Chapter 75 - Catching Up

  Here I was, back home. The place where I spent most of my childhood. The house wasn’t as dreary looking compared to the last time we came here. My grandparents’ distress from having Zinnia taken away had started to wane and with the shop’s business booming they had little time to think about something they couldn’t control. The first thing I did was release my partners from their balls, having been stuck inside them for most of the day, I was sure they would appreciate being able to stretch their legs. The team dispersed quickly, finding their favorite basking spots in the garden and behind the windowsill. The only one who didn’t was my newest team member. Raven, the big lovable hellhound that she is, was sniffing the air as if looking for something or someone.

  “This is my home Raven so just make yourself comfortable.”

  “Arf!”

  “Let me guess, you want to go looking for the other members of your old pack at the gym?”

  “Ruff!”

  “We’ll go there in a bit. I just have to introduce you to the members of my family first. The shop’s already closing so my old folks should be back home shortly. Grandpa just loves canine Pokémon, get in good with him and you’ll have free berries for life.”

  “Nineee!”

  “Yes, you are considered to be a canine as well Rena. However, we both know what type of Pokémon species I was truly talking about.”

  Giving me a small huff the fox Pokémon went back to lounging on the nearby couch. I could tell that Rena was eager to show her new form to Grandpa Ralph and Grandma Sylvia.

  ‘She was always Grandpa’s favorite. Perhaps the addition of Raven to our household made her insecure about her own position.’

  “She’s right for the wrong reason, because I am everybody’s favorite now!”

  ‘Sure, sure.’

  Walking up the stairs I removed my backpack and clothes and jumped under the shower. It felt good getting all the clumped-up sand and body sweat off my body and when I emerged out of(from) the bathroom, I felt like a million pokédollars. While I was drying off I could hear the sound of the front door opening signaling that my grandparents had returned from the workplace. Followed by enthusiastic greeting from my entire Pokémon team growing curious I decided to listen in on what was happening downstairs.

  “Rena darling you’ve grown giant! And who is this gorgeous pooch?”

  “Arf!” “Ninee!”

  “Little Egon sure has good taste in Pokémon! Come here and let grandpa have a closer look at the both of you.”

  “Be careful Ralph that Houndoom might not be fully trained yet.”

  “Who is the one that trained K9 dog Pokémon for the police? Trust me this one is as harmless as a skitty.”

  “Vi! Vi!”

  “Victini! it’s nice seeing you too! Don’t mind my addling husband, what say you and I go get dinner ready?”

  No doubt feeling defeated from not getting attention from Grandpa, Victini instead opted to focus her efforts on getting Grandma’s attention instead. The effect of her cutesy appearance is extremely effective on females of a younger demographic, but it seemed to work equally well on Grandma.

  Feeling a tad embarrassed for listening in on the goings-on downstairs I quickly put on my favorite T-shirt and jeans and made my way downstairs. Where I was greeted by the sight of Grandpa sitting on his favorite lazy chair while simultaneously giving ear scratches to both Rena and Raven. I could tell his arms were starting to get tired. That's why I decided to intervene before the situation got out of hand.

  “Rena come here. Let’s get all that sand off of you before dinner time.”

  “Ninee!”

  She wasn’t actually dirty seeing as I’ve kept her inside my tent or her poké ball while in that desert, but my Ninetales didn’t need any reason to appreciate a good brushing. She left my grandpa’s side and crouched down near me eagerly awaiting her incoming wellness session. While I was kept busy brushing Rena’s coat Grandpa enquired on how my circuit run was going.

  “Are you having a good time traveling? How is the circuit treating you?”

  “I’ve gotten five badges so far; we’re training up for our upcoming match at the Sootopolis gym.”

  “That’s… Wouldn’t it be easier to skip that one?”

  “It would… but I’d like to showcase my skills and the best way to do so is to beat Juan. I am certain to attract a couple of sponsors by managing to beat a water type gym leader.”

  “Doesn’t Tim Moore already sponsor you? I figured you hardly need the extra cash and the Ever Grande Conference is about two and a half months away.”

  “Mr. Moore is… difficult to work with. His official sponsorship will only last until the end of this year’s circuit. It is better that I find a sponsor now then regret it later.”

  “Ah no need to elaborate further. Tim is the complete opposite of a colleague that’s easy to work with. Having such a person be your boss must be extra stressful. Tell you what, lately business has been picking up… If nothing works out, me and your grandmother could give you a small sponsorship.”

  “There’s no need! You and Grandma do plenty for me. That’s not even mentioning the fact that the two of you have been taking care of us for so long already.”

  Just like that I began sharing some of the finer details on what had happened to us while on the circuit. From Latias appearing on top of Mt. Pyre to our encounter with Regirock coupled with the recent windfall I received while exploring the desert ruins.

  “That explains a lot, those old coots… I was wondering why they suddenly decided to order up an entire month’s worth of stock. To have a legendary Pokémon request my wife’s cookies is quite the honor.”

  “Really? I never thought of it that way. Victini asks for them on the regular.”

  “This and that are a tad different. Victini is already part of the family and she’s quite personable for a Pokémon of her status, but… never mind all of that. Tell me where did you manage to catch this beauty? Houndoom are not known to live around these parts.”

  “Ruff!”

  “I caught her as a houndour, the pack she was a part of was successfully convinced to follow Flannery back to live at the Lavaridge gym. That’s where we are going after dinner.”

  “Good, old Tim has kept using the same old Pokémon over and over again. Gym attendance among the townies should be sure to rise as a result of this addition.”

  Our conversation eventually simmered down, and we sat in companionable silence until Grandma called for us to set the table for dinner. It had been quite some time since I got to enjoy my grandma’s cooking, so I scampered off to fulfill her request without complaint. While living on the road the only ones in my party that got to eat anything resembling quality food were the Pokémon. As for myself I could never summon up the energy to go the extra mile for a hot meal knowing that I would have to clean up afterwards. The bulk of my meals consisted of differently flavored ration bars packed with anything the growing human body might need. The fact that those bars tasted horrendously bad was something I willingly put up with.

  The only part of my journey where I actually put in the effort to cook human food was when I had Flannery travelling with us. I was planning to do the same for my outing with Roxanne until I noticed her eating the same brand of ration bars. Having no rich relatives, she was no doubt journeying on the cheap just like myself. Understanding her to be the kind of girl that would insist on splitting the cost of a shared meal I kept the food expenditures to a minimum per usual.

  Once we finished setting up the plates and bowls for my team, we saw Grandma walk into the dining room Victini floating closely behind her. My elderly relation held on to a pot filled with hearty stew meant for humans while Victini brought in a second pot filled with something akin to fermented berry stew. The smell of this stew attracted the rest of my team to join us and soon enough we were all sitting or lying down with a bowl of piping hot deliciousness in front of us.

  “This is great Grandma!”

  “Vess!” “Nitan!” “Ruff!”

  “Vi! Vi!” “I helped!”

  My newer partners who hadn’t received the privilege of experiencing Grandma’s cooking firsthand couldn’t help but praise her as well. Even my veteran members gave her low grunts of approval.

  “Thank you everyone. Shuckle has been helping me elevate my recipes to a new level. Fermented berries just taste better coming out of a Shuckle’s shell. If business keeps picking up like this, I’ll have to trouble you to catch a few more Pokémon to help out around the store.”

  ‘Pokémon that could help out around the store? I suppose I could go and scour the Safari zone for more shuckle. Other Pokémon that do well in the service industry are extremely rare. The odds of me finding a wild Chansey or Audino is next to none.’

  Thinking about finding rare Pokémon brought me back to my encounter with Ultima and that Infernape she was in the middle of training.

  “Grandma, do you know of a woman named Ultima? When I was giving out your Lava cookies to her Pokémon, she made a comment about playing with a girl named Willow back at the Sevii Islands.”

  “Ultima… that brings me back. Yes, my side of the family originally comes from the Kanto region although you’d have a hard time convincing any of the other islanders to recognize the Kanto league association’s authority.”

  “She asked to have a look at one of our family photos and got me to tell her where we live. So don’t be surprised when she comes flying over for a visit on that Dragonite of hers.”

  “Dragonite? That woman always liked showing off.”

  At the Lavaridge gym*

  After finishing up at my old folks’ place, I decided to visit the Lavaridge gym in order to keep my promise to Raven. We were standing in front of the gym’s main gate which had been closed since it was already past visiting hours. As luck would have it, I had a personnel key on me which one could use to enter through the side entrance. Raven eager to show off her new form to the rest of the pack was out of her ball walking alongside me. I had most of my team with me except for Rena who had decided to stay at home to soak in all the well-deserved attention. After cleaning up the dishes, it only took Rena one synchronized flick of her nine tails to get my grandmother to start fawning over her. Stepping through the side door I was greeted by the peculiar sight of a lone houndour.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Grrrr!”

  “It’s me! It’s me! I was there when Flannery caught the lot of you.”

  Raven who was trailing behind me heard the commotion and squeezed herself through the narrow opening between me and the doorframe. The moment the two Pokémon caught sight of each other the hostilities were put to a grinding halt. Growing curious Houndour closed the distance between himself and Raven and started sniffing her. After the first whiff its tail started to waggle incessantly and the two quickly fell into excited chattering.

  “Arf Arf!”

  “Ruff!”

  ‘This is good right?’

  “Houndour is happy to see his big sister once more.”

  After a hot minute when the excited yipping calmed down somewhat, I posed my question to the smaller pooch.

  “Is Mr. Moore having you work security?”

  “Ruff!”

  “No one asked them to but according to Houndour. It is common sense to have at least one pack member out on patrol at all times.”

  “Raven here wanted to hook up with you guys, and personally see how things are working out for the pack here at the gym. Could you take her for a tour through the facilities while I go see if Flannery is available?”

  “Arf!”

  Raven gave me a quizzing look.

  “We can’t stay for long. Mr. Moore doesn’t allow staff workers to linger long after closing time. It is better for you to have as much time to spend with your pack as possible.”

  Accepting my explanation Raven followed her former packmate into the open pastures where we kept the more outdoorsy fire types. I knew for a fact that Mr. Moore didn’t have a dedicated kennel for houndour and mixing them with the growlithe seemed to be a foolhardy idea. No doubt in my mind that my boss had already built a new addition after my last visit.

  Entering the gym proper I kept walking until I reached the break room. There weren’t any employees around but one of the gym’s Magby was busy rooting around inside the microwave oven. I recognized this particular Magby, one of only two that the gym had on hand for battling against challengers.

  “Maggie? Shouldn’t you be resting inside the caldera? What happened?”

  Pulling out her head the female Magby gave me a look before making a circling notion around its stomach giving me a clear sign that it was still hungry.

  “By! By!”

  “A new girl is using the volcano arena to train with a scary Pokémon. Maggie, not being able to rest comfortably, decided to go looking for evening snacks.”

  “That must be Roxanne and Regirock. I guess we can make ourselves comfortable while waiting for them to finish up. Tini, could you go ahead and let Flannery know that we are in the break room?”

  “Why me?!”

  “Because if Mr. Moore finds me sneaking into his house after closing hours we would be in a heap of trouble.”

  “Okay but afterwards I am going out to play with Regirock! Don’t expect me to come back right away.”

  Victini’s poké ball opened up on its own startling Maggie for just a brief moment before the little rabbit floated away in the direction of the attached family home. Which left me alone with Maggie, one of my favorite gym Pokémon to care for.

  “You want me to check the cabinets for some leftovers?”

  “By!”

  Magby love spending every minute of the day swimming around and bathing in lava and they only come out of their volcano homes in search of food. Luckily for them, the area’s surrounding active volcanoes are rich with plant life due to the fertile volcanic ash that they inevitably trek out when leaving and entering their volcanoes. For the gym’s staff that means lots of our working hours are spent cleaning. I could see the black trail of soot Maggie left behind in search of breakroom treats stretching out into the adjacent hallway.

  Opening and closing the cabinets I could spot plenty of human food. Crackers, instant coffee and whatever half eaten snacks the employees left behind in the fridge. Not much suitable for feeding a Magby. Giving myself a sigh of resignation I opted to feed Maggie some of my own personal supplies.

  “Here, have half a Lava cookie. You’ll get the other half if you promise not to tell the other Pokémon that I’ve been giving you snacks after hours.”

  “Maaag!”

  “Yes, Yes I like you too.”

  I picked up Maggie as she was nibbling on the fermented snack, determined to bring her back to the gym’s caldera. The Magby’s ambient body temperature being what it was would burn any regular human but to me it felt comfortable, like a crisp T-shirt that just came out of the dryer. Part of it was my slowly changing physique but the major reason why I could safely handle Maggie was because she liked me well enough, adjusting the surface temperature subconsciously to avoid harming me.

  “Let’s get you back home.”

  “By!”

  The caldera where we held higher level badge battles was also the place where we kept our magby, magmar, slugma and magcargo. The other types did well in less extreme environments but those two particular species experienced all sorts of health problems when away from a Volcano for too long. Traveling trainers could mitigate these problems to a certain extent by making use of artificial lava baths. Which was the equivalent to having fully aquatic Pokémon swim around in a dorm room bath tub.

  Funnily enough most visiting challengers didn’t even notice the stealthy fire type spectators when engaged in battle, so the arena chamber kept its use as a doubly functioning amenity. Walking through the hallway I was quick to reach our target destination. The gates had already been unlocked so we stepped inside without any issues. Standing there on top of the hanging battling platform were Roxanne and Regirock, the four foot something teen girl next to the five feet tall rock titan.

  “Roxanne!”

  “Egon?!”

  Not minding the boiling magma, I jumped past the ledge and onto the battlefield still holding Maggie in between my arms. I could tell by the startled look on her face that Roxanne wasn’t expecting anyone to interrupt her private training session with Regirock.

  “You do know I work here, right? I’ve got the key and everything.”

  “I do… I was just thinking about you. Could I perhaps loan Victini’s services during our stay here? Communicating with Regirock has been difficult.”

  “Yeah, that works out. Victini has been wanting to spend time with Regirock herself. I could call her over right now.

  ‘Did you hear that?’

  “Yep! I am coming in a minute.”

  ‘What’s holding you up?’

  “Old man Moore is giving that Everstone you wanted to Flannery.”

  ‘I knew it! That old coot!!!’

  “Is everything okay!? Do I need to call someone?”

  “It’s fine! There’s nothing to worry about! Just… Victini told me something that’s a bit disconcerting. I was actually looking for Flannery. Until this little gal decided to raid the breakroom cabinets for treats.”

  “By!”

  “What a cutie! Isn’t she adorable Regirock?”

  “üN üN.”

  Without having Victini act as a translator I was completely clueless as to what Regirock was telling us, but Maggie wasn’t disconcerted by anything the rock titan said just now. So, at least I was assured it didn’t say anything negative about her.

  “How come you decided to train inside the gym’s Volcano battle room? This chamber is decidedly not hospitable to human life.”

  “Leader Moore recommended we use this room after having judged Regirock’s ability to potentially cause collateral damage.”

  “Ahh! That makes sense. Think you got a good grasp of all its moves?”

  “Yes! Regirock is very knowledgeable despite its previous sheltered lifestyle.”

  “AOOORT.”

  “Are you going to partner up with Regirock for your final gym battle against Juan? With some electric moves under its belt, Regirock will be sure to give that gym leader what’s for. I can see it now, Lock-On paired with Zap Cannon. There’ll be no hiding under the water to dodge your moves.”

  “I haven’t asked yet. If Regirock’s up for it, I guess so.”

  I could see that my words had stoked the fires of her imagination. Naturally an eighth badge battle wasn’t going to be as simple as that, but with a Legendary Pokémon like Regirock on her side I could see them downing at least half of Juan’s team before the Rock Titan exhausted itself.

  The passenger I was carrying along in my arms had by now gotten bored of our conversation. Maggie the Magby jumped out of my arms and ran towards the edge of the suspended battlefield before jumping off with practiced grace. Magma being denser than water we didn’t hear a splashing sound but something more akin to a bubbly sponge sound as Maggie dived underneath the molten surface.

  Not minding Maggie’s clear disinterest, I planned to continue discussing possible ways to beat the water type gym leader when all of a sudden two figures appeared out of nowhere. Flannery’s form coalesced right in front of us together with that of Victini’s.

  “Egon! You know Grandpa doesn’t like employees creeping around inside the gym after closing hours.”

  “Flanny… Raven insisted on meeting up with her old buddies in fact she’s with them right now. Victini is also eager to catch up with Regirock here. Besides, this could be considered a social visit.”

  “Ten minutes! That’s how long it takes for Grandpa to finish his before bed calisthenics.”

  “That’s… reasonable.”

  Not being able to find a proper counter argument I conceded to Flannery’s demands and while I was having a verbal spar with Flannery Victini floated off landing on top of Regirock’s head. The psychic type clearly eager to start a more private conversation with the rock titan.

  Later walking back home*

  We eventually found ourselves outside of the main building leaving Flannery and Roxanne to have their long-awaited sleepover. Before leaving Roxanne made it clear that she’d be waiting for me to come pick her up on the morrow so that the both of us could return to Sootopolis City. The both of us were feeling the pressure to finish up our circuit runs before the advent of the EverGrande Conference. The conference would commence in two months and a handful of days which meant that I had to earn my last three badges without taking any breaks in between.

  “Arf!”

  “Your friends… They’re all doing well?”

  “Ruff!”

  Raven coming back from the houndour kennel was in a very good mood. She had just found out that her former leader hadn’t managed to evolve yet elevating Raven’s standing amongst her former packmates to be above his.

  “After seeing your evolved form and hearing about what it's like to travel over half of them decided that they want to set out on a journey of their own!?”

  “That’s… the gym could put up some adoption posters for trainers passing by, I guess? There’s no shortage of trainers looking to take on gym trained Pokémon. It would take a while picking out trainers who are ready for that kind of responsibility but… Mr. Moore only gives out gym Pokémon to prospective Lavaridge trainers too poor to afford their own starter Pokémon.”

  “…wuff.”

  “Well technically speaking Flannery was the one to capture all your friends. Perhaps she could convince her grandfather to bend the rules a little bit. There’s this guy I met in Striaton City, he’d love the opportunity to take care of a houndour.”

  “Arf?!”

  “Chili hasn’t earned his trainer’s license yet though. They’re much stricter over there in Unova so for now your friends will have to wait.”

  “Awooo!”

  “There, there. Flannery is many things but uncaring she is not. I am sure that my friend will think of a solution.”

  Now that Raven had received her share of my attention Victini felt it prudent to come to me with her own small request. Over time I’ve developed a sort of second sense as to when the little rabbit Pokémon was preparing to ask me for a large favor.

  “Vi Vi!” “Egon Regirock and I have gotten to talking and he’s already realized one of his first major dreams!”

  “That’s great! What is it?”

  “Vi. Vi!” “Freeing the rest of his siblings trapped in those pesky seals!”

  “……………No?”

  “Vi?!” “What?!”

  “I can’t take any more time off! We need to focus on training and gym battles. Now that we know that they’re just fast asleep until someone lets them out, their rescue has gotten a lower priority. Something that I will get to once all of my other responsibilities have been taken care of. Zinnia is still waiting for me!”

  “But then…”

  “Look, I am not stopping you from launching your own rescue operation. We are aware where each of them is located. Route 120 and route 105. Now that we know that the seals can be penetrated with enough force it should be easy for you, a teleporting Pokémon, to drum up a trustworthy crew to assist you in releasing them. Those Kecleon live close enough to the Ancient Tomb where Registeel is trapped or maybe you could ask the forest Pokémon for help?”

  “Vi. Vi!” “Only you are capable of reading braille. Think of all the berry money we made with just this single adventure!”

  ‘What if… next time I won’t have to share profits with Mr. Moore? No! must… RESIST!’

  “Yes! No!...Okay, but I don’t want to have to put any effort in! You will be the one looking for the seals outside of training time and if Registeel and Regice need looking after you will also be the one to find them suitable trainers.”

  “Vi!” “Deal!”

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