Nori was sitting in the front seat of the trailer. It was funny being behind the wheel, since he didn’t know how to drive yet. Not that his mom drove it either, though they had a gas can and working tires if she needed to. He was listening to one of his favorite radio dramas: Crime By Starlight. They played new episodes every other Friday for the most part, and today was picking up from a big cliffhanger.
The forests outside Ecruteak City. A holy path forbidden for most men to tread foot. Yet on this dark night, a duo was stalking through these sacred golden woods. They were on the run from the law, hoping to receive sanctuary from the priests dwelling in the Suzu Tower. They walked quietly, so that the leaves beneath their feet did not crunch.
While the series focused on the characters and the conversations, the narration was great as well. The guy who did it spoke in a deep voice, perfectly dramatic without sounding too corny. Ambient noise accompanied the script; in this case, wind, crickets, and the cries of Hoothoots.
“Truman.”
“Yeah, Hideki?”
“Why do you trust me?”
“I know we never saw eye-to-eye, but I know you. And you never seemed the type.”
“I’m accused of the Goldenrod Mall Bombings. Those ain’t light charges. They’ll do anything to bring me to justice.”
“Are you admitting to it?”
“No. I just wanted to say, thank you.”
“Anytime. Just doing what’s right.”
Nori smiled. He liked crime dramas like these the most. And this was intense. A cop and his homeless friend on the run from the greater authorities. But Truman was taking a big risk here! There was his family and his job and his freedom on the line!
Our heroes remained silent as they continued their trek. Soon, Hideki spoke up to his savior, still in awe of his unwavering belief.
“How’s Cass doin’?”
“Pregnant with our first kid.”
“You rash jerk. Don’t go dying ‘till we get out of this mess. You gotta do good by getting back to her.”
“I know. Got a future to look forward to. But I’ll be helping you get yours.”
They were interrupted by seeing the glint of a flashlight. They heard a man’s voice and the bark of a Growlithe.
“I see two figures, that may be them. Get out your Pokemon.”
They had been spotted. The two glanced at each other. Hiding was impossible against a police Pokemon’s nose. The tower was fifty meters away, too far to make a clean break for. There was nothing to do but fight their way there. They reached for their own Pokemon.
“You ready?”
“Always.”
“Then let’s get rolling.”
Right as the battle was about to begin, an arm reached forward and switched the radio off. The boy whipped back and glared at his mom.
“I was listening to that, ma!” He always hated being interrupted in the middle of something by someone who wanted to talk to him. There were reruns, sure, but he always listened to the first broadcast! At least he had no one to really talk about them with, but still!
His mom stood behind him as a towering presence. Nori didn’t get it. There were no chores to be done, and he hadn’t done anything wrong recently. What was this about?
“Nori, we need to have a talk about your future,” she said, placing her hands on her hips.
He cocked his head. “Um, I’m only twelve? Isn’t it a bit soon to be thinking about that?”
“Nori,” she said, closing her eyes. She sighed heavily before continuing. “I know this is going to be asking a lot of you. But I want you to reconsider going on a journey, regardless of what happened with Claris in the past.”
He tensed up at the mention of her name. There was that stupid out-of-nowhere request again. “But I don’t want to!” he repeated, getting out of the seat. He gave a hard stare at the little nook near the table. “It’s not going to get me anywhere, and I don’t want to go back on it because of what happened with Claris!”
Claris Willins, a dear friend he met back in first grade. They were very close in spite of their class differences. She wanted him to travel with her. She had everything set up and ready to go, even some technical things. He refused and messed everything up! He got into fights over it! He wasn’t going back on that, never ever!
“Besides,” he said, a smile of realization creeping onto his lips. “Isn’t it a hassle to get set up?” As cheap as a Pokemon journey was due to all the free amenities, you still had to register and that did cost money. Not a lot of money, but their budget was that tight. And she said it was tighter than usual this month.
“That isn’t an issue.”
He recoiled as his mom pulled out a laminated thing and held it in front of him. He idly grabbed it. Nori had seen trainer cards a few times at school, and this appeared to be the skeleton of one. It had his name and birthday, though the ID number said it was provisional and there was a ‘Now Printing’ message where a photo was to go.
“What is this?” he asked, turning it over repeatedly. “How did you afford it?” Was that why they didn’t have a lot of money this month?
“It came from the Willins family, a long time ago,” she said, closing her eyes. “This was supposed to be yours.”
A trainer card, maybe Claris’ last gift to him. He felt his pulse heighten as he stared at it. How differently would things have gone had he said yes to her? It was too late for that. It was too late to think about Pokemon.
He let it fall from his hands and slowly shook his head. “But I don’t want to be a Pokemon trainer.” That was all he could think to say about it. “Besides, what if I fail? And I probably will. That’s a year of my life gone. Then we’ll have a bunch of Pokemon to look after.”
“Nori, I think you could really succeed if you put your mind to it.” It was encouragement, but her hands were on her hips. Her usual pose when being assertive. “You don’t have to like it, but it may be something you’ll need to do.”
It momentarily stunned him. “But… I can’t. No, I don’t get it.” He wasn’t just saying that to try to avoid this. “Where’s this coming from? Wouldn’t this be invalid? And what do you mean by I need to do it?”
She couldn’t make him. Going on a journey wasn’t something you had to do, and it was against the law to kick your kid out of the house before they turned a legal adult. That wasn’t the same as the journeying age. Which wasn’t even the same age as owning Pokemon for that matter.
She shook her head. “It’s still valid, I checked. I want you to head down to the local trainers’ office today to finish getting that filled out. Please, Nori. Are we clear?”
“Um, I…” If he got one of these, there’d be too many expectations. How was he supposed to get out of this?!
There was an abrupt pounding on the side door of the trailer. Nori very blatantly sighed in relief at the interruption. “I’ll get it,” he quickly offered, shoving past his mom to open it.
“Hiya, Nori!” greeted a young girl with pink hair tied into pigtails. She was wearing a simple blue v-shirt and jean shorts.
“Oh, hey Maylene.” It was good to see it was a friend and not some random stranger or neighbor. She may have been three grades behind him, but neither of them let that get in the way of their friendship.
“Guess what?” Before he could even open his mouth to try to guess, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a single bill of money. “I just got my allowance!”
“Whoa.” A 1000P note. He wasn’t sure what the average allowance was, but it made him marvel. If he were to be a trainer, that’d be five Poke Balls.
The girl beamed with pride as she stuffed the banknote back into her pocket. “Wanna go out and get food?”
“That’d be great!” he agreed in a heartbeat. He’d have done so even if he hadn’t had a situation he needed to get away from. He rarely got to do stuff like this these days. Nori swiftly grabbed his green coat off the back of the passenger seat, just in case it started raining. He always liked its leafy pattern. “Ma, I’m heading out with Maylene! I’ll be back later!”
“Take your trainer card with–” she started to say, but he was gone before she could finish.
---
It was not a pleasant day outside. August would soon be giving way to September, and the weather was caught between two seasons. A sheet of clouds had painted the sky a silvery gray. They offered little respite from the heat, which was made worse by the only moisture being in the air. Staying indoors was preferable on days like these, even for someone like Nori who got out often. Still, he was not about to let it get in the way of spending time with a friend.
Moments after the boy stepped out, something assaulted his nostrils. With one glance, he instantly found the source of the horrid stench. His neighbor Rashid’s family had been letting their garbage pile up again, and it seemed a wild Pokemon got into it last night. But it wasn’t his mess to clean up, nor the time for him to volunteer.
“Well hello there, Nori.” He had taken only a couple steps when an old lady in a blue dress waved to him. The trailer park was a tight-knit community, always friendly to one another. Everyone knew everyone, and were willing to say hello to or help their neighbors if need be. “Heading out with your friend?” she asked as she idly swept the area around her home.
“Yup, Mrs. Ito.” Speaking of which, said friend was cheerfully bounding forth, oblivious to his momentary pause. Nori hustled to keep up with her. He only made it a short distance before another person addressed him.
“Howdy, Nori.” He turned and saw a boy his age dressed in overalls and a sun hat, sitting on the roof of his family’s trailer. “Lookit this here satellite dish Pops bought. Gets us more channels ‘en some of ‘em rich folk.” He ran his finger along the antenna.
Nori nodded. “Not bad, Waylon.” He’d have to check that out some time, but not now.
“
Namaste, Norcar!” called a voice from behind. Nori kept on walking, but looked over his shoulder to see his neighbor Rashid jogging toward him. An older teenager with tan skin, dressed in simple jeans and a white tank top. “There is a new thing I have obtained. Do you want to come see?”
“No.” He was sure what it was, no need to ask or check. Rashid was a friend, but really weird when it came to girls in magazines. It was a good thing he came outside, though. He pointed at the mess. “And tell your parents to clean that trash up.”
Rashid turned and saw it. He cursed in his native language and ran back inside his home. Nori sighed in relief. Hopefully, it would be gone by the time he got back.
“Hey, hey! What’s taking you?” Maylene called out. She was peeking around the corner of the fence encircling the trailer park.
“Oh, just saying hi to some people.” He got too distracted there. So he ran to catch up.
Maylene first led them straight across the road. After two blocks, a flashy red and white sign he hadn’t seen before caught his attention. It read ‘EXCA-GIFT SHOP!’ with a stylized drill in place of the letter I. So that was what that new building near the archaeological research center was for!
He knew Veilstone City like the back of his hand, and seeing how it developed was one of the ways he entertained himself. It was one of the more isolated cities in Sinnoh: the closest major towns were hours away by vehicle. Yet because of how it compensated for that, it had ironically become a popular destination for intra-regional tourists. One of the biggest attractions was the large shopping center in the middle of town. Nori had never been in there except to look, but he knew that it had just about anything anyone could want, including imported goods you’d have trouble finding anywhere else in the region.
The other big attraction was the Game Corner at the southern end of town. It had a family-friendly image ever since the current owner and town’s Gym Leader took over. Even kids Maylene’s age were welcome there. Finally, the radio station he had been listening to earlier used to be based out of Veilstone. But because it was so popular, they moved broadcasting to Hearthome two months back to reach a wider audience. It subsequently left the building on the hills in the northwest vacant.
“Hey, what’s up?” Maylene turned around and started walking backwards, looking at him as she spoke. “Did something happen?”
“Oh, uh.” No surprise his friend noticed he was absorbed in thought. At least he could vent to Maylene about it. “She wants me to go on a journey.”
“I thought you didn’t want to go on one?” the girl asked, craning her neck.
“I don’t, and I thought she knew that.” What caused this sudden change of tune? “I even reminded her why.”
“Like how you said wanna do something that means something?”
“Even then!” he grumbled. Though it was hardly the only reason.
She put her hands on her cheeks and stretched out her fingers. “Oh, wow.”
“I just don’t get it.” He shook his head. “Why’s she bringing it up suddenly? And what’s the appeal of going on one?” Claris had a good reason. But she was the exception and not the rule. Most just had dreams of self-centered glory.
“Yeah, I don’t get it either!” Maylene’s face clouded over as she seemed to remember something. “Oh yeah…” she groaned. “I got made fun of again yesterday.”
“Ugh. Again?”
She solemnly nodded. “I ran into some classmates. They’ve been using summer break to get ready for when they can go on journeys. They called me weird and other mean stuff for not wanting to. One of them tried to push me into a tree.” The girl shuddered as she recalled this.
Nori wished he had words for that. It felt like most people wanted to go on a journey at some point in their life. A few as soon as they were allowed to, others eventually. But they didn’t want to, which made them outliers. The way he saw it, there were just too many negatives.
Their walk continued in silence for half a minute, until Maylene asked, “Did you have to put up with it, too? What did you do?”
“It was…complicated.” He really didn’t want to revisit that time. “But for what I did, it was the same way we became friends.”
The girl beamed wildly. “You mean you punched those bullies in the face too?!”
“Er, no.” Well, not that time. “But they knew I probably would if they talked smack to me.”
Nori had a reputation for fighting he was sometimes uncomfortable with. He rarely went picking fights, but he’d always hit back. The closest he came to starting one was when he punched a rich jerk for being classist, except that punch also ended it. The suspension was worth it. A week later, a sixth-year tried to push him around, the rumor around the playground being he was paid to do so. But Nori knew how to fight. He tripped the bigger kid and pummeled him. People generally left him alone after that incident, for better or worse.
“Can you do that to them for me too?” Maylene asked, flashing him baby Houndour eyes. “Again?”
“I’ll yell at them.” Just the threat would be enough, he hoped. He was willing to stick up for others – that was how he met Maylene, in fact – but you couldn’t always get physical with your problems.
It was enough for Maylene at least. She gave him a quick hug. “Yay! Thanks, Nori! You’re the best!”
At this point, he couldn’t help but snort. “Not everyone has to do something involving Pokemon. While they’re off doing that, we’ll be here learning and getting ahead of them!”
“Yeah! You’re right!” Maylene agreed with a spinning leap. She put her arms up in the air. “I don’t know what I wanna do when I grow up, but I’ll make sure it’s something really great!”
“Same here. I want to make a real difference, whatever it is I’m doing!”
The girl stopped. “Hey, we’re here!” she said, pointing up at the sign on the brown brick structure before them.
“Ten Berries Ice Cream?” Nori read aloud. There were a pair of tables with umbrellas in front of the store. A lone teenage boy was sitting at the one on the right. He could already smell the peculiar scent of those tree fruit. Nori suspected they had left a door or window open out back on purpose. “A dessert place?” It was nice, but he was expecting to have actual food!
“Yup, yup, yup!” the girl confirmed. “Let’s go eat ice cream together!” Before he could protest, she grabbed him by the hand and practically hauled him inside.
Nori took note of the minimalist design of the small store as they entered. There were a good ten or so people, so it must have been doing all right for itself. The only decor was a stock painting of a Ralts on the wall, and a big box television atop a drawer behind the counter. There were simple tables and chairs scattered across the dining area, and a line of elevated swivel seats with no backsides in front of the counter. Most importantly, the place was cleanly.
Maylene let go and skipped over to a set of free chairs near the counter. She put her hands on the disc-shaped seat, flailing as she tried to get atop it. As Nori got closer, he lifted her by the torso. He easily got his friend up there before sitting down to her right.
“Thanks! Wish I was big like you, Nori.”
“You should be soon. Everyone grows a bit differently.” He was short by his age’s standards, for example. “You’re probably close to hitting your first big growth spurt.”
The clerk approached them. He was a tall, slim man with graying orange hair and hazel eyes. He had on a simple white shirt and black dress pants, alongside a paneled cap and clear gloves. “Welcome! Now what can I get you kids here today?”
Maylene pulled out her allowance and placed it on the table. “What kinda ice cream can we get for this much?”
“For the two of you?” The man smiled warmly. “Just about whatever you want, little lady.”
“Then I’ll have a Nanab-Razz split with Nutpeas in it!” With how quickly she answered, Nori figured she must have had that in mind from the start.
As the clerk’s eyes fell on him, he answered instinctively. “I’ll have a cherry…sorry, no. I mean a Pecha sundae.” Good thing he remembered this place worked with berries, or he would’ve ended up with a Cheri sundae. Stupid homonyms made him end up with a stupidly spicy thing once.
The man punched it into the register. Nori frowned for a moment as the two desserts rang up. That was more than they had.
“Comes to 1040p with tax. But I’ll cover the extra.” He gave them a small wink as he slid the bill into his hands and stuffed it in the register.
That was nice of him. For a second there, he thought they weren’t going to be able to have what they wanted because of the extra cost. “Thank you,” he said, nudging Maylene after a moment to say so too.
“Thanks, mister, um?” She tilted her head.
The man saluted. “Douglas Eis, at your service. Owner of this establishment. I’ll go get your treats ready.” That explained why he could get away with it.
Maylene started fidgeting restlessly the moment the man stepped into the backroom. His friend always disliked any sort of waiting. He didn’t mind. It was just a matter of finding things to keep busy with.
Nori turned his attention to the television, which was showing the noon news. A bald news anchor in a black suit was on camera.
“The wild Pokemon known only as the Demon has struck again,” the man said darkly.
“At around 10:30 last night, a trainer was practicing near the Veilstone docks in preparation for her upcoming Gym battle. The Demon attacked and injured the trainer’s Luxray before making its escape.”
Black and white footage appeared, showing a garbage-covered quadrupedal beast leaping onto its target from out of frame. Slashing and biting, it shrugged off an electrical attack and downed its target by inflicting a grisly wound. The whole thing was over in ten seconds, the creature retreating as suddenly as it came.
“The Pokemon, seen here in surveillance footage, goes into battle coated in material like a Burmy would. It has been challenging and assaulting trained and wild Pokemon without provocation in and around Veilstone City for the past year. It remains at large and its species unknown. We take you now to reporter Akari Schrader, who conducted an interview with the victim–”
“Bo-ring!” came the flippant shout of his friend. She nudged him with her elbow. “I wanna watch cartoons. Can you change the channel, Nori?”
“People would get mad if I did that.” Both the people who were watching the TV and the staff. Some were giving her odd looks just from the suggestion.
“Hey, hey, Nori.” She prodded his shoulder until he looked back over at her. “I just remembered something I wanted to ask you! Can I ask you?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Are you supposed to capitalize Pokemon names?”
“Yeah, you do. Pokemon names are proper nouns, just like the term. They’re written like that in books and official documents and stuff.” He was always willing to help his friend when she asked him about schoolwork. Yet school was out, so what brought this on?
“But that’s not what my cousin said. I showed her the story I got in Language class I got an A on, and she said I shouldn’t do that!”
That explained it. Nori almost instinctively leaned back before remembering the seats didn’t have backs. “Well, your cousin’s a stupid moron,” he spoke his mind up-front. “If you didn’t capitalize them, you wouldn’t have gotten an A.”
Maylene blinked in realization. “Oh yeah, school’s starting again soon.” She groaned, placing her hands on the counter. “Ugh, I wish summer vacation would last forever.”
He had to admit, “It’d be nice.” Whenever he was on break, that meant not having to deal with hostile classmates. But besides the implications of summer lasting forever, there was another issue. “If that happened though, we wouldn’t be able to learn for our futures.”
“I know, but I like to do whatever I want every day!”
“Yeah, true. I do too.”
The backroom door swung open. The owner emerged, carrying a tray with their ice cream. They were each in tin cups just big enough to contain them. “All right, here you kids go. Eat up and enjoy.”
“Yay!” Maylene wasted little time in shoveling several spoonfuls of the dessert into her mouth.
Nori had barely gotten his spoon in and scooped some of his own before she had gulped that down. “Don’t eat too fast,” he advised. “You’ll get an ice cream headache.”
“But this is so yummy!”
He shrugged and took a bite. Not bad. Pecha berries were nice and sweet, though not his first choice for a fruit. He preferred to eat slowly. He didn’t get a lot of chances to have things like this, so he always savored them when he did.
Suddenly, Maylene started hacking. It was no surprise to Nori given how fast she was eating. Good thing it was just ice cream and ground up berries. He smacked her on the back a few times, helping to dislodge the fluid from her windpipe. Eventually her coughing fit stopped. The boy smiled at her.
“That can also happen if you eat too fast,” he explained before scooping another modest spoonful of his own treat.
She lowered her head apologetically. “I’ll eat slower now.”
That settled that. Nori took another bite and glanced back over at the television. The report about the Demon of Veilstone had ended. It was fun to follow for a Pokemon story. He was just surprised she hadn’t been caught or killed yet.
“Turning to professional training news now,” the anchor spoke over an aerial shot of a huge ovular building. Instantly recognizable as one of the region’s landmarks, the Contest Hall in Hearthome City.
“The Grandmaster Rank Contest showdown yesterday involving regional Gym Leaders Fantina Couture and Gasha Qian ended in an unprecedented draw.”
Clips of the Contest followed.
“Gasha prevailed in the first set, with her Dustox edging out Fantina’s Jellicent. Fantina answered back in the second, her Mismagius cleanly outperforming Tentacruel. In the third set, after three rounds had passed, their signature Drifblim ‘Loony’ and Skuntank ‘D’Alembert’ both scored an equal amount of points. Judges have been deliberating how to handle this situation–”
“Hey!” Nori sharply turned to see the teenager from outside the store holding the door open and gesticulating wildly. “There’s something going on out here!”
He turned back and had a bit more of his sundae. Why should he care about whatever it was when the guy didn’t care to be specific about it? Though it was made clear anyway when the chanting of a group of young people became audible.
“This is all a fail! Send Eis back to jail!”
Nori perked up. There could only be one group that was doing that. Louis and the rest of his protest group, Youths Against Mistaken Society.
“Do they mean Mr. Eis?” Maylene asked with curiosity.
They looked at the man himself, whose expression had darkened. He was clenching his fists, but was otherwise still and silent.
“What do they want? I wanna go see!” The little girl shoveled what was left of her dessert into her mouth. Without waiting for Nori, she hopped out of her seat and ran out the door.
There was still about half of his dessert remaining. “Could I get that to go after this?” he asked. Eis nodded, taking it and placing it in a freezer as Nori went outside to join his friend. What was this about? Louis wouldn’t do something without a good reason, but this felt extreme. There was only one way to find out.
