PokeWild

David woke up and felt refreshed. Everything was light, airy and strangely so. His cheeks and forehead didn’t seem like his own. They were too loose. He blinked slowly, relaxing into the feeling. It wasn’t like he was without his aches – a week of heavy exercise had left pangs in his muscles and the double battle yesterday had etched a weariness into his bones.

The battle. His gym challenge.

He frantically reached for his bag, digging through it until his hand closed on the pointy metal of his trainer’s license, the stiff edges only blunted by the Poke wrapped around it. David blinked blurry eyes and double-checked to make certain. There it was. Two stamps. Two badges in exactly two months.

Laughter broke the silence. It was uncontrolled, wild and a little unhinged. David didn’t recognize it as his own. But it was.

His hands found Cloudburst and Venonat’s pokeballs. They rested still, but the contentment he felt at their touch was enough. They were both alright. The blur that was yesterday after the match wasn’t fuzzy enough to miss that. Both were out for several days of rest and recovery at the pokecenter’s nurse’s orders. Nurse, not a doctor, the man was adamant about that. No pokecenter had doctors. David wasn’t sure why the need for distinction, but he paid close attention to the very specific orders for his Pokemon’s care.

Cloudburst was grounded for several days, something she would no doubt be overjoyed over. Some muscles in her chest, the pectoralis, were strained and damaged when she took that last blow from the Beedrill. She would be grumpy for the next few days and he would have to plan treats and entertainment accordingly.

Venonat wasn’t as severely hurt in any one area, but he had several cuts and bites that needed tending, and was sore all over from the Ekans’ attempted full body strangulation. He wasn’t out of battling for as long as Cloudburst, only a day or two, though the Nurse had recommended holding off on training for just as long as Cloudburst. This seemed like a contradiction at first, and it took him a moment to realize why. In this world Pokemon were more than just fighting monsters. A stiff body didn’t stop a Pokemon from messing with physics in the same way it didn’t get you out of a day's work at an office. They were still capable of nearly everything if just given a little more time. He didn’t know if Pokemon could get jobs by themselves, but their trainers could, and many of those required the Pokemon on their team.

The Nurse wasn’t letting his Venonat take more time off work than he needed.

It was such an absurd thought he let his laughter peter out. Stretching to shake the tiredness out of his limbs as best he could in the confined tent and got up. He had no plans for the day other than recovering and feeding himself and his Pokemon.

-.-

The next day David was forced to leave the comfortable confines of the campsite to prepare. He wanted to leave Fuchsia today.

He had... mixed feelings about the city. It was a beautiful, bizarre place steeped in history, poisoned and empowered by it. Even when compared to camping in the woods, the city wasn’t as comfortable as Celadon. It wasn’t a question of physical amenities, just the place itself. The best David could summarize was a nice place to visit, not to live. Fuchsia was where you went on holidays, but not where you spent the whole summer.

That wasn’t why he was leaving though. Put simply, there was nothing left to keep him in the city. He’d earned his badge, gotten his training, taken his lumps. It was time to leave, and... and. That was something David was still figuring out.

Venonat was technically battle ready by the evening, forty-eight hours having elapsed. David planned to avoid any battles though, taking it easy and sticking to the center of the Route out of the city.

So now it was time to plan and say goodbye.

The library was his first stop, as always the best source of information in a world without the internet for a man without connections. He was eager to see what access a second badge granted, and the library did not disappoint. David felt another laugh building as he took in the room. Four double-sided shelves. Hundreds of books. It was almost worth considering staying a few extra days to read some of them.

Almost. Every city in this world had a library.

His first target was a map, and accompanying guidebook. The two badge version was a lot more detailed than anything he’d seen previously. It was in color, with the terrain around the cities and Routes illustrated. The map also included some side paths, but mostly to warn about the dangers of them.

David took as many notes as he could about Route 15, 14 and 13. While the land east of Fuchsia that rejoined the peninsula to the mainland was about half the distance as the path between Celadon and Fuchsia, it was split into the same number of Routes. Only with the help of the illustrated map, could David guess why. Route 15 was marshy, 14 was a grassy promontory and 13 a downhill slope with sandy beaches. Three different biomes in a short stretch of land.

He couldn’t hide his grimace at all the hiking ahead of him. Each Route had small travelers guides detailed in the footnotes. He copied as many usual bits of information to his own notes as he could. Then it was time to focus on the cities.

Vermilion city, the home of the water gym. An international port city and a bustling center of trade and fishing. A city currently in hot water over their failure to protect the Kanto coastline and secure the bridge between Celadon and Fuchsia.

The only other option, Lavender town, had no gym. Which... might not be a bad thing. David had met two gym leaders in the last ten days and that was enough to last him a year. A break from the machinations and politics wouldn’t be upsetting. His finger traced along the other direction. It would also save him from crossing through Saffron, after Vermilion. That was one place he was not eager to go back to.

Like with the Routes, David took notes about both. He wasn’t sure where he wanted to go yet. There was a limit to the information and he put away the maps to dive into a series of other books. This was where the increased shelf size became a problem. There was too much information, too many books and too little time. Instead of struggling to find a book on a subject, he was presented with five, and none were short. Every work related to training Pokemon was in the form of biographies instead of instructional books, older trainers putting their lives and experience to paper, and the useful information was buried in stories.

After another hour of exploration, which was far too little time to get far in a single book, it was time to go shopping.

The reward for beating the second gym was 1000 Poke, double that of the first gym. It brought his savings up to 1465P which wasn’t as much as after his Celadon victory, but that had been after a month of daily work at Nature’s scent. This was after a week of no work and no money from battle wagers. It was still an incredible amount of money for him.

Enough for another pokeball, something to consider for the future. For now, he needed to stock up. 10 sachets of food each for Venonat and Pidgey. Spare berries, mostly Pecha. A replacement Potion.

When he left the pokemart, David was broke again. 515P left and a backpack that was going to be a pain to repack. He lugged it west, out of the city, not feeling the weight at all. Money well spent.

It was easy in hindsight, to see how Lois and Marie knew he had failed his first challenge. When you win, when you achieve victory, there is an urge to share it, to spread that joy. David didn’t know a lot of people in Fuchsia, and after healing up his team, they’d been his next destination. They didn’t have any drinks like in Celadon, but it was a celebration.

Today Louis was subdued, distracted. They chatted for about an hour, but it felt a little forced. The cheer from two days ago was gone and David didn’t know how to bring it back. He left with promises to try to keep in contact, but few plans to do so.

It was hard not to feel a little dejected while he walked to the market. He’d spent a month in Fuchsia, yet had built less connections than his short week in Saffron. The funk was hard to clear and was still lingering when he arrived at Marie’s stall.

“David!” Once a customer left Marie greeted him warmly. Her eyes scrutinized his stance. “I see. It is goodbye then.”

He nodded, fighting the urge to chew his lip.

Marie stood, brushing her robes to the side. “Well, it is about time. A month? My second badge took three weeks. You need to catch up.”

She smiled to take the sting out of her words.

Despite himself, he returned the smile. “I’m not entirely sure our circumstances were the same.”

She waved his response away, scoffing as she stepped out from her stall. “Nonsense! No two challenges are the same, and none are easy.” She grimaced a little. “From what I hear, Your time in Fuchsia has had its ups and downs. I hope they’ve balanced out.”

He snorted. Fuchsia wasn’t even the beginning of the difference in their circumstances. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Marie sighed, inspecting him once more. “Do you know where to next then?”

“East. I haven’t decided past that.”

“Well, in that case, you will need to write whenever you stop somewhere for a while.” From within the fold of her robe, Marie produced a small card in a flourish. She handed it to David with both hands.

He took the card with bemusement, turning it over to read. Marie Olympe, followed by an address in the city.

“In case you have any more of those ideas... or tie yourself in knots,” Marie said with a prim smile.

David groaned. He didn’t know she did puns.

Swiftly, Marie stepped forward and planted a kiss on both his cheeks. She laughed as his eyes widened in surprise before turning and stepping back into her stall. “A marsh is both dead and alive David. Getting stuck is up to you.”

“What’s that meant to mean?” He asked, eyeing her warily.

“It’s an old saying in Fuchsia. There are plenty - I could list them for hours, but that felt most suited to you. Good luck on your travels.”

And with that a customer stepped up and the moment was gone.

-.-

Back at his tent, David squatted down to pull the blade of grass free of the two zippers, and opening the tent, crawled in. He was immediately on edge. A small box sat on his pillow. A box he had never seen before and had most definitely not left there.

How? His security measure had been untouched. Cursing, David shoved his way back out of the tent. He scanned the surrounding campsite. A woman was walking away to the south, but didn’t seem out of place. She had a towel over her shoulders, and wet hair. For a second he narrowed his eyes, suspicion rising as Koga’s ‘training’ kicked in. It was midday, an odd time to take a shower. Then the woman yawned and his shoulders slumped. It was an odd time, but the campsite ran at odd hours. She might have just arrived to city, or have a nocturnal Pokemon to train like him. There was no one else in sight. No one watching, or waiting.

He ducked down to examine the box. It was plain, a white box about the size of a pencil case with no markings. So nondescript it became suspicious.

Was it a bomb?

Surely not. Why would someone try to bomb him?

Do they have terrorist bomb problems here?

Team Rocket was a thing here. Technically a criminal terrorist organization. He grimaced. At least they would be when Mewtwo turned up. They were probably still just criminals now.

Flexing his hands and exhaling, David crawled into the tent and gingerly retrieved the box. It was light, too light to be electronics. Less carefully he shook it, hearing a muffled thump but little else.

“Fuck,” He cursed, pulling off the top in a quick motion and closing his eyes.

There was no flash. No explosion either.

In the box was a filter mask, one of the nice ones he’d used in the gym for Venonat’s Poison Powder training and brand new. A small note was tucked in beside it. “Good luck” it read, unsigned.

Someone had broken his miserable security measures to place a present on top of his pillow inside his tent.

“Fucking ninjas,” David cursed. Even when trying to be nice they had to do it in a way that made him uncomfortable.

Leaving Fuchsia was looking like a better decision by the minute.

-.-

David took a step away from walls made from white wood, and towards the trees from which that wood had been harvested from. It was evening now, and the world was loud, both the city behind him and the land ahead. People bustled about, Pokemon hunted their dinner. The sun had begun its slow descent in the sky.

The preparation for today was done. He had said his goodbyes. Mostly.

Finn didn’t show up to the training grounds last night, as he had not the night before or the one before that. Maybe it was the betrayal. Maybe it was because his search in Fuchsia was over. Maybe someday David would see him again.

But for now, it was time to head back on the roads.

With two clicks on the pokeballs around his waist, the world brightened up. Cloudburst announced herself immediately while Venonat inspected their surroundings curiously. David clicked his tongue at Cloudburst as she started to spread her wings, stopping the bird in her tracks. She let out a grumpy squawk, but complied with the nurse’s orders.

David walked out into the wild, his team hopping beside him.