Route 111.
It had been a full day since Kashiwagi set out from the Verdant Manor.
As a unique landmark in the Hoenn region, Route 111 is home to a massive desert—a stark, sweltering contrast to the lush greenery and floral fragrance that defines the rest of the Hoenn landscape.
Gargantuan sandstorms occasionally whip up here, acting as a natural wall for travelers.
Unlike the games, there isn't a hard rule saying you must wear Go-Goggles to survive, but if you choose to take the long way around, you're looking at at least an extra day of trekking.
In the anime, the heart of this desert hides the Mirage Kingdom, a place that obsessively worships Togepi.
It's an isolated realm where having a Togepi is a prerequisite for kingship—the very place where Misty's Togepi evolved into Togetic and left her side.
Even more fascinating is the "Mirage" itself; it looks like an illusion but is actually a physical hidden realm filled with Togepi that grow by connecting with the hearts of people on the surface.
Once people's hearts turn evil, the environment of Togepi Paradise within the mirage deteriorates rapidly, causing the Togepi to fall ill or become haggard.
Incredibly magical.
And if we're talking about the games, this desert has even more lore.
Not only does the mysterious Mirage Tower appear and disappear at whim, but the Desert Ruins lie at its deepest point.
If one solves the braille puzzles from Route 134, they can encounter the slumbering Legendary Titan, Regirock...
Assuming Brandon hasn't caught it yet.
Kashiwagi recalled that the anime never explicitly explained where Brandon's Regice, Regirock, and Registeel came from, only mentioning that Regice was found in a certain ruin.
"Yeah, there's no way I'm walking through that."
Kashiwagi, his head wrapped in a scarf like a Zongzi, lowered his binoculars. He stared at the horizon where a sandstorm blotted out the sky. It was a terrifying natural disaster.
According to the travel guide on his phone, the Mirage Kingdom sat right in a canyon on the other side of that wall of dust.
But despite being called a "Kingdom," it was barely the size of a small town—smaller even than old Pyrite Town.
The only thing that interested him was Misty's Togetic, but since it likely lived inside the Mirage realm, he wouldn't be able to see it anyway.
Besides, Togekiss wouldn't know him. Charging into a sandstorm for a "maybe" was pointless.
"Let's go," Kashiwagi said, turning to Aggron.
"Agro-h~"
The silver-armored beast let out a low rumble. He scanned the rolling dunes, looking down at his legs and tail which were slightly sinking into the fine grit.
Aggron was well-suited for this environment—the scalding sand rubbing against his steel hide felt more like a warm bath than a burden—but if he had a choice, he'd prefer a lush forest.
The temperature is just too high.
Aggron flicked his heavy tail. He was painfully aware that his armor was currently baking under the sun; if he got too close to his Trainer, he'd probably leave a sear mark.
He decided to maintain a respectful distance.
He was about to follow Kashiwagi when he suddenly froze, glaring toward a hollow surrounded by high dunes. In the shimmering heat haze, there was a distortion that felt... off.
"Aggro-n!"
"What is it?"
Kashiwagi looked over, pulling his binoculars back out.
"Huh? An Emolga!?"
From his vantage point, he could see exactly what was happening in the hollow.
A humanoid Cacturne and two orb-like Cacnea were ganging up on a scarred Emolga.
The little Gliding Pokémon was in bad shape, repeatedly trying to take flight only to tumble back down.
What is a Unovan Emolga doing in a Hoenn desert?
Was it abandoned? Separated from its Trainer?
"Let's move. We can't just leave it like that," Kashiwagi said, breaking into a run.
Doing good deeds was great for "Karma"—after all, he needed all the luck he could get for those Move Blind Boxes and simulator.
"Aggro-n!"
Aggron let out a muffled roar and dove into the sand like a shark, using Dig to tunnel through the dunes.
In this terrain, traveling underground was far faster than running on the surface.
Plus, it kept the enemy guessing.
Sure enough, as the ground began to vibrate violently, the Cacturne and Cacnea panicked, frantically looking around for the source of the tremor.
"Cac-turne!"
"Cac-nea!"
The Emolga seized the momentary distraction to try and glide away, but the injuries on its wings and a clear case of dizziness sent it spiraling back into the scorching sand. It winced, its paws twitching from the heat.
"E-mo..."
On the other side, the Cacturne leader spotted the intruder—a mound of sand was racing toward them at high speed!
"Cac!"
The Cacturne didn't hesitate, commanding its Cacnea lackeys to open fire on the moving mound!
Pew! Pew! Pew!
The three Grass-types acted like living machine guns, unleashing a barrage of glowing green needles—Pin Missile! The sand exploded upward, and the whistling sound of the projectiles was enough to make anyone's ears ring.
But Bug-type physical moves against a literal steel titan? Totally useless.
"AGGR-ON!!"
A thunderous roar erupted.
Aggron burst from the sand, his massive frame silhouetted against the sun like a mountain peak. He cast a giant shadow over the hollow, sending the Cacturne and Cacnea into a state of pure terror.
Then, his metallic maw opened like the nozzle of a jet engine. A wave of roaring, orange-red flames surged forth—Flamethrower!
BOOM—!!
The flames blanketed the sky above the hollow. Under the scorching sun, the power of the fire move was significantly boosted. The sheer intimidation factor was enough;
the Cacturne and Cacnea turned tail and bolted!
Despite being naturally slow Pokémon, they displayed a terrifying burst of speed to save their skins, vanishing over the dunes in seconds.
They left behind only a wounded Emolga, shivering in the sand with its paws over its head.
"Nice work, Aggron!"
Kashiwagi, poking his head out from behind a sand dune, offered a word of praise to his partner.
Since it wasn't clear why the Cacturne and Cacnea were ganging up on the Emolga, driving them off was enough—no need to go overboard.
What if the Emolga was the one who did something out of line?
In this world, most territorial disputes boiled down to fighting over water or food.
If this were the game world, it would probably be a straightforward case of predator and prey, but in this anime-influenced reality, things were often a bit more nuanced.
He pulled on the insulated gloves he'd previously used to pet Raikou and squatted down beside the fuzzy squirrel that was crouching defensively.
A quick check confirmed its injuries were definitely not faked.
Its right paw was fractured, and its wing membrane was torn, making flight impossible.
"It's okay now. I'm not going to hurt you," he said softly.
Aggron, meanwhile, climbed out of the hollow to stand guard, ensuring the Cacturne pack didn't go off to call for backup.
The two were becoming so synchronized that they barely needed to communicate to know exactly what the other expected.
"E-mo..."
Hearing a human voice, Emolga lowered its paws slightly and stole a glance. Seeing a friendly-looking boy, its tense nerves finally snapped. Its eyes rolled back, and it promptly fainted.
Kashiwagi: "...Are you insurance-scamming me?"
He gently peeled back Emolga's eyelid and checked its mouth.
Ah. Heatstroke. Not a scam.
"We need to get to some shade," Kashiwagi said, scooping up the Emolga and gesturing to Aggron.
...
Under the Shadow of a Giant Rock
Inside the Tent
"E-mo..."
Feeling something wet on its mouth, Emolga blinked its eyes open.
A familiar, pink, oval-shaped Pokémon was carefully feeding it water drop by drop using a bottle cap.
Am I at a Pokémon Center?
It turned its head slightly and saw a stranger sitting at the tent entrance.
"Hap-py~"
"You're awake? Don't move too much. Blissey just finished bandaging you up."
Kashiwagi turned around, catching the frustrated look on Emolga's face as it tried—and failed—to scramble up from the soft cushion.
Its right paw was slathered in medicine and wrapped tight; without balance, it wasn't going anywhere.
Aside from the fracture, it had a few minor scrapes, and the heatstroke had been successfully treated with some medical essence.
"E-mooo."
Emolga looked down at its pathetic state, its cute face clouding with gloom—until its stomach let out a loud, traitorous gurgle.
Kashiwagi and Blissey shared a look and couldn't help but chuckle.
...
A few moments later, Emolga was shoving delicious Pokémon food into its mouth like a starving spirit reincarnated.
Between bites, the questions started.
"Why were you out in the desert? Abandoned? Got lost? Separated from your Trainer?"
"E-mo! E-mo-emo!"
With cheeks puffed out to the point of exploding, Emolga began gesturing wildly, giving a dramatic, Oscar-worthy performance of its recent ordeal.
Through Porygon's text translation from Porygon on his phone, Kashiwagi pieced the story together.
It had been chasing a wild Flygon with its Trainer, hoping to catch it, when they were struck by a fierce sandstorm. In the chaos, the two were forcibly separated.
"Your Trainer had you... chasing a Flygon??"
He stared at his phone, then looked back at Emolga to confirm this detail.
"E-mo~"
When it nodded vigorously with a pitiful expression, Kashiwagi was genuinely impressed.
Where did this 'Type-Disadvantage Master' come from? Talk about a gutsy move—though they clearly underestimated the power of Mother Nature.
He started asking for a description of the Trainer. Using a sketchbook, he quickly began to draw based on Porygon's translations, but the more he drew, the weirder his expression became.
A girl... darkish skin... wearing cream and pink clothes... hair so incredibly bushy it has twin-tails tied with gold bands... a hair-hideout big enough to stash a Pokémon like Axew...
"Hold on. Is your Trainer named Iris? From the Village of Dragons in Unova?"
Kashiwagi set down the half-finished sketch, his expression unreadable.
"E-mo!?"
Hearing its Trainer's name, the food dropped from Emolga's tiny paws. "E-mo! E-mo!!"
It nodded frantically, its eyes sparkling like tiny stars. It couldn't believe it had run into someone who knew its Trainer!
"A 'Type-Disadvantage Master'... well, that makes your testimony a lot less reliable."
Kashiwagi knew the personality of Iris's Emolga all too well; that little squirrel could lie without blinking an eye.
He glanced at the signal bar on his phone and turned back to the Pokémon.
"You'd better start praying your Trainer actually has her phone on her—and that it's charged or not broken."
"E-mo?" Emolga tilted its head, confused.
Kashiwagi found a number and hit dial, waving a hand dismissively.
"Don't worry about it. Just keep eating. If you're lucky, you'll be back with your Trainer very soon."
A few seconds later, Takeshi picked up.
"Hello? You actually have time to call me? Did you hit a wall at a Gym?"
"Of course not—look, you know Iris, right?"
"Iris!? Ah! That's right! She's traveling in Hoenn right now! Did you run into her? Is she right there? Put her on! Let me talk to her!"
The boisterous shouting was so loud Kashiwagi had to pull the phone away from his ear and press it against Emolga's.
Emolga looked completely blank.
On the other end, Takeshi was buzzing with excitement. "Iris?"
"E-mo?"
"Is that you, Iris?"
"E-mo-emo?"
"..."
"..."
Kashiwagi pulled the phone back just in time. "As you can see, no Iris. But I do have one of her Emolga."
"...Are you that bored?"
"I should ask why you're so hyper. Anyway, enough small talk. Do you have Iris's mobile number? I need to get in touch with her."
"Is that all? Why didn't you say so earlier? You really should have led with—"
"Keep yapping and I'll just call the Elder directly."
"My bad! Don't, please, I'm begging you!"
Having been thoroughly humbled, Takeshi apologized, and Kashiwagi—being the magnanimous soul he is—graciously forgave him.
It was actually a stroke of luck that Iris even had a mobile phone. You have to remember that even in later generations, Ash often had to rely on the video phones at Pokémon Centers to call Professor Oak or Delia.
Iris, who had spent so much time traveling as a "wild child," usually watched Ash's matches from the top of a tree using a tablet. It would have been perfectly understandable if she didn't own a phone at all.
But she did.
How peculiar.
Kashiwagi glanced at Emolga. Now that it knew that hew knows its Trainer, it had gone back to single-mindedly devouring its meal.
It didn't even lift an eyelid, seemingly indifferent to whatever fate awaited it as long as the bowl remained full.
He dialed the number.
It rang, but no one picked up.
He tried a second time.
Still no answer.
A third time.
Silence.
Did she lose her phone in the sandstorm?
He began to wonder if he should just catch Emolga with a Snag Ball and ship it back to the Village of Dragons in Unova, letting the people there handle the logistics.
Just as he was pondering this, his screen lit up. Iris was calling back.
Kashiwagi hit 'Accept' immediately.
"Hello? This is Iris!"
A crisp, energetic voice—identical to Aoi Yuki's performance in the anime—came through the speaker. "Sorry about that! My phone just fell all the way to the bottom level..."
Bottom level? What is she talking about?
He cut straight to the chase. "I've found your Emolga. Where are you currently located?"
"Emolga!?"
Iris's voice spiked in volume, successfully startling the food-obsessed squirrel into lifting its head from the bowl. "E-mo?"
Kashiwagi pressed the phone to Emolga's ear again.
"E-mo! E-mo-emo!"
The winged electric mouse shrieked into the phone with frantic urgency.
"Emolga! You're okay! Oh, it's so good to hear your voice!"
On the other end, Iris let out a massive sigh of relief. Then, a thought struck her.
"Wait... excuse me, but how did you get my number? I don't think I left my contact info on Emolga's collar or anything?"
"It's a long story. It'd be better to talk in person," Kashiwagi said, gently pinning down the agitated Emolga.
"What's your position? Should I come to you, or can you meet me halfway?"
Iris replied, "I'd love to come to you—honestly—but I'm a bit stuck right now."
Her voice sounded genuinely troubled.
"I think I'm trapped inside some kind of strange tower."
"A tower?"