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Current Team: Haunter, Houndoom, Wartortle, Machoke, Lairon, Kadabra
***
We reached the gates of Saffron City late in the evening. As agreed, we didn't waste any time. We passed straight through the city to the Pokémon Center, had dinner, and went to sleep. In the morning, after breakfast, we packed our things and set off almost immediately—without any unnecessary delay.
We simply wanted to get to Vermilion as quickly as possible, knowing we'd be returning to Saffron later anyway. Still, I managed to take in the city during our brief trek through it. At first glance, it looked modern and neat, but it carried a strange coldness. As if something was missing. Passion, life… emotions overall, really. It sounds stupid, because how can a city have emotions? But that was exactly the impression Saffron left on me.
Naturally, I pinned part of the blame on Sabrina and her clan. The Psychic-type Gym Leader and her family had ruled Saffron for centuries, and it made sense that over time, the city had become a reflection of the people governing it.
Brock fit Pewter perfectly. Misty suited Cerulean. Every city had its own atmosphere and character, shaped in large part by its Leader.
Of course, that was subjective. Bran, for instance, actually liked Saffron.
And so, by morning, we were already walking along Route 6, which led from Saffron to Vermilion City—where Surge held sway.
"Lilly, do you know anything interesting about this route?" Bran asked with a yawn.
"Define interesting," Lilly smirked at him.
"Isn't it basically just a straight path through the woods, like Route 5 was?" I chimed in.
"Pokémon?" Bran asked, immediately rubbing his hands together with a spark appearing in his eyes.
"Mm-hmm," Lilly hummed thoughtfully, turning to me. "There is a forest, and we'll be going practically straight ahead, but after a few hours, there should be a large lake on our right."
Then she looked back at Bran.
"Most of the Pokémon here are the same as on Route 5, but thanks to the lake, there are more Water types. Especially if you have a fishing rod or a Water Pokémon of your own you can send into the water."
She paused for a moment before turning a bit more serious.
"I heard there are Gyarados in the lake, though, so I'd be careful there. A Psyduck or Golduck could be an interesting catch, and word is you can bump into Snubbull too."
She scratched her hair and added:
"And supposedly Magnemite show up around here as well. But I don't know how true that is. The conditions aren't exactly ideal for them, so I wouldn't count on it."
"That gets me thinking..." Bran started with a smile.
We both looked at him, waiting to see what he'd come up with.
"What if we spend a day or two here? We could set up camp near the water, go for a swim... have a roast, catch something, and, Arceus willing, maybe even make a little cash."
With those last words, his grin widened even further, and he gave us that look of his, clearly trying to sell us on the whole idea.
"You could use some cash too," he added toward Lilly, then turned to me. "And you, Patrik, aren't in a rush anyway. You can train more."
I shrugged. It was all the same to me.
"Like you said, I'm not in a rush. And money always comes in handy for all of us."
Lilly thought it over for a moment, then a determined smile appeared on her face, and she nodded.
"Money would be nice, yeah."
"So it's a deal?" Bran blurted out excitedly, as if he could hardly believe we'd agreed.
We both nodded with a smile.
"I'd set up camp past the lake, though," I suggested. "Somewhere in the corner so we're close to both the woods and the water. At least that way we can hunt in both spots."
Mainly so Haunter would have plenty of test subjects.
He was working on his Psychic moves with growing determination, and I was starting to get the feeling he'd need something more to evolve into Gengar. Probably a combined technique.
I kept my suspicions to myself for now, though. Gengars weren't exactly common in the world, and trainers who knew the secret to their evolution guarded that knowledge fiercely. Everyone else was left with nothing to do but speculate.
Around noon, we were forced to stop—fortunately for a pleasant reason. Little Aron started glowing bright white, and his body began to swell before my eyes. And to think all he needed to evolve was just walking.
Seriously, the only things I did with him were feeding and walking. But apparently walking around as an Aron pushing nearly seventy kilograms was training enough. I had simply been too afraid to train hard with a baby Pokémon.
In Aron's place now stood a Lairon. A short, stocky creature that reminded me of a cross between a rhino and a tank. True to its species, its entire body was covered in steel armor. Black holes sat between the spikes on the plates along its back, and its head was protected by a massive steel helmet ending in a sharp tip. It watched me with glowing neon-blue eyes, clearly waiting for my reaction.
I gave him a proud smile and gave his shell a firm rap with my knuckles. A heavy thud sounded, followed by an echo, almost as if I'd clinked against my blade. Strange.
"Lai, Lairon!" He closed his eyes in delight.
Everyone around us immediately started congratulating him. The humans congratulated me, the Pokémon congratulated Lairon. Classic.
While Lairon basked in the attention and a firm scratch from Machoke, I pulled out my Pokédex and turned on the basic scanner out of curiosity. I was mostly interested in his raw stats and how much they had grown after evolving.
The Pokédex spoke in the same cold, robotic voice as always:
Lairon
Height: 1.01 m
Weight: 134 kg
Auric Energy Level: 28
And that was what was interesting, because the average auric level for evolving from Aron to Lairon was 32. Yet my Aron had evolved earlier than expected. Meanwhile, Lilly's Bulbasaur was still holding back on evolving, even though I was certain he was well past his required level. And my Abra—clinging to my neck like a koala—should have evolved a long time ago, too.
In fact, back when Alakazam handed her over to me, she already had a high enough auric level to evolve into Kadabra.
"What are you waiting for, Abra?" I asked her.
I didn't even have to look. I felt her eyes flicker blue again.
She was trying to communicate... and maybe that was what she was waiting for. Maybe she only wanted to evolve once she finally managed to speak into my mind.
Ultimately, though, I didn't hear her in my head. With a soft sigh, she stroked my neck instead.
"Sandwiches out, then we keep moving," I ordered after a brief pause of celebration.
In the distance, we could already spot the lake, so I was sure we'd be able to pitch camp soon.
We walked for another couple of hours, and I practically had to admit I'd been wrong. Sure, we reached the lake fairly quickly, but the lake itself stretched out remarkably wide. Still, our plan was clear—pitch camp at a spot where both the forest and the water were within reach.
A place where we could comfortably hang around for more than just a day or two. Pure Kanto chill, perfect weather, zero stress.
"Can we stop for a second?" Lilly asked. "We're in no rush anyway if we're camping around here."
"Exhausted already?" I smirked at her. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can set up, and the sooner we can start training, hunting, and relaxing."
"I could use a break too," Bran chimed in. "Just for a few minutes..."
"Alright," I agreed, sitting down on the trodden earth. "Let me know when you want to head out."
Both sat down next to me, and for a moment we just rested in silence. The interesting thing was that neither of them actually looked tired. We had good footwear, solid stamina... the monotonous walking was probably just starting to piss them off.
The beaten trail was simply safe and boring. And while we bumped into someone every now and then along the way, it was nothing worth mentioning.
Off the beaten path, once we pitched camp, I expected the exact opposite.
Meanwhile, Houndoom lay down behind my back. So I leaned back against him with Abra around my neck, and along with the others, I just stared up at the sky.
For a moment, I completely tuned out.
Until Lilly spoke up again: "We can go."
And so we walked almost until evening, until we ended up right in the corner of Route 6. The road continued along the right side, and after a few minutes, we reached an intersection.
Pointing off to one side was a sign marked Vermilion City. Even from a distance, we could see the city lights sprawling alongside a massive body of water—the open sea.
"Set up camp?" I gestured straight ahead. "Or keep going straight into town?" I pointed toward Vermilion.
"Camp!" Bran blurted instantly.
Lilly thought for a moment, but eventually gave an agreeing nod.
"I'd rather sleep in a bed, honestly, but we can stick to the plan..."
So we kept going straight past the lake. A bit off to the left, the trees had been cleared out, creating quite an open clearing. Directly ahead sat an ideal spot for camping. Forest straight ahead, and to the right, restricted entry and exit points to the lake. So even if things turned south, it was a safe campsite—within reason, of course.
When we finally arrived, it turned out to be perfect. Everyone liked it, so we started strategically laying out the camp itself.
Since we had the forest to the north and the lake to our right—with its exit point restricted right in that corner—I thought it best to divide our tents so that Lilly and I pitched ours closer to the water, while Bran took the left side of the clearing, further away.
Haunter would be patrolling the forest anyway, and my Wartortle, along with Lilly's Bulbasaur and Slowpoke, would handle the water if needed. Machoke and Lairon would patrol west, toward the city.
Bran simply got the safest spot. He wasn't particularly interested in training or battles, and it showed on his team. He was simply the weakest among us, so I didn't want to take unnecessary risks and put him somewhere he might run into trouble.
Between our tents, we dug out a fire pit, and Machoke and Haunter immediately set off to gather firewood. Both knew exactly what to do, so I didn't even need to direct them.
It didn't take long before our tents were pitched, the fire was crackling, and a delicious aroma of roasted meat and vegetables filled the entire camp. A massive benefit of Lilly's Bulbasaur was his fresh vines. They were extremely healthy, packed with fiber, and after a brief boil, incredibly crispy. That was mostly a win for me, as the others didn't care for veggies as much as I did.
And so we ate happily, enjoying the evening.
After eating, we sat by the fire a little longer. I considered doing a bit of auric training with the others, but in the end, we scrapped the idea. Everyone was in the mood for something else.
Haunter headed into the woods, while Wartortle, Poliwhirl, and Slowpoke jumped straight into the water like a gang of buddies. Houndoom, Lairon, Bulbasaur, and Geodude stayed near Lilly and me, sitting quietly by the fire.
Zubat settled chill-like on Bran's shoulder. I had a feeling he was close to evolving too, even though Bran didn't train him particularly hard.
A short distance away, my Machoke was shadowboxing, while Abra watched him intently from my neck.
As for me, I planned to focus on my spiritual energy. Passing through Saffron had reminded me of it. Sabrina herself could allegedly read minds, use telekinesis, and even teleport short distances. So I was curious to see what I could accomplish with spiritual energy.
What if I could walk through walls?
That would be extremely useful.
"I'm heading to sleep," I spoke up eventually. "Kinda tired."
"Good night," Lilly and Bran replied in unison.
I waved to them and stepped into my tent alongside Houndoom and Abra. Instead of sleeping, though, I sat down cross-legged. Houndoom yawned and lay down beside the sleeping bag, while Abra telekinetically shifted over to his side so she could snuggle up against him too.
Abra is a sweetheart, I thought with amusement.
Finally, I tried to meditate and feel the energy in my body. I focused on each breath, holding it for a moment before slowly letting it out. Eventually, however, I lost track of my surroundings and simply drifted off to sleep.
I woke up to someone shaking me. My eyes snapped open.
"Haunt Haunter Haaaaunt," Haunter began explaining seriously and softly. "Haunt!"
He held up three fingers with a claw, then slowly traced the letter 'R' in the air so I would understand clearly.
"Fuck," I swore under my breath immediately.
Houndoom woke up at my curse too, yawning and stretching. But there was no time for that.
"Haunter, how far out are they?" I asked.
"Haunt Haunter!"
"Okay. Quickly and quietly wake up my team. Have Wartortle put out the fire immediately and carefully, got it?" I blurted, leaping out of my sleeping bag.
Without another word, Haunter passed through the wall of the tent to carry out my order.
"Houndoom, wake Poliwhirl and Bulbasaur. Quietly as well. Have them wake Bran and Lilly afterward."
Houndoom dashed out of the tent in a flash while I hurriedly dressed.
"Abra, do you want to go in your Poké Ball or stay on my neck?" I asked her. "It's going to get dangerous."
Maa-ster, on neck.
A young, girlish voice echoed in my head. For a second, I froze completely.
Did she... just speak?
But there was no time to think. I quickly lifted her onto my neck and charged out of the tent.
Danger was approaching.
***
Author's note:
A bit of a rushed chapter through Route 6. Either way, Aron is now a Lairon, and Abra finally managed to reach our MC through his spiritual energy and speak to him!
Of course, Team Rocket just had to fuck up a nice day. What Pokémon do you think they'll have, and how is this going to turn out?
Who's going to die?
***
Step into the Restricted Section
The shadows are shifting, and the story goes much deeper... If you can't wait for the next update, Advanced Chapters are already waiting for you.
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Upcoming Chapters – Already Written(15):
54. Steel and Blood
55. The Spoils of War
56. The Price of Survival
57. A Heavy Debt
58. Into the Dark
59. Where Dragons Feed
60. Heart of a Dragon
61. Time for a Training Arc
62. Shadows in the Thunder
63. Forging Champions
64. Avenge Me
65. High Voltage
66. Ruthless
67. One or Two?
68. Dead Men Don't Dream
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