Contents

Previous Entry

05:30 PM

“Dawn!” It was hard for me to keep up with Lucas. Both for me and Barry. “Dawn, where are you!” His voice sounded dry and like it could fail at any point, which it had, a lot. Puberty is a harsh beast, I thought.

“Lucas, hold on… I can’t keep up.” Barry tried to say through his harsh panting.

Barry’s Starly was circling above the shoreline over the other side of the lake, which was the signal for when one of them had found Dawn. As soon as Lucas heard the Starly calling out to us, he had started running.

That kid needs some anxiety medication… I’ll need some as well… Wait, crap. How am I supposed to get it? The stuff I’m on, you’re not supposed to suddenly stop taking. Jack, you’re getting distracted, focus on the task at hand.

“Lucas?! Is that you?!” There she is.

He bolted towards the sound. “Dawn!”

“There you are! You found-” Lucas wrapped his arms around his sister. I think he was crying? “Hey, bro. No need to worry, we’re fine.”

We’re?

Suddenly a loud chirping came from the siblings which Lucas didn’t seem to notice.

“Hey, you’re squishing Piplup!” Dawn exclaimed.

“Huh?” He suddenly let go. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I- I didn’t notice you there, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” At least he’s back to his polite self.

Dawn was holding in her arms a blue penguin Pokémon with a very rounded head. A Piplup.

“Hey, where did you get that Piplup?” Barry asked.

“Oh, yeah! I found him… Him? Him, wandering around, then when I went to say ‘hello,’ he ran off and got caught in an Ariados nest. I was able to get him out and then he fought back against the Ariados with the move Bide.” Like in the anime. “It was so awesome, you should have seen it.”

“You fought a nest of Ariados?!” Barry exclaimed, “That’s so awesome!”

“You what?” Lucas exclaimed, “A-are you sure you’re-”

“I already said there’s no need to worry.” She interrupted, “Now I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.” Then she walked off deeper in the forest.

“Wait, Dawn! That’s the wrong way.” I exclaimed, “The way to Twinleaf is there.” I said as I pointed south-east across the lake.

“Oh,” she exclaimed, “uh… Hehehe, oops.”

05:45 PM

As the four of us walked home, Dawn gave us a more detailed recount of her small adventure. It was almost exactly like the first episode of the Diamond and Pearl anime. The only difference was the lack of the Chimchar that taunted Piplup and stole his food from that episode. All of our Pokémon had been returned to their Poké Balls they seemed tired after all the stress and excitement, all except the Piplup Dawn was carrying in her arms.

“When I threw a Poké Ball at Piplup, he didn’t even go inside.” she said as she lifted said Piplup to eye level, “There was the red light, but then it disappeared and the Poké Ball came back. Why do you think that happened.”

“That’s weird.” Barry exclaimed, “Cause normally when a Poké Ball fails it does so after the Pokémon goes into it, right?”

“That’s what I thought,” Dawn replied.

“Then you should fine the guy who gave that Poké Ball since it’s not working.”

I chimed in. “No, Barry. I gave it to her for free. Also, she has no proof that she purchased it in the first place. So neither you nor Dawn can sue me.”

“Wait, really?” Barry asked.

“Yes, really. Though I’m sort of joking around. I mean, well… I joke by taking things to their logical extremes.”

“You’re weird,” Barry replied.

“Yeah, and?” At least I’m right. “Maybe the Poké Ball didn’t work because someone already owns that Piplup and it has already been caught in a different Poké Ball.”

“Wait, so this is someone else’s Piplup?” Dawn asked.

“At least I think so.”

“Aww…”

“What, did you want Piplup?”

“Yeah…” She looked down at the Water Pokémon in her arms. “So you already have a Trainer then?”

The Piplup looked up and tilted their head confusedly, they chirped.

“If I were to guess,” I said, “that Pokémon probably belongs to Professor Rowan.”

“What makes you say that?” Barry asked.

“Well, you and Lucas were given Turtwig and Chimchar right after Professor Rowan had visited Lake Verity, right?”

“Yeah..”

“Well, maybe the Piplup along those two escaped and got ran all the way here?”

“That makes sense, I guess?”

“Hold on!” I turned around to see Lucas out of breath an leaning against a tree. “Could you guys walk a bit slower please?”

“No way!” Dawn replied sarcastically, “I want to get home as soon as possible for dinner. Mom’s cooking pasta.”

“Are you okay Lucas?” I asked.

“Yeah, my feet are just a bit sore,” he replied.

A bit sore? Dude, if I didn’t take the Physical Fitness perk, I would not have been able to walk and run this distance like we have. “I could carry you home.”

“No, you don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine.”

“How are your feet sore?”

“It’s just my toe, it’s nothing that bad.”

Just a toe? “At least let me take a look.”

“Okay then.” He took his shoe and sock off of his left foot to reveal that the side of his ring toe had bubbled into a blister.

“You’ve got a blister.”

“What does that mean?”

“Your toe has been rubbing against your shoe and the friction caused it to swell.” I laid my bag on the ground and reached for my first aid kit.

“What are you doing?” Dawn asked.

“I’m going to cover it up with a band-aid or something like that so that it doesn’t rub against something, there they are.” As I applied the band-aid to his toe, I said, “I’m surprised my feet aren’t blistered, since my shoes and socks aren’t designed for this amount of movement.” Though that might be because of Physical Fitness, I had no way of knowing.

“Do you get blisters, Jack?” Barry asked.

I replied. “Only if I’ve been walking in bad shoes for a long time.” I turned back to Lucas. “Put your sock and shoe back on and I’ll carry you.” I didn’t want to make the blister any worse.

“Uh… thank you, sir.”

“Please, just call me Jack.”

“Oh, sorry. Thank you, Jack.”

I carried my backpack the other way round, as I gave a piggy-back ride to Lucas.

“No fair,” Dawn exclaimed. “How come I don’t get a piggy-back ride.”

Lucas was, really light. I could do this for days. I responded. “Because the layers of the skin on your feet haven’t separated due to intense friction.” I love this perk.

05:50 PM

We had made it to the entrance of Lake Verity when Dawn suddenly exclaimed, “Oh, I haven’t told you guys what I saw!”

“What did you see?” Lucas asked.

“Just before I saw your Starly circle above me, we saw the Legendary Pokémon!”

“You what!” Barry shouted. “Did you catch it!”

“No, I didn’t. I thought my Poké Ball wasn’t working.”

“Then what did it look like?”

“Well when we saw it, it was sort of see-through, but you could tell it was there. It was floating above the lake, like a ghost.”

“Hey Lucas,” I asked, “could you grab my Pokédex from my left pocket?”

“Oh, sure.” It was a bit awkward, but he managed to grab it.

“Can you search for the Pokémon ‘Mesprit?’

“Mesprit? How come?”

“You’ll see, once you find it, show it to Dawn.”

“Okay…?”

“What’s going on,” Dawn asked.

I replied, “I want to know if the Pokémon that Lucas is about to show you is what you saw.”

“Okay, let me see.” She exclaimed as she came closer to the two of us.

“Hold on, I’m still typing the name.” Lucas retorted. “Did you say ‘Mespirit?’”

I replied, “Mesprit. M, e, s, p, r, i, t.”

“Oh, Mesprit.” He confirmed. “Is this what you wanted?” He showed the picture of a grey imp slash fairy type creature with two long tails and pink hair. It’s forehead the tips of its tails each had a red jewel embedded into it.

“Yep.”

Dawn looked over the image and pondered with a grimace. “I think it had the same shape, I don’t know about the colors though.” The Piplup in her arms firmly nodded in response.

“So you said this Pokémon is called Mesprit?” Barry asked. “It’s so cool! I just want to catch it even more!”

I told him “I’m not giving you another Poké Ball.”

“That’s okay, I’m going to ask if I can get some more from Professor Rowan tomorrow morning. See ya guys later, I’m going home!” Then all of a sudden he ran off ahead of us towards town. I heard two simultaneous sighs from the twins.

“He’s always like this, isn’t he?”

“Yep.” they replied in sync.

06:05 PM

When we arrived back at the Twins house, the sun was still up, it looked like it wouldn’t set for at least an hour. It is summer here, so the sun would be up longer. But it’s only been around 20 degrees max, it’s been pretty cool all day. I’ll have to ask Johanna what the general weather is like in Sinnoh.

“Hi, Mom! We’re back!” Dawn called out.

“Did you have fun?” Johanna replied from the couch watching what looked to be a news program. There was a pot of what I assumed to be pasta sauce simmering over a stove.

“Yeah, Lucas and Barry caught a pair of Starly, and I met this Piplup.”

“Oh my, you’ve been busy. Oh Jack, how come you’re carrying Lucas, is he alright?”

“It’s just a blister, I’ll be fine,” Lucas replied.

I said, “I covered it up with a band-aid to stop it from rubbing any more.” I set her son on the couch next to her. “I wanted to play it safe, so I carried him the rest of the way back.”

“Band-aid?” Johanna echoed, “Is that a bandage of some kind?”

Wait… is “Band-aid” an Aussie thing? Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say that in American TV. “Oh, it’s a Dochaku thing, you call them a bandage I think?”

Lucas removed his socks and shoes, displaying the ‘band-aid’ to his mother. “I see,” she said.

“Mom? When’s dinner going to be ready?” Dawn asked.

“It should be ready in about half an hour.”

“Okay!”

“What are you cooking?” I asked Johanna.

“Pasta Bolognese, though it’s a lot different from a normal bolognese.”

“How so.”

“Come on, I’ll show you.” She got up and walked over to the kitchen, I followed. “If Dawn knew how I made this, she wouldn’t eat it at. It’s tough to get kids to eat their greens nowadays.”

“Hehe, yep.” Just look at me for instance.

“The pasta sauce is actually based on a vegetable juice, I disguise it with various herbs and spices so that Dawn would eat it.”

“You’re kidding, my Mum does the exact same thing.”

“Oh really? Well, great minds think alike.”

“What sort of spices do you use?”

“Oh, I use onion powder, minced garlic, mixed herbs, ground cinnamon, pepper, oregano, gravy powder, tomato paste, and bay leaves. You have to take out the bay leaves before you serve.”

This is literally the same meal, what the hell! “I… can’t wait to try it.” Now excuse me while I have an existential crisis.

06:30 PM

The pasta bolognese, topped with grated cheese, tasted just like it did at home. This has got to be that elven man’s doing because there is no way that two people can have matching recipes this complicated by sheer coincidence. “Did my kids behave today?” Johanna asked.

“Yeah, they’re really nice kids.” Should I tell her about Dawn going missing? No, the kids can do that if they want. “I’m sure they have stories to tell about what happened today.”

Dawn took this opportunity to describe the events that transpired when meeting Piplup. Johanna reacted about as well as any mother would when being told their child was in danger, in this case, it was a silent shock.

All of our Pokémon were eating from a large collective bowl of what looked like dried food, except Piplup who refused to eat anything unless it was in its own bowl. I let Elaine try a bite of the pasta, she didn’t seem to dislike it, but she quickly went back to the large bowl.

After dinner, Dawn suddenly stood up, “Oh! Jack, I still have your Poké Ball, I need to give it back to you.”

“No, you can keep it,” I told her.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, keep it. Barry and Lucas used theirs so you can use the Poké Ball sometime later.”

“Thank you, Jack.”

“You’re welcome.”

10:30 PM

The twins had been sent to bed about an hour ago, I was sitting on the couch with Elaine sleeping on my lap. I was processing the hectic events of the day.

So… I’m a Pokémon trainer. Well, I haven’t had a battle yet, I should ask Elaine if she’s okay with battling, or if she prefers a more domestic lifestyle. I don’t even know if I would enjoy Pokémon Battles. Either way, I’m pretty sure that the kids are going to start their adventure tomorrow. Should I join them? I don’t know for certain if Dawn will end up meeting Ash and Brock, and it’s likely Lucas is going to tag along with his sister. What about Barry? Will he be running off on his own? Either way, I think someone should be there for them, they’re kids. Especially since I saw Cyrus…

“I’m sorry I don’t have another bed for you,” Johanna said as she walked up to the bed with a rug and pillow.

“No it’s alright, you’ve done enough for me as it is… Hey, Johanna?”

“Hm?”

“Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Oh sure, what is it?”

“In the morning, I’m planning to head out, but I don’t have that much. I mean I’ve got Elaine and some technology and fifty k, but I have near nothing in terms of food, clothes, gear… Is there a place I could buy that sort of stuff?”

“Well, if you’re looking for a big shop, you’d have to head to the Poké Mart in Sandgem Town. They have everything a Trainer might need. Food for travel, camping equipment, Poké Balls, and medicine for your Pokémon. For anything else, you’d have to go to Jubilife City.”

“Okay, thank you. Hey uh… I… I think your kids are going to ask you if they can go on a journey through Sinnoh tomorrow.”

“What makes you say that? Have they told that’s what they want to do?”

“Well, no…” It’s because that’s what’s going to happen. “A lot of things just point to it happening. The Piplup that Dawn found, I think it belongs to Professor Rowan. I also think he will end up gifting it to Dawn in response to their new friendship, then she’ll have a way to attempt to become a Top Coordinator, and you said yourself that Lucas would quietly follow Dawn to the ends of the earth and back.”

“I see…” she sat there in silence.

“Hey, as your daughter would say, no need to worry.”

“It’s when she says that, that I worry the most.”

“I know that I’ve only met them today, but I was thinking of hopefully tagging along with Dawn and Lucas.”

“Well… this is a lot to take in, but… If they want to go across the region and would like to go with you… I should give you my phone number in case anything happens.”

“Oh, yeah! I have a Poké Gear so I can call you anywhere.”

So the two of us exchanged numbers before she went to bed and I slept on the couch, with my new friend in my arms. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

Next Entry