The flight only took about two hours in total and we landed safely in Mistralton. I bid Mike farewell, but not before taking a few more pictures with the jovial man and his plane to commemorate the first plane I ever rode in this second life of mine.
The sun was already starting to set by the time we arrived at Mistralton. The first thing I did was head for the hotel which I had Sebastian help me book a room for before I went on my trip, so that I could deposit my belongings before looking for a place to have my dinner. I knew he went over the top again when I realised he had helped me book the VIP suite when I had told him that just booking a normal room would do, and the hotel which he had helped me reserve a room for was a rather classy one.
Well, whatever. At least there's a lot of space I could use to have most of my pokemon sleep outside instead of in their pokeballs tonight. The VIP suite was so spacious that even Flamel and Bigblue could easily wander around without accidentally knocking over anything.
Mistralton City is a city whose economy thrives on its aviation industry and agriculture industry. Like what Mike had told me, Mistralton is one of the two places in Unova where cargoes can be delivered safely and quickly through the use of planes, and that alone gives it a very strategic economic advantage. Due to the arable land around the city, it is also ideal for agriculture. I had also seen for myself how there are actually fresh vegetables grown around the boundaries of the runway in greenhouses arranged in a systematic fashion. According to Mike, this is so that the crops can be harvested and sent to their destinations quickly.
I was interested in tasting some of Mistralton's local produce, so I ended up dining in a restaurant which serves fresh produce while ordering a sumptuous meal for my pokemon as well. I had to book an entire corner for myself due to the number of pokemon I have and we take up quite a bit of space. Thankfully, even without the little black credit card Vance had given me, I am more than financially capable of affording such luxuries on my own due to my occupation as an interpol agent. The pay we draw is rather generous, especially after all of us, including Looker, had demanded a pay raise after the Zapmolcuno incident.
"Not bad, isn't it?" I asked after Kel had promptly finished her meal. My meal was mainly vegetarian since my main purpose of visiting this restaurant was to taste their local produce and Mistralton is famous for their vegetables. However, some of my pokemon are carnivorous in nature and they would need a meat-based meal. For some, they are omnivorous, so I ordered a mix of both for them.
I popped another slice of tomato into my mouth. It's so crunchy, so juicy, so fresh and just in the right mix of sweet and sour that I absolutely fell in love with it within the first bite. These fresh products would lose their freshness if they were delivered via ships because it will take a long while for ships to travel from region to region, so they wouldn't taste as nice by the time they reach their destination. It probably wouldn't be a problem if these were flown by air because the journey would be much shorter, but it's just too bad that inter-regional travel via air is still a pipedream and probably will remain to be in the next few decades, or maybe even for the next century.
If only these can be flown to Hoenn, I would be able to eat them every single day back home.
Truthfully, there's nothing much to sightsee in Mistralton because the only unique attractions are the planes, its long runway, and the unique arrangements which the locals use to grow their produce. It's not a city that relies on tourism to sustain its economy. In fact, I think I had seen all that I needed to see after just two hours of walking around after we had our dinner.
Unova's laws are a lot stricter about the kinds and types of pokemon we are allowed to release to accompany us, although such restrictions differ from city to city and town to town. Thankfully, due to the rural location of Mistralton City, most of my pokemon were allowed to accompany me per the city's regulations. We must have made quite a sight, a little girl leading a little party of scary looking pokemon that amounted to more than ten in total. Even if Kratos, Chill, and Toothless were kept in their pokeballs, Hulk's imposing figure was more than enough for people to naturally make way for us as we explored the city.
"Not a very touristy place," I concluded after seeing that nothing really caught our interest and my pokemon voiced their agreement as well. We headed back to the hotel and I had a relaxing bath. This is really a VIP suite for a reason, because I saw quite an impressive selection of bath oils for my picking when I was happily soaking myself in the tub and it's obvious that none of those are cheap products. I might have spent too much time relaxing in my tub.
I changed into a simple nightgown and due to the chilly weather, wore a bathrobe over it to keep myself warm. I decided to give my family a call while waiting for my hair to dry. It's been quite a while since I had the time to make a call back because the interpol had been so busy recently with all the back-to-back raids we had to conduct. I'm not too sure if Vance is at home or if he's at the Battle Frontier, so I decided to call Mum's number instead.
"Hi Mum," I greeted when she finally picked up my video call, with Jarvis helpfully holding up my phone for me while I'm busy drying my hair with a hairdryer that's surprisingly silent (again, I attributed this luxury to the fact that I'm in a VIP suite). There were times where I was deciding if I should just cut my hair short to save me the trouble of drying it, but my vanity won out in the end and I decided to keep my hair as it is.
"Hi Vel, how have you been so far? Sebastian told me that you are on a vacation. That reminds me, why didn't you bring him with you? You know how we are now at odds with the Carrillo family."
"It would be weird to have someone keep following me around," I answered. "And Mum, I am an Elite trainer with a charizard, flygon, and a tyranitar, among many others. I have a little ghost army with me too. I will be fine."
I knew Vance had to be at home when Wacky briefly appeared to raise a paw to wave at the camera before swiftly disappearing from view. Cheeky little ghost.
"Oh well, if you say so. It's not like I can be there to nag at you now, can I?" Mum huffed and I watched as she walked to push open the door of the study room of our house where my parents often use to do their work, presumably to find my dad. "Griff, it's Vel."
"Ah, you finally remember to make a call back. If it wasn't for Sebastian giving me regular updates about what is going on in Unova I would have thought you had lost yourself exploring some secluded forest," Dad teased somewhat sarcastically and I playfully stuck my tongue out at him in reply. I could hear Mum hollering for Vance in the background, which further validated my guess that he's home today.
"Where are you now, Mistralton?"
"Yeap," I replied, not at all surprised that Sebastian had dutifully reported to my father about each and every thing he knew about me. Come to think about it, maybe Dad left Sebastian with me so that Sebastian can keep an eye on me in my parents' stead. It's quite a smart yet sneaky move on his part.
"You haven't seen the pictures I took today, have you?" I spoke excitedly and Jarvis helpfully shared the images that I had taken today and pulled it up on screen. It is times like this that I gave my thanks to our dear President of Hoenn that he had given me a porygon-z that can freely interact with and alter cyberspace, because such a thing would be impossible otherwise.
"Very nice," Dad nodded in agreement and I could see him swiping at his screen to view the images, probably a feature that Jarvis had helpfully modified for the purpose of our video call. "Oh, a plane? You boarded a plane?"
"It's so fun. The pilot actually offered to let me sit in the co-pilot's seat," I recounted excitedly. "The engines are a little too loud and the plane vibrates a lot until it takes off, but other than that it was rather enjoyable. My pokemon don't really like planes all that much though."
Fuzzy voiced his agreement with a loud and clear squeak, still trying to squeeze his head into the video frame but Rena easily sent him flying away with a swipe of her paw.
"How are things back home? How are you and Mum doing?" I asked, and Dad simply shrugged his shoulders.
"I mean, same old, same old. The only difference would be that your Mum and I are a little busy with the family's business as of late, especially with how every region is really starting to try and open their borders for real, allowing more interactions between the regions' economy. There's been a huge influx of oversea investors looking to invest in Hoenn and yes, our family's business is one that they are very interested in being a part of. The thing is, the Government and the League wouldn't allow it, because our family's business has a very tight connection with the region's security and there's no way we would allow foreign investors to have a say in how we do things. It's been getting tedious trying to reply to all the overseas emails we have been getting recently."
"Uh, you can try the copy paste function? Create a template for automatic replies?" I offered. I understood what Dad was talking about, because it was something Vance and Sebastian had made sure to impress on me during our lessons. In a way, our family's business also acts like the region's military contractor but instead of firearms, we provide living weapons in the form of pokemon to the League, ensuring that Hoenn will always have a steady supply and reserve of pokemon to use should Hoenn ever found itself in war again. That is our family's duty and responsibility that we had sworn to uphold ever since the region's founding. Due to the historical pact we had with the League, we had even rejected many offers from Hoennian investors to be able to invest and have a pie in our family's business and to help grow it. As such, those overseas investors looking to do the same were simply too ignorant of our family's history, or they were daydreaming.
Thankfully, while the Government forbade any foreign investments to flow into our business, the Government and the League had no qualms about our family trying to use this opportunity to invest overseas as long as we can prove that by doing so we would not be leaking any sensitive and confidential information. Like us, they also see this as an opportunity to be able to bring in other exotic species of pokemon that would be difficult to get in the part of the world where our region is located. Places like Unova and Alola where very unique pokemon species can only be found in such places were our focus, because if we succeeded in importing these pokemon, we would be able to introduce and diversify the pokemon species that can be found in our region.
"It's still very tedious," my father insisted. At this point, I just think that he's too lazy to reply to emails and it is something that I can relate to.
"At least we are making more money, right? I would imagine that we had been selling and exporting more and more pokemon since the opening of borders. Oh, what about the ice enclosure? Is it working as intended?"
"It's fully functional now, but we are still keeping a close eye on it because this is the first time anyone has tried this method of raising ice type pokemon on a farm, or just raising ice types in captivity within Hoenn in general. You never know what might go wrong. Funnily enough, your ghost enclosure is working just fine, and all you did was to have Bigblue raise a few rocks here and there to build a little tower for ghosts to hide and play in with zero costs involved. Even Norman said he had no idea how you made it work."
"Aren't you proud of me?" I asked smugly and my father simply sighed and played along.
"Seriously though, have we managed to successfully breed any ghosts?"
"I wouldn't know. I have no idea if the increase in ghosts there was because some ghosts have successfully breeded within the ghost enclosure you built, or if more ghosts had appeared on the farm somehow and automatically made their homes there. Most of the ghosts nearby tend to gravitate towards that enclosure anyway, so there's no problems as far as I could see. Please help me take a look when you return, because I don't speak to ghosts and nobody has any clue what's going on within the enclosure, only that the ghosts are relatively well behaved."
"Managed to get them on sale?"
"Not yet. We are still trying to finalise a set of safety protocols for our workers to safely approach and interact with those ghosts before we can even think of trying to sell a few of them on the market. Not everyone has a gift like yours, you know?" My father chided with a fond tone as Vance came into the picture right then, poking his face in and I could hear my father's mightyena, Fang, barking in the background as well
"Heyo sister dear, miss me? Have you thought of what to give me for my birthday?"
"Hello, brother dear, and no, I still haven't decided what present to give you for your birthday," I easily lied. I already decided a long time ago what I wanted to give him for his birthday and had been working hard in my free time to make it a reality, I'm just not sure if I would be able to make it in time.
"Oh, I'm so hurt," Vance dramatically put a hand over his chest where his heart was at and I simply rolled my eyes.
"You'll be fine."
"I'm not! My baby sister has refused to give me a birthday gift!"
"Excuse me? I'm already fourteen, I'm not a baby."
"And she blocked all of my messages for the entire day! What did I do?!"
"Oh, that," I paused in the act of trying to dry my hair to swipe at my phone's screen to unblock my brother's contact number. Honestly, I had forgotten all about this until he mentioned it, and I saw the influx of messages suddenly flooding in the moment I did so. He had been spamming my inbox, it seems.
"So enlighten me, o cute little sister of mine. What did I do to deserve my number being blocked?"
"You said it was a bowl."
"It is a bowl. What else could it be?"
"It is a mug."
There was a brief period of silence before Vance roared out in laughter, much to my annoyance and slight embarrassment.
"T-That was a-a mug? Oh sister dear, I finally found something that you are bad at-"
"Not, another, word."
"Yes, a mug, a mug, I get it," Vance raised his hands in surrender, but obviously still trying his best not to laugh and steadily failing to do so. Even I could tell that my parents were trying their best not to laugh.
"In my defence, that was my first ever attempt at pottery. I don't see how you will fare any better."
"Is that a challenge I hear, sister dear?"
"Take it on if you are a man."
"If you put it that way…" Vance took out his phone and started scrolling through it. "Aha! Found it, a pottery workshop at… Fallarbor? It's not too far from where Flan is at, would probably visit it the next time I make a trip to Lavaridge and drag Flan along with me while I'm at it."
"Aren't you glad that your little sister just gave you a brilliant idea for your next date?"
"If you are telling me that this is your birthday present to me I'm going to be so disappointed in you."
"Drats, plan busted," I played along and gave a dramatic sigh.
"So where are you visiting next?" Vance asked.
"There's really nothing much to see here, so I was planning to head for Icirrus City first thing tomorrow morning. We would pass by the Celestial Tower on our way there, so I would be giving it a visit as well," I gestured and traced out my planned route in the air in front of me with my finger. "Afterwards, we would cross Tubeline Bridge and enter Opelucid City, and after that when my vacation is about to end I would just fly down south to return to Nimbasa."
"You sure you can do all that in a week?"
"It's really just a touch and go since I only have a week," I shrugged. "If there's really not enough time then I will just make my return trip from wherever I will be when the time is up."
I continued talking to my family for about an hour before we ended the call. My hair had dried by then, and I reached for my backpack to retrieve the item I had been making in order to give to Vance on his birthday.
It's an unfinished scarf. Hoenn has a tropical climate and because of that scarves are more of a fashion statement rather than a necessary accessory. Still, this is the best idea I managed to come up with to date. Vance had put together a scrapbook for me for my birthday gift and had done everything by hand. I want to do the same for him too, and knitting was what I thought of. I wanted to knit a shirt, but it was soon proven that a shirt was too ambitious a goal for a novice like me so I had to settle for the next best thing, which is to knit a scarf.
I had Sebastian help me order the necessary tools to learn how to knit and I made sure to let him know to choose threads and yarns that are of thinner fabric and size so that Vance wouldn't feel suffocatingly hot when wearing it around his neck. I value practicality above all when it comes to things I use on a daily basis and the same goes for the gift I plan to give my older brother. Maybe when I'm better at knitting I would knit a shirt for everyone, then we would all have matching shirts.
Seriously, knitting something decent is a lot harder than it looks. I'm not sure if knitting was simply that hard or if I simply had no talent in this handicraft. I had accidentally pierced my fingers with those long needles more times than I cared to count.
I chose a dark navy blue yarn to knit because blue is my brother's favourite colour. In my first attempt I was overly ambitious and had tried knitting patterns into it only to have it fail horribly, so I decided against knitting complicated patterns until I got better at this. For this attempt I chose a more simple design for the scarf, but it still doesn't stop me from trying to knit Vance's name on it with a different coloured yarn, a bright yellow, and adding my family's crest at the end of his name. Knitting Vance's name and a five-point star at the end was challenging, but not hard. Trying to knit an opened eye in the middle of said star, however, was really testing the limits of my amateur knitting skills. I really was never good at handicraft, my attempt at pottery earlier today was a very good representation of that.
Vance's birthday is coming soon, and considering the time that it would take to have my present delivered to Hoenn by ship before his birthday, I really do not have much time left due to how little talent I have in this art. I have to complete this latest by the end of next week. I should be able to get it done by then, the problem lies in if the completed product would be as good as Vance's scrapbook. His gift was really beautiful, it was obvious that he spent a lot of time preparing it and I want him to feel the same too when he received my gift. I don't have time to redo and make another scarf so this final and crucial step of knitting his name and my family crest on it cannot go wrong. I need to be very careful every single time I thread and knit.
Knitting is fun if you are not in a rush to get something completed by a certain deadline. I honestly don't mind picking it up as a hobby and maybe one day, I might be able to knit a shirt for everybody in my family; Dad, Mum, Vance, and for myself. It would be nice to have a family shirt that is knitted by my own hands.
That sounds like something nice to look forward to.
80
Celestial Tower is located in between Mistralton and Icirrus City, just halfway at Unova Route 7. It is a famous burial ground for deceased pokemon just like Kanto's Pokemon Tower, Hoenn's Mt Pyre, and Sinnoh's Lost Tower.
Out of the three aforementioned burial grounds, I had only been to Mt Pyre before. It was where I first met Agatha and where I was first made known about my oddity, where I was capable of befriending ghost types where many others cannot. I guess I could consider my visit to Mt Pyre to be a turning point in my life because it was then that I started to really pay attention to ghost types and what they can do.
Celestial Tower is a very solemn place, so I never planned to take any pictures here out of respect for the dead. I simply walked around and observed the place. There is a small garden just outside the tower and from the looks of it it was very carefully maintained. People come and go within the tower every now and then although overall, there's not a lot of people here.
Inside the tower, murals and paintings of pokemon filled the walls. Spiral staircases connect the floors of the building and it is a long climb to the top. We walked past many tombstones and visiting trainers along the way and without fail, the atmosphere of every single floor we climbed up to was quiet and solemn. It was so quiet that your footsteps would seem deafeningly loud no matter how soft you tried to make your steps to be.
We did manage to climb up to the top of the tower in the end. Right at the very top of the tower is a huge bell where mourners can ring in remembrance of their lost pokemon. According to the stories passed down by the locals, the bell's sound is said to reflect the nature of the one who rang it. People would queue up to ring the bell one after the other and seeing that I'm already here, I decided that I might as well try ringing the bell myself.
The bell is huge, and the only way to ring it was to pull on a thick and heavy looking rope to get the bell to move and ring. Unfortunately (and also rather embarrassingly since there were people watching), I didn't manage to get the bell to move, much less ring no matter how hard I pulled because the bell was so heavy, so I had to release Hulk out to help me with ringing the bell.
I don't know how to put it into words, but when we finally rang the bell and heard its tone it felt like there was some sort of spell being casted because you just cannot help but stand in a daze for a brief few seconds after hearing the tone of the bell. Its ring was so peaceful, so fulfilling, like something had been cleansed from your soul and you had been purified. You just cannot help but wonder if some sort of magic was being inscribed onto the bell because prior hearing the ring you would never imagine that such a beautiful sound could possibly exist.
I think I understood why the locals said that the bell's sound reflects the nature of the one who rang it. There were a few people queuing up before me and they had rang the bell, but yet for every different person who rang the bell there were subtle yet obvious differences in the tone being produced. The same thing happened when it was my turn to ring the bell, but I still think that the tone of the bell sounded the most beautiful when I was the one to ring it. Maybe the bell has some sort of ability to adjust the sound of its ringing to best suit the person that rang it at that very moment. I don't know how such a thing would be possible, but this world is a world of pokemon and where logic is being defied on a daily basis. It wouldn't be too surprising if this is indeed the truth behind the bell.
I was not interested in climbing the long set of stairs to get back down to the first floor, so I simply had Dolly Shadow Sneak us back to the entrance of the Celestial Tower. I think I might have given a few passerbys quite a scare when they suddenly saw me being engulfed in inky darkness and then disappearing altogether because I'm sure I heard a few shocked gasps just right before my shadows consumed me whole, but eh, this is part of the fun in having ghost types on your team.
"Goodbye," I waved in the direction of a seemingly empty corner of the wall near the entrance of the Celestial Tower as I took my leave. I saw a few people sending me weird looks when they saw me doing that but I didn't care. They might not have realised it, but my ability had allowed me to sense the presence of many wild ghost types residing within Celestial Tower. These ghosts had been observing us the entire time while keeping themselves undetected and out of sight. I was aware that I had their full attention during the entire duration of my visit to the Celestial Tower because I could feel their gaze on me and also to a certain extent, I sensed their curiosity and the emotions that they felt. I also knew for a fact that a few of them had decided to join me and had sneakily hitched a ride within my shadow as I started to walk out and leave this place. It seems that we gained ourselves a few more companions.
"We should reach Icirrus if we continue to follow this route," I told Flamel after climbing up onto his back and he started walking at a steady pace in the direction I pointed him to. Route 7 is full of tall grass where many wild pokemon love to take advantage of to hide themselves. The League had thoughtfully built raised walkways for anyone who wishes to avoid walking through the tall grass and encountering wild pokemon if they are in a hurry, although there's no guarantee that walking on those walkways would allow you to avoid any encounters with wild pokemon entirely. Wild pokemon are untamed and they simply go anywhere they want to go.
We chose to use the walkways, because while we are indeed here to travel I don't really have a lot of time until my vacation ends and I'm not interested in meeting any new wild pokemon as I already have seventeen pokemon on my team. I was simply enjoying the view and the peace and quiet while riding on Flamel's back when I heard someone issuing me a challenge.
"Hey, the girl on the rapidash! Let's battle!"
It was a mild surprise for me, because for some reason I never once considered the possibility that I would be challenged to a battle just like that. The very first thought I had was to reject the challenge, because I'm not exactly in the mood to battle and it's also because the bulk of the trainers on this route are those who are preparing to earn their seventh badge from Icirrus City Gym Leader, Brycen. This would mean that the average skill level of the trainers I would expect in this area would be of the Advanced level. As an Elite trainer who had finished her conference and had been through a few wars myself, battling them would be outright bullying.
"Sorry pal, another day," I declined with a wave and a smile as Flamel carried on walking without even stopping or slowing his steps. He knew me well enough that I wouldn't accept the challenge even without me saying so.
However, the challenger was insistent, and in the end I decided that I might as well indulge him in a battle. Besides, it was such a long time ago that I actually went on a journey and battled any trainers I met along the way. I haven't been doing so ever since I earned my eighth badge from Juan.
However, sending out any of my battle-hungry mons would be overkill, so I decided to just send out Hulk and be done with it since he needs to work out his excess energy as a fighting type. Unfortunately for the challenger, he had sent out a zangoose, so he had put himself in a type disadvantage right from the start.
Needless to say, Hulk won the fight without breaking a sweat.
"See you, and all the best in your gym circuit!" I bid my farewell the moment the zangoose crashed back onto the ground the moment Hulk knocked it out with a powerful punch. This fight was unfair to begin with, so I didn't even bother to collect my prize money and just simply took my leave.
"Was it too easy?" I asked Hulk, who had chosen to take a stroll as well and was walking beside Flamel. Hulk simply shrugged his shoulders, looking a little disappointed by how outclassed that zangoose was in face of his might.
"Sorry about that, I thought you might want a little exercise. Maybe I should have sent out Ness instead."
Hulk simply gave a dismissive grunt to tell me that he didn't mind being called out to battle. He made sure to send a deadly glare at a wild gigalith who was eyeing us with an unfriendly look when we were walking past it, warning it to not try anything funny. It's sweet on his part.
Unfortunately, that wild gigalith still attacked us, thinking that assaulting us was a bright idea. Flamel simply put up a wall of Protect to prevent any stray projectiles from hitting us while Hulk easily took it down with two punches. I hesitated a little if I should capture it and send it back to the farm because I don't think I recalled ever seeing a gigalith on the farm and my father might want it, but I decided against it in the end. If the farm ever needs to build a gigalith population my father and brother could easily obtain the gigaliths they need using the new business venture we just set up in Unova. They don't need this specific gigalith.
"Battling challenges, fending off wild pokemon… Feels like we are back to the old times of travelling around Hoenn to earn our eight badges, doesn't it?" I asked Flamel, who simply gave a light snort as he continued walking ahead. The distance between Celestial Tower and Icirrus City isn't that far, at the rate we are going we would probably reach the city in an hour or two.
Flamel gave a neigh and I immediately understood what he wanted. We have created our own secret language ever since I was still a small little girl when I first received him.
"You want to gallop?" I looked around and after making sure that human traffic was sparse and that we are in no danger of accidentally running into anyone, I decided to allow it. It has been a long while since we both indulged in some high speed gallop for the fun of it.
"You think you can catch up?" I turned to ask Hulk, who simply began to stretch his limbs as his answer to our challenge.
I lowered my body, crouched low, and Flamel broke off in a sprint with Hulk following close behind as he ran in huge strides, easily parkouring over any obstacles in his way that you wouldn't expect a pokemon of his size to be able to do. I could feel the stares of the few trainers present as we zoomed past them and some of them even cheered us on as Flamel sprinted past them in an orange blur with Hulk following close behind.
As for me, I couldn't hide the smile on my face even if I tried.
This is truly the kind of travel that I had been dreaming of all along.
Thanks to our little sprint, we arrived at Icirrus City a lot earlier than expected.
Icirrus City is a city in which the majority of its buildings are located on high ground due to the surrounding area being in a wet climate. The winds are stronger here as well, and as such windmills can also be seen at the southern end of the city where the local populace made use of the kinetic energy of the wind to generate electricity. The climate of Icirrus City is much colder as compared to the other Unova cities and given that Unova had officially entered the fall season, most of the locals here were actually starting to wear thicker clothing as the temperature in this part of the region is much, much colder than any other places in Unova.
It might officially be the fall season, but it sure felt like we were already experiencing the winter here.
Like Mistralton City, there really wasn't much to sightsee in Icirrus, and I have a feeling that this might be the case for the cities and towns in this part of the region because they weren't meant to be popular tourist destinations. That's fine, because I don't have a lot of time to begin with so city hopping from one place to the next might just allow me to make the most out of my meagre vacation days that I was given.
I wanted to visit the famed Dragonspiral Tower, but I soon found out that access had recently been blocked off to the public by the local Rangers because the path leading there had collapsed when wild pokemon had gone on a rampage there not too long ago. We ended up visiting the Moor of Icirrus instead, which is a large stretch of uncultivated wetland and dotted with wild vegetation. There were many large puddles of water in this area that, to my knowledge, were formed when precipitation was collected in the hollows of the flat land.
During winter, these puddles will freeze over. It allows travellers to easily cross it but at the same time, making it very slippery and dangerous, which in turn makes navigation harder. Legends claimed that the Unova Swords of Justice once dwelled in the Moor of Icirrus, saving the pokemon residing here when a large fire once ravaged across this place, although nobody knew just how true those tales were.
I could spot a very thin layer of ice forming on the water surface for some of the water puddles, showing just how cold the climate can be in this part of the world despite the fact that we had not entered the winter season. Bigblue loves this place as the wetlands bear a close resemblance to the preferred habitat of its species, the swamps, and it was actually easier to traverse this place with Bigblue's help instead of Flamel's due to the unique terrain of the moor. Bigblue's mastery of our Rock Surf technique came in handy here, where he could just raise a platform of stone under his feet and simply move about by driving the platform of stone to wherever he wanted to go.
The wild pokemon here did little to hide their presence. It may be due to the cold weather, but none of them seem too active and just chose to let us pass unhindered. In fact, I would say that most of them seem to be rather sleepy, and for some species of pokemon they were probably on the verge of undergoing the hibernation process. As usual, there's really nothing interesting here but I'm simply here to see and experience things that I wouldn't have the chance to otherwise. If there's nothing here that caught my eye, I would simply move on.
The rustling of a nearby bush caught our attention and something leapt out, causing Bigblue to immediately shift us away and instinctively raise his body to shield me from what he perceived to be a possible threat. I took a peek over Bigblue's shoulder and finally saw just what kind of pokemon we had encountered.
The pokemon is a quadrupedal, colt-like pokemon with a cream-coloured body. It wasn't very large by any means, and it actually reminded me more of a shiny ponyta because it has blue feathery fur covering the back of its head, its neck, and its tail was also blue in colour. It even has a single cream-coloured horn that curves slightly on its forehead. It also has a large feathery red mane and its hooves are blue in colour, and I actually had to pause and try to recall if there's such a pokemon because while I pride myself in being a walking encyclopaedia of sorts when it comes to pokemon thanks to the education I received from my family, I cannot claim to immediately recall the facts of every single known pokemon in existence, especially for Unovan and Alolan pokemon because these places are homes to very unique species of pokemon that the ordinary person would be hard-pressed to see outside of the regions that they made their homes in.
The little pony pokemon seemed startled, as if it wasn't expecting to encounter anyone right here because it bolted away in the next second before I could observe it for a little longer. Even after it was long gone I still couldn't recall if there's any pokemon that would fit the description of the pokemon which we just met.
"That's definitely not a ponyta, right?"
Bigblue let out a low rumble from his throat and shrugged his shoulders. He's just as clueless as I am.
"Don't tell me we had just met an entirely new species of pokemon?"
Bigblue and I shared a glance, and for a moment I regretted not trying to capture that unknown pokemon before it ran away. Given the speed it showed earlier it must be far away by now.
Damn it.
"We definitely have to ask Shannon about this, if anyone would know just what kind of pokemon that was, it would be her," I mused as Bigblue continued to ferry me around with his Rock Surf technique. If we have to cross huge puddles, all I have to do is to simply leap onto his back and have him swim across it.
Still, I cannot help but sigh at the fact that I just met what could be a possibly new species of pokemon and I let it run away.
We were so close, so close.
Since there was nothing much to see at Icirrus and its surrounding area, I decided to just continue our journey and head for Opelucid the very same day. This time, I decided to fly there on Toothless' back since I have no interest in camping out in the wilderness in such cold weather and it's best to reach some form of civilisation before sundown. Flight would be the fastest mode of travel.
Toothless looked oddly smug when I released him out to ask for his help to fly me to Opelucid. Somehow or another, I could already hear the "See, I told you riding on my back is far better than riding on an aeroplane" he was trying to tell me just by seeing the smug look he was sending my way. It's in the way he was holding himself, the proud swagger of his gait, how he was puffing up his chest and excitedly spreading his wings in a show of eagerness to prove himself.
What a childish little boy.
After securing the harness on his back and checking that the skies were clear, Toothless took off into the skies once I climbed and sat myself comfortably on his back. I released Snap out as well, knowing that he would want the opportunity to spread his wings too. If the temperature was cold down on the ground, it's freezing up above in the skies and I'm glad I had the foresight to wear an extra layer over myself before we took flight. This was one reason why I chose to ride on Toothless instead of Snap, because he has a much higher natural body temperature as a fire type and it would help me to ward off the cold while we were on our journey.
By Unova's laws, all flyers flying past this area have to land and disembark the moment they reach the Tubeline Bridge. Pokemon restrictions are much stricter in Opelucid, although not to the extent that Nimbasa or Castelia is, so I instructed Toothless and Snap to land at the entrance of the Tubeline Bridge. Everyone entering or exiting the bridge would have to first go through an identification check with the police officers stationed here before being allowed to step foot on Tubeline Bridge.
"The checks? It's a relatively new measure," an old man who was queuing in front of me chuckled when I asked about this security measure. We happened to strike up a conversation when the old man, who is a local resident of Opelucid City, helpfully reminded me that pokemon as large as Toothless and Snap wouldn't be allowed out of their pokeballs on Tubeline Bridge and within the city, excluding the specific areas of the city where trainers are allowed to release them out for exercise. Thankfully, pokemon species like the rapidash are still allowed within the confines of the city, so I could release Flamel out to accompany me and use his body heat to help me ward off the cold.
"New measure? Does that mean that something has happened here?"
"You can say that," the old man nodded. "Up until a month ago… or was it two months ago? In any case, this place was a frequent haunt for a biker gang that loves to hang out here and be a general public nuisance. In fact, I myself almost got myself run over by one of their bikes if it wasn't for the assistance of a kind young man and his greninja."
"Nobody did anything about those bikers?"
"Every time the law enforcement received a report that they appeared again those bikers would then disappear in a jiffy before the police could arrive, so nothing could be done about them. Then suddenly, all of them just disappeared and nobody has a clue on what happened. Maybe they had offended another local gang, maybe an accident had happened when they did one of their risky stunts, nobody knows, but to date, they haven't reappeared. After which, in order to prevent the Tubeline Bridge from being misused, the Opelucid Police Force decided to station officers here to conduct identification checks for anyone entering and exiting the city. The recent implementation of the long list of stringent restrictions may be a bit of a hassle, but I think this is needed. At least with this, there's a higher chance that tragedies like the Lacunosa Invasion wouldn't happen within our own city."
"I had heard. Prior to this, there weren't many restrictions on the type of pokemon you can release within the cities as long as they weren't overly huge or obstructive. Something similar happened in Hoenn too after the Lilycove Invasion," I agreed, remembering the kinds of security measures being implemented in Lilycove and Slateport after the Lilycove Invasion, especially for people using flying types to fly in and out of the areas because aerial attacks are one of the hardest attacks to defend against. It seems that Opelucid City is adopting a similar approach as well, preventing any pokemon from flying into the city's airspace without their permission. Wild flying type pokemon tend not to go too near to such areas heavily populated by humans, and with the local Rangers keeping a constant eye on the airspace near the city, very few could fly through Opelucid airspace without being detected even before they could reach Opelucid.
I was eventually granted entry to cross the bridge, and believe me when I say that the bridge is large. It's very wide, long, and spacious, and I could honestly see why the old man said that a biker gang used to use this place to hold illegal races with their motorbikes. Now, motorbikes are banned from the bridge, so the only form of bikes allowed are bicycles. The view of the bridge was splendid as well, giving a great view of the river in which the bridge was built over that eventually flows out into the sea at southern Unova around the area where Castelia City is at.
At the other end of the bridge is Unova Route 9, and it is a long stretch of forested paved road where many bikers would congregate to indulge in their hobby. Again, motorbikes are banned. Riding of pokemon is allowed as long as the pokemon in question does not destroy or damage the paved roads in any shape or form because certain species of pokemon, like mudsdale, for example, are known to damage paved roads with their feet simply by sprinting.
Thankfully, Flamel does not belong under such a category, so I was able to have a pleasant ride on his back as we continued to make our way towards Opelucid. The temperature here is slightly warmer than at Icirrus, enough for me to remove the extra layer of coat that I was wearing earlier. Maybe next time, I should choose to visit places located at the southern end of the region instead where the climate should be slightly warmer.
Opelucid is a city said to hold a great deal of history and traditional values of the region although recently the city's Gym Leader, Drayden, had been championing to transform the city into a city that is able to keep up with the rapid change of the world. Some people argued that they should preserve and follow tradition, some argued that change is needed and certain traditions had long since been rendered obsolete. There's no right or wrong in this matter, but merely a difference in opinions about which is better for the future of the city.
Currently, the city still has a more traditional and natural appearance, although I could also see that a small part of the city was undergoing renovations and from the looks of it, the buildings there had a more futuristic and technological appearance. It's not hard to see that the city is undergoing a period of change. Personally, I feel that change is needed, considering that every single region is trying to open up their borders in an effort to foster better international relations. We will be witnessing the start of globalisation of this world, a big wave of change will sweep across the world soon, and it's better for the city to prepare itself for the change as early as possible.
This city is similar to Johto's Blackthorn City in the sense that both cities are areas in their respective regions where Dragon Tamers will gather. In Blackthorn, the city is largely ruled by clans with the Wataru clan steering the helm. Here in Opelucid, they don't have "clans", but there are influential families residing in this part of the region. The current mayor of the town is the city's Gym Leader, Drayden, and he is also the head of the Gilmart family, one of the families within Unova's Twenty Assisting Houses which are led by the Five Weapons of Unova. I was told that the Gilmart family generally takes a neutral stand within the twenty five families, neither outright supporting nor opposing any families within the group but they do have a slightly closer relationship with the Gerben family, the current family within the Five Weapons that holds the title of "Spear", and to a lesser extent, the Dandolos as well, who holds the title of the "Dagger".
Just like how the Dandolos family oversees the security and peace of Lacunosa and the surrounding cities, the Gilmart family does the same to protect Opelucid City and the general area where their homes are at. These families are a separate force from the Unova Government and the Unova League but at the same time, a necessary and irreplaceable existence to Unova because it is through the existence of the Government, the League, and these powerful families that Unova remained standing today. They are all very closely intertwined with each other and there's no way to cleanly separate one faction from the other two. All three factions have to exist in harmony to guarantee Unova's prosperity.
There was one attraction within the city that caught my eye. It's called the Battle House, where trainers within the city are all welcomed to come and pit their skills against each other. It's a very popular place for trainers in Opelucid to gather because this place serves as a nexus for trainers to get to know each other, exchange knowledge, and gain experience through battling other trainers who had also managed to push on through the Unova Gym Circuit to reach the last stop of their journey, the Opelucid City Gym. The trainers who frequent this place were mostly on the higher end of the Advanced level spectrum and from what I saw there was also no lack of Elite level trainers around. Every trainer who came here came with the single goal of improving themselves, be it trying to earn their final badge or simply here to hone their skills.
Many of those trainers are Dragon Tamers because of Opelucid City's history in being the home to Dragon Specialists of Unova. I decided to use this chance to give my battle-hungry quintet a good workout since they love to fight so much and also since I knew for a fact that they would jump at the chance to challenge every single trainer in sight if given a chance to. I don't particularly care if we won or lost because my sole intention was to let them have their fun, have them let loose the pent-up energy in their system, and let them have their much needed exercise to keep in shape because some of them really needs to indulge in some intense battles every now and then to keep them healthy and fit.
So, Kratos, Toothless, Snap, Chill, and Hulk took turns to battle the trainers present while I just sat at my corner and watched them fight, only needing to give out instructions every now and then when I felt that I needed to step in. Like I said, I don't really care if we won or lost, so I don't feel a need to actively step in to command them because my main goal was to let them have their fun and to exercise.
"No, Chill, we agreed that the five of you would take turns. It's Snap's turn now," I reminded my airheaded lapras, who let out a sharp whine when she remembered once again that she shouldn't have immediately ended her battle with a massive Blizzard if she didn't want to end her fun prematurely. Chill had been terrorising any dragon types she came across, only needing one or two powerful ice type attacks to defeat them. As a result, all of her battles were extremely short and she kept forgetting that if she really wanted to enjoy the thrill of the battle, it would be better to drag on the battle every single time she was sent out.
She's still as forgetful as ever.
Chill waddled up to me, gently nudging me with her head and trying to appeal to me in order to get some leeway to be sent out for the next battle instead of Snap.
"Nope, we had an agreement, remember? You really need to learn how to chill, Chill," I reminded her and patted her snout, sending out Snap when the next brave soul decided to step up onto the ring to challenge me and my quintet. The area where I was at had attracted a small crowd when word started to go around that there was a new contender that nobody had been able to beat for the past hour, and the kinds of pokemon I had revealed only added to the hype due to how powerful and rare some of those can be.
The battles here were conducted in several formats and the one I chose was the single battle format with each trainer only allowed to use one pokemon for each match. I chose this format simply to make my life easier and continuously rotate the five pokemon I was planning to send out.
My new opponent released a druddigon, one of the more popular dragon types among Dragon Specialists in Unova. Snap started off by using his favourite tactic of liquifying the ground to create quicksand to trap his foes and I simply turned my attention away from the battle in favour of pacifying my lapras.
"Just three more turns after Snap and it will be your turn again. It's not that long of a wait."
Chill impatiently clapped her flippers against the floor a few times to convey just how long a waiting period that was.
"You need to learn how to chill."
She continued to whine loudly. Meanwhile, I leaned back against my seat which was located next to a wall, popping a few local treats into my mouth that I had bought on my way here. Rena and Kel simply laid down on the floor next to my seat to rest while Fuzzy was hovering above us, cheering on the battle with very loud squeaks the entire time.
Snap didn't take long to end his battle. In fact, he didn't even suffer a single scratch. I could tell that he was pleased at the workout from the sound of his wingbeats and I recalled him to release the next member. More and more trainers had gathered to queue up and take turns to defeat me, the new contender. I hadn't been keeping count, but we were probably at around our eighth win streak thus far.
The next contender sent out a kommo-o just as I released Kratos out for battle, and I took a pause when I realised that this would be the first time I ever seen or fought a kommo-o. Not only that, I recalled that this rare species of pokemon is a fighting type, the very type that Kratos is weak against.
Kratos should be fine, right?
"That is a kommo-o, a fighting type. You need my help for this one?" I asked Kratos, who merely voiced his disagreement with a low growl as his eyes narrowed and glared at the opponent standing at the other end of the arena.
Right, he and his inflated ego. Maybe experiencing a loss would do some good for him, knock him down a peg or two and remind him once again that there are many powerful adversaries out there in this world. Ever since he evolved into a tyranitar and we completed our Ever Grande Conference I couldn't remember the last time Kratos experienced a loss because he's simply that strong, but he's definitely still far from being the strongest there is like he wished to be.
Kratos may be brutish and he's not the brightest among my pokemon, but he's far from dumb. He opted to play dirty right from the very start after I told him that kommo-o is a fighting type. Prior to this, he ended every single battle through overwhelming strength, not even needing to rely on his control over rocks and sand. This time, he didn't hesitate to reveal that aspect of his abilities and immediately activated his Sand Stream ability to bring the sand in. In a way, he has grown and has gotten a better handle over his pride, choosing to not underestimate his foes and opted for the much safer method instead of risking getting physical with a fighting type.
Kratos played dirty, because he never allowed the kommo-o to close the distance with how his sands were in the way, constantly threatening to trap and encase the kommo-o in a sandy coffin if it ever took a wrong step. The kommo-o was doing well in preventing that outcome, but the lack of options to allow it to fight from a distance was really a big weakness that Kratos greedily exploited without mercy. Soon, the kommo-o and his trainer made a small mistake and Kratos instantly capitalised on that opening to end the battle by trapping the kommo-o in a thick pressurised cocoon of sand. Now that the kommo-o is defenceless and at Kratos' mercy, he wasted no time in knocking the dragon out with a powerful Hyper Beam.
"Not bad," I commented when Kratos turned back to look at me and it was obvious that he was looking for my praise, just that he was too prideful to outright ask for my compliments. He obnoxiously swaggered down the arena after receiving my praise, his act looking more comical than threatening to my eyes, growling at anyone and any pokemon who dared to make eye contact with him while making his way to me. Everyone respectfully cleared the way for Kratos as he sauntered back to my side, clearly aware of the notorious reputation that tyranitars are known for.
I, on the other hand, had to fight the urge to sigh. This obnoxious little braggart was attracting even more attention that I don't want to be on the receiving end of.
"I think your win is the ninth consecutive win we had," I thought out loud. "I'm getting a little tired, maybe just one last battle and we should call it a day."
Kratos and Chill both looked at me in horror for even suggesting that we should end our visit here.
Another trainer walked up to take his position at the other end of the arena and released a garchomp as I released Toothless out for battle since it was his turn right now. Chill immediately began to plead to be able to battle, not wanting to leave just yet.
"Alright, alright, we will only leave after the end of your next battle," I promised and Chill did a happy little cry, releasing a cold breath of air from her mouth in her excitement that actually caused snowflakes to fall around us.
"Chill, chill."
Our conversation was promptly interrupted when we heard a loud pained roar from Toothless, causing us to immediately turn our heads in his direction. To my surprise, that garchomp was overpowering Toothless, and it was taking all Toothless had to try to defend against its onslaught. Toothless was already injured in several places and at the rate this is going, his loss will be inevitable unless I step in.
It seems that we had finally met our match.
"Toothless, Flare Blitz!"
I decided to step in. Toothless burned up in a blazing inferno of blue flames and crashed himself into the garchomp upon my command, finally inflicting a powerful blow onto his foe. Toothless took this opportunity to heal himself with Roost and I stepped up to take my position in the arena. Toothless will not be able to win this battle without my help and I know that he doesn't want to lose.
"Burn this place up, Flame Burst."
Garchomps are known to bury themselves deep down into the ground and hunt their prey from below. In that case, I'm not allowing it the chance to do so. I will make the earth so hot that it wouldn't want to burrow into the ground unless it wanted to risk getting a nasty burn. Toothless, on the other hand, can fight well under the heat because he is a fire type. Their species could even take a dip into lava and emerge just fine as long as they don't stay too long in there.
Ever since my battle with Ajika at the conference I realised that the way fire types fight their battles are surprisingly simple and straightforward. They just have to overpower their foes with overwhelming firepower. Fire type moves are very simple in nature because all they do is to incinerate and burn. No confusing tricks, no other hidden moves, just pure raging fire to burn down their foes. As such, the way fire types fight their battles reflect just that, they do all they can to burn down their foes with the hottest flames they can produce.
As such, the theory behind training fire types is also simple, but not necessarily easy. Trainers just have to find ways to train their fire types to be able to produce the hottest flames their pokemon could reasonably produce, to constantly push and surpass the physical limits of their bodies. Fire Masters are trainers who manage to do the impossible and have their fire types be so proficient in controlling the output and scale of their flames such that they could vapourise lakes in an instant. Toothless is far from being able to do that, but I understand how Toothless has to win his battles as a fire type.
The arena immediately transformed into a fiery hell and every spectator backed off. Rena thoughtfully erected psychic barriers around the arena as a form of precautionary measure just in case Toothless decided to go overboard like he always tends to do in his excitement.
The garchomp quickly realised that getting physical with Toothless was no longer a viable option because the closer he gets to Toothless, the hotter the surrounding temperature would be with Toothless as its epicentre. Getting too close to Toothless would mean a definite chance of getting itself a nasty burn. As such, the only option it has left would be to try and fight from a safe distance using ranged attacks, but Toothless can easily evade those thanks to his flight capabilities and I had trained him to be proficient enough in his defensive manoeuvres if he had no choice but to take a hit. Now, it's simply a matter of Toothless outlasting the garchomp in a fight of attrition that I'm sure Toothless would win.
The garchomp summoned a Rock Slide that Toothless blew away with a powerful gust of Heat Wave. The garchomp then attempted to strike Toothless from afar with Stone Edge, but Toothless melted the sharp spikes of stones with his flames even before they could get close. Toothless continued to gradually ramp up the heat within the arena, making the temperature hotter and hotter until the garchomp has nowhere to run to escape from the heat within the arena.
The garchomp and his trainer soon realised the predicament they were in and decided to quickly end this battle before their defeat became imminent. It's the only option that they had left and I had been expecting such a reaction.
The garchomp powered up with a Swords Dance before rushing in at a blinding speed with Giga Impact. The garchomp was too fast to be evaded so Toothless had opted to use a Protect to defend himself. The Protect worked but now garchomp was also in striking range, being able to fight Toothless in a physical fight where it naturally excels at.
However, that garchomp is also now within our striking range as well. Toothless had cunningly released a massive cloud of Smokescreen right at the garchomp's face when the opportunity presented itself, causing it to hack and cough and effectively putting a forceful pause to its assault. Not only that, the smoke produced by that Smokescreen was also highly flammable, one of the methods that I have taught Toothless to set up for a finishing move to end a battle with an unexpected powerful bang before our opponents can react.
"Overheat!"
Toothless immediately belched out the hottest white flames he could produce. Blast Burn would have been more effective, but at the same time we were indoors and I have no idea if Rena's barriers would be able to contain the sheer power packed behind Toothless' Blast Burn because that move is one of Toothless' favourite finishing moves and he loves to practice it in his free time. Even I don't have a clear idea just how powerful Toothless had trained his Blast Burn to be. I don't want to get myself into trouble on my vacation, so Overheat seemed like a nice compromise to end this battle here.
The power of Overheat was further amplified by the flammability of the large cloud of Smokescreen, creating an explosion so bright that I had to close my eyes for an instant. Toothless quickly cleared the resulting smoke with a few powerful flaps of his wings and I knew we won when we saw an unconscious garchomp lying down in a crater.
"Good job, but it's entirely your fault that I'm so sweaty now," I complained to Toothless when he landed right beside me and I had to wipe the sweat collecting on my forehead thanks to the heat produced from Toothless' fight. In fact, I'm drenched in sweat right now, and I'm not the only one in the room who was suffering from such a fate. Most of the spectators here were sweating profusely too thanks to the extreme heat produced by Toothless' flames.
Toothless blinked his eyes at me, trying to appear as innocent as he could possibly be, wings tucked in a show of obedience and trying to sell the impression that this is not his fault. This is his default reaction whenever he wants to try his luck in getting out of trouble.
"That said, we really need to brush up your skills in handling yourself in close quarter combat. You wouldn't be pushed to this degree if you had more practice in this area. Maybe I should arrange for you to have more frequent physical sparring with Hulk when we have the time."
Toothless let out a loud defeated sigh. To him, releasing an endless stream of flames is infinitely more fun than fighting up close with his claws and fangs, which is why he is so much better in fighting from afar as opposed to up close, because if given the choice he would always choose to hone the proficiency of his ranged attacks rather than his physical ones. That doesn't mean that he is a pushover in physical combat, but if he ever encounters an expert in this area who is of equal power and skill to him, he would naturally be at a disadvantage if they ever managed to get up close and physical. That battle with the garchomp demonstrated just that.
There was quite a bit of commotion from the other end of the arena when my previous opponent stepped down, with other trainers gathering near him to talk to him. He's dressed just like what most other Dragon Specialists here are dressed in, thick coats and gloves to prevent themselves from accidentally getting hurt by their dragons when interacting with them because these creatures sometimes underestimate just how powerful they may be. From how popular he seems to be, I'm guessing that the garchomp's trainer is a familiar face in the Battle House and that many trainers here are acquainted with him. I'm sure that there are trainers who are trying to approach and get to know me as well, but none of them were brave enough to walk up to me when I have a grumpy and unapproachable tyranitar by my side.
My last opponent clearly was brave enough to do what everyone else shied away from, walking towards me without slowing his steps in the slightest. I silently signalled for Kratos to behave by patting his thick rocky hide, but that didn't stop him and Toothless from releasing a low growl from their throats when the trainer approached us. Thankfully, that trainer was smart enough to keep a respectful distance between us in order to not trigger my pokemon's protective instincts into overdrive.
"That was a really good fight. If you don't mind, can we exchange contact numbers? I wish to have a rematch with you someday."
I remained silent, undecided if I should accept his proposal because I'm not exactly keen on giving away my personal contact information to a random stranger I just met and probably will never see again. Furthermore, as a lone girl in a foreign land, keeping my distance from strangers, especially males, is simply the wiser thing to do.
So, I maintained my silence, hoping that he would get my hint and simply walk away.
"Ah, maybe I should have introduced myself first," the trainer gave a sheepish smile when an awkward silence fell between us due to my lack of response. He held out a hand in my direction.
"My name is Ingram Gilmart. It's nice to meet you."
If I was disinterested before, his name had now caught my full interest. I wasn't expecting him to be a member of the distinguished Gilmart family, a family among the Twenty Assisting Houses of Unova which Drayden leads.
In that case, as a Vera and a representative of Hoenn, it would be impolite to not return the greeting.
I stretched out to shake his hand as well to introduce myself.
"Velda Vera, from Hoenn. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Great, more networking on my day off. Maybe I should demand some overtime pay from Looker once my vacation is over.