"You guys are ready to go, right? Once we leave, we might not be back for a while."
Orion and Paulos barked and chirped their affirmation from their spots at Cassie's side and shoulder as they left the Pokemon Center, neither Pokemon hesitating for even a second at the question. Cassie felt a twinge of despair as she left the Center she'd called home for the past few weeks, but it was balanced by a surge of excitement as it sank in that she was finally going to be on the road for real.
It was the Saturday after she'd won her first badge, and the skies overhead had a couple of clouds floating around to cast a faint pall over her departure. The forecast called for some rain later in the evening, which made her all the more thankful they'd decided to get an early start. After a bit of final deliberation, they'd decided to take the southern route through 206 and 207 to travel towards Oreburgh. The trip would be a little shorter than detouring through Eterna Forest and Floaroma Town, and Kaitlyn was no stranger to the area and its concerns as a native of Eterna City. Both she and her sister had spent a lot of time in and around Wayward Cave when they were younger, a large cave complex that stretched beneath the elevated road that Route 206 consisted of, and she was intimately familiar with the Pokemon that could be found in the surrounding areas as well as any hazards to watch out for.
With the prize money she'd won from her gym match, Cassie had made one final trip to the Poke Mart for some last-minute supplies and clothing following some suggestions from Kaitlyn. She'd exchanged her usual choices of miniskirts, shorts, and t-shirts for a comfortable pair of long black pants with some extra pockets, thicker green t-shirt with a group of smiling Sunflora, and a nicely-insulated jacket that was currently tied around her waist by the sleeves. She still wore her white sneakers, though a nice pair of hiking boots had gone into her new Silph bag just in case. She'd also grabbed a few more basic Poke Balls, as well as a couple of Potions and decent-looking Oran berries to help with any injuries in the field. Last but not least, the egg Gardenia had given her sat in a harness that almost resembled a baby carrier, secure in its transparent container at her front. With her food stores topped up for the trek, she was fairly confident that she had everything she needed to make it through the trip given that Oreburgh was only a few days' travel south from Eterna.
Both of her Pokemon were fully recovered from the gym fight, too. Paulos had stubbornly tried to start flying again after day two until Orion put his foot - or paw, rather - down and all but forced him to keep resting like the nurse had instructed. Paulos grudgingly deferred to Cassie's starter, and his wing had all but finished healing by Friday evening, leaving both of her Pokemon mostly fighting fit again. Cassie knew that her first capture wasn't happy at the loss of his flight for those few days, and it seemed to have sparked a fervent desire in him to train and get stronger to keep an injury like that from happening again. She was going to make sure they had some training on the road, whether that was solo, against wild Pokemon, or against other trainers.
"It feels...weird to leave," Cassie murmured as she walked, seeing the gatehouse separating the city from the route beyond in the distance. "I've only been here a few weeks, but it feels like home." She brushed hair back behind her ears, taking in the sights around her for one last time as she headed towards the city limits. The majority of her feelings were set on adventure, yearning to get out and see the world beyond the city she'd arrived in first, but a tiny part of her wanted nothing more than to turn around and head back towards the Center to figure out what she could do to stay - finding an apartment, a house, anything to just not leave the comfort of Eterna.
Paulos spread a comforting wing out around the back of Cassie's head, almost as if hugging her, and she heard a gentle bark from Orion as he lightly bumped the side of her leg while she walked. It was reassuring to have both of them with her, and while it didn't entirely ease the feelings she had about leaving the closest thing she had now to a hometown, it did make her feel as if she'd be able to handle whatever might happen with them by her side. A gradual sense of relief flowed through her as she approached the gatehouse - she was in the world of Pokemon, living a childhood dream that she'd never imagined with a team of friends. Why not live a little? She shouldn't be anxious about leaving or worried for the future - she should be excited.
The large facade of the gatehouse loomed over her as she approached the doors, a towering two-story construct of metal and glass that overlooked the edge of Eterna's city limits. It was split into two buildings, with a second floor connecting them that stretched over the city street below and lent it the overall appearance of a large arch over the road. Glass doors slid open with the gentle whirring of machinery, giving her a good look at the interior as she stepped inside the nearer half of the structure to her. It looked like a sort of convenience store crossed with an information booth at first glance, aisles of snacks, basic supplies, and memorabilia scattered around part of the interior along with a separate area lined with couches, chairs, and televisions in a sort of lounge area. Cheery music played within from an intercom system, and she could see well over a dozen people milling about through the aisles with more in the makeshift lounge. A single set of up and down escalators led to the second floor, which she couldn't see much of from her vantage point. Far on the other side of the building was a counter proclaiming itself to be "Bike Rentals," and Cassie could just faintly see a few bicycles mounted on the wall behind the counter.
It felt like a rest stop or some kind of gift shop, she thought idly as she walked inside. She spotted a row of plushies on a nearby aisle, stuffed Pokemon toys lining the shelves with a single brightly-colored sign above them proclaiming "New!" in a looping, handwritten script. She stepped over to take a look, reaching out and taking one of the stuffed Pokemon in hand to examine it more closely. The Starly plush looked quite well-made from what she could see, not like the cheap toys usually found in shops catering to tourists, and she grinned as she caught sight of another one nearby that she recognized. She replaced the one she was holding and picked up the small stuffed Ponyta, showing it off to Orion.
"Look familiar, boy?" she asked with a grin, waving it around at him and causing him to yip happily. "Don't worry - we're gonna have you running like that one day. You're gonna be an Arcanine someday, you know?"
The look in Orion's eyes instantly became more excited than anything she'd seen yet, and he barked happily as she put the plushie back in its place on the shelf. She hadn't given much thought to his evolution at all - nor had she researched how common or expensive Fire Stones were in reality - but he definitely yearned for a chance to evolve, if that reaction was any indication. Come to think of it, she'd not noticed much at first, but Paulos' brown head tufts had tinges of a brighter red to them the more she looked at them. Was that a sign that he was getting close to evolution, or just something that happened to Pidgey as they grew without evolving? She'd have to ask Kaitlyn or do some research on the Pidgey line later.
Speaking of Kaitlyn...
"Hey, Kaitlyn!" she said, waving at the blond girl as she finally spotted her friend near the edge of the lounge with her phone in hand. Astrid wasn't by her side like usual, which she figured was probably why she didn't notice her at first. Kaitlyn looked up from her phone and waved as Cassie walked over, tucking the phone back in the pocket of her jeans for the moment. Her backpack was lazily slung over one shoulder, the dark gray material a contrast to her bright yellow t-shirt with lightning bolt-esque designs.
"Good to see you," she greeted, eyes tracking towards the harness Cassie was wearing. “So, that’s Gardenia’s big gift, huh?”
Cassie had excitedly texted her as soon as she had gotten back to her room about what had happened, and Kaitlyn found herself exceedingly curious as to what the egg might eventually hatch into. An egg from a Gym Leader was quite the gift indeed, but with the vast variety of Pokemon that Gardenia raised, trained, and occasionally fostered, it was a wild guess as to what species of Pokemon might be inside.
Cassie nodded eagerly, grinning ear to ear as she put a hand on the capsule. “I don’t know what made her want to give me something like this, but...I can’t wait to see what hatches from it! I just know I’m going to love it!”
It was a shame that the egg likely wouldn’t hatch for some time, nor would the Pokemon inside be ready for battles for a while beyond that, the analytical part of Kaitlyn’s mind noted. With Roark being their next destination, the near-certain Grass-type inside the egg would make an excellent teammate to take on a Rock-type gym with, especially with both of Cassie’s current members being weak to the gym’s specialty.
"How's it feel to finally be getting on the road?" Kaitlyn asked as the two of them sat down, changing the topic from her new teammate-in-waiting. The younger girl twiddled her fingers a little as she thought about it, a mix of emotions playing over her face.
"I'm kinda nervous," Cassie admitted with a shrug. "I'm not really worried, I think, just..."
Kaitlyn nodded - she was pretty sure she understood the younger girl's feelings. "It feels strange to leave the only place you really know, right?"
"Yeah, that's it," she replied with a nod. "I...really like Eterna, you know? Everyone's been so nice, and I just hate to leave them all..."
The older blond broke into a smile at the sentiment. "Yeah. I grew up here, so I understand. I've traveled around a bit with Kayley, but nothing beats coming home." She reached out, putting a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "Chin up - there's nothing saying you can't come back here. We'll definitely be passing back through on our way to Snowpoint, if nothing else, and we can get to Coronet from here too. I figured you would want to head to Oreburgh for the badge and then maybe out to Sandgem to see Lake Verity."
Cassie's eyes widened, and she nodded quickly. She'd forgotten all about Lake Verity in all the training and excitement surrounding the gym, though she still wanted to go by Professor Rowan's lab in Sandgem Town for sure. "Lake Verity is the one that's supposed to be connected with...Mesprit, right?"
"That's the one. Apparently, it was formed after a volcanic eruption a couple thousand years ago."
"Sinnoh has volcanoes?" Cassie asked, blinking in surprise.
"Yeah - Stark Mountain is one, actually, and the League keeps a close eye on it. It hasn't been active in well over two centuries, but it's still considered a potentially active site," Kaitlyn explained as they sat down. "If it ever had a major eruption, it would be bad news - the entire Battle Frontier is out on that island, and quite a few homes to boot."
Cassie resisted the urge to shudder, both at the thought of such a calamity occurring as well as the simple thought of a place she'd forgotten about. The Battle Frontier was somewhere she wanted to stay well away from for a long time - that place was hard enough to deal with when things were just a game. She didn't even want to consider the caliber of trainers that called that place home just yet.
"Heading down to Oreburgh and then to Lake Verity sounds good to me," Cassie agreed, earning a nod of acknowledgment from Kaitlyn as she pulled her phone out again and started navigating to something.
"Take out your phone for a sec," she instructed, to which Cassie dutifully pulled her phone from her own pants pocket. "You've got the Jubilife Radio app, right?" There was a bit of floundering as Cassie poked around her phone's screen to see which apps were installed, but she finally located the app in question and nodded back to Kaitlyn. "Good - open it up and tune it to 88.1. That's the local Ranger broadcast station for the western half of Sinnoh. If anything happens while we're traveling, that'll make sure we hear about it."
Cassie nodded as she did so, remembering what she'd read online about the history and duties of the Pokemon Rangers. They were sort of a cross between a wildlife and forestry service, Pokemon trainers, and law enforcement, going out into the wilds to keep track of wild Pokemon populations, record environmental issues, and perform search and rescue operations for lost travelers or Pokemon. Cassie had been very interested by what she read, and a part of her had even considered the idea of trying to get into the Ranger program at some point down the line. She already even had two good Pokemon for the job, too - Growlithe was excellent at tracking things by scent and Arcanine would be incredibly fast and agile for rescue operations, while the Pidgey line had great eyesight and flight for quick overviews and high vantage points.
"Are we going to rent any bikes?" Cassie asked, looking over towards the rental counter she'd seen earlier. Kaitlyn shook her head, ponytail shifting with the motion.
"I hadn't planned on it. We're not in any hurry, really."
Routes 206 and 207 had the nickname "Cycling Road," owing to the well-maintained elevated road that spanned over the lower sections of the route closer to the base of the mountain range. Cassie was surprised to learn just how far above sea level Eterna really was; she had expected it to be nearly at sea level, were she being honest. The lower section underneath the road was around two hundred feet below, and it was a frequent destination for trainers given the thick forested areas and cave systems just below the route. It was one of the only places in Sinnoh where the elusive and powerful Gible line could be found, as Kaitlyn had explained, and her sister's hunt for one of the flighty Dragons as a starter Pokemon long ago was the reason she knew the caves so well.
“It shouldn’t take us more than a few days to get to Oreburgh even if we’re just walking,” Kaitlyn continued, pulling up a map on her phone. “Maybe a little longer if you want to detour towards the forest to train and search for Pokemon who might be a good fit on your team.”
“Maybe...I’m still learning to take care of just the two I have now,” Cassie replied with a laugh. “And who knows what this is going to hatch into,” she added, patting the egg carrier. She longed for the idea of having a full team of Pokemon at her side, but she wanted to take things slow and steady to try and learn as much as she could along the way. A full team of Pokemon was a big commitment in most cases, and she still felt like a complete newbie when it came to everything involving training and Pokemon care.
“You should watch some videos on Poketube,” Kaitlyn advised with a shrug. “There are tons of creators out there who do type and species-specific care videos.” Cassie leaned back on the sofa with a sigh, staring up at the ceiling.
“Almost too many,” she groaned. “It’s hard to tell which ones are worth listening to, especially when I don’t know all that much myself.”
“True...I’ll ask Kayley for some recommendations the next time I talk to her. She keeps an ear to the ground with things like that.”
Cassie’s brow furrowed in mild confusion, and she looked for a moment as if she desperately wanted to ask a question before deciding against the idea, almost as if she didn’t quite know what question to ask. Instead, she reached for her phone again to check the time, shifting anxiously in her seat. “Should we go ahead and get going? I think I’ve got everything I need on me...”
Kaitlyn’s face broke into a grin, her eyes dancing with the unmistakable desire for travel, for adventure. Despite her cool demeanor, she seemed just as excited as Cassie.
“Then let’s go.”
It was a motley group that made their way out of the gatehouse and down the beginning of Route 206, with Kaitlyn and Cassie being accompanied by their entire group of Pokemon sans Kaitlyn’s Onix. Ivan was slower than most of the other Pokemon in the group, and Astrid knew that Kaitlyn also didn’t want the attention that the massive rock snake would undoubtedly bring. If their earlier talks were any indication, she was strongly considering taking a detour towards the lower paths leading to Wayward Cave just so her Onix could visit his old home for a bit, though.
Cycling Road was certainly designed with its nickname in mind first and foremost. The path had two lanes for vehicle traffic off to one side, but nearly half the width of the route was made up of a series of bike lanes and pedestrian paths. Signs littered the sides of the road calling for any drivers to watch for bicycle and walking traffic as well as the reverse, written in bold blocky lettering.
Orion was walking quietly beside Astrid, moving slowly so as to match the Mawile’s walking pace with his own. Paulos was walking along nearby both of them for a change, their traveling speed slow enough where the Pidgey was easily able to keep up instead of hitching a ride on Orion’s back or flying, while Tera floated above the trio with the odd humming noises the rest had gotten used to coming from the Magnemite.
“So, what was your battle like?” Orion asked Astrid, inclining his head quizzically in the Steel-type’s direction. He’d been resting in his Poke Ball after his own fight and had subsequently missed the entirety of Kaitlyn’s match.
“Painful,” Astrid snarked, shaking her head as her rear jaw gnashed briefly as if in remembrance. “I’m pretty sure the Torterra I fought is the Grotle I fought last season, finally evolved, and Gardenia just had to go and make sure it knew how to use Earthquake well.” She glanced back up at the floating Magnemite, a good-natured smirk on her face. “Tera got the easier match...lucky rust bucket.”
Tera made a noise that sounded like a set of grinding gears, seemingly its equivalent to a laugh. “Feigned innocence: this unit does not know what you are referring to.” The monotone, metallic voice somehow still managed to hold a clear undertone of smugness despite lacking any clear emotion to perceive.
“Don’t give me that,” the Mawile grumbled. “You got to Sonicboom that Dolliv into next week. I had to play in the trees like they were a jungle gym to keep from getting dropped in a chasm.”
“Humorous: that is the price of experience.”
“That is the price of experience,” Astrid parroted mockingly, though there was no real venom in it. “I know Rock Smash, you know.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“False horror: anything but that. This unit offers apologies for offending you.”
Orion chuffed in amusement at the banter between Kaitlyn’s team members. The Magnemite’s unusual manner of speaking had taken quite a bit of getting used to at first, and it still made his head ache a bit to listen to it for too long. Paulos let out a booming chirp of laughter, kicking off the ground and taking off into the air to stretch his freshly-healed wings for a few seconds. He’d made peace with the Electric-type after some initial wariness; life in the wilds had taught him to treat any Pokemon he was especially vulnerable to with caution.
That might have been part of the reason why the Growlithe and Mawile’s easy friendship was so unusual to him at first. It just seemed anathema to him to so swiftly trust a Pokemon that could easily take advantage of their natural type superiority.
“She had you fight a Torterra for your first badge?” Orion asked, canting his head again in surprise. He didn’t know much about the league challenge, but even he was pretty sure that such a thing wasn’t standard for such an early battle.
“Kaitlyn wanted me to get some practice in, so Gardenia agreed to use a stronger Pokemon against me as part of the match,” Astrid explained with a shrug. “We got six badges last season, so she knew we could handle it.” Astrid wasn’t an Elite-tier fighter yet by any means, she knew, but she could definitely hold her own in a late-tier gym match.
“You seemed like you had a rough go of it,” Astrid continued, sweeping the path for any obstacles or dangers briefly before returning her attention to the Growlithe.
“That’s...only the second gym battle I’ve ever been in,” Orion admitted reluctantly. “I fought some when I was still wild, obviously, but having a trainer is still pretty new to me.”
“Second?” Astrid asked curiously. “What was the first? Cassie hasn’t been to any gyms before this one, has she?”
The Growlithe winced internally - he hadn’t brought up anything that had happened before Cassie adopted him with anyone but Paulos. “...No, she hasn’t. I had another trainer before her. It...didn’t work out,” he said tersely, trying to get past the subject as painlessly as possible. Thankfully, Astrid seemed to take the hint and nodded in reply, dropping the topic easily as if she could feel the discomfort radiating from the Fire-type like his own flames.
“Curiosity: opinion of current trainer?” Tera asked, floating down with jerky movements to stare at Orion with its unblinking eye. The Growlithe looked past the Magnemite floating backwards in front of him to gaze at the two girls leading the way down the route, mind wandering as he padded along in the group of his fellow Pokemon.
“She’s...nice,” he finally said, lamely trailing off in the absence of words to properly voice what he wanted to say.
“Nice?” Astrid said, the Mawile’s tiny hands resting on hips as she came to a stop. “That’s all you could come up with?”
Orion let out a growling sigh, stopping and frowning as Paulos came back to land beside him and start to preen his wings. “It’s hard to describe, okay? It’s like...she’s comforting to be around, but not just in the way of having a trainer, or having a friend near you.”
Paulos stopped his preening for a moment to nod, the oversized Pidgey looking unusually calm and thoughtful. “Paulos noticed much the same. She is peaceful and kind, but what my flock brother speaks of goes beyond those simple terms. There is a feeling around her that is unlike simple companionship or security, one that soothes the mind and eases the burdens on the heart.”
Well, that was certainly odd, Astrid thought to herself. It almost seemed supernatural from the way they were describing it. Aura, perhaps? Or maybe just Psychic or Fairy nonsense, she added after a moment’s more consideration. Fairies were known for having unusual abilities even among Pokemon, and Psychics were masters of the mind, but it seemed odd for her fellow Pokemon to describe a human in a similar manner. She trusted their instincts as much as she trusted her own, but it just didn’t make any real sense to the Steel-type.
“If you say so,” she finally replied, shrugging and putting the odd thoughts aside for now. She didn’t notice anything unusual around the girl, at the very least. There would be plenty of time to consider what Orion and Paulos had said, not to mention plenty of firsthand observations to be seen while they traveled. The Mawile looked back towards her trainer, wondering how far ahead they’d gotten while the discussion had been happening, but found that the two girls were stopped a short distance ahead and seemed to be talking with another trainer near the side of the walking path.
“ - didn’t go on the circuit this year. Wanted to get some more practice in,” Astrid heard as the group of Pokemon caught back up. The speaker looked to be a young boy no older than about thirteen, with a slate-gray baseball cap featuring a logo for the Oreburgh Onixes atop messy short black hair. Cassie nodded, eyes glancing over as she realized all the Pokemon had rejoined them, and she grinned as her Growlithe and Pidgey took their usual places at her side and shoulder respectively.
“Enjoying the walk?” she said, bending over to scratch Orion behind the ear and causing Paulos to scrabble for purchase as his perch rotated under him. The Pidgey abandoned the effort entirely for a moment, hovering in midair for a few seconds until Cassie straightened up again before returning to his spot. “So, these are my Pokemon - Orion and Paulos,” Cassie said to the boy, gesturing to each of them in turn. “You were saying you wanted to have a battle, right?”
“Yeah - Staravia wanted to get a battle in while we were out before we head into the city,” the boy replied, looking around for a minute before finally spotting what he was searching for. “Hey! Her Pokemon are here now!” he called out to the shape flying around overhead, causing it to tuck itself into a dive towards the ground at the sound of his voice. Wings unfurled as the black shape slowed, flaring wide before it fluttered to a stop at the boy’s side, almost reaching his waist in height. The Staravia was on the smaller side for its species, but the shiny black and gray plumage and elegantly-curled tuft of feathers atop its head showed that it was clearly well cared for.
“Want to do a one on one?” he asked Cassie. “Staravia’s my only Pokemon right now, but we’re close enough to town that I’m not worried about her.” Cassie hesitated for a moment, remembering what she’d read about trainer etiquette before finally nodding. If he wasn’t worried about being in any trouble, then she wouldn’t be either. Besides, they were still pretty close to Eterna like he’d said.
“Let’s take it down to the lower route, then,” Kaitlyn suggested, looking between both trainers. “There’s a staircase leading to the ground not far from here.”
“Which of my Pokemon did you want to battle?” Cassie asked as the now-larger group started to follow Kaitlyn back towards the direction of Eterna City. The boy thought for a moment, looking up at his lazily-flying Pokemon.
“Probably your Growlithe. The Pidgey’s big, but he’s still just a Pidgey,” he said, smirking.
“Must be pretty easy living out here if one could get so fat,” the Staravia added, snickering in chirping tones as she looked towards Paulos.
Orion gulped, eyes slowly trailing up towards Cassie’s shoulder as he braced for the impending explosion.
Astrid shot an angry look up towards the Staravia, the teeth of her false jaw grinding together in annoyance.
Paulos was deathly still.
‘...That’s torn it,’ Orion thought with a grimace, right before the metaphorical bomb went off.
“You dare?”
Paulos burst from Cassie’s shoulder in a flurry of feathers, squawking loudly enough that Cassie winced and grabbed at her ear as he flew straight into the Staravia’s face with a furious look in his eyes.
“Paulos will not suffer insults from you, knave! You would dare to call the one who will be master of the skies fat? Paulos will call down the fury of a storm upon your head!”
“A storm? Ha!” the other bird scoffed, flying a lazy circle around Paulos. “You couldn’t call up a gentle spring breeze - it’s a wonder you can even take flight!”
“I’ll take you on with Paulos,” Cassie said, her normally-cheerful demeanor replaced by something more akin to Kaitlyn’s icy calm. “One on one, against your Staravia.”
“You’re going to beat my evolved Pokemon with a Pidgey?” the boy remarked, skepticism lacing every word. “Sure, go ahead and try - maybe we can get in another match after Staravia knocks your bird out of the sky.”
Cassie felt a sudden urge to smack the kid on the head for talking the way he was. He sounded like an annoying little brother, always winding up underfoot and getting in the way the moment you tried to go anywhere or do anything without your parents watching and then blaming you for -
She blinked, the thought cutting deeply through the sudden annoyance and irritation at a stranger insulting her team. Where had that come from?
“Over here,” Kaitlyn said from in front of her, gesturing to a long staircase that wound its way down below the level of the path towards the wooded floor below. The sight of just how high up they were gave Cassie a sudden moment of vertigo, but the lingering frustration she felt pushed it aside as they started to descend towards the ground. She could see the towering forms of tall trees that resembled pines as they made their way down, as well as smaller ones stretching through the canopy that looked like the cypress-esque trees near the Eterna Gym along with others that seemed close to maple. The atmosphere around them gradually changed as they got lower, replacing the smells and sounds of the city and roadside with earthier scents and the gentle cries of Pokemon.
The forest floor below was a bit more sparse than it appeared at first glance, and there was ample room below for sunlight to peek through the canopy as well as plenty of open space between the large tree trunks to move in. Kaitlyn smiled as they reached the ground, the concrete and steel structure of the staircase seeming almost alien in an otherwise lush natural environment.
“Welcome to the bottom of Route 206,” she said, looking around and taking in the sights. She caught a faint glimpse of a Ponyta before it disappeared back into the distance, and a Paras scuttled for cover behind a fallen tree at the sudden appearance of the group of humans and Pokemon. A short distance from the stairs, she could see the dirt path leading north that would eventually take travelers to the myriad entrances to Wayward Cave. South would eventually lead to a small river that flowed from Coronet’s base through the forest, as well as to the mountain itself, though a lot of the tunnels that direction weren’t very hospitable to humans. Home sweet home, she thought to herself. It was almost a shame Kayley wasn’t around, even if her loudness would’ve instantly scared off every Pokemon for a hundred yards.
She spared a look at Cassie as they moved away from the base of the staircase, heading a short distance away to try and establish a battleground. The girl’s jaw was tight, her expression sharp and more like the Steel specialist’s own than the carefree exuberance she normally sported. The boy’s words had really set her off, it seemed, though Kaitlyn could hardly blame her. She wouldn’t have suffered an insult to her Pokemon lightly either, even one as comparatively innocent as thinking a Pokemon was stronger just for being evolved. She saw a lot of that in younger trainers, especially those with Flying and Bug-type Pokemon that reached their evolutionary milestones earlier than most.
“This is a good enough spot,” Kaitlyn announced after a minute of walking, just far enough away to be out of the area of anyone coming down the stairs after them but still close enough to spot them in the distance. “I’ll referee - I believe you said one on one, right, Caleb?”
“That’s right,” the boy announced, the cocky grin firmly in place. Staravia fluttered down to hover beside him, letting out a taunting cry towards Cassie and her Pokemon. Orion moved over to sit at her side, the Growlithe looking every bit the loyal guardian Pokemon, and Paulos strode forward past them to head towards the improvised arena.
“Hey.”
Orion’s voice was quiet, but it was loud enough to cause the Pidgey to pause briefly and swivel his head back to the Fire-type.
“Don’t you dare lose.”
If Paulos could have smirked with a beak, he would have. His eyes told the same story, and he chirped once back to Orion in a voice full of constrained anger.
“Never.”
He took to the air in front of Cassie as Kaitlyn’s eyes shifted between both trainers, satisfied that both seemed to be ready.
“This is a one on one match! Trainers ready!” Kaitlyn called, her voice suddenly loud in the relatively quiet environs. Nobody moved, but Cassie’s fist clenched ever so slightly as she readied herself to act.
“Begin!”
“Quick Attack!”
The calls were identical from opposite sides of the field, and black met brown in the center of the forest floor as Staravia and Pidgey crashed into each other with fervor. Talons tore, beaks prodded, and wings beat as they brawled in mid-air for an instant before breaking off, Staravia taking off into the tall pines with Paulos hot on her heels. Branches snapped and crackled as Staravia dove through a thick copse of green before falling to the loam below as Paulos smashed them aside in pursuit.
“Wing Attack!”
Staravia twirled around in flight and reversed direction to angle back towards Paulos, swiping out with a wing glowing with sky blue energy that the Pidgey narrowly leaned away from on his way past. Cassie didn’t even have to call a command as he took a looping vertical path, ascending briefly and reorienting himself before slamming his wings out in a powerful Gust. The burst of wind sent branches shattering musically below him, and another burst of Quick Attack took Staravia around the attack as she headed for Paulos again. A flicker of white spread around her before her form split and separated, Double Team leaving a cloud of Normal-infused clone images shrouding her real position as they all converged on Paulos.
“Whirlwind! Make some space!”
Paulos let out a booming cry as he readied himself, flapping a few times to build up the power before sweeping his wings forward one final time to release the attack. The Whirlwind exploded from his wingtips, stretching out and engulfing the Double Team mirages before catching the real Staravia in its path and hurling the black bird Pokemon away in a tumbling fall towards the ground.
“Catch yourself, then Tackle!”
“Get to the ground, Paulos! Sand-Attack!”
Staravia snapped a tiny branch with a wing as she finally gained control of its flight once again, more greenery falling to the ground as she rocketed back towards Paulos, but she was only able to score a glancing blow on the Pidgey as he dove before he was out of range again. A frustrated cry escaped her beak as Paulos swept low across the ground, kicking up grass, soil, and leaves in a cloud around him to cover his movements even as Staravia dove into another Quick Attack to catch up to him again. This time she connected, and the heavier bird Pokemon slammed Paulos out of his flight to bounce across the ground and kick up even more forest debris with his fall.
“Paulos!” Cassie cried, watching as the Pidgey tumbled and skidded for a second before righting himself and setting himself aloft once more. He spared a glance back as he took off through the trees again, Staravia keeping pace behind him and tracking his every move in the foliage.
“Gust again, then Quick Attack!”
“Don’t let it, Staravia! Quick Attack again!”
Paulos had to abandon his attempt at a Gust when Staravia sped up, and he launched into his own Quick Attack to try and stay ahead of his foe as they weaved through branches and ducked between tree trunks. Neither was landing a hit on the other as they had a dogfight through the canopy, and Cassie realized that Paulos wasn’t going to be able to outrun the other Pokemon - nor could he likely evade or conceal himself with Sand-Attack, given that Staravia appeared to have good enough eyesight to track him through the debris.
Either she had to fight head-on, or she had to get creative. And she had to do it quickly, she thought as Paulos rose further to avoid another Wing Attack.
“To the ground - dive!” she yelled, an inkling of a plan starting to take root as she watched the two birds high overhead. She vaguely heard Staravia’s trainer call for another Wing Attack, but she was fixated on keeping track of Paulos at the height he was flying at. A blue glowing wing buzzed by the Pidgey right before Paulos obediently started to descend again, twirling around and dipping into a dive from where he was with Staravia almost close enough to peck at his tailfeathers. The evolved Flying-type was keeping close to him, never letting him get any distance to use any ranged attacks...but that could also be a disadvantage.
She watched intently as Paulos approached, somewhere a few dozen feet above, and held her breath. Fifty feet, forty, thirty...
“Turn and flare your wings!” she screamed, hoping her plan would work. “And Whirlwind!”
Paulos jinked to the right a split-second before he came out of his dive, flaring his wings out as wide as he could to arrest his dive almost like a released parachute. He caught the barest glimpse of Staravia as she sailed past him, his forward momentum almost reversed entirely from the sudden maneuver, and his wings shimmered with Flying TE before he snapped them forward in the next instant to slam home a Whirlwind into the back of the passing Staravia. Her trainer’s eyes widened as the focused windstorm hammered his Pokemon, and the attack combined with Staravia’s own momentum sent Caleb's Pokemon hurtling into the ground before she could get control of her flight again.
“Quick Attack!”
Cassie’s order left her lips even as the debris flew from Staravia’s crash landing, and Paulos eagerly obliged as the white energy of Normal TE cloaked his body. He hurtled down with all the force of a small meteorite, crashing into the downed Staravia to send dirt and leaves flying everywhere from the impact. Cassie shielded her eyes from the airborne dust, waving a hand to try and clear the air around her, but it turned out that she didn’t need to bother. Staravia was lying in a small crater in the loamy earth, clearly out cold with Paulos standing triumphantly a few feet away from her.
“Staravia is unable to battle!” Kaitlyn called, raising a hand towards Cassie. “The winners of this match are Cassie and Paulos!”
Caleb looked shell-shocked as he walked over to Staravia, almost as if he couldn’t believe that his Pokemon had lost to a Pidgey, of all things. He lifted the Pokemon’s head for a moment to check it over before pulling out a Poke Ball and recalling it, clipping the ball back to his belt as he stood up with anger all over his face.
“You got lucky,” he sneered, spinning on his heel and storming off across the woods towards the staircase without another word. Cassie didn’t say anything in response, simply glaring at the kid’s back as he walked away until he had started to make his way up the tall staircase back towards the elevated street level. Then and only then did she let herself sag, heaving out a sigh of frustration, relief, and exhaustion all at once.
“I hate people like that...” she muttered, shaking her head as she tried to calm herself down again. Paulos fluttered up to her shoulder again, pecking at her head just lightly enough to get her attention before shaking his own in a clear ‘let it go’ gesture.
“Just forget about him,” Kaitlyn said, stepping over to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Kids are like that, especially a lot of young new trainers. They get a big head when their Pokemon evolves for the first time and think they’re unstoppable, usually until a Gym Leader or someone similar smacks them back to reality.”
Cassie groaned, reaching up to scratch at Paulos’ breast feathers as she craned her neck towards the bird. “Promise me you’ll smack me if I start acting like that?” Paulos chuckled, nodding once as Orion barked in agreement from his place at her side.
Her phone as well as Kaitlyn’s suddenly buzzed at nearly the exact same time, a shrill noise that reminded Cassie of emergency alert notifications, and two hands reached into pockets as both girls grabbed for their phones to see what the noise was about. The screen was filled with a deep blue background and white words, with a bold ‘APB - MISSING PERSON’ filling the top portion of the area that caused Cassie’s blood to chill. Crisp, electronically-produced words started coming from the phones’ speakers as both trainers read the message on the screen.
“This is a local alert for Eterna City. Missing person: Mira Satomi, sixteen years old, red hair, white shirt, red pants. Last seen in the vicinity of Wayward Cave. Trainers willing to assist, report to the following coordinates.”
It rattled off a string of numbers that Cassie couldn’t follow, but Kaitlyn tapped at her phone as the electronic voice was speaking, pulling up the map of the area on her phone. The alert seemed to have already dropped a pin at the coordinates, a dot glowing brightly north of them with a small text box showing a similar header as the message.
“Check your map - Ranger alerts like that will sync with it and mark a location to coordinate with local Rangers in the area,” Kaitlyn explained, already looking off in the direction of the spot on her map. “It’s not too far from here, and I know the caves pretty well. Ivan can help us out by talking to the local Pokemon, too.”
Cassie nodded, relieved that Kaitlyn was taking charge of the situation even as she pulled up the map on her own phone. “You said the Rangers will be at that spot?”
“Probably, yeah. If not, they’ll be there soon. Best thing we can do if we’re going to help is head there and see if someone’s waiting already. They’ll be able to figure out how we can help once they know what Pokemon we’re traveling with.”
A flash of anxiety hit Cassie all at once - what if we’re too late, what if we can’t help - but she pushed it aside to try and focus. If someone was out there lost in the caves, maybe hurt or with no Pokemon around to help them, she needed to try and do what she could. Kaitlyn knew the area, so as long as she followed her lead along with any Rangers that were helping them, Cassie was sure she’d be able to do something to make a difference.
“Ivan,” Kaitlyn said, grabbing the last Poke Ball on her belt . “We’re headed to Wayward Cave to look for a lost girl. I’ll need your help when we get inside.” The ball rattled around in her hand for a moment, the Pokemon inside acknowledging that he’d heard his trainer, and she looked back to nod at Cassie. “Come on - we should hurry and see if any Rangers have already arrived. That location is the furthest entrance to the north, about a mile from here.”
“Orion, stay near Kaitlyn and see if you can find any unfamiliar scents around,” Cassie ordered, earning a quick nod from her Pokemon as he made to join her traveling companion. “Paulos, can you look from the air on the way and see if you spot her in the forest nearby?” Paulos chirped once in agreement before shooting up into the air, heading down the path Kaitlyn and Orion had started down even as Cassie followed behind them. Astrid followed along behind her trainer, letting Orion and his nose help take the lead as they headed off towards Wayward Cave. Hopefully, Cassie thought as they ran, they wouldn’t be too late to help.