I woke up early in the morning to the sounds of singing Swablu, I carefully crawled out of my tent, making sure not to nudge Fanny too much, before I stood up and stretched my back, feeling the knots caused by sleeping on the floor slowly melt away as I did some morning stretches.
"Pass..." I looked to my right, seeing a large Monkey lying outside a small tent with a hole in the side, the Passimian having stayed outside all night also woke up early.
"Hey there big guy," I nodded at the Fighting type, the Pokemon tiredly nodding back, his head resting on his elbows as he lay on his stomach.
I looked to my left, watching a pair of large Fighting types, A Tauros and a Hariyama, both snoring quietly as they lay on the grass, "I guess the Falinks and Medicham are inside..." I noted before taking one final stretch, hearing a comfortable popping sound escaping from my neck.
Crawling back into my tent to check the time on my phone, I see that it's already seven fifteen in the morning, A time at which I'm usually already awake and at work.
"Get up," I nudge the sleeping Poison-type that was laying spread-eagle on her back like a scaly white corpse, "You know that sleeping position isn't good for you, come on girl, wake up," I shake her a bit, letting her front claws tiredly try to slap my hand away before she finally opened her eyes, a hissing groan leaving her throat before she tiredly spun onto her stomach, her eyes glaring at me before she opened her mouth wide, letting out a long and relaxed yawn before she finally closed her mouth, licking her lips and slapping her tail on my sleeping bag before she finally moved her legs, quickly making her way halfway up my body before she wrapped around my waist like a fanny pack, closed her eyes once more and returned to sleep.
"...You're lucky I love you." I told the Salandit, smirking at the soft "Sal" that escaped her lips after I said that.
Having decided to let my partner sleep some more, I started packing up my tent, enjoying the ease of use of my new Silph-Co bag.
"I'm going to fill up these water bottles," I raised a trio of empty two-liter water bottles, showing them to the old Passimian, "Think you can watch the fort for a bit longer?"
"Simian..." The Pokemon grumbled with a slow nod, I nodded back before I started making my way to the outside water tap beside the nearby Pokemon Center.
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After filling the bottles up, I decided to step inside the Pokecenter, just to give Fanny a checkup. I know she's as healthy as could be, or at least as healthy as a Salandit who doesn't train could be, but the Pokecenter was free, so there were no real downsides to not getting a checkup.
"Good Morning~" As I stepped through the automatic doors of the red-roofed building that was the Pokemon Center, I was greeted by a very tired-looking nurse with short purple hair wearing the regular Pokemon Center uniform, an exhausted yawn leaving her mouth as her head rested on the desk in front of her.
"Bliss~" A Large pink Pokemon joined the nurse in letting out a yawn as she waddled over and outstretched her stubby little arms, making a "Gimme" motion.
"Just a moment," I smiled at the Blissey as I pried Fanny off of me and passed her over to the Happiness Pokemon.
"Landit~" Fanny hissed quietly as the Blissey took her through a pair of doors and into the back of the Pokemon Center, Looking over the desk the nurse sat at I could see the Blissey place Fanny on a machine through the open wall behind the nurse. A measure created to allow trainers to see their Pokemon while taking a basic checkup.
"It seems everyone's still tired," I mused to myself as I sat down in a chair in the corner near the entrance, letting me watch the trainers outside slowly packing up their own tents as I opened up a nearby newspaper, catching up with things going on in the Region.
"More news about Gym Leader Grapa's successor, I'll read that later, Rumors about Gym Leader Tyme considering retirement, still only rumors, Online streamer in Levincia gaining rapid popularity, that's cute, A Youngster from Zapapico completed the Gym Circuit in his first year at the Academy and is planning on challenging the Elite 4, Good luck to that kid, Oh, here we are, Southwest Paldea is recovering from Earthquake, Tera Crystals forming on the surface, an Increase in Wild Pokemon Terastallization~" I hummed to myself as I continued reading the article, noting down the estimated damages from both the Earthquake and the Powered-up Pokemon.
We won't be getting a full image of things until the Rangers map out all the areas affected, which includes going off the beaten path, there could theoretically be a Terastallized Clodsire terrorizing a lake somewhere and we wouldn't notice until weeks later when some Trainers go there and find the place empty. A Wild Terasstalized Pokemon is an Ecological time bomb, luckily most of the time the Terastal Phenomenon dissipates after enough time passes, and usually there's only one Terastallized Wild Pokemon at a time, but this increase could spell a lot of work for the Pokemon League to take care of, the danger posed could slow down repairs to things like roads and bridges.
"Salandit!" I turn away from the Newspaper to watch Fanny crawling out of the doors leading to the Back, rubbing at her eyes as she climbed up the chair I sat in and curled up on my lap like a kitten.
"Bliss~" The Blissey that accompanied her smiled tiredly at me as she gave me a document detailing all I needed to know about Fanny's health.
To make a boring story short, My Princess was fine. There was a note to have her do some physical exercises like running or climbing to work on her muscles, pointing out that she was starting to get fat for her species.
"Dit?" I smiled at my Partner Pokemon.
"The Doctor's saying you're gaining weight~" I told her, watching with amusement as her eyes widened in horror before she grabbed her stomach with her claws, a look of terror on her face as she watched her tiny hands sink a bit into her flesh.
"Salandit! Landit Sal!" She cried, grabbing onto my shirt and slapping me with her tail.
"There there~" I pat her head, "You're not going to be fat, all you need to do is run around a bit more, maybe join me for my jogs and stretches as a participant instead of an accessory~"
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"Nooo! I don't want to exercise! I want to be carried and taken care of! Don't make me take care of myself, that's supposed to be your job!" Fanny cried as she shook her trainer's shirt, "Stop smiling at me like that!"
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"Good morning, Eri." The girl in question turned behind her to see one of the older trainers she decided to join on the journey to her Gym walk up to her, His white Salandit hanging onto his shoulders while slapping his back with her tail.
"Oh, Good morning Mister Dishon!" The girl said, straightening her back to look more adult next to the young man.
"Please, Just call me Dishon, Mister makes me feel old, and I already feel older than I am, soon I'll start feeling like a zombie." Eri giggled at the face the trainer made at being called "Mister"
"Sure thing!" She smiled as she returned to packing up her tent, watching Dishon from the corner of her eye as he sat down on the grass, his Salandit climbing off of him and running around him in circles, her face almost looking like she was crying.
"When do we start going?" Eri asked as she was folding her old tent, her Mankey helping her shove the tarp into her bag by pressing down on it.
"To Cascarrafa? After we eat our breakfast and pack our tents," Dishon told her, Eri nodding as she joined her Mankey in pushing the tent into her bag, smiling at the popping sound that came out when the Silph-co technology finally activated and shrunk the tent into a carryable size and weight.
"But before we do all that, you're going to need to call your parents," Eri paused at that, the girl turning to look at the older teenager.
"Why?" She asked, her Mankey tilting his head as he mimicked his trainer.
"To tell them you're traveling with us, of course," Dishon smiled at her, a soft and brotherly expression on his face, "When was the last time you called them? Did you call them after the earthquake? If you didn't then they could be worried sick about you. It's only natural for parent to worry about their child's well being, It'll also be nice to update them and tell them that you're travelling with Dendra and I, just so they'll know you're not getting into trouble with other trainers,"
"Passimian..." If Dishon's words didn't convince Eri that she needed to update her parents, her Dad's old Passimian did.
"Fine..." Eri grumbled with a pout, "Let's go call Dad..." She groaned, making it obvious she didn't want to call her parents but had to because the adult in the group told her to.
"Simian Pa~" The Monkey nodded as he patted the girl on the back, staying behind to keep watching over the last tent in the small camp as two of the three trainers walked towards the Pokemon Center.
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"I didn't know you were Gym Trainers!" Eri bounced on her feet as she walked with Dishon out of the Pokecenter after using the connection there to call her parents.
"It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's basically what we are, at least it is for Dendra~" Dishon smiled as he walked back towards the now mostly empty campsite, "We actually work for the Battle Hotel, but the Hotel is basically the Psychic Gym because of how the Paldean League works, so while we aren't official Gym Trainers, We are by technicality." He fished out his phone to show Eri a picture that was taken on the day he got hired, showing a tired-looking Dishon wearing a white and purple shirt, standing beside Dendra wearing her usual attire, and a pair of older people, a skinny woman with wavy purple hair and a large tanned man Eri could recognize as the Gym Leader of Alfronda.
"Awesome..." She whispered as she looked at the Picture before Dishon returned the phone to his pocket, "Does that mean both of you are like... Super strong trainers?!"
"Not at all!" Dishon laughed at the young girl's exclamation, "Dendra is, But not me," He chuckled, a sprinkling of amusement showering him as he watched the confusion on Eri's face, "I'm not a battler, Fanny is my only Pokemon, and to be truthful, I think you and Mankey could easily beat us, it wouldn't even be close~"
"SALANDIT?!"
"Wha- But you're a gym trainer!"
"By technicality, I do behind the scene stuff, I don't do Pokemon battles, That's Dendra's job," Dishon pointed out as the two finally returned to their campsite, watching the older Fighting-type specialist make the finishing touches on packing up her tent.
"Yo! Dishon! Check out this cool rock I found!" Eri watched the Older trainer take a smooth rock out of her pocket and show it to Dishon, the second trainer just smiling and saying "That's indeed a cool-looking rock,"
"... Grown-ups are weird." Eri concluded as she turned away from the two older trainers and gave her back one final comb-over.
"Mank!" Her partner hopped from leg to leg, excited about continuing their journey.
"Hey, Kiddo," Eri turned away from her Mankey only to find Dishon passing her a sandwich, "Eat up, we're back on the road once we're done,"
"...Thank you." Eri smiled and took a bit from the Breakfast handed to her.
She's going to need to eat a lot in order to become a world-class ultimate wrestler! She's Eri the Great! Uwaagh!
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"Come on come on come on! Let's go!" Dendra was running in place, her legs kicking at the ground as she waited for the two other trainers that made up her group to join her already.
"Slow down Dendra, Stop hurrying all the time!" Dishon called out to her, slowly making his way uphill so he wouldn't need to shout to be heard by her.
"But it's flower season! I want to see the Petilil!" She yelled at her travel partner, "You might even be able to capture a Lilligant!"
"Only if it's shiny," Dishon pointed to her, reminding the girl of the rule he gave himself in regards to catching Pokemon.
"It could happen!" Dendra yelled.
"What's Flower season?" Eri asked once she and Dishon finally caught up with the energetic Fighting-specialist.
"Twice a year, many grass and fairy types, and other Pokemon that have a connection with flowers, like the Lilligant, Florges, Lurantis, and even the Combee line, Migrate in a clockwise pattern around Paldea, It's a few weeks in Fall and Spring, where these Pokemon travel South for the Winter and North for the summer in order to keep the climates they're living in at the correct humidity and temperature," Dishon explained, "I never saw the migration myself, but apparently the unified movement of all these Flower related Pokemon causes the Flora of wherever they pass to grow beautifully,"
"Yep~ Tulip caught Florges during Flower Season, she was still a tiny little Flabebe at the time, but Flower Season made it so she passed directly beneath Alfronda," Dendra added on, "If it was any other season, Tulip would have had to walk up to where we are right now in order to catch her,"
"I see..." Eri nodded as she listened to the explanation from the two trainers, "So there's going to be a lot of Grass types around?"
"Sure, if you want to look at it this way," Dishon shrugged, "Usually you won't find the Tsareena or Lurantis line here in the West, they usually stay either in the South or North of Paldea, but because it's flower season, we should theoretically be able to find a bunch of them making their way north for the summer."
"Interesting... You hear that Mankey?! We can find some rare Pokemon to test our strength against!" Eri turned to her partner, the Fighting-type echoing his trainer's excitement.
"What about you Dishon, You have any Pokemon in mind?" Dendra asked, "I know you only catch ones like Fanny who have different colors and all, but do you have a preference?"
"Not really," Dishon shrugged at that question, "As long as they're not too much trouble to take care of I'll be happy with pretty much anything," He paused for a moment, "Although, I guess they do need to be small enough to fit inside, A Shiny Buizel could be fun I guess, but I wouldn't really complain if I get a Shellder or a Stunfisk either," He shrugged again.
"Ooh, A Buizel sound fun!" Dendra pumped her fist in the air, "Yosh! Here's the plan, We're not going to sleep until we find a Shiny for you to catch!"
"That's not a plan!" Dishon exclaimed, "We already have a plan for the day Dendra, we're taking a look at the Windmills, have a picnic halfway through, and then steadily make our downhill to Cascarrafa, where we'll then be stopping for the night a few Kilometers out of town next to the Pokecenter,"
"Boo! Come on! Let's find a Shiny Buizel!" Dendra cheered before she ran forward, half her team following after her in differing states of excitement.
"...Aren't we going to run after her?" Eri asked as she watched the older trainer run ahead.
"Nah, she's a big girl, she can take care of herself," Dishon shook his head, "Let's go take a look at the windmills, make Dendra disappointed she didn't stick with us, yeah?" He pointed his hand at Eri, balling it into a fist.
"...Yeah!" Eri balled her own hand into a fist before she gave Dishon's fist a bump, "Let's do this!"
"Mankey!"
And so the group split up, With Dendra running ahead in her excitement, leaving Eri to take her place as the person who'll enjoy the windmill hills with Dishon instead.