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Chapter 3: Let's Go To Land's End!
"Ow, ow, owwww!" Julia protested as she tried her best to sit still on a small medical bed.
"Don't blame me, blame yourself," said a nurse, slathering a foul-smelling ointment onto Julia's sunburnt neck. "Ya gotta be careful out there in the sun, especially now that summer's rolling around."
"I know, I know! I just forgot -- ow! -- to put my sunscreen on my neck, that's all."
The nurse grabbed Julia's lower arm and lifted it for a closer inspection. "Fair enough, the rest of you looks fine. Just remember that the next time, yeah?"
"I will."
After that little exchange, Julia sat there in silence, contemplating her situation. She wrestled with whether it was absent-mindedness or carelessness that landed her in that cramped closet-like room at the PokéCenter, but ultimately, did it matter? Either option was a basic failure in foresight, and it brought forth worries that she was going to suffer a lot more silly-but-harmful defeats of her own making in the future.
She wondered: was she really ready to get started as a pokémon contractor, this quickly? She'd spent the past month or so reading up on useful information for people starting out as pokémon trainers, survival guides for navigating the wilderness, and other similar books and articles, but it was all theory. Was theory capable of covering her shortfalls, especially in a profession where she would be in regular contact with dangerous environments and deadly, sentient weapons of potential mass destruction?
She'd gotten it into her head that within a week, she'd be ready to leave the nest and start stomping around the archipelago, but now she wondered it if was the right idea. Sticking close to home, learning the ins and outs of pokémon ownership, doing some training and confidence-building exercises before starting her career seemed like a smart idea -- but would that be a waste of the time and money she didn't have?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft whirring hum and an acute sensation of cold pressing against her neck. The strange shift from burning pain to soothing coolness caught her off guard and she reflexively fidgeted. "Eep!"
"Don't! Try not to move, please."
"Sorry. What are you doing, out of curiosity?"
"Testing out my new favorite toy -- it's called a dermal regenerator. Supposed to help with minor cuts and scratches, seems to be doing a good job in reducing the irritation from your sunburn, too."
"Oh, neat, that's a thing that exists? Sounds like science fiction."
"I thought so, too, before I got it. Ya ever hear of that bio-tech firm up in Ambervale, Gen-EX? This fancy little thing was developed by them. They make a lot of amazing little gadgets that make my profession so much easier."
"Oh, yeah, actually. My friend's mom worked in the Gen-EX R&D labs about a decade ago. I'm sure they do good work, but I dunno if I trust that company, to be honest. I've heard some
stories. Mostly about unethical practices they get fined out the ass for."
"From some fringe conspiracy websites, I bet. Not everything you read online is true, dear."
"How about the stories from my friend, who had a mother who was a senior researcher there?" she shot back. "But I can already tell that's not a discussion worth having, so... Well, yeah."
The nurse shut off the dermal regenerator and painlessly ran her fingers along Julia's neck. "Just as well, think I'm done here. How's it feel?"
She ran her fingers up and down her neck as well. "Great! Thank you. Is there a mirror in here?" she asked, before spotting one in the corner of the room. She reached for her phone, turned on the selfie camera, and inspected the work done on her. There wasn't a spot of irritated skin left on her neck, nor did she have any noticeable tan lines. "Wow! That's impressive."
The nurse smiled. "Still don't trust it?"
She rolled her eyes slightly, then grabbed her polo shirt and slipped it over her head.
"If you're going back out into the sun, please remember your sunscreen this time. Your skin is going to be extra sensitive for the next couple of days."
"Yes ma'am. Thank you. Can I get this ointment stuff off of me, or should I leave it on? Smells awful."
"Ehh. Leave it on overnight. Think you're all set, have a good day now!"
_.~"(*.~"(*.~"(*.~"(*.~"(*.
"All fiiiiixed!" Julia happily sang as she entered the waiting room of the PokéCenter. She did a light twirl and ended with her back facing Rickard. "How's it look? I got a glance through my camera in the mirror, but I want real eyes to tell me."
He lifted up her ponytail and glanced over her neck. "Wow, they're pretty good at treating sunburn these days! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you weren't even outside today."
"I know, incredible, right? The nurse had this small handheld device she called a dermal regenerator. Said it came from Gen-EX."
"Oh. Yeah. Guess they do work on some neat stuff like that," he said with a complete lack of tone or energy.
She brought her hand to her face in disappointment at herself. "S-sorry. I shouldn't have said it. I wasn't thinking," she bleated as she turned around to face him.
He shrugged. "It was a decade ago, at this point. Not like it's a fresh wound or anything."
She didn't think of it as the words slipped through her lips, but she knew exactly why Rickard's tone changed so drastically: the friend's mother who worked at Gen-EX -- officially known as Gen-EX Biomedical and Advanced Pharmaceuticals -- all those years ago was Rickard's mother, Ashlynn Karstensen. She wasn't an expert on the details, but she did know that Ashlynn worked within the R&D department on some sensitive projects for the Storm Island Royal Army, projects so sensitive that not even her husband ever seemed to have learned about what she was working on.
Tragically, Ashlynn and her entire team of scientists lost their lives under mysterious circumstances -- the official story being that an industrial accident had occurred, in which the advanced technology they were working with malfunctioned and caused a 'containment breach' that led to the team's deaths. What that containment breach entailed, the public never learned, and any journalists who seemed interested in discovering the details suddenly became very disinterested, and in fact started praising the official story given as the unassailable truth.
Henrik Karstensen, Rickard's father and a veteran investigator with the police force, was never satisfied with the story the public was told and did his own digging into the incident. Within days of starting his own investigation, he was visited by a pair of lawyers from Gen-EX as well as the Highlord of the Royal Army, telling him to drop his investigation immediately for national security reasons, and that there would be dire consequences if he did not comply. He objected to being threatened, only to be told that it wasn't a threat, merely an explanation of protocol. The only thing he ever learned about the incident that claimed the lives of his wife and her team was that she had written a panicked farewell on her workstation computer in her final moment. What she had written, and what it meant, he could never seem to say -- he always went silent before abruptly demanding a new topic to talk about whenever asked about it.
At least, that's the story as far as Julia understood it. It was all hearsay she'd heard from her own father, a longtime friend of Henrik's. She could never determine whether either of the two were telling a tall tale about what happened to Ashlynn, but why lie about something so tragic, something that definitely seemed to have traumatized her husband, and led to him being threatened by an advisor to the royal family?
"Still. There are some subjects I just shouldn't --"
"Jules. It's a free country, you're allowed to talk about Gen-EX if you want. I'm not in the business of telling people what they can and can't say." He glanced over at her and saw her hanging her head dejectedly, then gently smacked her in the shoulder. "I just wouldn't be a good conversation partner for that topic, that's all!"
"Fair."
He let out a disarming laugh. "Well, seems like Gen-EX have done some good work in her absence, at least. Maybe that little gadget was one of the things she worked on."
"Maybe!"
He pushed himself off of the wall that he'd been leaning on and approached the window. "So! What do you wanna do now? You wanna call it a day here, or do you wanna go on some more adventures together?"
She turned her phone's screen on and inspected the time: 1:17 PM. "Hmm. Seems a little early to call it a day, but I dunno what we could do."
"How are your legs feeling?"
"Better, now that I've gotten off of them for a bit. Why?"
"You up for a hike to Land's End?"
"Oh... Land's End? I dunno about that."
Though she'd never visited the resort town, she'd heard a lot about it from her former boss at Jedediah's Jewelry and Gemcutting, who spent long stretches of the year living there. Land's End rested on the aptly named peninsula that jutted out east of the city of Azure Ridge, and was a playground for the wealthy elite from all across the Storm Islands; among the top 100 most expensive residential properties across the country, 94 of them were situated along the picturesque milky white marble cliffs.
"Is there even anything for us poor slobs to do there? Far as I know, it's mostly just mansions, hotels and a beach, isn't it?"
"It may be famous for being a quarantine zone for the Storm Islands' worst people, but remember: it's a resort town. There's plenty to do out there! Parasailing, horseback riding along the beach, deep sea diving, Wailord watching... But there's an old friend of mine that I wanted to visit, and I want to introduce you to her."
"Oh yeah? You've got a friend in Land's End?"
"Dr. Faith van der Linde, you ever hear of her?"
She shook her head.
"Fair enough, guess she's not famous or anything. Well, she's a marine biologist. She studies water pokémon and frequently relies on people to bring her research subjects from across the islands. No doubt she'd have a bit of contract work for you to get started with."
"I'm convinced, that's all I needed to hear!" she said with enthusiasm. "Maybe while we're there, I can chuck a brick through my old boss's window."
"...Serious?"
"Didn't you hear? I was arrested for grand larceny. I'm a
baaaaaad girl."
"Ha! Well, if you wanna take a detour to do that, that's your business. I totally understand that."
"I'm not serious, no," she said with a laugh. "Mind if I stop by home for a bit? I should probably let my parents know I won't be home for dinner, and grab my sunscreen."
_.~"(*.~"(*.~"(*.~"(*.~"(*.
The stretch of land between the urban metropolis of Azure Ridge -- a city of a dozen and a half skyscrapers that boasted a population of 3 million -- and the ritzy commune of Land's End was an extremely alluring sight to her. Now that she'd seen it, she wondered why she'd never made the short journey towards the edge of the city to soak in the picturesque vistas. From their vantage point, they could see the numerous atolls that speckled the surface of the Atalacian Ocean, as well as the peaks of hundreds of small islets and rocky spires that dotted the eastern horizon. The milky cliffs of Land's End itself shined brightly in the distance, though its abject beauty was certainly ruined by the ugly mansions and high rises that polluted the once-pristine shores of the area.
Much to her delight, a heavy canopy of palm fronds sheltered them from the sun after they made their way down the cliff and onto the beach. She looked up at them, dancing in the breeze, and marvelled at how many there were. "I know I shouldn't be surprised, since I saw them every day on my way to school and then to work, but... I never thought about why we have so many palm trees in this area. I thought we weren't far enough south for them to grow."
"I think it's less about latitude and more about climate. Now, don't take my word as gospel, because I'm far from an expert, but there's...
something about deep ocean currents and high altitude jet streams that cause warm tropical air to come up this far north. Might have something to do with the Stonewall Range way out in the ocean, too. Pretty sure they block the air and water currents from moving normally? I dunno. But whatever is the cause, it creates the perfect environment for tropical vegetation to thrive, at least on the southern shores here."
"Is that why it gets so ungodly hot and miserably humid starting in April? And why we get battered by a dozen hurricanes every year?"
He shrugged. "I assume so. I can't imagine any other reason these islands got their name."
"I'll be honest, I dunno if I believe it," she started, running her hand across the soft, pale bark of several of the palm trees beside her. "Warm ocean currents and jet streams make sense if the entire islands were like this, but, what is it, 200 miles north? The Snowfall Steppes are still covered in snow and it's almost summer? How can there be such a massive difference in climate in such a short difference in distance?"
He raised his hands defensively. "Hey, I did say I'm not an expert. Maybe there's a different explanation, but if there is, I don't know what it may be."
"That makes me wonder, does it snow in Lanark at all?"
"Yup! Not as much as you'd expect considering how close it is to the Arctic Circle, but it does."
"Jealous! I wanna see some snow..."
"You haven't, still? It's as easy as hopping on the underground railway and heading up to Hearthglen."
She shook her head and squeaked, "No money..."
"Well, I figure that's the case now, but you never took a day off and went up there while you were working at that fancy jewelry place?"
"This is actually the first time I've left the city. Never really felt like I had a reason to leave until my trial happened, and by that point, I didn't have the means."
"Well then! Before I head back overseas, I wanna take you up there to see the snow, then. You'll love it!" He lightly and playfully jabbed his hand into her side. "Course you'll have to dress warm for the occasion, it's pretty cold up there, heh."
Though she wanted to, she didn't respond to his jovial and playful nature -- something was preventing her words from getting out. After a few moments, she finally took a deep breath and lowered her head to block her eyes from his view with her new visor. "Thank you. Thank you."
"Thank you? What for? For finally getting you out of the city?"
"No. It's just... it feels like someone finally gives a damn about me again."
"Oh, uhh. Hey, I'm sure there are people out there who care about you."
She shook her head and then raised it a bit, with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Nope. I don't have any friends anymore. Nobody to hang out with. Nobody to call for long talks at night. Nobody special to share candid moments with. On the rare occasion I left my bedroom, people would just brush past me, or ignore me, or even avoid me. It's so... so demoralizing. Shit, even the girl who does my hair at the salon doesn't make small talk with me anymore!"
"And hair stylists are notorious for talking too much!" A brief snort-laugh escaped him before he caught it and brought it under control. "Rough... Do you put yourself out there in any way?"
"Not anymore, but I tried. I used some dating apps, hoping I'd meet some people who'd give me a chance, but I never found what I was looking for."
He cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Dating apps? Wha-- Why? I'm not sure dating apps are what's going to get you a bunch of friends, heh. Unless, well, you know -- you're trying to use
that to attract friends."
"Pfft. Why do you think I stopped trying? The guys I met on there only wanted one thing, and the girls I met on there seemed offended that I
didn't want that one thing."
He snickered. "You're a mess. We've gotta work on your ability to understand social norms."
"Trust me, I've tried to understand, and given up years ago. I'll always be the awkward weirdo who doesn't get it," she said with a laugh. "At least I realize now that I was barking up the wrong tree by doing that, so give me
a little credit!"
_.~"(*.~"(*.~"(*.~"(*.~"(*.
No more than a quarter of the way through their journey across Land's End Beach, exhaustion started to kick in. It was a constant fight to keep her legs moving, and she left a faint cloud of dust behind her as she dragged her feet through the sand. Her breathing started to become heavy and labored, and she wondered whether the trip to Land's End would be worth it in the end -- surely she could find a good first contract back home, she reasoned.
"
I do have a bit of a reputation, but not everyone in Azure Ridge knows who I am, right? Why am I going to snob central again?" she thought.
Rickard looked back at her and smiled.
"What are you smiling at, dork?"
"Ha! Getting tired?"
"A little..."
"Thought so. Been watching you stomp pretty heavily the past few minutes."
She tried to adjust her gait to make it less obvious that she was exhausted, but it was too difficult; after kicking her foot against a submerged coconut and nearly losing her balance, she finally agreed to it. "Okay, yeah, I'm struggling here... Sorry."
"No need to apologize for discovering your limit and then respecting it. Wanna find somewhere to take a break, or do you wanna ride your Morevitikha for a bit?"
"Uhh," she said before grabbing the hem of her skirt. "Not without a saddle to sit on. A break sounds great."
He peered forward and identified a large flat sheet of stone just beside the water's edge and pointed out towards it. "Up there looks like a decent spot. Nice and flat, it's got some trees for shade, too."
She breathed out sharply as she picked up the pace, eagerly awaiting the rest that taunted her. "No pain... No pain..!" she huffed, earning a smirk and a shake of the head out of Rickard.
When they arrived, Rickard made himself comfortable on the bare, flat stone by simply sitting down and folding his legs over each other. Julia tried similar, kneeling to maintain her modesty, but the hard, jagged rock was much too rough on her knees and shins. Instead, she dropped her backpack beside her and unhooked her bedroll, using it as a mat to rest upon. On her belly, she began to kick her feet back and forth in the air as she watched the waves and the wildlife out at sea, and breathed a sigh of contentment.
"So," she started, to break the awkward silence that was overtaking them. "What kind of pokémon do you actually have? Of all the things we've talked about over the past few weeks, that hasn't really come up."
He reached down for his belt and unhooked the leather strap that held his pokéballs to his hip, then placed it on the stone between them. She studied the collection closely, marvelling at the variety of designer pokéballs he owned. Every color of the rainbow was represented, and they glittered brightly as the sun poked through the palm fronds.
"You've got nine?" she asked as she finished counting them.
"Yeah. Most people usually stop around five, but... Well, I'm not most people, heh."
"Yeah, I've noticed that when I look at trainers as they pass through the city," she asked as she grabbed one of them to inspect it closer. "Any reason for that?"
"Tradition, for the most part. The most successful early trainers of the modern era tended to keep five, and that's a number that stuck for the most part, but it's not like it's a regulation or anything. Some people push it to six, and then there's complete psychos like me who push it even further. Honestly, I usually carry between 13 and 15, but... Didn't feel the need to bring that many home with me."
The ball in her hand featured a dull brown top and a slightly brighter tan bottom. The only remarkable feature about it was its texture -- rough and gritty with the feel of baked clay, and not perfectly round in shape. "What's this one? Looks like someone took a brick and polished it."
"Oh, that's a Mud Ball. My Bramblemire, Fennel, is in that one."
She raised her eyebrow as she studied the non-descript clump of high-tech dirt. "Never heard of one of those."
"You familiar with Quagsire? The Woopers over in Lanark's Bramblemurk Marsh don't evolve into Quagsires, but Bramblemires instead. They're actually kinda neat, they're like land-dwelling pufferfish that are covered in venomous spikes."
"Note to self, do not cuddle," she joked as she placed it back into its holder. Next, she picked out a design that she recognized -- a bejeweled purple one with a large letter M engraved onto it. "A Master Ball, huh? What's inside?"
"That's my pride and joy, Rime -- a Glacizard."
"Ooh! Is that like a Charizard, but icy?" she asked, prompting a nod from him. "Can I see?!"
"Unfortunately not. Once temperatures start approaching the upper 80s, he literally can't handle it and starts wilting like a dying flower. I honestly should have left him in the care of my bestie back in Lanark, now that I think about it..."
"Aww," she murmured as she slid the ball back into its slot. As she looked his collection over, one of them stood out among the rest, and she wrapped her fingers around it as she slid it out of its slot. "What's with this one?" she asked as she held it aloft. "It's a cube!"
The 'pokéball' resting in her palm was anything but -- a cube of cold, black metal, with copper venting on its sides and a glass hemisphere on the top. She couldn't tell if it was some trick of the light, but it appeared there was a billowing fog roiling within the glass hemisphere.
"Oh! You familiar with ghostly pokémon at all? You capture them in those instead of pokéballs. It's called a spirit trap. I believe it was invented by the guy who's currently in the Storm League's Elite Five... Dr. Belmonte was his name, I think?"
She turned the spirit trap around in her hands, taking note of the miniscule pipes and wires that were visible through the venting. "Is that so? I always thought you could just catch stuff like that with a normal pokéball, but I guess not?"
"Without a tangible body, you're gonna need something a little different than a standard pokéball. My Mimikyu, Camilla, is in that one."
"Ooh! Cool! I've always wanted to see one of those!" she said with excitement as she offered the spirit trap to him.
He slid it back into place. "Later tonight, then. She's not a fan of sunlight." He reached for another from his collection and held it aloft -- a fully black ball that featured a silver spiderweb pattern on its top and a ring of red gems on the bottom. "I can definitely show you this one, though."
She protested wildly as she took note of the web design. "Absolutely not. I
hate bugs!"
He shook his head and motioned for her to pass the ball to him. "Lucky you, then, I don't have any bugs! Well, not with me, at least. I think you'll like this one!" He clicked the button on the ball and it to opened with a gust of eerie wind and a wolf-like howl. Just before them, at the edge of the water, a small humanoid creature began to form.
The creature looked almost human, but clearly wasn't -- made obvious by the fact that it had just come from a pokéball. The diminutive being was overtly feminine in appearance, with a pair of bushy and spiky pigtails adorning its head, a curvy figure, and a face full of soft features -- though rough around the edges with its messy and rugged appearance.
"Woah! What is
that thing?" she asked in amazement.
The diminutive creature approached gently, then put its hands to its hips. "Thing? Did you just call me a
thing? Such disrespect!"
"Holy shit! It talks, too?!"
Rickard laughed. "This is Anya. She's a Rockibelle, and yes, she can talk."
Julia looked back towards Anya. "Like, full Éireannic conversations?"
Anya nodded. "Yes ma'am. And Glastonian. Constantian, as well. Oh! And the old Constanti-Romatti dialect, too. And Isfjellan. And --"
"She speaks the language of my ancestors better than I do, and it only took her a month to figure out its complicated verb conjugation mechanisms that I can't figure out myself. Not to mention seven other languages..."
Julia stared blankly for a moment. "This is weird, I didn't know pokémon could talk. Not, like, human languages, at least."
"Of course we can!" Anya said with pride. "Well, umm. Kinda! Are you a trainer yourself, miss Julia?"
"I guess? I mean, I just got started today."
"You speak to your pokémon, right? You give them orders, ask questions, yeah?"
She shrugged. "I haven't yet, but I'm sure I will."
"We
understand your human languages just fine. Speaking them... That's another question for most species."
"Huh."
"Yeah," Rickard added. "There are some pokémon species out there that have the right anatomical structures for spoken languages that are much like ours. Something like a Sandile isn't going to be able to speak to us in ways we can readily understand, but something like a Rockibelle? Easy for them."
"Never really thought about it, but I guess that makes sense." She looked back at Anya, who was staring a hole into her with narrowed eyes. "Uhh, did I --" Her words were left unfinished as the Rockibelle's eyes flashed with a bright lavender glow, and all of a sudden, she felt her sense of hearing fade abruptly. The noise of the ocean waves in the distance, the dancing palm fronds above them, the singing birds surrounding them had all faded beneath a dull, almost imperceptible angelic humming.
"
Do something to upset me? Of course not! Just showing you that physical speech isn't the only thing I can do!"
The strange, ethereal voice sounded a lot like Anya's, but the Rockibelle's mouth didn't move at all. The voice echoed in strange ways that didn't seem to match her material surroundings, seemingly bouncing off of walls or objects that weren't physically present around her; it came from nowhere, but felt like it was everywhere, and unexpectedly loud on top of it all. She was stricken by a sudden and intense nausea, and fell over into the soft sand behind her, then raised her hand to her head to try to combat her mounting dizziness.
"Anya," Rickard said sternly, catching the Rockibelle's attention; the bright glow encompassing her creepily-large eyes faded in an instant, as did Julia's lightheadedness and dulled sense of hearing. "What'd I tell you about doing that?"
Anya lowered her head in dejection. "Sorry!"
Julia rubbed at her aching temple. "...the hell just happened..?"
"Telepathy," he answered as he extended his hand out to help her back to her feet. "Dizzy still?"
She shook her head before grabbing his hand, and with a hefty pull, she was back upright. She took a deep breath, held it in for a moment, and then let it out. "Phew... That was... certainly something."
He giggled. "First time's always the strangest! You get used to it pretty quickly." He turned back to Anya. "Anya, please remember what I told you -- only engage someone who's ready and willing. I won't remind you again."
Anya dropped to her hands and knees and bowed her head until it was almost touching the stone. "Please accept my apologies! I got carried away!"
"You didn't read her thoughts, did you?"
She shook her head fervently.
He leaned closer to Julia and asked in a hushed tone, "Did you get a tingly sensation in the back of your head?"
"No," Julia confirmed. "I guess that's the tell?"
"It is. She loves messing with new people. I had a hard time keeping her from reading people's thoughts when she first evolved, but looks like she's finally listening," he continued in his hushed tone before speaking up. "And getting better at being honest. Good girl."
"...What a fascinating creature," Julia said. She reached for her phone and started to search for information about the Rockibelle species. "So, uhh, what exactly
is a Rockibelle? Don't think I've ever seen one of 'em before."
"Not surprising. They're not really a thing on this side of the world," he said. "Are you familiar with something called a Gothita at all?"
"Can't say that I am. Sounds like a subspecies of Chikorita, but I assume it's related to this thing instead."
Anya raised her head and glared at Julia.
"Related to this charming
young lady. Sorry, that's gonna take some getting used to."
"Ha, no, it's not a breed of Chikorita. They're pretty popular over in Tohjo, where they come from. I'm actually surprised you haven't heard of them, ya big weeb!"
"I'm not a weeb! I just like ninja movies!"
He snickered. "They're psychic beings that typically evolve into Gothorita, and then into Gothitelle. I picked one up in a trade while visiting a Yazheni market in Lanark's capital city, a
wonderfully wretched hive called Aughrim."
She stared down at the Rockibelle, noting its brightly-colored messy and spiked hairstyle, what appeared to be a studded leather vest -- which she couldn't determine if it was an integrated part of Anya's body, or just a fashion accessory -- and milky-white skin that looked to be covered in floral tattoos. "I assume this thi-- upstanding young lady isn't a Gothitelle, then. Looks more like, well, a punk rocker. Unless I was doing the goth thing totally wrong in our freshman year."
"Fascinating fact about Gothitas: the type of music they listen to seems to influence what they evolve into. I listen to a lot of that old early 90s alternative rock and grunge while I'm on the road, and I think that influenced her evolution."
"Surprised she didn't turn into a flannel-wearing lumberjack, then," she joked.
Anya looked up at Rickard. "What's a lumberjack?"
"I'll tell you about that later," he said, then grabbed his collection of pokéballs and fastened them to his belt again. "Okay, back in ya go!" he said as he lifted Anya's Goth Ball and aimed it at her. In a matter of moments, she was sucked back into the ball.
Julia felt a little strange about seeing it. Until that day, most pokémon were simply animals of middling intelligence to her, but Anya seemed to be on an entirely different level -- capable of speech and carrying on entire conversations with an expansive vocabulary, not to mention her ability to communicate acutely via telepathy. It didn't feel right to just... do whatever it is that pokéballs did to pokémon, but she wasn't about to argue the ethics of it. Rickard was the experienced master trainer, and Anya didn't seem upset that she was cooped up in one of them once she was finally out.
He glanced down at his watch, then checked his map. "Hmm. If we wanna make it there before sunset, we should probably get back to it."
"Mmm. Sounds good," she said before she spun around to her hands and knees and pushed against the ground. Worry crept over her as her legs protested her movements. "Uh oh... Umm... Hey, Rick?" she called out.
He turned around to look at her, and a smile crossed his face as he watched her try to push her way to her feet.
With a nervous giggle, she extended her hand towards him. "I think I need a little help getting up."
"Ha!" he howled before returning to her. He grabbed her hand and lifted her with ease, taking care to make sure that she wouldn't fall right back onto the ground. "Quite the walk so far, huh?"
"Yeah... I think this is the longest I've ever walked in my life," she said, wobbling a bit before finding her footing. "I had no idea how squishy I'd become over the past few years..."
"Shocking, really," he said as he let go of her, and then started to pack up her bedroll. "That was the first thing I noticed when I saw you this morning -- where'd those muscles go?"
"Tt! What muscles?" she asked incredulously. "I've always been tiny! I just hid it under my loose clothing."
"Okay, maybe not muscles, but you were
toned back in school. Fit as a fiddle! And we both know how much of a jumping bean you were back then, too! You'd be sprinting up four flights of stairs in the time it took me to walk up one. Or how about that time you jumped off of a wall to climb onto the roof to get that little kid's ball back? Not to mention that you were an absolute menace in phys ed during school!"
She sharply exhaled through her nose as memories of her time in school surfaced. "Was kinda nice being picked before some of the boys, unlike all the other girls."
"That's because you had genuine value during the team sporting events. Remember during street hockey week where Andy tried to block your advance on the goal, and you cartwheeled over his shoulder, stuck the landing and then managed to score right after?"
She was overcome with a belly laugh so intense that it threatened her balance, and she grabbed onto him for stability. "Ha, holy shit, yeah! I remember that! Still can't believe I did that... Still can't believe I escaped without a high sticking penalty, too... But that's agility and stamina, not muscle," she explained. "And those both went in the bin alongside my hopes and dreams once I started working at that stupid jewelry shop."
"I wanna see that Julia return. This getting tired after a three mile walk, with breaks? It simply won't do."
"Heh, maybe. I've still kinda got those moves, but I'd need to work on my balance and timing again. I do miss doing stuff like that."
"Where'd you even learn that kinda stuff? I always figured you were just hiding a cupcakes and fairies personality behind the short hair and baggy clothes, but at the same time, you were always a step above even the best of the boys in terms of physical fitness. Maybe you weren't hiding anything anything after all, and were just simply a brash tomboy?"
A honk of laughter escaped her. "I mean, I hid
some stuff. My corner of the bedroom was always covered in pink and glitter, though you wouldn't know it if you looked at me back then. But, the fact is, I grew up with four brothers, three of which were older than me. A lot of their mannerisms and hobbies rubbed off on me -- there were always those old martial arts movies playing on the TV whenever they were home, and I found them kinda cool and inspiring."
"So, too many ninja movies as a kid, huh?"
"There is no such thing as 'too many ninja movies'!"
"Ha. You know, you could say the same about me and wild west movies... But maybe it's good we watched all that garbage as a kid. They may have slightly rotted our brains, but we clearly got a lot of inspiration out of them. It took a while, but I've become super outdoorsy since starting this career, and I owe my early attempts at camping in the wild to the tricks I learned watching all those cowboy movies. I'll say one thing -- being quick on your feet will be invaluable while you're out in the wilderness building your team and your skills, so you should probably start working on that again."
"Yeah?"
"Never know when you have to climb a tree to escape a charging Ursaring, or escape a rampaging Rhyhorn."
She blinked rapidly and then looked in his direction. "Why would you tell me that on my first day, after I've already made a commitment with a capture? At least let me get used to the idea of being a trainer before you scare me with shit like that!"
"A warning like that can never come too soon, because you never know if you're going to find that Rhyhorn on your first day, or after your first year."
She squeakily blew air through pursed lips. "Good point..."
As they passed a large billboard that welcomed them to the commune of Land's End, he said, "Luckily, that won't be happening on your first day. Let's go and find somewhere for you to rest."
