And Still, I Climb (ch5)

CHAPTER 5

I found myself idly wandering the premises of the outpost again, listening in on chatter from different groups of people while I updated Melody and the rest of the Poketch team on my current location and plan to remain for a day. The liaison had no issues there; her hands were full with managing the launch and getting the UI on my merchandise store sorted out.

Of the conversations I listened in on, one caught my interest. A few weeks back, Alder Shepherd, Unova’s old Champion, had been spotted crossing Black City’s outskirts into the unforgiving wilderness between it and the rest of the Eastern Peninsula. He’d lost to Iris, Mark’s predecessor, after his Volcarona died that very year. With the loss still fresh, the battle had been a slaughter—not that I’d ever watched it. It would feel wrong to see a man at his lowest. A loss to the then time eleven-year-old had been a humiliating affair, though I doubted he cared, at the moment.

The man was cursed to ever wander the country, a shadow of his former self. Once a brilliant star, now fading into memory, he carried the weight of his loss like a second shadow, following him wherever he went. 

I never quite got why he’d been expected to stop Iris in her tracks. Even if he’d won with Volcarona by his side, I figured the battle would have been close. She had, after all, beaten the Elite Four members currently in power save for the newest member Caitlin, from what Cecilia used to tell me on the subject.

Looking up Iris online got me results from years ago—in fact, it seemed like anything past her resignation as Champion had been wiped out from the internet. As a Sinnohan citizen, I knew how easy it was for the government to censor information like this with a couple thousand Porygon.

The information that was there was interesting, however. She’d been found wandering the foothills of Mount Vertress near the league as a six-year-old by a ranger patrol. Drayden broke the chain of command, intervening in their business to take the child under his wing instead of the rangers putting her in the foster system. 

From there, much was unknown, but the story wrote itself. Kept in the dark away from prying eyes besides occasionally battling in his stead at his Gym, the dragon master trained her, and half a decade later she set out on her journey with an Axew and took the region by storm. What he saw in her back then, no one could say, but from what Aurelian had told me about the aging man, the training regiment must have been harsh.

Drayden’s little monster, they used to call her. And people’s excitement about her slowly turned to horror and fear as they realized an eleven year old was to become the leader of the richest, most powerful country on Arceus’ green earth. The only reason she’d even been allowed to do such a thing before the age of fifteen like everyone else was because Drayden had abused his authority for her. The entire debacle had nearly cost him his seat as Gym Leader, but he had survived, somehow.

Like Alder, Iris wandered the region, though she was spotted a lot less than him. Supposedly the kid was almost feral these days, keeping away from civilization at all costs. 

“Can’t blame her when all of Unova’s institutions turned their back on her,” I whispered to myself. 

She did make herself seen sometimes, though. The last had been half a year ago when she'd just waltzed into Unova’s biggest movie theatre in Pokestar Studios because they apparently made popcorn in a very specific way she liked. She’d purchased a large serving and gone on her way without a fuss riding atop her Salamence.

It was impossible not to laugh at that.

A notification at the top of my screen signaled the end of my sleuthing. As the newest member of the Representation League, I’d been folded into their group chat; Madeline had a job for me in Pinwheel Forest, and she wanted Hayate to come along.

——

I found the Johtoan boy in the middle of a battle in one of the open-air arenas that was nothing but paint on concrete. His opponent was tall and broad-shouldered in a way that reminded me of my best friend, with long curls that perfectly framed his face. He clearly had an entourage behind him—though my eyes drifted toward the fight itself instead.

Hayate’s Stantler howled in frustration, hitting nothing but tufts of cotton with Take Down as the opposing Cottonee moved faster than he could ever hope to. Floating in the air with an evil cackle, the fairy launched a set of glowing seeds at surprising speed that buried deep into Stantler’s fur and grew thorny vines around him and into his bloodstream. 

The usually blank-faced Hayate grimaced, watching his Pokemon’s legs buckle while his energy buoyed up to Cottonee.

“Ah, yeah. He’s lost,” I whispered to my Pokemon. One look was all I’d needed to see that they were letting emotions drive them instead of using it as fuel. Not only that, but he was so silent, having given up before the loss had been certain. 

It was, really, only a matter of time. Cottonee lacked the oomph to knock out Stantler with a single blow, and the horned Pokemon’s psychic abilities were only rudimentary, unable to reach his enemy floating in the wind high above. Still, through Leech Seeds and Mega Drains, Stantler eventually collapsed, heaving for every breath, and Hayate recalled him wordlessly.

“Good job, Cottonee!” the other trainer cheered. “You did awesome!”

Hayate paid him through his phone, and when our eyes met, he clenched his jaw as if I’d not been supposed to see this embarrassing loss. That mindset had always been surprising to me. A loss was frustrating, yes, but it was never embarrassing; it was an opportunity to grow past your current limits.

He met me at the side of the arena, hands awkwardly gripping his pants. “Hey,” he said, ever so quiet. “Sorry you had to see that. We weren’t at our best.”

My response came as an unbothered shrug. “Not a big deal at all. You’ve gotta learn from it and move on.”

His thin lips curved into a sardonic smile. “Come on. That guy had two badges last year, I had three, and he still beat me 3-2.”

“So he progressed faster than you because people grow at different rates.” I noticed his eye twitch at that, so instead of dismissing his concerns, I decided to pivot. “And I mean, I only saw the tail end of it, but I’m always free to give advice.” 

“Maybe later. Claydol—uh, I mean, Cassianus,” he greeted the psychic.

“Salutations!”

“And, this is your Tangrowth. Nice to meet you.” Hayate sized up the big bundle of vines behind me, who was holding back very well after our conversation about personal space. “Is he okay?” he asked when he noticed Angel didn’t speak. 

“Yeah, don't forget Mimi.” I tapped at my necklace out of which a little arm formed and waved with a vibrating squeal. 

His eyes narrowed with interest. “Okay, what even is that? You were wearing that at Madeline’s apartment… it’s a Pokemon?”

“They’re a Meltan.” Those were admittedly extremely rare, which is why his surprise wasn’t unexpected. “Feel free to scan them with your Pokedex if you want.”

The teenager did just that—using his phone, I noticed—though the results came up empty. I explained how I’d caught the steel type, briefly mentioning an ancient dilapidated underground civilization, and he offered me a blank look as if he didn’t know if I was screwing with him or not. I kept that train of conversation light regardless, not wanting to revisit those awful bygone memories. 

Even if I’d gotten quite the child out of it, I thought as I kissed the pendant on my necklace. It warmed against my lips.

We settled on a bench near the Pokemon Center, where Hayate had given his team to one of the nurses. We idly watched trainers pass us by while Angel soaked in a few sunrays from the cloudy sky and Cass stuck nearby to protect me just in case someone got any funny ideas about murdering me while on vacation.

“It’s weird that everyone’s so…” I gestured, not finding the word. “Not happy, but unbothered by the trek ahead of them through the woods,” I finally said.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, my first time through Eterna Forest, my group and I were nervous wrecks.” Some more than others, but we’d all be anxious about the danger. “Plus every couple of hours, there’d be some mangled trainer being brought back by his group or friends; crossing alone when you were inexperienced was basically a death sentence.”

“Arceus,” he whispered. “Shinwa’s really fucked up, sorry you had to go through that.”

“Don’t lump the entire continent together! Indigo’s way worse,” I protested, eyeing the opposing end of the outpost toward the entrance of the forest. “Plus, I don’t really mind, in retrospect. It kept my mind sharp for the trials ahead,” I whispered.

Hayate paused for a moment, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. “That’s vaguely concerning.” Again, he wanted to ask more, but instead he neatly folded his hands on his lap. “So, the job.”

“The job,” I repeated cheerfully.

The short boy leaned in to whisper. “One of the very few contacts we’ve got is a disgruntled ranger who works in the Nacrene Branch—they’ve got custody of the forest,” he added. So all the rangers around here were based out of Nacrene. Good to know. “Don’t ask me how Cat and Lin pulled that off; they have a way with people where they basically tag team them together and by the end of the conversation you’re agreeing with them without realizing.” He had no fond smile or tone, but I had an inkling he cared about them and the cause greatly.

Why else squander the opportunity to get noticed by X-Technology later in the year?

“Anyway,” he continued, “Around this time of the year in the forest, there’s a great migration of Sewaddle. They go from the deeper reaches of the forest to the safer parts to get ready to evolve into Swadloon. That takes a few days of non-activity for them because they have to wrap themselves around a silk cocoon. Do you see where I’m getting at?”

I thought about it for a moment, and then grimaced. “The safer parts with fewer predators, so where all the trainers are,” I guessed. “And since they’re busy evolving, they can’t fight back from getting caught against their will.”

He nodded somewhat firmly. “That means we’ll be staying a week in the forest. Maybe a little longer,” he said. “The goal is to allow them to keep them safe while they evolve deeper in the forest. Usually I’d have Aurelian here with me instead to serve as a bodyguard, but he’ll be busy collecting Gym Badges for a bit. He’ll probably want a few before he worries about any of this.”

I hoped Aurelian wouldn’t hold any grudges; the last thing I needed was for things to be awkward between us on the first step of a maybe-friendship. “Sounds good! We leave tomorrow?”

“We leave tomorrow,” he confirmed with a nod. “Apparently it’s going to rain for days soon, so that ought to be a treat.”

“You like rain? Me too, once in a while!”

“That was sarcastic.”

Oh. 

I felt like there was going to be a lot of that with him.

——

I wagged my knife at Hayate while I chewed on a mouthful of salad, courtesy of the Pokemon Center. “So, what’s your story? How’d your family end up in Unova,” I asked.

He wasn’t eating much, I noticed, though his order had mirrored mine. “Well, you know. Unova’s the melting pot of the world,” he spoke with an air of nonchalance. “My parents saw nothing but a dead end in Johto, so they moved like, two decades ago. A little after the Team Rocket shenanigans.”

I nodded. “Makes sense. I’ve heard it was a tough time for everyone.” I thought of Jasmine, my friend and teacher I’d met in Sunyshore, and the many war stories she’d told me when she’d felt like it. “How did you meet the others? Sorry if I’m asking too many questions, by the way. I just like to see a person in full when I meet them, you know?”

He circled his plate with his fork. “Yeah, especially when you like to be so darn vague about everything. But I don’t mind this one; it’s a pretty boring story anyway. I just met Catherine through school. She was really popular, but she wanted to be my friend. I’ll always cherish her for that,” he said with the slightest of smiles. “There was Erick too, but… you know.”

He’d joined Plasma. There was drama there I wanted to know more about, but I restrained myself from pushing too far just like he’d done with me. 

“Then obviously I met Madeline through Cat.” He brushed the matter aside with a wave. “Aurelian is a better story. We met on the road during my first attempt at the Circuit. He had… three badges back then, just like me now. Nothing but a Vibrava and a dream.” He closed his eyes as if to remember. “He was with a pretty big group back then, and what do you know, his best friend at the time’s now the face of the Opelucid Group.”

I leaned forward; the interest made my skin tingle. The face of such a large company ought to be an interesting personality. Every powerful trainer I’d ever met had ranged from weird to completely deranged—I was, of course, the sole exception to this.

“That group had a bunch of talented kids in it—all of them were picked by the Big Five eventually. I traveled with them for a bit before I left because the lights were just too bright,” he deadpanned.

“Are they no longer best friends?” I asked.

“It’s weird. Arlo’s got a bit of an ego, but he’s nice enough and he’s one of Unova’s top trainers and has won the Conference twice now—though non-consecutively. I can’t blame him for occasionally taking the piss,” Hayate said. “But as you can guess, being next to someone so talented… can hurt.”

I hummed in acquiescence. While Aurelian was sponsorless and hitting his head against the wall that was Drayden, his old friend was the biggest beneficiary of the company based in that very city. I began to see the shape of this now; it was, I thought, quite the burden to carry.

“And now we have you, first year and with a Conference already under your belt,” Hayate said. “That’s better than Arlo Gillespie ever was.”

“Does Aurelian feel insecure with me here?”

“Obviously—ah, crap. I spoke too much.” He dropped his fork in his plate and sighed. “That’s enough of that, or Cat will have my head on a platter.”

I knew he was joking, but with that Minccino of hers all that was gonna happen was that he’d get tickled until he passed out. Tilting my head, I gave it a little more thought. I supposed with a powerful enough Tail Slap, it would be possible to take his head off eventually, but it'd be a gruesome affair and a huge waste of time. You’d be better off handing the Pokemon a handsaw. The image of a bloody Minccino carrying a severed head made me chuckle.

“I’m not kidding. She can be fierce,” he said, misunderstanding.

“Don’t doubt it. She did have Minccino tickle Aurelian until he almost passed out.”

I finished the last few bites of my salad, finding it adequate to my tastes, but nothing to write home about. 

“What’s your deal, anyway?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, my mouth still full.

“I did some research after you joined the Representation League. You’re a pretty famous gal.” He leaned against his palm as my heart dropped, terrified he’d seen the only video of me killing someone at Mr. Backlot’s mansion. “You’re sponsored by the biggest company in Sinnoh, and everyone there knows you. You’re apparently dating a Gym Leader? Like, what’s someone like you doing with us? You could have easily started your own gig or joined one of the bigger orgs.”

I held back a sigh of relief. “I just want to be part of something new. It’d be a shame to join something that was already mid-narrative.”

“What?” He just stared at me as if I were insane, which I most definitely was not.

“Plus,” I continued, “it means my influence is felt more directly. Not that I want to take over or anything like that; I can be a good footsoldier too. I wouldn’t have the time, the knowledge or the connections to run this entire thing myself.”

“Fair… enough? I think?” Hayate said. “It’s still weird. It’s probably always going to be weird.”

“I want to be friends.” I offered him a gentle smile. “No ulterior motives here, I promise. And trust me,” I paused, eyes piercing through his own. “I do not offer those lightly.”

I caught the discomfort, even if his expression barely changed. The slight tightening around his eyes. The way his fingers paused against his bottled water. A flicker of something uneasy crossed his face before it was buried beneath that familiar mask of indifference.

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

Not wanting to mess up with him like I had accidentally with Aurelian, I softened my gaze and voice. “Great. Plus, again, I can always help you out in terms of battling or whatever if you want?” At first, I believed he was just on this journey to placate his parents, but that frustration he’d felt during that battle was tangible. 

“It is technically later, but it’s not urgent or anything. I like to take things easy.”

“Liar.”

It was a single word spoken with no ill intent, yet he leaned back as if he’d been struck regardless.

“You want to be a better trainer. You want it desperately, in fact. I don’t know about your other Pokemon, but so does your Stantler.” Now that we were both done with our food, I stood up and smiled at him. “I’m a pushy person, I think. I always want to know more, but I’ll try to hold back here. Still,” I offered him a hand, “if you ever want to open up to me, I’m game. If you don’t, that’s fine. But don’t lie to me, because I’ll be able to tell every time.”

“You’ve just met me,” he protested quietly.

“Yeah. And my words can already cut through you just fine.”

The boy sighed. “I guess that it helps sometimes when it’s someone I don’t have as much baggage with…” he trailed off. “I’ll think about it.” 

We shook on it, and I beamed. 

“You have salad in your teeth, by the way.”

“Shit really?”

He walked off before I figured out he was joking.

—— 

Hayate and I had gone our separate ways after that, though not before I’d asked him what the rest of his Pokemon were, given he already knew mine through research. The Stantler had been his mother’s before his, and she’d given him the normal type to give her son a leg up in the Circuit. Unfortunately, they still didn’t gel well after two attempts at gathering the badges.

His other two, he’d caught in his first and second year, so he was quite slow with acquiring new members for his team—not that there was anything wrong or defective about this. Unlike Stantler, which weren’t present on this continent, Dunsparce and Lickitung could be found in Unova and he’d caught them through conversation and negotiation, proof that he’d been smarter than me when he was still starting out.

We would reconvene at the forest entrance at eight in the morning tomorrow, and thus I had ample free time to do whatever I pleased. Outside my Pokemon Center room, my Electivire, Tyranitar and Turtonator had decided to find a place to spar while I kept watch. With the lack of psychics of good calibre around, Cass needed to summon barriers around the arena so I wasn’t accidentally charged with manslaughter.

That was because unfortunately, nearly every trainer in the outpost had gathered around us to watch the three-way fight. The sheer volume of voices made my hearing aid go haywire, reducing the crowd to a wall of static and distorted noise. I'd spent more time fiddling with the settings than actually paying attention to my phone, which meant my investigation into the green-haired boy had been put on hold. 

I still enjoyed watching the kids and Sunshine battle.

It was a spar, thus they were all holding back to make sure any trip in the Pokemon Center didn’t delay our leave. Rings of darkness gathered in my Tyranitar’s mouth; it was absence made manifest, void upon void churning within her until she let it loose in a wide berth with a silent scream.

With a flash of lightning, Honey simply… blurred, moving faster than the eye could see. With a booming laugh muffled by the dark energy swirling around the battlefield, the Electivire reappeared behind Sweetheart, electricity coiling around his fur.

Sunshine retreated into his shell save for his tail that he slapped against his back. The explosion that followed scorched the concrete with white-hot flames that nearly melted the battlefield behind him within seconds. Spinning in the roaring flames that had once scarred me, he slammed against the Dark Pulse, each subsequent explosion pushing him ever forward, for dragons did not kneel.

Honey’s hand shone bright white, but as smart as he was, he waited until Sweetheart had dealt as much damage to Sunshine as possible before the weakened Hammer Arm smashed into her right leg.

The Tyranitar lost her balance, shaking the earth as she fell forward and Sunshine’s flaming shell hit her right in the face with minimal impact.

Unfortunately for her, when they were all holding back, she was at the biggest disadvantage. Had she actually gone all out, Cassianus’ barrier would have been consumed by a darkened sandstorm and Dark Pulses long ago.

Still, she laughed wildly, flashing what felt like endless rows of teeth that made the girl next to me pale. 

“It’s alright. She’s harmless,” I said.

She did not listen to me.

With a laugh, Sweetheart asked Sunshine to team up against her big sibling, and given his soft spot for her, the grouchy dragon accepted immediately, raising the temperature around the arena to levels intolerable for Honey, who raised both his hands to summon a Protect while he whined about fairness. Should he want to and with enough time, he’d be able to make it hot enough to harm even Sweetheart, which was probably his plan for when their alliance fell through so he’d be the last one left standing.

He cared for her greatly, yes, but he was as competitive as they came, and he did not want to lose.

You’d be better off ending the battle soon, my King, Cass spoke into my mind. 

“You’re probably right,” I said as Honey's Protect faded. Sweetheart brought a foot crashing down, splitting the concrete beneath her. The moment the barrier vanished, the heat Sunshine had saturated the battlefield with finally reached Honey, and patches of his fur burst into flame. I clapped my hands and screamed on top of my lungs. “Alright, alright! Enough sparring or you’ll all need like a full twenty-four hours in the Pokemon Center!”

Honey pulled his tongue out at Sweetheart, who growled in annoyance. That had a lot of people flinch. Turning in my direction, she made her pretty-please-just-five-more-minutes face, something I’d gone through many trials and tribulations to teach myself how to resist. Sunshine stretched, grunting like the old-timer that he was. I recalled the three while Cass captured the lethal heat still inside the barrier and dissipated it further up before dissolving it entirely.

With a new Circuit about to begin, we’d need to all start training seriously again very soon, and that also meant more acting lessons for all of them.

The next morning, I woke up to accolades from the Poketch team and a phone call from Melody.

Somehow, the spar went viral online.