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Ch 48 - Returns
🕑 Added 2023-08-02 11:17:11 +0000 UTC“..some damage to the top of the fence but Pidgey and I were unable to find anything further.”
Oliver chewed on the information and his breakfast for a minute. Michael flicked his attention back and forth between the two of them as he shovelled his own food down. David was morbidly fascinated at how quickly the kid could eat without looking like a slob or a pig.
Oliver tutted and set his cutlery down. “It could be a flying type perching but it’s more likely to be a Mankey.”
“Oooh.” Michael cooed with a mouth of food.
David frowned. “I didn’t realise they came to Celadon.” He’d seen warnings for them on Route 8, but that was on the other side of Saffron from Celadon. “Should we be worried?”
Oliver glanced to the side at Michael. “No, their season is over. Just keep an eye out. If a troop was making its way down from the hills we wouldn’t be the first in line.” Oliver looked at Michael and his moustache twitched. "I’ll report it today."
“Aawh.” Michael dropped his fork onto the table. “What about pruning? And I wanted to explore the grove.”
Oliver focused back on his food. “We have another two weeks before the berries will be ripe. We can do that tomorrow.”
“And the grove?” Michael whined.
Oliver ignored him. Michael groaned and turned to David instead.
David pretended he couldn’t see the pleading eyes. It worked for all of thirty seconds.
“I’ll be around later. We can explore the grove after my patrol.”
As Michael celebrated, David glared at Oliver. It wasn’t like the old man wouldn’t be following after Michael anyway. Why did he pretend not to go in with his grandson?
“I’m done,” Michael announced. His hand inched towards the bowl of berries. “Can I feed Pidgey?”
Oliver’s hand flashed out and pulled the bowl away. He didn’t look up from his own plate. “No. You shouldn’t feed others Pokemon.”
“But! You said it was okay ‘cause she was a baby!”
“Baby Pokemon are less likely to eat the hand that feeds them,” Oliver began calmly. “But bad habits form quickly. Doubly so for wild catches.”
“But that’s-”
“No.”
Oliver’s voice cut through David in a burst. He shuddered. Across from him, Michael did the same. It was a strange sensation, a soft sharpness that seemed contradictory but kept on growing and- Oliver reached for the berry bowl again and pushed it at David.
The movement broke David and Michael from their daze. Michael recovered faster, crossing his arms and settling into a sulk. David was slower and reached for an Oran berry. It wasn’t Pidgey’s favourite but it would help her recover.
As he turned away to release Pidgey and feed her, his thoughts were racing.
What had Oliver done? That wasn’t normal. That wasn’t caused by his tone of voice or anything. Who was this old man? And why did it matter if someone else fed Pidgey? Was it a bonding thing or teaching her not to take food from others or from the orchard herself?
Pidgey appeared in a flash and David mechanically set the berry down and gave her a pat.
“David, here.”
David turned and blinked as he saw the envelope. A small rainbow lay in the bottom right corner of the white envelope.
“Your pay.” Oliver prompted gruffly.
David took the envelope and held it with both hands. Had it been seven days already?
“What are you going to get?” Michael asked, peering at the envelope as if hoping to see through it. It seemed Michael’s curiosity overrode all his other feelings.
“I don’t know,” David answered. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. This job took care of most of what he needed so he’d gone the complete opposite direction of his first few weeks in this world. From worrying about every Poke to not thinking about it at all.
75P a day for 7 days. 525P. 545P with what he had left. A week of caretaking paid better than berry hunting. But one lucky find of a ring out in the wild had equaled it.
“A pokeball?” David thought out loud.
Oliver snorted while Michael ooh-ed.
-.-
David was conflicted as he walked through Celadon. He still had a bit of time before he was due to meet the others so he headed to the Pokemart.
A pokeball.
Was it time to catch another Pokemon? What should he catch? Could he catch a Pokemon with a single pokeball, the weakest of the lot?
Pidgey’s ball bounced on his chest. What would Pidgey think of another Pokemon? Would she welcome a training partner or get territorial? Pidgey had no issue with the other Pokemon in the training group but she showed a definite preference for Terry’s Sandshrew over any of the others.
David’s steps slowed. Would he be able to manage two Pokemon? Even two Pidgeys sounded like a hassle. Having to learn another Pokemon’s habits, diet and training needs… Could he afford another Pokemon? He might be able to get Oliver to agree to feeding another Pokemon, but after he left?
David searched through his bag for his notebook and flicked to his old wishlist from Saffron. He began to reorder it.
- Sunglasses
- Pokeball
- Clothes
- Map
- Escape rope
- Weight bracelets
The order didn’t make too much sense from a glance. Sunglasses seemed to have no place at the top for one. They hadn't been there in Saffron either. Things had changed since then. The Fearow and plains around Celadon had left an impression on him that hadn't faded.
It was difficult enough spotting Pokemon amongst the tall grass without throwing the blinding sun into the equation. The plains had also lacked any coverage overhead. David couldn’t expect there to always be trees around to hide him from the predators above. He’d need to keep an eye on the sky and for that sunglasses were a must.
Clothes were high up as only using one set was starting to wear on him. He’d already been getting looks as people noticed his lack of a wardrobe. Danny, who was another trainer living out of a backpack, had at least four pairs. Besides, while the farm’s shower provided a great spot to wash his clothes, David didn’t know what he’d do when others needed to use the canteen and bathroom. Judging by Oliver's earlier comment, he had three weeks.
According to ‘Just wing it’, Pidgey would need the weight bracelets to build strength for carrying packages and flight in general. Thankfully, she was not ready yet and he could substitute branches and stones for now.
As for the pokeball, map and escape rope, he would need them all. Eventually.
In the time it took to reorder his list, he reached the Pokemart. Inside David took a second to study the store layout. It was very similar to the Saffron pokemart but with one addition. A marker had been added for a pokeball section. The new area was right at the back and separate from all the rest.
On the way there he lingered only at the flying section. Celadon had the same kind of food pouches as Saffron. Oliver fed Pidgey but… David wasn’t sure if the two berries a day was enough for Pidgey. No, he knew it wasn't going to be. The nutritional section of the leaflets was definite on that. He examined the sachets again before cursing and carrying on. Pokeballs were cheap in the game. He would get one and pick up some food for Pidgey on his way back.
The pokeball section was.. different from the rest of the shop.
Two guards stood at either side of the entrance to a small room. They openly displayed their pokeballs, three for one and four for another. David had seen no other guards around the Pokemart or the city. Only here and outside the Pokecenter.
Thick metal shutters hung above the entrance to the room, ready to fall down and lock the room at the click of a button or the sounding of an alarm.
David slowed as he approached the intimidating entrance. It wasn’t a busy area of the Pokemart and one of the guards tracked him as he approached.
Thankfully David didn’t need to pass by them. The prices and pokeball listings were visible from outside the room. All the writing was large, likely to reduce the number of people who needed to enter the area. It made it easy for David. A pokeball cost 1000 Poke. He couldn’t afford one.
David simultaneously felt disappointed and relieved. He wasn’t getting another Pokemon. He didn’t need to choose between what was best for Pidgey and what was best for him as a trainer. Not yet.
He examined the other advertising in the room before leaving. Pokeball refitting services were a lot cheaper than buying a pokeball but the cost increased depending on what pokeball you needed to upgrade to. Pokeball repair was offered but no price was listed. It was all interesting but not his problem. Not yet.
David gave the guard watching him a nod and left.
In a strange coincidence he ran into Lauren, the woman who recommended a specific food sachet to him in the Flying type section in Saffron. She didn’t stop to chat but gave him a smile as she saw the four sachets in his arms.
-.-
At the usual stands, the training group split in two.
Danny and Sarah queued up at a pitch for a match while the rest of them made for the secluded area behind the folded up seating. The two of them were the only ones with Pokemon not on healing rest.
David joined Terry for some more Sand Attack practice. Sandshrew had a good grasp of the Move and now knew the more advanced version, Mud Slap, but Terry was firm in her desire to keep practising Sand Attack. Especially with Pidgey.
“Mud Slap didn’t affect Pidgey at all beyond shock. Sand Attack does. It’s a very important move.” Terry explained.
David just hummed and smiled as Pidgey and Sandshrew chattered away to each other. He had been nervous releasing the two together - the last time they had seen each other was after a bloody fight, but both Pokemon reacted to each other like the battle had only been a light training match. He didn't know if he'd ever get used to or understand the incredible creatures.
“How’s Pidgey?” Terry asked.
“She’s fine. New feathers have.. sprouted? already. She wants to start training but we’ll wait like the Pokecenter clerk said. How about Sandshrew?”
Terry sighed. “He has a few cracked scales that will be a pain until he next moults. It's better for him to get used to it now though. He’ll lose a bucket full on the way to evolving into a Sandslash.”
“Oh.” David squinted at Sandshrew. Did the Pokemon shed its skin like a snake or did old scales fall off as new ones grew beneath?
“Mmh,” Terry hummed. “Have you made any progress on Sand Attack?”
David shook his head. “We’ve been focusing on controlling those lavender spirals but I have a few ideas. Pidgey likes to take dust baths and..”
-.-
“How was your trip across Celadon then?” Danny asked.
“Huh? Oh, it was successful. I found the gym.”
They gave Martin, Sarah, Terry and Tulia a wave as the four left the stands in the other direction. “How about yourself?”
“Oh? where was it?” Danny asked as she pulled out a notebook.
“In the southwest. I think it’s in the third ring of the city but it's hard to tell with all the stadiums around it.”
“Ring?”
David explained his theory about how Celadon was structured. City centre and apartments in the first two rings, Berry farms in the third, vegetable farms in the second and grain farms in the outer ring.
“Ah,” Danny nodded. She wrote something down in her notebook before turning it towards David. A compass filled the page with each of the cardinal directions marked. The White Pokeballs’s symbol filled the centre but David followed Danny’s finger to a mark on the east of the page. “I found the Celadon department story. They really do sell just about everything.”
“How far out is it?” David asked, trying to gauge the distance based off of the gap between Danny’s marks for the Pokecenter and the stands they were in right now.
Danny turned the page back towards herself. “I think around the third ring too?” She laughed. “The department store sells guides for the city. I should have bought one but I really didn’t want to. I felt like it would take away some of the fun you know?”
David grinned. “You say that now but spend a few hours running around those apartment blocks and...”
“No, it’s still worth it. A book would take all the fun out of it. You’d just go from A to B and ignore everything in between.”
David hummed noncommittally. “Well if I get one I’ll let you know what you’re missing.”
He did have some money at the moment. And even if he couldn’t get a pokeball yet, the department store should have lots of things he needed.
“Do.” Danny stepped away at the next crossroads. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
-----------------
David’s team will not expand before the gym I’m afraid. Pokeballs will be more permanent and work slightly differently in this world so their price has changed to reflect that. David will not be carrying around a sack of fifty in a bag to throw at anything that moves.
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