LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 40 - Meeting of the Minds
Chapter 40 – Meeting of the Minds
Our meeting with the pack of electrike went smoothly as far as I could tell. Although Flannery’s penchant for dog Pokémon was a surprise to me. My fellow red head gleefully rubbing their bellies and scratching behind their ears, and even more surprisingly the canine Pokémon letting her do as she wished. She attempted to do the same to the pack leader but he rebuffed her advances.
‘Understandable, he needs to save face in front of his subordinates. Electrike can’t shamelessly submit to the whims of an excitable young girl.’
Since we already filled up on supplies at Lavaridge there was no need to imposition the pack by haggling for their berries this time around. Not that Victini didn’t give it her best shot.
“Vi…? Tini!”
“Ruff!”
The pack leader wasn’t having any of it unless she offered something of equal worth. While the routes weren’t nearly as cutthroat as the unexplored wilderness, giving away free food would surely negatively impact this pack of electrike as a whole.
“Electrike is bullying me!”
“It’s simple, why don’t you offer him some of grandma’s homemade lava cookies?”
“Vi! Vi…” “No! Those are my ahem… I mean ours.”
“It’s fine, when is the next time you’ll get the chance to eat fresh nanab berries? Sharing is caring and I bet you these electrike would love the taste of Lava cookies.”
“Tini!” “Okay, but no more than one cookie per berry!”
“What do you think Electrike? Is the deal acceptable?”
“Arf!”
The trade being consented to by both parties, I opened up my backpack to retrieve a plastic cookie container. Pulling out two cookies to trade for two of those berries one for Victini and the other for Halo. The little bug type, unlike the rest of my crew, hadn't had the chance yet to taste fresh nanab, so I was determined to trade one for her. Presenting the two lava cookies to the pack leader was followed by an investigative sniff from him. Our goods apparently passed the smell test since the leader motioned for Victini to go ahead and pick two nanab berries from the tree. The leader placed the two offered cookies inside his mouth and wandered off probably to share one of those cookies with his mate.
“Flanny, we are set to leave. Can you wrap it up over there?”
“Fineee, just a minute.”
Just like that our time in this part of route 110 was coming to a close. Remembering our way back to Mauville from last time we didn’t need one of electrike to escort us to the city’s edge. Not that some of them didn’t offer though the pack seemed quite fetched with Flannery’s demeanor. I was quite sure that a number of them would be quite willing to partner up with her.
‘Alas the path of a specialist is a lonely one sometimes.’
Flannery finished up roughhousing with a particularly eager electrike and picked up her backpack ready to follow me into the city. I was starting to feel better about our arrangement. Being able to make friends with wild Pokémon on the first meeting was the sign of a talented trainer. Raw charisma could get you far in this profession.
‘Now if only she could overcome her klutziness...’
“Hey?! Tini save that second nanab berry for Halo!”
Ten minutes later*
“What do you think? Mauville city is located in the heart of Hoenn. It’s the place where all traveling trainers pass by at least a couple of times while on their journeys.”
“I’ve been to Mauville plenty of times, Egon! It’s only one route removed from Lavaridge.”
“Oh, I figured that you didn’t get to go out much.”
“Grandpa takes me on plenty of trips when he is off from work.”
My image of Flannery being the sheltered princess type took a glancing blow. Aside from her tomboyish inclinations she tended to be quite shy during first meetings with strangers that weren’t Pokémon.
“Anyway…! As your official minder I’ll show you the basics of a traveling trainer’s dos and don’ts. The first of them being reserving a room at a local Pokémon center. Follow my lead apprentice, you have much to learn indeed.”
“Stop acting all high and mighty Egon. I am older than you!”
Despite her failed attempt at undermining my authority by pulling the age card, she obediently followed me through the busy and darkened streets of Mauville city. To reduce our chances of someone or something accidentally bumping or crashing into us I released Orin from his ball. The ambient light of his flame doing much to lighten our path forwards. Since I’ve already been to Mauville two weeks ago I wasn’t as lost as the last time, and we made an accurate beeline towards the nearest Pokémon center.
“Okay so, when we step in, take out your trainer’s license which also serves as your ID and ask the nurse Joy or chansey at the reception desk if you can book a room at the center. The league association will cover the cost of our stay here and you are free to use the amenities like showers and stalls for some of your bigger Pokémon partners. There are some trainers who get so enamored by the free living on the routes that they often forget that living like a hobo in the wilderness is bad for your personal hygiene. Don’t become one of those trainers.”
“Really?!~There are trainers that don’t take regular showers?”
“Well yeah, I met this hermit in Mistralton city who by the smell of him only uses soap once a month. Kooky old men like him can get away with it but strapping young trainers like us have an image to maintain especially since we are representing the Lavaridge gym. Now sometimes you don’t have a choice, like say if you are stuck in an arid desert encampment with no running water. Then the best you can do is ask a fellow trainer’s water Pokémon to hose you down once in a while.”
As I was sharing my worldly experience with Flannery, we got to the front desk where this center’s chansey was waiting for us to state our business with the Pokémon center to her.
“Good evening Chansey. We’d like to book two dorm rooms please. Separate.”
“Sey Sey!”
We both handed over our trainer’s licenses and while Chansey was busy looking us up in the computer this center’s nurse Joy finally revealed herself. She appeared from a backdoor nursing a cup of coffee. As our eyes met I recognized this specific nurse Joy as the same one that I met here exactly half a month ago.
“You!” “You!”
“The trainer with that special egg! Did the hatching go smoothly? Can you show me the baby Pokémon please?!”
‘The same overly eager nurse Joy from the last time. I just know she is going to be overly touchy with Halo, maybe I can shake her off.’
“Uhm yeah, the newborn Pokémon is perfectly healthy. The nurse Joy at the Lavaridge center was there to assist with the delivery. Chansey here is almost done helping us out with booking a room and I am kind of getting tired. Maybe we can talk further in the morning.”
“Hold it! The journey from Lavaridge to Mauville must have been a long one. Why don’t you leave your Pokémon with me for a while?”
“That’s quite alright we teleported over so none of us are fatigued.”
Chansey finished up registering us into the computer and took off two keys from the wall before handing them over to us.
“Alright then but be sure to meet up with me in the morning. I want details, young man.”
After receiving our keys, I guided Flannery to the center dorms, while giving her my final lecture for the day.
“Since this is a Pokémon center there are no guarantees that you won’t have to share rooms with other girls. In that situation it is common courtesy to not make loud noises after ten pm, and if you wake up early try to be as quiet as possible when sneaking out of the room to get breakfast. Of course, this is also a good opportunity to make friends, if it seems like the both of you aren’t anywhere near close to falling asleep. If you don’t know what topics to talk about to initiate a conversation just keep it simple and talk about how cute your Torchic is. That should get the ball rolling.”
“You think my Torchic is cute?”
“Is that the only thing you take away from my sterling words of wisdom? Whatever, this is my assigned room. I'll see you at eight in the morning, don't make me come get you.”
“Even cuter than Victini?”
“…Good night.”
With that I closed the door behind me, and A certain member of the team didn’t waste any time by popping out of her ball to question me on my life’s choices.
“Vi Tini?” “I am the cutest right?!”
“Has this become a competition…? You are my partner Pokémon that alone automatically makes you the cutest. Plus, your fur’s all soft and you make for a way better sleeping companion. Flannery’s Torchic’s grasping talons don’t facilitate for a good long-time bedrest.”
Due to tomorrow’s hectic schedule, I was adamant that we all go to bed a bit earlier than usual. Since we had a gym battle with leader Wattson first thing in the morning. Halo took the second pillow on the bunkbed next to my own as a nestling spot while Glove the ever vigilant protector laid down on the remaining section of that bed. Victini was content just cuddling me to sleep as if to prove my point.
The following morning*
“Vi!” “Wake up!”
“Whaaa… What time is it?”
“Ten minutes before you have to wake up Flannery.”
“Thank you, Tini, I forgot to set the timer on my Xtransceiver.”
One surveying glance around the room informed me that only the two of us were awake at the moment. Careful as to not wake up the baby bug type that was still sleeping like a cute little loaf of bread. I tippy topped my way to the adjoining bathroom to brush my teeth and wipe my face with a moist towelette. I didn’t know how many sleeping hours an infant Pokémon needed each day, but I tended to prefer erring on the side of caution.
As soon as I was done with that I made my way out of the room bringing most of my team with me except for Glove and Halo whom I decided to wake up after being finishing preparing our breakfast. It was forbidden for men to enter the female part of the dormitory so I released Rena from her ball and asked the fox Pokémon if she could wake up Flannery for me.
“Pix Pix?”
“I don’t know which number, but you can track her scent right?”
“Vuuuuul!”
“Sorry I know… How about after we beat that gym, we all go shopping and you can pick out something shiny from the market stalls?”
“Pix!”
My attempt at bribery seemed to have worked since Rena darted off immediately into the women’s section without having to be asked twice. My next course of action was to head on over to the communal kitchens. The centers didn’t provide breakfast like some other trainer hostels, but they did have a fully equipped kitchen free for anybody to use as long as they cleaned up after themselves.
Over the course of my journeys, I have become a practiced hand at preparing meals for my Pokémon. All my team members had a particular flavor which they preferred. Just like Victini, Halo also seemed to prefer sweet tasting dishes with a particular leaning towards honey. Combee honey directly imported from Sinnoh; anything else wouldn’t satisfy her unnatural cravings. Strangely enough the cost of raw ingredients directly correlates to her enjoyment of my dishes. Being frugal with the amount of honey I incorporated into her food bowl was one way I managed to keep down costs. As long as it was in there, she would eat the whole dish with gusto. I blamed Mary for offering her that combee honey flavored lollipop on her birthday. There were plenty of wasp and ant Pokémon capable of producing honey, but the woman just had to give her the most expensive and exotic variety.
‘When my sponsorship with the Gym ends, I really have to look for alternative means of financing our expenditures… I should be grateful actually if by some chance Mary kept a stock of royal vespiqueen jelly I would become bankrupt within the same day.’
“Vespiqueen jelly?”
‘No! Bad bad!’
“Heyo Egon, what are we having for breakfast today?”
“Vuuul.”
“Great job bringing the sleepy head here Rena. Just take a seat, breakfast will be ready soon.”
Suddenly an unfamiliar voice rang out from behind Flannery.
“Is there room for one more at your table?”
An elegant looking brunette wearing a schoolgirl outfit who was following Flannery through the hallway cut into our conversation. This was my first time seeing the girl so I assumed Flannery must have been bunking with her at the girls’ dorms last night.
“Oh yes! Egon, meet Roxanne. She is a nerd just like you but better looking and stylish.”
‘Calm down Egon, Flannery is making friends just focus on the positive.’
“Of course there’s room at our table. Did you bring your own meal?”
“You won’t have to worry; I’ll eat together with my Pokémon later.”
With that Roxanne took a seat at the nearest table together with Flannery and my Vulpix. I was planning to start Flannery on part two of my curriculum. How to make nutritious food for your Pokémon partners, but seeing as she was socializing, I figured I could let her off the hook for today. When I was around halfway done with the food the door leading to the hallway opened and Glove and Halo popped out. Glove scanned the crowd for a moment before finally spotting me and walking over with Halo cradled in his arms. As he did so he and Halo garnered a good amount of curious looks from all the other trainers making use of the cafeteria. It wasn’t every day that you see two unusual nonnative Pokémon, especially not ones from Unova.
“Dar?”
“Ves?”
“Food’s almost done, just take a seat at that table over there. Don’t mind the newcomer, she seems like a good girl.”
Giving me a quick nod Glove walked over to where the trio of gossiping girls were sitting Rena included, and placed Halo on the tabletop. Flannery was quite used to seeing the duo and gave them an enthusiastic morning greeting, but Roxanne seemed to be struck from left field not expecting to encounter such rarely seen Pokémon.
I wasn’t standing close enough to understand what they were saying but Roxanne seemed to be eagerly firing off a series of questions at Flannery probably pertaining to the duo. Halo from a distance looked a tad bored as if it were a natural thing that she should be the center of attention.
‘This is the first time Halo is surrounded by a crowd of people I’d best hurry along and finish up.’
It took another ten minutes before I finally finished everyone’s breakfast. It took me longer than usual since I needed to make food for Flannery and her team. Mr. Moore passed along the dietary information of Flannery’s four Pokémon. Torchic just required the usual Pokémon feed, Torkoal needed extra coal in their diet, Ponyta required extra grains and Slugma didn’t eat regular food at all, only requiring a steady supply of minerals to keep himself going. Since I only had two hands I signaled Flannery to come help bring everyone’s food to the table.
“Here we go this is for you three, make sure to eat it while it’s still hot else you’ll have to heat it up yourselves.”
“Vuuul!”
“Nitan.”
“Laaar.”
With that I released the rest of my team as well sans Victini of course. In situations like this we’d bring her filled bowl back into the room with us afterwards. Orin liked to come out in situations like these to set the atmosphere; his flickering flame did wonders for the décor, and he enjoyed all the extra attention as well. Seeing as I haven’t fed him, yet I gave him leave to suck up some of my energy while we were busy eating.
Roxanne took this moment to satisfy her curiosity regarding my team.
“Your name is Egon, right? Flannery told me all about you. You must have caught lots of interesting Pokémon like these two while abroad.”
“Yes, fire type specialists like me and Flanny basically have to. The variety of fire types available for capture inside Hoenn is too little to form a proper team. Glove here is a Darmanitan, a species native to Unova and Orin is a Litwick I caught while staying near the Celestial tower."
“Hey Egon, get this. Roxxanne has already earned six badges so far! That’s way better than your one even if you count the two you earned while in Unova.”
To say I was impressed was an understatement. That meant she had five months’ time to train up her team for the conference. With only two remaining badges to earn. Roxanne seemed to be around the same age as me which meant she was a first-time trainer like myself. For a ten-year-old to get this far she must be a generational talent.
“That’s really impressive Roxanne. I still have a lot of catching up to do it seems. Which major gyms are still left on your shopping list?”
“The Mossdeep city gym and the Sootopolis gym. Although I am not confident of my odds at beating the latter one. You see, I specialize in rock type Pokémon. The Sootopolis gym insists on having their challengers battle on a water battlefield the floating platforms not being nearly enough foothold for my team members to use their better moves.”
“That’s a hassle… my fire types probably won’t be able to beat leader Juan’s challenge as they are now. Have you considered adding some rock and water type Pokémon to your team?”
“You mean a Corsola?”
“Yes, I’ve heard tales you can fish them up in the waters surrounding Ever Grande City. There’s also relicanth, although I believe they live deep beneath inside the ocean’s trenches. You’d have to be extremely lucky finding one in surface waters. Of course, the best way to add variety to your team will be fossil hunting.”
“Fossil hunting…?”
“I’ve heard rumors that a Kanto lab located on Cinnabar island has been making impressive breakthroughs in regards to fossil revivification. I estimate that sometime next year they will have their first successful experiment and their machine needs fully intact fossils to work. Can you imagine flying around on an aerodactyl you dug up yourself? Not even mentioning the fact how much you could learn about ancient Pokémon by training them yourself.”
My story seemed to have firmly gripped Roxanne’s attention. The girl entering an euphoric state probably imagining all the things she would do with a posse of extinct Pokémon.
“Most fossil Pokémon are rumored to be coastline predators and those would all share a common rock typing. The best future investment for rock type specialists like yourself would be acquiring as many fossils as possible. Well, I think so at least… don’t just take my word for it.”
Our conversation from that point went very smoothly, mostly speculation on how a revivification machine would work. My personal theory consisted of lab grown ditto stem cells building up the fossil based on the genetic material already present within the fossils themselves. While Roxanne on the other hand believed that such a machine would work based on extracting the genetic material inside the bone marrow and fusing said material with infertile Pokémon eggs.
Halfway through our conversation Flannery just dozed off not finding the topic discussed all that interesting. Flannery was more of a doer than a dreamer like the two of us, so it was understandable that she found speculation on fossil revivification boring.
It was nearing the time for my appointment at the Mauville gym so I sadly had to cut our engrossing conversation short. I gathered up all the bowls, which my team had already cleaned up, stuffed them in my backpack and recalled my entire team. Before I left the cafeteria Roxanne still had something left to say to me and Flannery.
“Thank you, Egon! I’ll be sure to use all the advice you gave me. How about we all exchange numbers? You too Flannery.”
“That’s okay, Flannery has my number she can give it to you.”
I turned around to address the supposed oldest at the table.
“Flanny, how about you go do your own thing for a while? I’ll be right back as soon as I finish up at the gym. Maybe you can spend some time with Roxanne here? She can teach you loads of stuff about being a travelling trainer.”
“That sounds like more fun! Roxanne, do you have any plans today?”
“Well actually I have come to Mauville in order to evolve my Nosepass. As you know a Nosepass can only evolve if they are in close proximity to special magnetic fields. Hoenn’s magnetic field intensity pattern is strongest here in Mauville but so far, I am not having any luck triggering his evolution.”
Not wanting to leave her guessing I decided to help the girl out with her short-term goal.
“Well, the strong magnetic field in Mauville can’t be a natural one… This could have something to do with leader Wattson’s scrapped new Mauville project. Wattson had an entire underground city built some time ago but discovered that the place served as the perfect habitat for wild electric type Pokémon. Not having the heart to take away their new home he scrapped the new Mauville project. Rumor has it that before the project got scrapped, leader Wattson built a giant reactor in the heart of new Mauville. Maybe if you could bring your Nosepass closer to that reactor and the magnetic field it generates that would be sufficient enough for him to evolve.”
“That’s brilliant Egon! Do you have any idea where the entrance to new Mauville is located?”
“Well, no but I am heading towards the Mauville gym to have a match with Wattson. Maybe you could ask him yourself?”
At the entrance of the Mauville gym*
It wasn’t in my plans to take these two with me to the site of my oncoming gym battle, but Roxanne was not the type to waste time. After she made the decision to go with me Flannery decided to follow the both of us.
‘Maybe Flannery can learn a thing or two about how to operate a gym facility by watching how other leaders handle the day-to-day operations.’
Our little band walked past the automatic doors. The first thing that I noticed was a major difference between the Mauville gym and Lavaridge’s gym design choice. Whereas Lavaridge kept the gym’s interior simple aside from the many amenities for trainers the Mauville gym had multiple pylons that resembled tesla coils supporting the building’s high ceiling. My fervent hope was that they were not meant to be used to shock the challengers. One of the gym’s trainers walked up to us presumably to welcome us to the gym.
“Hello there young trainers, I presume you are here to challenge the gym leader?”
“Yes, I have an appointment for a gym battle. The other two are here for a quick chit chat with leader Wattson.”
“Electrifying! Just follow me, leader Wattson is all set and ready for the first challenge of the day.”
‘I don’t remember Mr. Moore making his staff use theme appropriate puns. Maybe it’s something to look into to increase the gym’s popularity. I am hoping Flannery is taking notes.’
One quick look behind informed me that this wasn’t the case. Flannery seemed to be more interested in talking about girl stuff with Roxanne as we were being led through to the gym’s battlefield. With the duo busy I figured I could ask the gym’s staffer for any tips or tricks.
“So, any advice for a fourth badge battle?”
“Yes, bringing a team of ground types won’t work. At this level Wattson has numerous strategies at his disposal to circumvent a ground type Pokémon’s innate advantage.”
“Do people actually catch a load of ground types just to win a badge?”
“Sometimes, we do have the occasional ground type specialist coming through. Ah! We have arrived.”
The hallway he escorted us through ended up leading to the gym’s battle facilities. We saw multiple battlefields lined up right next to each other. An old man in a brown aviator jacket was sitting on a bench polishing off a Magnemite.
“Leader Wattson, today’s first challenger is this young man here. The two young ladies with him wanted to ask you something…?”
Roxanne stepped forward to inquire about the reactor, but before she had a chance to Wattson addressed her first.
“Hahaha! Little Roxanne, this year’s top graduate from Rustburo’s trainer school. Didn’t you already earn your gym badge here?”
“Yes, Leader Wattson this time I came here for a different reason. I am looking to enter the underground city of New Mauville but I don’t know how.”
“New Mauville… and why would the smartest young girl in all of Hoenn want to enter my failed project.”
“Yes, after some discussion with Egon here I decided to chance my luck at evolving my Nosepass near New Mauville’s reactor. The special magnetic field it puts out might just be able to trigger his evolution.”
“Brilliant! To have come up with that all by yourself. Yes, Pokémon needing special magnetic fields to evolve could make use of the reactor room in new Mauville. However, evolving a Pokémon before its ready could lead it to having problems later on. Are you sure that your Nosepass is sufficiently prepared?”
“Yes!”
“Fine then far be it from me to question such an ambitious young lass like yourself. After I finish battling this youngster, I’ll lend you the key required to open up the underground entrance. Now, you two young ladies go sit on the spectator seats over there. We'll finish up soon enough.”
Doing as they were told Roxanne and Flannery each took a seat on the bench Wattson pointed out. The bleachers at this gym were covered by a thin protective film made of rubber probably to protect the audience from any stray electrical attacks. Screening the battlefield, I couldn’t help but notice the grounding rods impaled into the ground flooring on each of the battlefield’s corners. Wattson and I took our positions on opposite ends of the battlefield.
“Wahahahah! Coming up with new innovative construction designs and testing young trainers like yourself are the things I live for now! Then I, Wattson, the Leader of Mauville Gym, shall electrify you!"