for minutes and read the plaque.
Welcome to the Famous Mirewood Thicket!
Embark on an unforgettable trek through the lush, mysterious wilderness of northwestern Hoenn.
Don't Miss - Fenshadow Grove.
(If you can find it - it's very dark!)
Brought to you by the Hoenn Tourist Association.
The sign was accompanied by the face of a smiling cartoon Mudkip, the logo of the H.T.A.
"It's a tourist road… This shouldn't be that bad," he thought to himself. "At least the Mudkip looks happy so it can't be all… bad…"
After trudging through an absolute nightmare of a swampy road, Slub came onto a clearing from which a nice view of the horizon was visible. He sat down on a fallen log, wrung out his shoes and took a breather. The calm of nature finally prompted him to take a moment to reflect on the past week.
Whilst the general vibe had mostly involved himself being stopped and accosted by various people and creatures, a lot of good had happened too. He'd met some nice people. He'd won a ranked battle, had conversations, learned a lot about Pokémon, which he never thought would be his thing at all. Not to mention, he'd even won an honest to goodness Gym Badge. Wild!
However, despite all this, there was a niggling feeling in the back of his mind that had been there since he arrived. A voice was telling him that his eventual goal was to return to his old ways, return to Mauville. Return to parents. Return to room. Recommence inactivity. Forget about all this. NEET lifestyle for life. Living online.
Were endless days of staying in his room in front of a computer really something he'd want to go back to at this point? His immediate reaction said yes, but that just came as an automatic answer, like mashing through dialog in an RPG. There were a lot of aspects that had been absent from his life for a while and while he'd not really paid them much mind now that they were gone, he had a feeling their return would not necessarily be as welcome as the perceived safety of his childhood room. The occasional feigned interest in a job offer that would last a few days before he'd be told not to come in anymore. The same serviceable but bland food his mother would cook. The only thing to look forward to being when the next anime episode would drop on streaming, or his favorite web comics and light novels would update. There was a kind of comfort in the reliable sameyness, sure, but between all that there was also intense frustration. There was always that overhanging feeling that everything would collapse at any moment. Then came other, even more intrusive thoughts. His parents constantly pestering him. Him waking up to them arguing about something utterly irrelevant. Slub shook his head and looked at the view again. Calm. Nobody was pestering him. In fact there probably wasn't another person within a mile radius. Might be some tourists about but they were unlikely to shout for him to come down and vacuum the forest floor.
The stasis of the NEET lifestyle had felt like the only option such a long time, but now…
This was a lot of introspection for Slub and his brain could only handle so much of it. He did a big stretch and tried to clear his mind, again looking out at the vast woodland landscape before him.
"This is actually nice," Slub said out loud and felt a cool breeze on his forehead. "There's absolutely nothing that could possibly ruin this day."
"Oh… Hello," a voice said behind him.