Walking north along the road leading toward Windmill Hills, I couldn't help but smile at the serene sounds of nature.
Now that we were far enough away from the Cities and towns, I could really see what the World of Pokemon was about, the walks through the forest with your friends, the green of the trees hiding the homes of hundreds of different creatures, all amazing in their own right.
From the Nymble jumping between the bushes nearby to the family of Capsakids lying near the sides of this dirt road, using the lack of trees directly above them to sunbathe, and even the Bombirdier in the distance, cackling at the loud sounds it was creating.
All of these Pokemon are magnificent in their own unique way!
"Hey Dishon, Look! I think I can see the Pokecenter from over here! Let's run!" Not even Dendra's energetic yelling could ruin the serene nature of this little walk.
"Let's not run," I told her, Stopping in the middle of the road and closing my eyes, taking a deep breath to try and truly feel the smell of nature.
"Huh, Why not?" Dendra leaned over, the smell of her shampoo mixing with the earthy smells of the forest.
"Because I'm enjoying nature," I told her, still keeping my eyes closed as I absorbed the world with my other senses.
The spicy smell of the nearby Capsikids, The sounds of the rocks being dropped by the Bombirdier high in the sky, even the sound of the wind tearing as the Nymble leaped around us like a martial artist in an old Kung Fu movie, all wonderful parts of this worlds natural order.
It was nice to simply close my eyes for a moment and zone out, forgetting about all the things that happened in just the last two days.
From finding out Team Flare was somehow active in Paldea, to an Earthquake causing the Hotel to close for a while, to finally getting a girlfriend, to almost dying thanks to Hernan's horrible cooking, to once again crossing that accursed bridge in the cave, to even a small thing like giving Fanny instructions as a Trainer, when I told her to use Smog on that Wattrel.
It was all so much in so little time, It's just... Nice to take a deep breath and have a moment.
"Sal?" Fanny, however, seemed to have other plans in store, as she started poking me with her fingers, "Landit Landit Landit!"
"Okay Okay!" I swiped my hand over where her claws were, missing her entirely but still hearing a raspy chuckle from the Salamander Bandit, "I'll keep moving, It is getting late after all, We can finish this last little leg of the journey for today, and then make camp," I opened my eyes for the simple purpose of rolling them.
"Come on Dishon! You can enjoy nature later! We still need to get our tents set up!" Dendra slapped me on the shoulder before she rushed ahead, followed by her Falinks and Hariyama.
Her Medicham turned to look at me, showed what I could only describe as an apologetic smile, pat me on the back, and went ahead to join her trainer and teammates.
Leaving Fanny and I behind with the last member of her team.
"So, Big guy, You're not going to run after them?" I turned to look at the Fighting/Water type, Fanny climbing up my back so she could rest her chin on my shoulder, giving the Tauros a smug look, as if she was trying to tell him "I'm light enough to hang off his body," causing me to smile at her silly display of superiority and scratch her chin.
She is a poison type, after all.
Tauros huffed and shook his head, motioning for us to start moving along before starting to walk after his trainer, content to take things slow in the back with us.
"Sal!" Fanny slapped the side of my shoulder with her claw, pointing forward with her other claw as if I was some sort of ancient colossal and she was a princess riding on the shoulders of her titanic protector.
Yep, She is my toxic little princess, after all.
------------------------------------------
Finding ourselves a nice spot of flat ground, roughly two hundred and fifty meters from the Pokemon Center, Dendra and I started making our tents for the night.
And it wasn't only us, Looking around, we could see more tents being propped up by different trainers and their Pokemon, some of them Students from the Academy going on their yearly treasure hunt, some looked like independent trainers going to challenge the gyms, and one group seemed to be an older man taking his children on a trip.
"It seems we weren't the only ones who picked this spot for the night," I heard Dendra say as she walked up to stand beside me, hands on her hips as we both stood in front of our tents, looking at the slowly growing mass of tents that littered the area around the Pokemon Center.
"This is a good spot," I nodded, "Close enough to the Pokemon Center in case the 'mons need something, while also being further enough from both Alfronda and Cortondo that the city lights aren't a bother."
"And if anything does go bad, both towns are close enough that someone could get there if they ran." Dendra pointed out with a nod of her own.
"Yep," I gave one final nod to the sight of the camp before I turned to the area behind our tents, ready to start getting our dinner out, only to pause when I heard a small voice call out to me.
"Excuse me... Can I place my tent here?"
Turning my head to see who was asking, I am greeted by the sight of Dendra trying to stop herself, and failing horribly, from cooing at the person who walked up to us.It was a child, maybe only ten years old, give or take a few months, easily the youngest we've seen tonight.
Well, The youngest without adult supervision, at least.
"It's just that, There's a hole in my tent and I don't want any wild Pokemon trying to take what's inside while I'm sleeping..." The young girl said, her brown eyes flicking away to the side in shyness, her hand moving to play with her black hair for a moment before she stomped her foot on the ground, "I'm sorry! I'll go place my tent somewhere else!" She yelled before turning away from us and running to an empty spot a few meters away.
"Dishon! Look what you did!" Dendra exclaimed as she turned to stare at me in horror, "I thought you were good with children!"
"What made you think that?!" I sputtered out as I widened my eyes at Dendra, looking at her as if she was crazy.
"You're always soft-spoken with the younger Pokemon at the Hotel!" She pointed a finger at me, "And you have this Older Brother type of feel whenever you talk to your phone on the weekends!" She raised another finger, now using both fingers as a finger gun, her second hand moving to hold the finger gun, her arms starting to tremble.
"Don't make me do this!" She cried dramatically, finger gun shaking in her grasp as she tried to tear her eyes away from me, unwilling to look at the carnage she would make.
I hid the smirk that was growing on my face as whatever stupid idea Dendra had was quickly starting to unravel as her plan began to make sense in my mind.
"Dendra put the gun down, I can explain..." I tried to disarm the situation, raising both hands to show that I was unarmed.
A quick look to the side told me that the little girl was watching the goings-on with intrigue, good.
"You're not acting yourself, Scaring away a little girl like that? What happened to the man who was crying on that bench in the park so long ago? Where is he?" Tears started to roll down Dendra's eyes, her voice breaking and flaring the dramatic tension between us.
"There's an explanation for all of it!" I exclaimed, taking a heavy step forward, causing Dendra to take a step back, "I just... I can't explain it yet!" I turned away from her with dramatic speed, "I need more time to gather..."
"Gather what?" Dendra whispered in question, her breath calming down as the finger gun steadied in her hands.
A brief look to the side told me that the kid was watching the two of us with eyes wide open, enjoying the makeshift show.
Time for the twist.
"...The money..." I whispered, turning my neck in order to look at Dendra from over my shoulder, "You need to understand, Dendra, all I did, from the honest lies and broken promises, I did it for us! You need to trust me on this... Please... Do it for me..."
Dendra took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Why do you need the money?"
The kid was nodding her head along with the question, her young mind already invested in the scene in front of her.
"Don Paisano has my sister hostage..." I whispered out, "He said he'll kill her if I don't bring him ten million... And then he'll kill me." I quickly turned back to fully look at Dendra, crocodile tears slowly dripping from my eyes.
"You've been working for Don Paisano... this whole time?!" Dendra yelled at me, her hold on the Finger Gun seeming to tighten worse than before, "That man killed my Mom!"
Before I could move to the next line, Dendra opened her mouth and said "Bang!", Her hand moving as she fired the finger gun.
I froze, my right hand quickly moving to cover my heart as I stared with wide eyes at my killer... My knees buckled as I collapsed onto my back, rasped breath escaping me as I stared at the twilight sky, the last sight I'd likely ever see...
Dendra quickly rushed to sit beside me, The kid also took a few steps closer so she could hear the following lines.
"Why..." I coughed, "Why did you..." I coughed again, "Why... Why did you say the word Bang?"
Dendra rolled onto her back and burst into laughter, followed by her Falinks and Hariyama, who were all silently watching the scene.
"SALANDIT?!" Fanny, who stayed silent during the show, slammed her tail into my shoulder, angry that I ruined the scene.
"Why are you angry at me for?" I smile at Fanny before I roll onto my stomach and push myself back onto my feet, "She's the one who said Bang," I turned to Dendra, "Why didn't you just make a Pew sound with your mouth?! Bang? Really?"
Dendra didn't respond, too busy laughing at my horrible final words.I rolled my eyes at her and turned to the kid, "Yeah, you can place your tent here, sorry for not responding fast enough earlier, I just didn't expect something like that,"
The girl widened her eyes and nodded her head, "Oh, thank you! I promise I won't be a bother!"
"It's fine," I smiled at her, "I'm Dishon by the way. And the goofball rolling on the floor here is Dendra, we're on our way to Cascarrafa," I poke Dendra with my foot, "What about you?"
"Oh, Eh... I'm also on my way to Cascarrafa, I need to challenge the Gym leader there for my second badge!" The kid smiled widely at the mention of challenging the gym.
Now, I know that anyone can challenge the gym as long as they have a trainer license, And I know that in Pokemon the characters are pretty young. But I still find it hard to believe that children as young as ten can just go and challenge the world with minimal supervision.Just goes to show you how safe this place is. Parents feel no issues with letting their children travel the region on their own. Crime is so low that most crooks just get caught by other trainers, and the only real dangers posed to people are wild Pokemon off the beaten path, in areas that you'd need to be a strong enough trainer to even reach.
With Silph-co Technology, there's no fear of trainers dying of starvation or to the elements. With Pokecenters dotted everywhere, if there's an emergency there'll always be a safe spot just a day away.
Really, as long as there isn't an Evil Team running around the region causing havoc, The world of Pokemon is almost surprisingly safe.
"Oh no! I almost forgot to introduce myself!" The kid suddenly slapped the sides of her face, turned around quickly, and started rummaging through her bag.
After a few seconds, the kid turned back with a colorful pink and blue mask covering her face, a platinum blonde wig over her head, and a Pokeball raised high above her head as she struck a pose while releasing the Pokemon inside.
The light from the Pokeball illuminated the kid as she smiled widely, her mask stretching along her face, "I'm Eri the Great! Uwaagh!" She gave what I could only describe as a ten-year-old's attempt at a wrestler war cry, like something you'd hear in the WWE.
"Mankey!" Her Pokemon popped out of the light from his Pokeball and joined his trainer in their Wrestler pose.
"Ha! Hariyama!" We then turned to look at Dendra's Hariyama attempting to copy the pose.
"Fa! Links Links Links!" The Energetic members of Dendra's team soon joined in the posing, Leaving Fanny and Tauros as the only two Pokemon not part of the commotion.
While the Pokemon did their thing, and Dendra lay on the ground, I helped Eri get her tent set up, the younger trainer asking me different questions about the Pokemon in our group. It wasn't long before a specific question was raised.
"You... You don't mind if I join you two on the way to Cascarrafa, right? It's just, It's only me, Mankey, and my Dad's old Passimian... So it gets kind of boring just walking on the road..." Eri asked as she fluffed her sleeping bag, taking her mask and wig off before placing them back in her bag, placing the bag beside her sleeping bag, on the other side from an old tear in the tent, small enough to be covered up by some patchwork, but still big enough that a small Pokemon might climb inside and try and snatch something.
"Sure," I smile softly at the kid, "Dendra and I are making another stop outside of Cascarrafa tomorrow, but we should be there by the morning after tomorrow," I told her Dendra and I's travel plan, "I hope it's no problem."
"Oh! No problem at all!" Eri quickly said, "It's actually... Umm, Do you think Dendra can help me with my Pokemon? She's a fighting type, right?"
"I'm sure she'd be happy to once you ask her, The two of you'll be able to talk about something tomorrow," I pat the kid on the shoulder before I exited her tent, "We have some extra food as well, If you'd like to join us for dinner," I raise an eyebrow at the kid.
And if the drool slowly dripping from her mouth at the mention of the word "Dinner" is anything to go by, I already know what the answer will be.
Suffice it to say, Our little party gained a new member for the time being.