PokeWild

“Pidgey!”

“Pid-gey.”

“Pid-gey.”

“Piiiiidgey.”

David gripped the table and tried to remain calm. And his morning had been going so well. Too well. He should have expected something to come up at this point.

“Pidgey.”

Deep breaths. Slow breaths. It’s going to pass. It has before. She only called her name out a few times this morning before they left for the patrol. He was happy for her.

“Pidgey!”

Across from him, Oliver was faring no better. His eyebrow twitched as Michael and Pidgey’s exchange continued.

“Piiiiiiiiiiiiiidgeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!”

And that was too much for the moustached man. He turned a scowl on David, mouth opening to complain. Only he didn’t. Oliver paused, perhaps seeing the shared suffering on David’s face, and his scowl lessened to a wince.

“What are you-”

“Pidgey.”

“-going to name her?” Oliver asked somewhat grudgingly.

David latched onto the distraction like a drowning man to a lifebuoy. “I’m not sure. I have a few ideas but none of them seem quite right. I’m also not sure how Pidgey will take them.”

Both Michael and Pidgey turned to him at the mention of her name. Sheer joy at another person joining their game, even if inadvertently.

“Pidgey!”

“Pidgey!”

It was too much. Oliver stood, knocking his plate back with a clatter and gestured off the patio. “David. A word.”

David took one last bite and shot up himself. They retreated from the unbeatable enemy as fast as possible. Only once they were out of ear shot did they relax.

Oliver took one last look back around the house at the patio before planting his feet. He stood still, inspecting David.

David waited for what seemed like a minute but Oliver didn’t say anything. It got awkward fast. He had expected the man to say something, anything after that exit but maybe he was just making an excuse. That was fine though, David had questions of his own he was trying to find an excuse to ask.

“Oliver, do you have any advice on giving moves custom commands?”

Oliver’s moustache twitched and he doubled down on inspecting David. Thankfully this time he didn’t leave David waiting too long for a response.

“Repetition. You must practise over and over again. Only when you see the move in your mind at the slightest mention of the custom command will it work. The whole way through you cannot, and I mean cannot think of the original command while working with Pidgey. Both of you must be in sync.”

Davi’s eyes widened. That was good advice. It also seemed to be in line with what Danny was saying yesterday, but with one additional nugget that Danny had not mentioned.

‘You cannot think of the original command’.

Was it so simple? If so, it would explain a lot of his confusion, and how everyone else seemed to regard something he found to be so easy, as hard. He and Pidgey had two custom commands. ‘Launch’ and ‘Cannon’, not a lot but to have two was still significant according to the others. But when he looked at these two commands one of them didn’t exist as a ‘Move’ and the other, well, David hadn’t known that it had an official name until Pidgey and he were well used to using it. The hardest step of the process and he skipped it.

The simplest method, the cheat, the secret to custom commands… was ignorance?

“David,” Oliver said, disrupting his revelation. It seemed Oliver had something to say after all. “The Voyants arrived in Celadon last night.”

And just like that, all of David’s thoughts ground to a halt.

-.-

David walked through Celadon, anxious. He kept a careful eye on the street around him, carefully scanning each passerby for a white armband or signs of psychic abilities. What those signs would be, David didn’t know, but he couldn’t do nothing.

He tried to focus on thoughts of his destination, driving everything else out of his mind in case a psychic was nearby and.. ‘listening’. As with his scanning, David wasn’t sure if this did anything but he had to try. He wasn’t succeeding anyway. It was a ‘don’t think of an elephant moment’ and David had a stampeding herd at his back.

It was the most on edge he had been for weeks.

His time had ticked down and he hadn’t even noticed. Today was the 17th of March. Day 32. Thirty two days in this world, nineteen days of the league over and done with. He had forty one days remaining.

It was Saint Patrick’s day today, the Irish saint of something and green parades. A saint of a world and religion that didn't exist here. David was surrounded by buildings with green roofs but no one was celebrating. The crowd built as he neared his destination, stadiums acting as funnels for the street. People flocked around on the roadside, stopping to watch the procession of powerful Pokemon or pushing through to arrive before them.

In the crowd, David felt anonymous but all too exposed. Anyone here could be a Voyant, newly arrived and getting themselves sorted out early. Anyone could be a Team Rocket supporter.

He passed through the heavy metal gates and joined a queue, trying to avoid thinking all the while. It was loud here, louder than expected. Rounds of cheering kept making its way through all the shrubbery.

Soon enough David was at the front of the line.

The receptionist looked up, uniform a faint green and gave him a welcoming smile. “Hello, how can I help you?”

“I’d like to book a gym challenge.”

-.-

“So you’re challenging in five days? This Tuesday coming?”

David nodded.

Martin whistled and shook his head.

Terry and Danny had an intense look on their faces, like they were taking the statement as a challenge.

Sarah just looked panicked. “Are you sure?”

David smiled. “I booked it before I came here so yes, pretty sure.”

“You know what I mean,” Sarah said with a scowl. Her eyes were still a little wide. ”Are you sure you’re ready?”

“I don’t know,” David said with a shrug. He patted the ball hanging around his neck. “But Pidgey and I have practised and it’s time.” More that they were running out of time, but that was a whole other issue he didn’t want to bring up.

Tulia started to nod. She reached forward and snatched another of Sarah’s baked pastries while the baker herself was distracted. She held the fruit covered treat up to her mouth only to pause for a question. “How are you set for the theory test? Need any help?”

David froze. The what now?

“Theory test?” He asked faintly.

A series of groans broke out. David even thought he heard a whimper from Danny’s direction.

-.-

David trudged back up the path to Nature’s scent with a headache.

He had five days to prepare not only for a difficult Pokemon fight, but for an unexpected test too. Thankfully though, source of his headache aside, he had a group of friends who were more than willing to help him prepare.

It wasn’t like they weren’t benefiting either. He would be a guinea pig for their efforts, a marker they could use to figure out their own challenges. David would be the first from the group to challenge the Celadon gym but from the look in Danny and Terry’s eyes, the rest of his group wouldn’t be far behind.

The corner of the farmhouse appeared around the bend. David slowed as he spotted figures on the patio. Two people were hunched over the wide table, deep in discussion. Neither wore the telltale League Police uniform but David remained wary until he got close enough to make out who the figures were.

Oliver detected his presence first. He flicked his gaze to the side, assessing and dismissing David just as quickly.

The other man was several steps slower. He looked fresher after his trip, like he'd gained back a bit of the energy that his son was known for. Jacob needed to turn his head to fully take in David. Even so, it took a few seconds for Jacob to recognise him.

“David, hello again.” Jacob gestured at the table before him. It was covered in papers of some sort and a basket of partially ripe Pecha berries. “I’ve heard you’ve had an eventful time.”

Oliver sniffed and shifted some of the paper around.

David stopped at the edge of the patio. Neither Michael or Oliver had said a word about Michael’s parents coming back today. He thought that they would be gone for longer. “It has been busier than anyone expected. Welcome back, how was your trip?”

“It was good. Ann earned the Thunder badge and we had some time to celebrate before we heard of the Snorlax.” Jacob stopped and smiled, an earnest thankful smile. “Both she and I want to thank you for helping out around here. Michael hasn’t stopped talking about your Pidgey since we got back. ”

Oliver seemed to age in those few seconds as Jacob spoke, shoulders hunching, yet there was a slight tilt to his face that spoke of pride and happiness. Oliver focused closer on the papers.

“No thanks needed.” Pidgey shenanigans aside, Michael was a nice kid. He was always happy to help out however he could and with his coaxing of Oliver, had helped David learn a lot. Besides, most of what David had done was his job already. “He’s a brave kid.”

Oliver plucked a sheet from the pile with a grunt and slapped it down on the table in front of Jacob like it offended him personally. Jacob rolled his eyes before focusing on the sheet.

“This looks like the page, but is that number right? Both the expected output and price seem low.”

Oliver huffed and sat down. “It’s an average yield from plantations across Celadon. Gets updated every few years. Price is set at 70 percent pre harvest.”

Jacob sighed and rubbed his eyes. “That’s far lower than our previous years. Are you sure that we’ve no records from the last time a Snorlax was on the farm?”

Oliver didn’t make any move but when he spoke again it was with gravitas. “They know where not to go.”

At Jacob’s answering deadpan look, Oliver relented. “I’ll talk to Adam. He had a Snorlax last year.”

“Thank you,” Jacob said and turned back to David. “You should escape while you can. Paperwork has a way of ingraining you and it looks like we’ll be at this all night.”

David nodded, already inching to the side. The pile of paperwork seemed to be growing, it was at least an inch taller than when he arrived. “I will do. Need anything from me for it?”

Jacob shook his head. “This isn’t about how the Snorlax got here, it’s about how it's here to stay a while.”

Oliver sneered, hand falling to the yellow and black ball at his waist.

Jacob placed a hand on the offending hand’s shoulder. “Celadon council will cover all the costs and the contracts we have, but,” he gestured at the table, “They require a few things first.”

Oliver’s hand dropped a little closer to the ball.

Jacob’s grip tightened and he half dragged his father closer to the table.

“Good night David.”