Chapter 12 – Route 204
Outside the town it was different.
Not worse. Just quieter. In Sandgem there was always something filling the gaps people, Pokemon, doors, the sea somewhere behind everything. Out here there was the wind and frozen dirt under his boots and the route stretching north and nothing else.
I walked past the First bend,i am out of sight. Time to let Deino out.
Deino appeared on the path, turned a slow circle reading everything around him, and fell into step beside him without making anything of it. Just here then, let's go.
That worked fine.
They were maybe twenty minutes in when a Budew turned up sitting in the middle of the path. Round and small and radiating the particular energy of something that had made a decision and wasn't revisiting it.
Deino was already walking toward it.
"We don't need this."
Still walking.
"Deino."
The Budew puffed up, its bud cracking open, green powder drifting off in the cold air. Stun Spore. Of course it was Stun Spore.
"Fine. Dragon Breath, in front of it, not at it."
The burst hit the path just ahead of the Budew. The Budew startled so hard it fell over, righted itself, and disappeared into the grass at a speed that genuinely didn't seem possible for something without legs.
"Was that necessary?"
Deino walked on like the question hadn't happened.
Fair enough.
---
The lunch spot was a flat rock near a bend in the river, sheltered from the wind on two sides. He ate from his pack and gave Deino the poffin mix. The river was slow and dark. A pair of Psyduck stood downstream staring at the water like it owed them something. A Magikarp surfaced near the far bank and immediately changed its mind.
The fishing rod was strapped to his pack.
Bought on impulse. Last minute at the supply store, something about the route running alongside water for most of its length had felt relevant at the time. Smart decision or 2,500 wasted one of those would be clear soon enough.
He set up the line and cast it.
Deino finished eating and settled beside him. After a minute the chin landed on his knee that thing he'd started doing recently, just dropping his head there without asking like it was a private decision and not up for discussion.
Fine by him. More than fine actually.
10,900 left on the ID. 4,500 waiting in Jubilife. Lodge at 1,000 a night, food on top of that. Not terrible but not comfortable either. Something to work toward.
The line moved.
Small pull first, then nothing, then harder. The hook went in and whatever was on the end immediately made very clear it had somewhere better to be — short sharp bursts, direction changes, fighting the whole way to the bank.
A Piplup hit the mud and bounced upright. Shook the water off. Looked up.
A Piplup.
Of all the things that could have been on the end of that line Magikarp, Buizel, probably an old boot a Piplup.
It took in the situation. Looked at Deino, who had already stood up. For a second nobody moved.
Then it attacked.
Fast faster than expected, Pound connecting with Deino's side before the thought of calling anything had even formed. Deino stumbled sideways.
"Deino Dragon Br"
Too slow. Oh come on, too slow the Piplup was already moving again, another Pound, then Bubble catching Deino across the face. Deino flinched back and something dropped out of the moment because this wasn't the forest, there was no pause, no menu, no moment to breathe and pick the right option. The Piplup just kept coming and Deino was taking hits while the right words were still forming somewhere in the back of his head.
Get it together. Come on. Deino needs you to actually be useful right now.
"Dodge left, move left"
Not quite left but enough the next Pound glanced off Deino's shoulder instead of landing clean and the Piplup overextended and Deino turned and hit it with a Tackle that sent it skidding back through the mud.
Okay. Two seconds. Think.
The Piplup sat up. Looked at itself. Looked at Deino. Still furious, breathing harder, mud all down its front and already pulling itself back together.
Nothing like the games. In the games there was a list, time to think, type matchups laid out clean and simple. Here there was just a Piplup that kept getting up and Deino taking hits while his trainer stood on the bank being half a second too late every single time.
He was going to have to get faster. A lot faster.
"Dragon Breath. Finish it."
The burst hit square in the chest. The Piplup went back two steps, sat down hard, stayed down too tired to move. Still glaring though. Even now, still glaring.
The Pokeball was already in his hand.
Soaking wet, covered in mud, exhausted, furious. One second looking at it.
Then he threw.
The ball hit, pulled the Piplup in, dropped into the mud.
One wobble.
Two.
Three.
Click.
Cold wind off the water. Deino beside him with mud on his side from the Tackle, waiting.
The ball came up out of the mud.
Two Pokemon now. One that had walked through a door and chosen him, and one that had been pulled out of a river and lost a fight and probably had strong opinions about that. Neither of them simple. Neither of them going to be easy.
That was fine. Easy wasn't really the point.
The ball went onto his belt next to Deino's.
"Come on."
They kept walking.