Locked in an embrace, Marcela and I kept kissing. She seemed to melt in my arms; I could smell her scent and feel her pleasantly soft lips. My hands firmly gripped her backside, which fit perfectly into my palms. For a while, she followed my lead, but every now and then she tried to take control again—something that annoyed me, so I'd give her hair a tug each time. I was already pretty worked up. Even though we could have gone further in the dim light of the deserted upper floor, I was certain there were cameras watching.
I stopped kissing her and tried to pull away. When she attempted to dominate me once more, I pulled her back by her ponytail. I held her firmly so she couldn't move and shouted into her ear over the booming music: "Let's get out of here!"
She just nodded with a smile and pulled me out of the club. We passed the bouncer, who gave me a knowing wink. Outside, the cold night air hit me instantly; compared to the overheated club, it was freezing.
"Let's go to Baroness, Patrik. It's quieter there, we can actually talk," she suggested with a smile.
But damn it, I didn't want to talk. I wanted her, but before I could protest and suggest heading to my room, she was already dragging me across the street.
Baroness was average at best—carved wooden benches, pool tables, and a jukebox that played your choice of music after you fed it some coins. Marcela pulled me straight to the back, managing to wave to the waitress on the way. Once we sat down, I pulled her onto my lap and started running my hand over her breasts. She laughed and pulled my hand away.
"I'm getting us drinks, wait just a second!"
In that instant, my mood began to sour. I had a serious feeling that something was off. She took her time, and I was starting to get bored, all while I felt Haunter mocking me from my shadow... the little prick.
After a few minutes, she arrived with a tray. There was no beer, only orange juice and tea. Seeing my look, she began to explain: "Well, it's getting quite late and I thought you'd enjoy a juice more than a beer. And I felt like having tea!"
I just gave a curt nod so as not to offend her—after all, she was paying, and I was still hoping for a pleasant end to the night. But when she sat down across from me, rather than next to me or on me, it was immediately clear that the "pleasant end" wasn't happening.
We sat in silence for a while until I noticed her eyes were glistening and she was starting to look sad. I immediately started replaying the evening in my head, searching for anything I might have done to upset her. But no, there was nothing. Before I could ask, she answered my unspoken question herself.
"I used to come here with my boyfriend regularly," she whispered sadly, staring into her tea.
"You're seeing someone?"
She shook her head. "We broke up recently... this place just reminded me of him. Sorry."
"For fuck's sake, only I could have luck like this," I thought, disappointed and pissed off. Instead of showing my frustration, I just gave a dry response: "I see."
And so the rest of the night dragged on. She talked about their relationship, why they broke up, and so on... Eventually, I walked her to a luxury-looking hotel. She wanted to kiss me, but I brushed it off—pretending I hadn't noticed and just giving her a brief hug instead. She'd kind of fucked up my night, but I didn't feel like calling her out on it.
She didn't invite me up to her room... and as soon as she disappeared through the hotel doors, Haunter's spiteful laughter echoed through the night silence.
"Keep laughing..." I grumbled gloomily and set off back to the Poké Center where I was staying.
I ran into a few people in night-time Pewter, but the alleys were well-lit and the night, though cold, was quite pleasant. The walk warmed me up enough that I wasn't cold even when I finally stepped into my room. I quickly splashed my face, rinsed the bitter aftertaste of beer mixed with sweet juice out of my mouth, and threw myself onto the bed. It was five-ten in the morning when I finally settled down to sleep.
I fell asleep with the feeling that this day had been absolute dogshit.
***
I didn't end up waking up until the afternoon. It was past one, and I felt as if a Snorlax had been jumping on me. Wrecked, groggy, tired... even though I'd had a decent amount of sleep. But I'd completely trashed my schedule. According to plan, I should have been training and active since the morning, not lounging in bed at this hour.
I reluctantly started getting myself together. Haunter was still with me; I must have fed him well with my negative emotions during the night. That night really was absolute crap.
I felt like I had mush instead of a brain. I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, observing my reflection. My eyes were tired and stinging slightly. My hairstyle was losing its shape, the "fade" was disappearing—my hair was growing too fast. I even found a grey hair among them, and stubble was forming on my chin. I splashed cold water on my face several times to wake up, dried off with a towel, and headed out to eat. Fortunately, food was available 24/7 at the Poké Center.
Only after I'd grabbed food for everyone did I call out Houndour and Squirtle. Squirtle gave me a brief greeting and immediately dug into his bowl. Houndour licked my hand as a welcome but didn't go to eat right away. He started rubbing against my leg, as if he could still feel my negative emotions from last night.
"It's okay, Houndour, go eat," I commanded. He obeyed with a quiet whimper and started his meal, while Squirtle ignored us completely, savoring his portion.
I cut my Tauros steak into small pieces and chewed slowly with the potatoes. Meanwhile, I was drinking my third coffee to try and kickstart my system. While eating, I summarized what I needed in my head. We have the badge, I need to buy a steel sharpener, restock supplies, and then we can continue our journey... the sooner, the better. Most importantly, I didn't want to run into Marcela again. Luckily, she was staying in a hotel quite far from here. I just hoped she wouldn't show up here to get her Pokémon treated. That would probably be the end of me.
I quickly added a cap to my mental list. My hair was growing fast, and since we were heading away from civilization for a while, I'd need something to keep it in place. And I almost forgot—Iron and Calcium for Squirtle.
I didn't really even need the Iron and Calcium. Squirtle looked healthy and his shell felt hard to the touch; I could knock on it quite happily. It was smooth, and the individual scutes fit tightly together. I didn't see any wounds, holes, or cracks. I could have taken him to Nurse Joy, but I was sure every one of his previous owners had done that. With the vitamin supplements, though, I'd get him into top form—I doubted anyone had ever bought them for him before.
Neither Houndour nor Squirtle asked for a second helping today, but I had to go grab another coffee. It was the fourth one in half an hour. It wasn't very bitter or strong, more like dishwater, so I wasn't worried about a caffeine overdose.
"Guys, important question," I addressed them. Both immediately gave me their attention. "Should I buy supplies today and we head out tomorrow morning? Or should I buy supplies tomorrow, we do some more training, and head out later? What do you want?"
I didn't really want to stay in this city much longer. I didn't expect to run into that "fish-faced" guy again, and honestly, I didn't want to bump into Marcela either. I needed to move on. Soon, I'd need to find a new team member—the sooner I had a full roster, the better.
Squirtle looked at me, then at Houndour, and finally at his paws, which he used to mimic yesterday's boxing. Houndour gave a short bark, his eyes darting toward the dining hall doors.
It looked like they were split. Houndour probably sensed I wanted to leave as soon as possible, while Squirtle wanted to keep training.
"Haunter?" I called into my shadow to let him weigh in too.
"Haunter!" he barked back decisively, though he didn't emerge from the shadow.
I nodded in agreement. "So, it's decided. I'll go shopping, we'll do a short training session, and we continue in the morning. Squirtle, we can train on the way, too."
"Squirtle!" he nodded approvingly.
I quickly cleared the dirty plates, bowls, and cups into the racks and wiped the crumbs off the table with a napkin, so the staff and the Pokémon taking care of the dining hall wouldn't have as much work. Then I set off at a steady pace toward the center to shop.
The first store I entered was the Pokémart. The staff from last time were missing: both "Dumb Pete" and the girl who gave me the discount—shame. Instead, a different pair was on shift. The girl was attending to some guy at the counter, while a guy with very red eyes approached me immediately.
"Afternoon, can I help with anything?" he offered with a laid-back smile, completely unhurried. I felt like I could have finished half a training session by the time he finished his sentence.
I liked him instantly, though, so I nodded: "I need some Iron and Calcium, and a few other small things."
"Sure," he nodded slowly, conjuring a small hand basket from somewhere, which he handed to me with a smile before leading me to the vitamins. After putting the supplies in the basket, we continued shopping, and he remained helpfully at my side. I originally only wanted to get Pokéballs, but in the end, his chill vibe talked me into potions, antidotes, bandages, and Pokémon food as well.
"So: Iron for 2,000, Calcium for 2,000, two Pokéballs for 200, two basic Potions for 200, two Antidotes for 150, bandages for 100, one universal food pack for 350, and one special food for water types for 550. Will that be all?" he asked, calmly tossing items into the bag after each beep of the scanner.
"Yes, I'll pay by card, please. Any chance for a discount?" I tried my luck.
"Unfortunately, no. We only have discounts for family and close friends. I'd love to help you out, but I don't want any trouble," he explained apologetically. "That'll be 5,550 dollars total."
With a heavy heart, I tapped my card on the terminal, and once the payment was approved, I thanked him and headed out to continue my errands. A check of my Pokédex showed I had 86,400 Poké dollars left in my account. Luckily, the most expensive items were behind me.
I headed to the craftsman's shop. I was sure I'd find a manual steel sharpener there. I walked in and pretty much walked straight back out. I asked the clerk right at the entrance for help; he tried to push an expensive diamond sharpener on me, but I quickly convinced him to go with a standard universal option. I ended up leaving with an affordable combination sharpening stone.
I still needed a cap to cover my messy hair. I could have gotten a haircut, but given the time I planned to spend in the wild, it would be better to let my hair grow longer. Scraps of memories from another world helped me with that decision. Occasionally one would surface, and I had to admit that someone like Avatar Jake Sully with braided hair looked badass. Or a certain Geralt with white-grey hair, hunting monsters with a sword in hand. I decided to risk it—the wilderness would only help my new look.
So I stepped into Victory Apparel, which was a sort of upper-middle-class store. I didn't need clothes, but I did need accessories. I quickly scanned the selection and picked out a plain black snapback without tags, just a small designer silver "V." Along with that, I grabbed a face bandana. At first, I considered a plain black one, but the image of a Koffing on the packaging of the filtered version tempted me. In the end, I paid an extra 80 dollars for a certified filter bandana, which felt like a smart purchase. It was rated against Koffing fumes and various paralyzing or sleep-inducing attacks.
After this purchase, I had 86,270 dollars left, which was still a great amount for a beginning trainer. I felt like a king, and the only thing missing for complete satisfaction was food supplies. I considered buying an Aura TM for Haunter, but I eventually scrapped the idea. Houndour could help him with that, even though he knew it instinctively. Besides, I didn't want to force progress; Haunter still had his hands full mastering poison energy, and his Shadow Ball needed some serious improvement.
I headed out to buy food for the road. I threw pre-cooked meals, steaks with potatoes, and rice into the basket. I admit, I didn't just pick the cheapest Tauros cuts, but treated myself to some Miltank delicacies too. I deserve it! To that, I added some fruit: "Bulba" stalks, Oddish leaves, regular bananas, but also those premium ones from a Tropius farm. I didn't forget vitamin effervescents for myself and special seaweed for Squirtle. Personally, I hated them, but he loved them. I topped off the shopping with some sugar-free mint gum—just in case I met an interesting girl—and a few bottles of Miltank milk. Once again, I silently thanked the advanced technology; the compression compartment of my backpack swallowed it all like a champ.
I returned to the northern Poké Center at 4:30 PM. I had everything I needed, even though my budget had shrunk to 85,900 dollars. Now all that awaited us was hard training until evening, and tomorrow morning, we head out!
***
Author's note:
So, unfortunately, that's how things ended with Marcela. In reality, though, I acted like a gentleman and walked her to a taxi instead of a hotel. I'd like to believe that after she poured her heart out to me, she felt a bit better... but as a young guy back then, I wasn't exactly thrilled—I think you all know why :D. I never saw her again, even though she lived quite close to my hometown.
The rest of the chapter was just a chill sequence—getting the team on the same page and restocking supplies.
***
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20. The Moon's Crimson Glow
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