Chapter 9

A river bisected Pinwheel Forest. Before heading deeper into the woods, Hayate and I had settled by one of its tributaries for the evening. We’d traveled maybe half an hour away from the road to the east, and the smell of fresh water filled the air. Damp earth, wet bark, and crushed ferns mingled with the faint sweetness of moss clinging to the riverbank. 

No longer pouting about his loss, the teenager knelt beside his backpack and unfolded a compact camping stove, clicking its metal supports into place before screwing a small fuel canister underneath. 

“Make a roof over our heads please Cass,” I said, crouching as I searched through my multiple backpacks for food. As the air shimmered with psychic power, the sound of the rain dampened to a comfortable patter. My Meltan jumped off my shoulder and entered a piece of hollowed bark. “Feel free to look around Mimi, but don’t go too far.”

The steel type mewled, only half paying attention.

“If you feel water on you, you should definitely turn back!” I yelled.

Looking through my bags, I gathered the ingredients I’d gotten for everyone, placing them on a makeshift table I had Cassianus raise from the earth.

“Hayate, you okay if I let my Pokemon out?” I asked.

Still bent over the stove, flashlight trained on its burner, he gave a dismissive wave. "Yep, yep. I’ll do the same as soon as I'm done wrestling with this thing. It’s a different brand than I’m used to. Last year I had an X-Tech one.”

Those were the ones I’d first noticed in the Pokemon Center, though as a Poketch sponsee there was no way I could be seen with one of their products; it’d be bad for the brand. With a satisfied smile, I let out the rest of my team, who spilled out of their Pokeballs in a flash of crimson red that cut into the night.

Before anything else, I shushed Sweetheart immediately. The Tyranitar had a habit of screaming in excitement as soon as she was out of the ball, especially now that she hadn’t had as much time outside during my stay in Castelia. Now that we were back on the road, however, things were about to go back to normal. I greeted the rock type with a kiss on her plated armor, and her tail wagged behind her.

A tail that Honey had to jump out of the way to avoid. The Electivire let out an exaggerated whine, complaining that she could have broken his legs—and while that was true, Princess noted that he was very capable of dodging before she snuggled up next to me. She’d always been a mama’s girl, given that she’d been in my arms when hatching as a baby Togepi.

The two old and grouchy members of the family—Cassianus was old but was anything but grouchy—were already drifting away to do their own thing. The Jellicent had floated off into the stream, head peeking slightly above the waterline as wild Basculin swam away from him as fast as they could. Sunshine, meanwhile, gave the sky one look and glared at it as if it were a personal offense for it to be raining.

“Drama queen,” I whispered to him.

Obviously he heard me, and he blew some acrid smoke into my face that I expertly dodged with the grace of a Milotic.

I stuck my tongue out at him, sarcasm dripping. “Love you too!”

After promptly greeting each and every member of the family with a vine wrapped around us, Angel signed with his many limbs and asked where Mimi was. When I told him they were around exploring, he decided to go look, and Princess offered to join him.

“Before all of that!” I clapped my hands to gather my Pokemon’s attention. “We’ll be traveling with Hayate and his team—Hayate Hoshino!” I swept an open hand toward him like a game show host. I’d told them about him and our duty in the forest, but save for a few, this was their first time looking at him. “Introduce yourself, Hayate!”

He turned to stare at my team, hands behind his back and shifting awkwardly. “Uh—hi?” He gave a little wave, eyes glancing from Pokemon to Pokemon. They all greeted him with grunts and waves of their own, though Sunshine just scoffed and turned away. “I gotta set up the lights, so—”

“I’ll help you!” I quickly exclaimed.

Hayate dug out four camping lanterns from his backpack and handed me two. We walked the perimeter of the campsite together, setting them on flat rocks and tree stumps where they'd cast the widest pools of light. 

“Don’t mind Sunshine,” I whispered to him. “He’s always like this with people until he learns to tolerate them.” He would probably never respect my new acquaintance, but he would stop being downright rude one day… maybe.

“Oh, I don’t mind. Aurelian’s Crawdaunt hates me too. Plus, most dragons are going to be like that; they can be temperamental creatures,” he said with an amused smile—as amused as he could look. “His Flygon is pretty chill though.”

We finished setting up the lights, and he released his own Pokemon afterwards. Having healed from my potions and gotten to rest in their Pokeballs, his Stantler, Dunsparce and Lickitung were spry on their feet. They took one look around and squeezed closer together.

“No need to be shy! These are my Pokemon and they won’t kill you.”

The Stantler stomped a foot on the ground, breath caught in his throat.

“Why’d you phrase it like that?” Hayate asked, slightly incredulous.

“What?” It took a few seconds to register what he meant. “Oh. Oh. They’re nice people! Just make yourself at home is what I mean!” 

That allowed the other two to relax some, though Stantler was still slightly uncomfortable, whispering to his fellow normal types to stick close together as if we were a bunch of savages—which was clearly my fault. With little left to say after another round of greetings, the camp settled into its own rhythm as each Pokemon wandered off to occupy themselves. 

For a few minutes, I watched Hayate’s normal types find their own spot among the camp. That was all I’d needed to figure out their dynamic: Stantler was the older, more responsible leader, which made sense considering he’d been Hayate’s mother’s. He’d die inside every time the more adventurous and young Dunsparce tried to approach one of my Pokemon—when Dunsparce went and challenged Sunshine to a fight, Stantler forcefully dragged him away by biting his tail before the bored-looking dragon could even answer.

Lickitung was quieter in her ways, and she’d ventured on her own, sneaking away from Stantler with an all-too-quiet step. Down toward the river, she tried giving Buddy a lick, curious as to what his texture was, and the ghost simply allowed it to happen, asking her if she was satisfied after the twentieth.

The normal type audibly gulped, and apologized for getting carried away, but Buddy explained that with Angel on the team he was used to it. He sank deeper into the water and floated toward Sweetheart, who had made the local Basculin population flee upriver for the time being despite her numerous statements that she meant no harm. She’d always been a fan of water, and wouldn’t let a free dip into a river pass her by no matter what. 

Always the attentive one, Honey struck up a conversation with the now lonely Lickitung to make her not feel left out while Cassianus floated near and joined in, though sticking to the edge of the barrier they’d raised above our heads. While rain wasn’t dangerous to them, it was overwhelmingly unpleasant.

Things were going decently. Hayate, for his part, browsed social media on his phone. He was sat on the edge of the inside of a hollow, fallen tree trunk, arm on his raised knee. We were still close enough to the road to have reception, and my new companion was a prolific scroller. Granted, socials were a lot more important in Unova than back home. He noticed me staring at him, and took out one earbud.

“Dinner’s on me today; I’ll cook it soon, but I just wanted to catch up on things. They’re always interesting and hectic, especially at the start of the Circuit,” he explained.

“My Electivire and I can help with dinner. He loves cooking,” I said. “Anything of note online?”

“You’ve got a few eyes on you from your viral clip.” He idly itched the side of his arm. “But really the biggest topic of the day is some nonsense manufactured drama between two sponsees for clicks.”

“Manufactured?”

He shrugged. “Healthy dose of competition is always good for business. The people at the top play characters most of the time. It’s like reality TV.”

I frowned at him, wondering why such inauthenticity had taken hold of the media landscape. I’d much rather have real conflict, real personalities, and real clashes instead of fake ones. “Not everything’s fake, right? You’re not about to tell me that even the Conference is rigged.”

“No, no, that’s a fool’s conspiracy,” he said. “The battles, especially the high stakes ones, are fine. It’s just the fake personalities that leave you cringing out of your mind sometimes.”

“I mean I know you have to market people, but to go that far…?”

“Everything for profit. You can make crazy story arcs and stuff depending on the results of the battles you get, and I mean some of them are pretty compelling. Hell, I’m sure some of them are real. But don’t go expecting all of them to be. There’s a reason the Big Five hire writers too.”

“Really?”

“Yup. My dad knows a few.”

Crossing my arms and staring up at the enormous trees, I tapped a finger on my elbow. “What does your dad even do?” He knew way too many people in high places to have some mundane job.

“Works with the Ministry of Finance,” he said with a bitter smile, and I gave him a look of acknowledgement. “Yeah, that gives him some crazy reach. Loves licking boots at his job in hopes of being minister himself someday, though right now he’s only a mid-level employee. Or at least director-general of some financial shit.” He waved his arm in annoyance. “But enough about my old man. Do you—”

Stantler walked up to him, interrupting the boy with a grunt. 

“Oh, right. It’s time to train, I guess,” he said. “Shouldn’t we have dinner first?”

I shook my head. “You go train, I’ll handle it.”

Hayate’s face scrunched up, as if the idea of me doing him a favor was anathema to who he was. “Fine, but I owe you one. I’ll handle all of dinner tomorrow.”

“Alright, alright.” I snapped my fingers and yelled. “Honey! It’s time to cook!”

In a flash of light, the Electivire appeared by my side before I could even smell the ozone in the air and the hair on my arms stood up. He jumped up and down excitedly, asking what we were cooking today as Hayate slipped away with his Stantler. Already, he had in his hand the large aluminum stockpot we’d bought at the outpost.

“We’re a lot, so we’ve got to cook in bulk,” I explained. While some of my Pokemon like Jellicent and Claydol didn’t need to eat, and others could supplement smaller portions with other things—like Tangrowth with the sun and Tyranitar with mineral-filled rocks, there were Hayate’s to consider, now. “Let’s go with curry.”

Honey didn't need another word. He set the stockpot on the stove while I dug through our bags, tossing him potatoes, onions, carrots, and the packet of curry roux one after another without looking. He caught each one with practiced ease. By the time I'd finished rinsing the vegetables in the river, he'd already peeled all the potatoes, the skins falling away in long, curling ribbons. I took over the knife without either of us asking, dicing everything into neat chunks while he browned the meat in the bottom of the pot, stirring it with a wooden spoon nearly lost in his massive hand. The vegetables followed, then water, then a quiet wait while the stew simmered.

We’d spoken while we cooked, as we always did, whether that was me making fun of his clumsy peeling, or a weird Unovan cartoon he’d seen yesterday, his acting for our battles, or ideas for new moves I always brainstormed. It was all a comfortable routine.

And so, as the sound of heavy rain enveloped our camp, we gathered around and ate dinner.

——

Like me, Hayate tended to be a late sleeper. Maylene had done plenty to engrave the importance of a healthy sleep schedule in me, but without her guidance I’d started to slip again. How could one even fall asleep with so much excitement about? There was a whole new region to explore, and I was shifting in a sleeping bag instead of continuing to go deeper into the forest.

I slipped out of the bag, rubbing my eyes as I stared around camp. Most of my team was asleep; I held back a snort when I saw my Togekiss laying on top of a vinebed made by Angel with Mimi buried in her fur. The steel type had gorged on so much scrap metal earlier this evening that they’d be out like a light even when we left camp. Even Cass, while not sleeping, had to rest their mind and sort the information they’d gathered throughout the day.

Hayate was no longer on his phone, having replaced it with a book about growing as a trainer. I didn’t get it—if he wanted to grow so bad, why not make use of the opportunity that came with traveling with me? He was letting it slip by him despite the fact that he might never get another, and he didn’t strike me as someone with a big ego.

Still, we exchanged waves as I skulked through camp, making sure not to wake anyone up. 

On nights like these, Buddy was usually my companion of choice, but as I approached the depression that led to the river, I was surprised to see Sunshine by the Jellicent’s side on the shore. The Turtonator usually spent half the day sleeping away, so seeing him awake and not passed out in some ditch surprised me. The path dipped gently toward the tributary, my boots sinking slightly into the rain-softened earth. 

“‘Evening, gentlemen,” I greeted with a soft smile. “Care for a third in your merry band?”

I would not have been offended if they’d refused me, even if I would have been curious. Being the leader of our family did not mean I was privy to every conversation taking place, and it wouldn’t have been the first time these two wished for privacy. They had a certain bond, Sunshine and Buddy. The Jellicent was the first the dragon really got on at least neutral terms with.

Hard to have the team like him when he’d been exceedingly rude and he’d burned half my body.

That, and they were similarly old and grumpy, although they had different ways of showing it.

Sunshine shrugged, because Arceus forbid he seemed anything other than nonchalant at all times while Buddy nodded, pleased crimson eyes shining in the night.

“What’s the topic of the night?” I took off my boots, feet dipping into the water that felt surprisingly warm. 

Sunshine curled back up like a Purrloin and whispered that they’d been talking about keeping themselves sharp—well, he hadn’t exactly phrased it that way, but it was just how it felt. He hadn’t gotten to go all out since the Conference, and it was getting him antsy, and so the conversation had begun when he’d waltzed up to Buddy and asked him if he could beat the crap out of him.

I rolled my eyes, grabbing a couple of rocks to throw across the river. “It has been a while, but I can’t have you beaten black and blue on the road,” I told him.

He blew out hot air in offense, saying that he would win against Jellicent, and not the opposite, to which the ghost disagreed with his usual calm.

“We’re not talking about killing, we’re talking about battling,” I specified. “On the former, you have him beat, I think, unless he has time to prepare.”

He would make the temperature around himself so scorching that the Jellicent could not approach, for example. Or he could turn into a miniature sun, that worked as well. For my very logical statement, my face got sprayed with water at pressures that were annoyingly strong.

“Okay, why just me? Spray him too!” I pointed at the Turtonator, whose shell flared up as if it were about to explode as a warning, the smell of sulfur spreading in the air. “You wouldn’t.”

He closed his eyes and replied that Buddy would be able to save my life anyway.

“No, I meant you won’t ‘cause it would wake Sweetheart up.” 

His shell slowly lost its bright vigor and returned to its normal state as he said I made a good point. I threw a stone across the river and— “Woah, it skipped like five times! Isn’t that impressive?”

With a flex of his will, Buddy’s eyes shone with Extrasensory, and he grabbed a rock of his own that of course skipped twelve times.

I pouted, ignoring Sunshine’s stifled snort. “Killjoy.”

The conversation lulled for a few minutes as I watched the forest. Rain pattered endlessly across the canopy, the sound so constant it became part of the silence. The river carried fallen leaves downstream while the occasional wild Pokemon steered clear, giving our camp a wide berth.

For a moment, I believed Sunshine had fallen asleep, but the dragon sighed, calling this region too soft for his liking.

“It is softer here,” I agreed, “duller. But that does not mean there are no blades to sharpen us.” I patted him on the arm, his tough scales hot to the touch. “Plus, you know what they say. There’s always a bigger fish.”

It did not matter where we were or how strong we got. Somewhere out there, better trainers would exist. Buddy noted that we shouldn’t be surprised we hadn’t found anyone to battle when we were quite literally traveling along what people called the ‘newbie trainer corridor’ online.

“He has a point. But Unova has more of everything. More novices, more middling trainers, and more good trainers. You’re just not going to find them traveling on the road, not when they have such rigid schedules.”

They were definitely flying from city to city, going to interviews, photoshoots, or whatever else. That lifestyle, while maybe rewarding in its own way, sounded far more exhausting than the path Poketch had afforded me. Sunshine growled, saying we probably could have found some in Castelia.

“We’ll get some on the way back,” I said. “For now, just hold on until we tackle some gyms, yeah? I’m itching for a good fight too.” I licked my lips.

Sunshine noted that he rarely saw other people lick their lips before a fight.

“Are you calling me weird? Because I’m—”

I noticed a Basculin’s head poking out of the water upriver, silently observing us.

“Good evening,” I said calmly. “Want anything? We don’t bite!”

Before Sunshine could say that he could bite, I gently kicked him in the arm as Basculin approached, thanking us for our kindness. After I fed the fish, he settled down and was content to sit with us, though Buddy asked him where his group was.

The Basculin answered that he enjoyed sneaking away at night. Basculin were social creatures, but he’d always enjoyed his alone time in this spot of the river because there was a gap in the trees where he could see the stars.

“Not many stars to be seen tonight, though,” I lamented. “Feel free to share a quiet moment with us.”

And we did, for a while. We learned much about the blue-stripped Basculin and his pod, and I had questions of my own to ask him.

“Tell me, little Basculin, were you born in this forest?”

The fish replied that yes, he had opened his eyes in this great river and he would die amidst its waters should his fate allow him. Even Sunshine could respect that—he’d sworn to do the same on Mount Wela, the volcano where he was born, until his old trainer had saved his life.

“Do you know anything about the history of these woods?” I asked. “Or someone in your pod?”

The water type’s eyes narrowed slightly above the water-line, though it was difficult to see in the night. Carefully considering his words, he said that no, he did not, and asked why I was curious.

“I’ve come to this place seeking knowledge.” An easy smile came to my lips. “About why the Pokemon who have the strength to defend the weak do not band together and negotiate with the Unovans.”

Teeth glinting in the night, Basculin said that again, he did not know about the history of this forest, but that should we venture deeper inside and seek out a Pokemon known as The Weaver of Histories, we might get what we sought.

He added, however, to tread carefully, and to not mention him or his pod at all should we find her.

My eyes narrowed. “Thank you for your help, Basculin. I’ll make sure to not, you have my word. I swear it on my title.”

Friend of the Forest, one Bellatrix had once gifted me. It was nowhere as powerful here as it was in Sinnoh, but the words she’d spoken that day still echoed with power across the ocean. Basculin blinked at me, finally understanding why he’d been so easygoing with me, and bidded us farewell before sinking below the waters.

“Well,” I said, “That’s something to look forward to, isn’t it, Sunshine?”

The fire type shared a grin, and Buddy sighed at what was to come.