When I got to the window in my room, from where I could watch Sycamore's coat waving in the wind as he walked away from the hotel, I had already decided not to follow his orders – not to coward before the unknown threat of team flare, which my friends were so excited to brave.
And so I didn't...
Route 10 was a curious one. The numberless stones scattered around the tall grass made me think of an abandoned, massive graveyard with its desolate tombs. The scenario was, however, undoubtedly beautiful – and that wasn't only my opinion: the place seemed to attract many tourists. The crowd of excited foreigners walking here and there seemed to be the only thing keeping the remarkable place from outright gloominess... That, and the casual battles: Those photograph enthusiasts seemed all too eager to fight, and their excitement glowed among the mysterious monuments.
But the most curious of all was how I could feel my Pokémon's uneasiness there... Not only mine, in fact: I could swear the creatures from both sides –friend and foe – performed poorly, as if their minds wondered elsewhere...
My share of battles done, It was while relaxing and taking my time in that vast field that I spotted what I soon assumed was one of them – Team Flare. How could I be mistaken, when they dressed so... oddly? A man in a red tuxedo seemed to be leisurely looking around, letting out an impatient sigh here and there.
I had left my friends far behind mingling with the tourists, and decided to take the opportunity to study this guy instead of jumping him like the group would have done, considering he hadn't noticed me there. So I watched him until he decided to take leave, then followed him up a trail that crossed the woods, to the west of route 10.
He was completely alone and untroubled – deaf to even the sound of my clumsy body rustling against the bushes where I hid, changing from one place to the other in a struggle to remain unseen. For a second I considered it might be a trap – he might be purposely luring me away from the group to corner and defeat me like they did Calem in that cave... I pressed my Pokéball in my hand under the thought: Charmeleon's. Sycamore favoritism might have brushed off on me a little, for the quiet lizard was my strongest ally – exceeding the others in battle experience – and I was sure I could not lose once I made him determined enough to give his best (which usually only happened by the end of the battle, when he was close to losing).
The effort proved itself unnecessary – The grunt stopped before a large circle of rocks, facing it intently. What could he want there? I watched, stretching my neck from behind a trunk, and he only stood in front of the stones, as if waiting for something to happen. And what could happen in such place? I felt that same uneasiness engulf me, too...
A loud, unwelcome ringing blew my cover – I hid back behind the tree trunk, only to realize that would never be enough: the Holocaster in my bag kept calling! I half crawled, half ran, crouched, as fast as I could, through the bushes, to a safe distance. Looking out, the grunt didn't have enough time to trace the sound to its source, and seemed to confusedly look for it within himself – his pockets and cellphone.
I slid behind a rock, sitting on the grass and sighing with relief. The call was from Professor Sycamore – his holographic face appeared, as haunting as the original.
"Hi Professor..." I greeted with some dismay.
"Anne, dear! Hi!" He gleefully replied "I have talked to your friends just now, and they told me you ran ahead – yearning to uncover those mega evolutions, are we? In any case..." he followed in a bit of a rush, not giving me enough space to react "...I thought you'd be quite close to Shalour city by now..." The question lurked in his tone and cold, digital eyes.
"I got a little side-tracked..." I half whispered, hoping he wouldn't inquire too much after that, too.
"I can see you have! A lovely day for a stroll, I'm sure!"
"Yes, it is... You see, Professor, I kind of have to..." I looked behind my shoulder, hoping not to lose sight of the grunt.
"It's indeed fantastic to see you are finally having a good time..." He gently observed, closing his eyes and cocking his head in a most adorable and mild way that rendered me slightly disarmed... "Well, I will tell you what I told the others at once, and leave you to your business" when he opened them, they were prettier still "In Shalour city you might want to find a man who knows a great deal about mega evolutions... They call him the mega evolution guru. I'm sure he has a lot of information to convey on the subject, and it might be a good thing to start there!" He smiled largely.
I limited myself to observing his image with nothing else to say.
"I will talk to you all very soon! Goodbye for now!"
...And he hung up.
The mild, innocent happiness in his expression prowled in my brain for a few seconds longer after the hologram disappeared – he actually seemed too pleased by the idea of me enjoying a day out, and for my sake only. No second intentions or selfish pleasures. It made me feel... guilty. Guilty that I was there doing exactly what he told me not to, deliberately defying what was probably just his twisted effort to keep me safe. - Which reminded me of what I was doing there in the first place!! I quickly rose from my hiding position and surveyed the place... the grunt was nowhere to be found.
***
One hour in Shalour city, and I was already bewitched by its many enchantments. Shauna was the first to catch up. She found me - distracted and distant in quiet thoughts, if not pleasant – holding my shoes in one hand in order to allow the salty water between my toes on that soft spot of sand... I didn't have to say much in my defense: looking over my head, she saw the imposing tower stretching itself into the sky a few meters away, surrounded by tall walls and ocean alone. From a distance, one could easily assume the tower was built on the water itself, and not in a small island, as was the case.
Shalour city basically consisted of two hills next to each other, cradling a narrow sand path leading to the tower – the view was amazing; the feeling of standing in the middle of the ocean in that narrow path was even more fantastic... The girl seemed one not too fond of long musings, but even she appreciated the silence there.
We rested our weary feet on the sand until the stars began hanging over the sky, bending our way and looking almost as if they could drop down like a silvery liquid... Then our friends arrived, all of them excessively tired from the battles and the long walk.
We booked our rooms in the hotel, but stayed up until late in the lobby, playing games and laughing. Somehow the interaction didn't wear us down much more than we already were, but rather lightened up our moods and made finally crashing on our beds all the more enjoyable. There was little energy left for thinking when I secluded myself in my room, and even though the sky was too vast and the stars were too many, and I was so far from what I knew as a home, sleep soon came and rushed me to the next day in my journey. The day of my third gym badge, and the day of figuring out what these mega evolutions were all about...
With Fletchinder growing stronger since we first met in route 2, defeating Korrina's party wasn't hard at all. The sturdy bird took on her Mienfoo and Machoke; two victories making him weary, I let Chasm battle agaisnt the gym's Hawlucha – who was easily defeated by a thunderbolt.
The friendly woman with blonde hair and grey eyes reflected the city to me: fresh and relaxed. After Calem earned his own badge, we stayed to inquire after the 'mega evolution guru' and were surprised to find that she was his granddaughter. Hoping the man would prove himself as friendly and cooperative as she was, we asked if we could see him. She set up a meeting for all of us later on the same day; we were supposed to wait in front of the tower at noon.
The five of us stayed together during that time – Trevor was awfully quiet, but didn't seem unhappy overall, so I decided not to risk myself asking the question that everyone else was thinking about: why wouldn't he even try to get a badge of his own? The mood blew carefully around the subject everyone seemed sensitive about, but I daresay I knew better: Working on the Pokedéx seemed to have finally taken over the boy's interests completely. If possible, he seemed even more passionate about studying Pokémon and gathering as much data as he could on them. If he joined us in our training, he did so because he looked forward to the evolution of his party. If he took on random battles, it was to register new creatures and their different forms. Right before leaving ahead of them in route 10, I saw him glow with excitement for spotting a Granbull, completely ignoring he had lost the battle. It almost seemed like losing to Grant proved itself a blessing, allowing him to give up on all the rest and follow only in his passion. I figured that Calem, in his enthusiastic competitive thrill, had no right to judge the Trevor or feel sorry for him... Neither did I, in my need to keep up. He had found what he loved in that journey and decided to follow it in order to enjoy the experience, just like Sycamore told us we should do. Soon, Shauna and Tierno would follow: The first was much more interested in enjoying a good time and travelling a lot with her beloved Pokémon, while the latter cared mostly about moves and coming up with a new choreography to show off in battle...
Soon, it would be only Calem and I chasing after gym badges – he was without a doubt moved by his love for competition, while me... What was it that I really liked? Sycamore's face showed up in my mind like fog – his cold eyes, his warm smile and the confusion they caused. I waved it away as if it was a disease – I felt I could have been much freer, and much happier, if I hadn't let him take a hold of my heart as he did.
And speaking of him – a couple of hours after earning our new badge, we were greeted by two of Sycamore's assistants: they were there to explain the history of the Tower of Mastery in Shalour city, where we were supposed to go, but mostly, they brought gifts from the Professor: each of us received a different type of Pokeball, three for each, while Trevor received only one: a lustrous luxury ball, with a pleasant surprise inside.
While the mystery, and the most probable cause behind that gift annoyed me, I couldn't help but feel happy for Trevor when, sending out the content of the ball, he found out he was now the fortunate master of an Amaura, a rock-ice ancient Pokémon he had only seen in books thus far, also awakened from a fossil...
It was very curious to watch as Trevor preferred to first jump up and hug the long neck of the cute thing rather than opening up his pokedéx and looking up all the information he could – that's how happy he was, and probably how much more significant the gift was because it had come from his adored Professor! On my part, I was glad Sycamore was doing something to deserve how much Trevor idolized him, or to at least show appreciation... but deep down, I was sure it was but his modus operandi put into action again: giving out fossil Pokémon in exchange for silence. It was almost laughable...
The assistants themselves looked at each other in what seemed like amazement upon beholding the Pokémon – I giggled at their frustration.
"It's really amazing, isn't it?" Calem had frowned, confusedly scratching his head.
"I know, right?!" Trevor smiled, his arms still around Amaura's neck "I bet no one has ever seen this one before..."
"No, not that..." Calem impatiently replied "But the fact that Sycamore could get his hands in two fossils, and so easily..."
Trevor's eyes traced their way into mine.
I approached the new loving pair... Stretched my hand and caressed the thing's head.
"I thought Team Flare had stolen all of them in Glittering Cave..." I mused aloud.
"They did – the assistant came back empty-handed after days of work! So freaking unnerving..." Calem grinded his teeth, possibly feeling responsible for the misfortune – after all, if he had managed to defeat the grunts, they wouldn't have been able to take anything out of the cave.
"Good thing Professor Sycamore is so amazing..." Trevor's innocent voice spoke up "He can bring fossils back with so much as a pebble for material... Isn't that right, Anne?"
I nodded a short agreement, not willing to speak for something I didn't fully understand.
"I have to say... The thing is pretty cute!" Calem's frown let up and he smiled, also starting to rub Amaura's head. Its large, enchanting eyes glowed so intensely...
Few minutes more of everyone getting to know and melting into Trevor's new Pokémon's charms, we received a call from Sycamore – his assistants had checked in on the delivery, and he wanted to see how well we enjoyed the presents. Trevor's adoration went vocal: he thanked Sycamore with a full heart and called him something along the lines of 'fantastic', to which the older one blushed and I rolled my eyes, thinking the last thing he needed was another boost to his ego.
"What about you, Anne? How did you like yours?" His cold holographic eyes turned to me without much ceremony, and I was probably the only one who could notice the slightly bigger expectation in his voice tone. My gift had been three heal balls – they were pink. It was a pretty generic gift, overall: "pink for a girl", when I didn't even like the color; but all those balls could be bought from a shop, and it was pretty clear to me that they were just given to mask the fossil Pokémon and try to make his gift to Trevor a little more subtle... What those eyes heavy with expectation asked me about wasn't the Pokéballs, but rather how I liked the fact that he was being nice to Trevor.
I answered a neutral "It's cool", and walked away to avoid further inquiries, leaving him to Calem's harsh interrogation on this process Trevor and I mentioned of "bringing fossils back with a pebble".
I walked up one of the hills and sat on a bench, from where I could see the group in the city square talking, and from where I could see the ocean stretching far – Sycamore soon ended his call to them, and called back to me. I picked the Holocaster up and answered it without a greet.
"Now that's a sullen face..." He promptly observed, somewhat amused, as if he was talking to a cross child "Do you forget that I have given you the exact same gift just a few days ago?"
"I am not jealous, if that's what you're implying..." I raised an eyebrow, surprised that he would think so.
"What is it then?" His smile was mild... His eyes drew closer, even though that wasn't possible in the hologram.
I sighed. "Nothing, I just..." I thought about what annoyed me so much, for I wasn't so sure myself "Trevor is so happy..." I looked over the hill, watching them: he ran around Amaura, teasing the long-necked creature into trying to catch him "Ecstatic even..."
"I don't see where the problem is, in that case!" His smile stretched, consumed by pride "It's a situation where we all win, is it not? The boy has his fossil Pokémon, I don't have to worry about neither of you going after Team Flare to retrieve the stolen ones..."
My eyes widened.
"... I did have to answer to quite some unpleasantries from your friend Calem, it is true..." he went on, unaware of my shock "I might have forgotten to mention to both you and Trevor the secrecy of my private research?"
"So that's your reason? Get a fossil so none of us goes after Team Flare?" I raised an eyebrow.
Finally realizing why I was upset, Sycamore seemed embarrassed:
"Well... I wouldn't speak for all of them, but that seemed like a logical motivation to you? In any case, I am hoping your business with Team Flare is done hereafter, and the event in the cave can be effectively forgotten, or left to be handled by proper authorities at the very least..."
"That is just..." I was shaking my head negatively, thinking of a good enough adjective, when Calem showed up, coming my way.
"I apologize if the act behind the present seems now disappointing. On my behalf, all I can do is hope for the effect I initially intended... I count on your cooperation, as always, my dear..." he hurriedly concluded, his eyes switching from me to Calem at every second "Enjoy the rest of your day!"
And just like that, the call was off before I could add my own words to it.
"What was that all about?!" Calem crept up behind me, thinking I hadn't noticed him until then.
"Nothing, just Sycamore giving me a hard time... Apparently..." I thought up an excuse "Apparently we weren't supposed to discuss his research on fossils, so he hopes it won't leave this circle."
"Hum... that! Sure!" He crossed his arms behind his head, stretching himself in a disdainful way.
"It's almost four o'clock... We should get going."
"Yeah, that's actually what I came to pick you up for: I'm sure Korrina is already waiting for us in front of the tower. Let's go, neighbor."