25th Move: New Coat, New Coast

25th Move: New Coat, New Coast

Azalea Town, Johto.

Bugsy got exterminated. 

The most popular form of pesticide publicly available hailed from Hoenn. Bagon brand bug repellant. A grade more dangerous than your typical repel. There was a bottle in every house across the regions featuring an image of a vicious fire-breathing Salamence scorching commonly available critters to cinders.

That was precisely what we did to the Azalea gym. Neither Beedrill, badges, nor any other ‘B’ remained after we were done with Bugsy’s hive. Each of our challenges against him were quicker than the last, as if we’d each been spamming ‘B’ to run. 

And in a very real way, we had. 

My victorious battle was merely the beginning. One immediately after the other, I, Ash, Misty, and Brock raided his gym—poison spray (and types) not necessary.

Between Accelerock, Aqua Jet, and the newly minted Sprintroast I’d created for Ash’s Cyndaquil, poor bugger was cooked. The gym leader was steaming, to be precise. So, we fled before he could snap and go on a killing spree.

“Whoo! What a rush!” Ash whooped, surprisingly à propos. 

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” I threw my head back and laughed even as we beat an expeditious retreat to Kurt’s workshop. 

We hopped over the few drunken revellers left to camp under the stars. Even the Slowpoke were quick on the uptake for once, fast asleep as they all were. 

Speed seemed to be the universal theme for the day. The second we opened Kurt’s main door, the grumpy geezer thrust the handle to his landline into my hand. “Mister Pokémon, that old codger, on the phone for you Uki.” Rotom phones weren’t yet widespread, but news travelled fast on rotary dials, too. “Both he and Oak’ve been nagging me nonstop—and it really don’t help that I’ve only got the one ringer! Can’t wait for the day those two coots forget I ever existed again.” 

I hesitated to put the nattering receiver to my ear and turned to the protag crew. “Want me to hang-up so you guys can call Oak?” I studiously ignored the ‘don’t you dare!’ 

“Nah, Uki, don’t worry about us. We’ll use the comm station at the Pokémon centre.” Brock waved me off.

“Our Pokémon need to get healed, anyway.” Misty slid her foot back into the shoe she’d taken off. 

And Ash took off entirely. “Alright, no time to waste, then! Let’s go, Pikachu! Time to rub how we rescued Celebi in Gary’s face!” They bounded out the door. 

Bringing the mouthpiece up to my lips was pointless with how effusively my journey sponsor was already exploding. “Bah! Bah, I say!” Guess he considered me a bit of a black Mareep, at the moment. “What did I warn you about staying punctual with updates, Kiki?”

“That if I’m not, you’ll blackmail me into doing you favours on trumped-up slights.” Poor Tuki—whose name suffered the same ignoble fate as mine.

“Affirmative! Which, I remind, ensures you still owe me the third and final of your tasks.”

“… Surely rescuing a long-lost legendary should count towards my debt, yeah?”

“Don’t push your luck, Kiki.” I had a high attack and terrible special defence—it was in my naughty nature, unfortunately. “You pulled that mythical stunt all on your own. And it’ll have consequences, believe you me! This is far from the only call I’ve been on today. Not to fret, though. Your indeterminate favour has ultimately been determined, Uki. Finish up with Kurt; you’re headed to Ecruteak.”

“What? Why?” I clenched the coiled phone cord, resisting the urge to strangle either myself or him—hadn’t decided yet. “Thought a normal type specialist like you would’ve told me to leave Morty and his ghost types alone. You know I’m tryna be a move tutor, right? Not a gym Rattata. And neither do I plan on hitting the dance hall; that’s not the type of ball I’ve spent the last few weeks training.” 

Infuriatingly, Mr Pokémon just found knee-slapping amusement in my indignation. “No need to go wagging sticks at me, Kiki. This is very much for your benefit, too. Listen up, here’s the carrot. First off: you can take your time getting there. There’s a major event being hosted in what basically amounts as our region’s cultural capital, which means someone as influential and sought-after as yours truly has obviously been invited. As fortuitous happenstance for you, I’ll require a lackey as my lofty status dictates. Propriety also assures you have a couple weeks to make the trip there at your own pace, since logistics will take ages to get sorted. It’s better for me if you spend that time making more of a name for yourself than you already have. Congratulations, Uki’uki, you are the chosen one!”

“Porting your bags and wiping your ass, what an honour…” My tone was flat.

But he bulldozed through it, anyway. “Second: You won’t be trekking through the routes solo.” 

My Naoko senses suddenly tingled. 

The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck pricked up at an ominous surge of psychic flavoured aura. Zwoop! A grinning geisha and her partner Pokémon popped into existence, right on cue. “How predictable.”

I want surprised, and given the clairvoyant glow that hadn’t yet dissipated from around her, Naoko was the furthest thing from oblivious, as well. 

“It seems she’s arrived. Excellent! I’ll leave you two to get better acquainted. Bye, Kiki! And don’t forget to pack something snazzy to wear, either. We’ll be rubbing shoulders with some important dignitaries; so best foot forward, not scruffy sneakers—” Clang! Petty, perhaps. But I allowed myself the one victory by being the party to drop the call.

Despite her impish expression, she moved with reserved grace as she bowed while I turned to face her. “I shall now formally request your care for this leg of our journey, young Uki.”

“Yeah…right. Any chance I could convince you to teleport back to town?”

“Fufufu, whatever do you mean? There exist no journeys without footprints.”

Well, no point bashing my head against a brick wall—I’m no stubborn Shieldon. I ceremoniously bowed, too. “Alrighty, then. Likewise, take care of me, too. Just so you’re aware, though, don’t expect us to be living large in any luxe hotels, or anything. Be prepared for roughing it in tents, for the most part.”

“I see I am already in expert hands. Rest your concerns for my personal wellbeing easy, young Uki. In time, you shall find that I am most positively disposed to, as you say, roughing it.” 

Ah—! There goes my Naoko attuned tingle again. 

–

Kurt’s Workshop, Johto.

My impending departure from Azalea wasn’t the only one. Much to April’s bout of sulkiness, Ash and co. would also make tracks soon. 

I’d have liked to emulate the young girl and curl forlornly into bed, but I had to eschew a last night with my borrowed Shaymin pillow. 

There was work to be done before I could leave satisfied with my progress.

Tired as I was, I spent my entire night on a final tour around the workshop. My first port of call was the rack of drying balls out in the garden. I picked a handful of apricorn halves that I’d expended time and energy sanding and feeding my aura. 

Three blue, a white, black, and a red, besides. 

Carrying them over to Kurt’s pockmarked workbench, I dipped into the nearby bucket and plucked a few yellow and red scraps from previous balls’ castoffs. 

“Shapes to start.” Using a carving knife, I stencilled my desired designs, then sliced and diced. 

Three distinct apriballs for each of my Pokémon. 

The black one was the most difficult, so I started with it. Blue and black zig-zagged symmetrically in half, then matched into a two-tone whole. The fiddly bit was the crescent hole I needed to trace and cut into each section without cracking the delicate portions. And the full yellow crescent from a discarded yellow bit shaved and ready to slot in later.

Baloo, my starter, gets a moon ball. Ursaluna, after all.

Second came Krabby’s. A blue apricorn halved again vertically, then a polygonal section cut out of the middle the same shape as its red apricorn replacement. Three long gashes fitted with yellow slits.

Yecu, in remembrance of his capture, received a lure ball. 

Finally, I filed and filigreed blue wings onto a stark white apricorn background. My alpha of the skies gets a wing ball. Not a traditional apriball, but I held no qualms resurrecting an old design from the Hisuian era. 

Pieces collected, next was putting the puzzle together. Shuffling over to the iron pots hung over the lit fireplace. Ever-burning because Slugma lived there. I ladled scoops of the apricorn tree resin and Beedrill honey adhesive into separate wooden bowls.

Maybe because I wasn’t chilling, as per usual, beneath the kotatsu, Slugma followed me out. Hiru kept me company for the rest of the chilly evening. 

I glued the pieces together into complete patterns, then polished on the resin and left them to cure into a glossy sheen. 

“Want a snack?” Slugma excitedly flared his flaming eyebrows at my questions. I dug through the enormous pile of assorted rocks piled up at April’s mining operation. Aside from the choicest tumblestones, I also stole a few type gems. Specifically, several exhausted rock type gems I’d used during Tuki’s training. It had long since become a ritual we’d developed during my stay. 

Slugma delightedly crunched them up, relishing tiny vestiges of the remaining aura. 

While the apriballs dried, I chiselled the larger tumblestones into thumbnail-sized shards, that I stuck to the inside surface of the apricorns to give them their shrinking and storage capabilities. 

To cap off the complete process, each apriball got their bottoms from retail Pokéballs. Thus, the recall and release button were added. 

I finished with a sigh. My deep inhale almost wafting the tantalising fragrance of my Shaymin cushion, beckoning me to bed. 

Then an alarm blared. 

Dawn had yet to rise, but it was bright as the sun in the workshop. 

My sweat-matted hair fought against its own soaked weight to try to rise, as an eruption of super-heated aura bloomed across my skin. 

White light, morphing form, and an explosion of aura. Hiru evolved into a Magcargo. “What the—?” Hiru’s magma burbled with buoyant bubbles as he announced his evolution. 

My eyes bounced between his chuffed chugging and the crumbs of his snack. I quashed any neuron in my brain that wanted to spark to life. 

I’d leave my theories of evolution for later. 

“You really do have a way with Pokémon, don’tcha?” The disturbance had also woken Ash up. 

“Would’ve been cooler if I’d actually been intending this result.” I tiredly planted my palm on Magcargo’s bobbing head. “Can’t be too mad, though. At least April and Kurt will have a stronger ‘mon to look after ‘em.” 

Ash approached, and very casually, lifted the sixty kilogramme creature by his shell. “When are you headed out?”

“Tomorrow—” I squinted my eyes and glanced out the patio window to see purple peek over the horizon to disrupt the inky black. “Today, I guess. I’m on a tight schedule, and I really need to make some money while I have the time. Learning the apriball process has been worth it, but I haven’t earned a dime in weeks.” Beating Bugsy notwithstanding. 

“Hmm… We’re leaving around the same time, too.” He gently placed Hiru down again. Hands on hips, he considered me. “Say…what would you think about joining me and Pikachu? You get along with Brock and Misty well, too. We could totally be a good team. Plus, I’ll never say no to someone who knows how to make my Pokémon stronger. C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

“Tempting…” No, it wasn’t! I may have brushed my chin in contemplation, but the motion was a polite fiction. “But I think our adventures are meant to be our own.” My story was liable to get convoluted enough; I didn’t need Ash’s brand of Arceus-guided hijinks to muddy it further. “Sorry.”

“Nah, man. Don’t sweat it!” He rubbed the back of his head and shot me a blinding smile that tugged on my guilt. “I understand better than anyone. Whenever my old Pokémon teammates have asked to be released, I learn that lesson all over again. The world doesn’t revolve around me!” 

It absolutely did. That memo snapped every ounce of my internal regret right out. 

“Trust me. We’re all the main characters of our respective tales. Especially you. Me too, for that matter.”