“Vini~” “Lilli~~” With Victini on his head and holding Lilligant’s hand, Eric boarded the port of Kitakami.
Saying it was a port, it was actually just a docking point for ships.
First, it must be clarified that Kitakami was not an island, but a peninsula.
It was located in the northwest corner of Canalave City, and between it and the main body of the Sinnoh region, a vast and dense forest stretched across.
In this current era, there were no buses that directly crossed the mountains and forests from Sinnoh to Kitakami.
To get there, the only way was to take a boat from Canalave City, and then take a bus from the port to Kitakami.
“Whew~~ Finally got on the bus.” Sitting on the bus to Kitakami, Eric placed his backpack on his knees and breathed a sigh of relief.
Who could have thought that there would be such a long way to walk from the port to the bus station?
“Lilli~” Sensing Eric’s fatigue, Lilligant emitted a refreshing fragrance, soothing the Trainer’s mind.
“Thanks, Lilligant.” Eric patted the Lilligant sitting beside him.
As for Victini, the little one was flying outside the bus, waving her small hand at Eric: “Vini Vini~” Hanging from her waist was a small bag containing the snacks Eric had prepared for her, which could replenish her stamina when she was tired.
“Mm, be careful.” Victini’s task was to search for traces of Ogerpon.
Kitakami wasn’t exactly large, but it wasn’t exactly small either.
“Vini~~” Victini flew in the air, overlooking the vast forest below, placing her small hand by her mouth, seemingly thinking about which direction to start searching.
The mist in the depths of the mountains and forests was heavier, like a thin veil wrapping around the outlines of the trees.
Occasionally, one could see a few Oddish poking their heads out from the piles of rotting leaves, the dew on their leaves sliding down the veins and wetting the tail of a passing Rattata.
Wild Tangela hung from the branches, their eyes flickering with a ghostly green light in the shadows, and as the mountain wind blew, they made a ‘rustling’ sound.
Victini was socially savvy and knew she should ask the local Pokémon for information.
Relying on the charm of her small snacks, Victini successfully integrated into those small groups of Pokémon.
“Have you seen this Pokémon?” Victini spread a piece of paper in front of them, on which was drawn the appearance of Ogerpon.
“What a strange Pokémon, haven’t seen it.” The Rattata shook its head, indicating it hadn’t seen her.
Victini looked at other Pokémon, but most of them shook their heads, indicating they didn’t know or hadn’t seen her.
“Mana…” An Oddish with red bean-like eyes stared at the portrait Victini had taken out.
It thought for a moment, and its head suddenly brightened: “It’s her!
I know her!” It remembered that it had seen this Pokémon in the forest before.
“Where?” Victini was overjoyed and hurriedly asked: “Can you take me there?” “Mm-hmm.” The Oddish happily moved its short legs, bouncing along as it led the way for Victini: “Follow me, I’ll take you to find her.” “Vini!” Not expecting the plan to go so smoothly, Victini immediately followed the Oddish.
The two little ones kept moving up along the mountain road, and soon they left the forest-covered area and stepped onto a dirt slope with only exposed rocks.
On the other side, Eric got off the bus at the bus stop.
The first thing he needed to do was not to go up the mountain to search for Ogerpon, but to solve the issue of food and accommodation.
There weren’t many places that provided accommodation in Kitakami.
The community center from the game was a place specifically provided for students and teachers who came for the summer camp.
As for Eric…
He didn’t even have an official Trainer license from the Unova League.
Not to mention, this wasn’t even Unova; it was the Sinnoh region.
Being unable to register for a stay at the community center, which was also the local Pokémon Center, meant that Eric couldn’t enjoy the League’s subsidies and could only stay at a local guesthouse that required self-payment.
“Wait a second, how much did you say it costs for one night?” However, after learning the price from the other party, Eric still felt the degree of unscrupulousness in this place.
Kitakami had no hotels or inns; what it had were ordinary wooden houses.
Not to mention the decor and comfort, just the price alone was enough to make a casual player like Eric shrink back.
“1300 per night.” “If you stay for three days at once, you can get a 10% discount.” The person communicating with Eric was a bald old man, the very Administrator encountered in the game, who could be called the most cunning of the cunning locals in Kitakami.
After this initial contact, Eric cursed him in his heart countless times as an ‘old, cunning peasant.’ It was such a rip-off, this price!
Based on the prices in the Pokémon world, Eric could stay in a hotel in big cities like Castelia City and Opelucid City for only 300.
What kind of backwater is this Kitakami that the price is four times theirs?
Although he had already learned from David that the prices in Kitakami were absurd, to be this absurd still made Eric gasp.
“Hey?
Why are you leaving?” Seeing Eric leave, the old Administrator immediately shouted from behind: “The guesthouses here all have this price; because it’s not peak tourist season recently, it’s already much cheaper.” ‘…’ Eric had no intention of stopping at all.
He wasn’t playing hard to get or engaging in any bargaining games with the Administrator.
Eric, a wage earner, really couldn’t afford the accommodation prices here in Kitakami.
Fortunately, Eric had been prepared.
To prevent being ripped off by the cunning locals of Kitakami, Eric had made full preparations regarding food, clothing, housing, and transportation.
Stay in a guesthouse?
He was a traveler!
Isn’t it just a place to sleep?
With a sleeping bag, just finding a spot in the forest and setting up a camp—how hard could it be?
As for safety…
Eric had Victini and Lilligant, so it was not afraid of ordinary wild Pokémon at all.
“This is treating me like a fool to be slaughtered.” For one thing, he needed to wait here for Victini to return.
They had agreed to meet near the station in Mossui Town by sunset at the latest.
In addition, Eric also wanted to find the siblings Carmine and Kieran from the game.
These two siblings, along with their grandparents, were among the few residents in all of Kitakami who hadn’t been corrupted by greed and still retained the mindset of normal people.
Especially Elder Yukito; his ancestor had been the artisan who crafted the masks for Ogerpon, and he still carried on the mask repair technique today.
Although the time Eric arrived in Kitakami was five or six years earlier than the game’s timeline.
But Ogerpon’s mask being damaged shouldn’t have been a matter of just a day or two.
If Ogerpon’s teal mask was already damaged, then Eric had to find a way to repair it.
For this reason, finding Elder Yukito’s family became a necessary task.