– Chapter 12 –
The Thieving Packrat
First badge in hand, Roy sprung from his bed the next morning, fresh and ready to go. The Pokémon Center had taken care of his Pokémon and rounded off the tips of Beedrill’s twin needles. Blunted enough to not be deadly, but still pack a punch in a battle. They’d also diluted the poison in his body to the toxicity levels accepted in battles. Poison could be an effective tactic against opponents, but there would be no murder charges for Roy.
With his team and gear set and ready, Roy ran out the Pokémon Center and sprinted down the street toward the blazing sun rising like a diamond over the peak of Mt. Moon, thoughts of the Cascade Badge pulling him like a magnet toward Cerulean City on the other side.
Roy reached the Pewter outskirts in ten minutes. He dashed past the last building and up the road until he gazed out over the hilltop marking the city borders, wind blowing through his hair. The trail sloped down into a great crevice splitting a crack through the earth. Route 3: the canyon famed for its many meteorite and fossil discoveries. A treasure trove for archeologists and astrologists everywhere. And for Trainers like Roy: the next path of adventure. Roy hitched his pack up on his shoulders and marched forward.
The road led Roy down between the pair of rocky cliffs wide enough to drive seven rows of cars through. A sign welcomed him at the entrance.
Route 3
Mt. Moon a day’s walk east
(Beware of pickpocketing Sandshrew)
Pickpocketing Sandshrew. Not even in the canyon yet and already promises of an expedition to keep him on his toes. He checked that all the zippers on his bag were sealed, his wallet remained in his pocket, and his Poké Balls on his belt, then took his first step past the sign and into the gorge.
***
Roy hiked throughout the morning until the sun scorched down from the opening of sky between the canyon walls, like a river of clear blue flowing overhead. Roy found a slanted rock and sat under its shade for a quick lunch. He groaned with relief as he pulled off the heavy pack rubbing blisters into his skin and set it beside him. And his feet still ached from hiking through the forest. Perhaps he should’ve rested in Pewter longer before hiking this canyon. He rubbed his sore, reddening shoulders then dug through for one of the sandwich wraps he’d gotten from the Pokémon Center. Where was that distorted thing? Oh, the downsides of a bag with unlimited space. Ah ha!
He tore off the foil wrapping and leaned against the rock, taking a bite worthy of his hunger, and cracked open his second water bottle to take a liberal swig as he wiped sweat from his brow. Only halfway through the day and he’d already gone through his first bottle. Two left. Thank the nurse for insisting he bring three, despite Roy’s certainty they were larger than necessary.
Route 3 had yet to throw any action or obstacles other than heat and terrain at him, but even if he made it all the way to Mt. Moon without crossing a single Trainer or Pokémon, the scenery more than compensated for it.
The canyon itself offered a sight to behold. An artistic masterpiece of nature. Someone give a blue ribbon to Mother Nature and whatever long dried-up river she carved this thing with. He’d passed a few small houses along the way. Despite the distance from town, he could see why some would choose to live this far out. Especially if you were an archeologist. Giant boulders and craters spotted the canyon everywhere you went, both above and even down here. Roy had yet to walk a hundred meters without passing at least one crater. For reasons still unknown, meteorites struck around Mt. Moon with a frequency like they had some personal vendetta against the peak. Or maybe it was just a good target for whatever aliens were throwing rocks up on the moon. Jokes aside, the mystery had drawn many a curious mind to the famed landmark. Its numerous caves seldom had a single week of peace without some sort of undergoing research happening. The last time Roy looked into the studies of Mt. Moon was… how many years ago? What new discoveries had people made?
But scientists weren’t the only ones attracted to the mystical mountain. Trainers flocked to it every full moon in search of Clefairy, one of Kanto’s rarest Pokémon. Either aiming to catch one, or just hoping for the happiness spotting one was said to bring. The full moon was a few weeks away, but maybe Roy would get lucky and happen across one. No one would deny a Pokémon theorized to have come from outer space would be worth the catch. Not that he had his hopes up.
Something made a scratching noise through the dirt. Roy looked to the right and around the rock he sat under. He saw nothing at first but stretched his neck a few extra centimeters and the source of the sound inched into view. A little bigger than Squirtle, a pudgy shrew covered in scales the color of golden sand crawled on all fours, sniffing at the ground and clawing at the earth. Perhaps looking for food. It froze when it noticed Roy watching and rose to stand on its hind legs, turning to watch him with almond-shaped black eyes.
Roy remembered the sign’s warning and put a watchful hand on his bag as the Sandshrew gave him a cautious approach. It stopped at the line drawn by the shadow of the rock Roy sat under. It didn’t want to leave the sun’s warmth? Or it didn’t trust getting too close?
The Sandshrew eyed Roy’s half-eaten sandwich, then looked at his bag. Roy kept hold of his belongings and an eye on his pockets.
A Sandshrew would make a good addition to his team. Roy’s first potential Ground-type. A defensive Pokémon with some decent offense. Roy moved a slow hand toward the Poké Balls at his belt. “All right, little buddy,” he whispered. “You’re mine.”
Roy scooched his backpack behind him and rose to his feet. When the Sandshrew didn’t move, Roy threw out Squirtle. The Water-type would do well against Sandshrew.
“Squirtle!” Roy’s starter cried out as he took a fighting stance, but the Sandshrew must’ve missed the hint, because it maintained its relaxed, curious posture. In fact, its eyes moved away from Squirtle to Roy’s bag again, and it dropped on all fours to crawl a few steps closer.
“Ward it off,” Roy said, and Squirtle sprayed a quick Water Gun. The Sandshrew jumped back as if it had expected the attack, landing a few meters away.
“All right, let’s get into this already. Hit it with Water Gun!”
Squirtle spewed a series of blasts, but they only splashed at the dry ground, leaving puddles of mud as the Sandshrew flipped around each one. But the chubby shrew took no action to strike back, displaying no interest in fighting at all. Squirtle missed another Water Gun, and the Sandshrew smiled and made a noise that sounded like laughter. “Shshshshshsh.” It turned its tail on them and burrowed into the ground.
“Quick! Stop it!”
Too late. Roy knew how fast Sandshrew moved underground. The moment its tail disappeared below the dirt, so too vanished any chance Roy had of catching it. He rubbed his forehead, muttering an annoyed, “Fuck,” to himself before calling Squirtle back. Well, plenty of Sandshrew lived in these parts–among other species. Maybe he’d get another opportunity.
“Stop! Don’t let it get away!” A kid around ten nearly tripped over his own feet as he scrambled toward them, a Rattata and Ekans following at his side. He had on a blue t-shirt with a pair of tan shorts matching his tan baseball cap, which he wore backwards.
“Yeah, sorry, it’s long gone, kid.”
“Gaaah!” The boy kicked at the dirt. “I’ve had it up to here with that thing!”
“You know that specific Sandshrew?”
“Everyone here knows that dirty thief.”
“Sounds like a pest problem. Has anyone tried contacting Pewter City? They must have experts who could catch it.”
“Yeah, some folks here have tried that.” The kid put on a mocking voice. “But ‘it’s a wild Pokémon, and this is their natural habitat’.” The kid rolled his eyes. “Everyone knows it’s that Sandshrew causing all the trouble, but those so called ‘expert’ catchers insist there’s no proof all Sandshrew around here aren’t like that. So they threw up that stupid warning sign and called it good.” He yelled up at the sky, “Thanks for nothing!” The kid fell back to sit on the ground and held his head like he had a Psyduck level migraine. “Uuugh, what am I going to do? My life is over.”
“Well, keep up that headache and you may just develop psychic powers. That could help catch Sandshrew.” The boy blew him a raspberry. Roy smiled and took a knee in front of the kid. “All right, what’s the issue? Did it take something important?”
“No, it just snuck into our place last night and stole my sister’s junk pendant. But it had to be the one her stuuupid boyfriend bought her. I have to get it back before she finds out or she’ll wring my neck for forgetting to spray Pokémon repel around the house.”
“I’ve got some catching experience. What say I help you find that Sandshrew?”
“Really?”
“Sure. I know what a pain sisters are.” With a smile, he stood and held out a hand to lift the kid up.
“Believe me, she’s scary when she’s angry.”
“What’s your name, kid?”
“Ben.”
“I’m Roy.”
“So how are you gonna find that Sandshrew?”
“Let’s start with this.” Roy threw a Poké Ball straight into the air, releasing Beedrill. “We’re looking for a Sandshrew. Fly ahead and see what you can find.”
Beedrill gave a buzz and a nod, then zoomed off. Sandshrew spent a lot of time underground, but they had to come up eventually. It never hurt to have eyes in the sky. “We’ll find it,” Roy said, then nodded to the Pokémon with Ben. He was too young to be a Trainer, but they likely belonged to his family. “What tricks do those two know?”
“Rattata’s learning how to track. And Ekans knows Dig, so he can follow the Sandshrew underground if it tries to escape again.”
“That’s good. Has anyone tried catching this thing before?”
“A few times, but it always runs away. There’s a lot of burrows up ahead. I know a s hortcut. It’s this way, just past a few ledges. That rat’s home has to be around there somewhere.”
“Excellent. We know where to start.”
“I’ll lead the way. C’mon, Rattata. Ekans.” Ben ran ahead with his Pokémon and Roy followed. Beedrill flew above, looking over the landscape while staying within sight. On the ground level, Ben climbed and leapt over obstacles as they diverged off the main path. He definitely lived nearby because he traversed the ragged land like a pro compared to Roy. His arms and legs were going to hate him tomorrow. More than they already did.
“You sure know your way around these parts,” Roy said between deep breaths.
“I come out here all the time looking for meteorites or moon stones. But guess who always shows up to take what I find!”
Ben definitely looked like he did more digging and climbing than your average hiker. He wasn’t even winded. Calluses covered his hands and his scuffed-up knees showed signs of repeated abuse–more than the average kid’s. Ben didn’t exactly wear appropriate hiking gear. “You usually come out here in shorts?”
“I like shorts!” Ben said defensively. “They’re comfy and easy to wear!”
“Okay, okay. Sheesh.”
They came to a jagged rock wall and Ben scaled it without a moment’s hesitation, showing an entire youth’s worth of experience. Roy struggled to find the right footholds to match the boy’s feat.
“C’mon! Hurry up! I thought you were a pro!”
Watch your mouth, brat.
Roy reached the top, and they continued on their way. As they walked along, keeping their eyes open, Roy took out the journal to log their current objective and his present thoughts on the matter, occasionally flipping back to his father’s older entries. Though he’d long memorized them, a wise man never thought himself above double checking. Maybe he’d written some clues that could help them.
As Roy skimmed through his father’s logs of Route 3, Beedrill gave a loud buzz from up high. “Sounds like he’s found something,” Roy said.
Beedrill pointed, but a pile of boulders hid whatever it was. Beedrill moved to point at the top of a short crag. Something ran across it, kicking dirt loose, but the wall obscured the Pokémon scurrying overhead. Beedrill then pointed behind them. They turned and Sandshrew leapt down at them.
“Get it!” Ben shouted. Roy made an awkward one-handed grab as the Pokémon passed between them, but missed. He dove for it, but the Sandshrew sprang off the ground, landing on Roy’s head with hard, heavy paws.
“Ow!”
Ben lunged for it but ended up tackling Roy instead. The Sandshrew laughed as it landed a safe distance away. “Shshshshshsh.”
Roy growled. “Come out, Squirtle!” He threw the Poké Ball as he and Ben untangled themselves.
“You too, Rattata!”
Squirtle charged with a Skull Bash while Ben’s Rattata closed in for a Tackle. But Sandshrew jumped above them and their two heads only collided with each other. Sandshrew landed on their heads for a double hit, then kicked off. Beedrill skydived with a flurry of Twin Needle attacks, but the agile shrew flipped to evade each one like an acrobat before burrowing into the ground.
“Don’t let it get away!” Ben shouted. “Ekans! Follow it!”
“Ekans!” the purple snake hissed and slithered into the hole. Tranquility returned to the scenic canyon as the two Pokémon disappeared underground.
“Distorted vermin,” Ben muttered as he and Roy retrieved their Pokémon, whose unfocused eyes spun, dizzy from butting heads. Roy returned Squirtle, but Ben gave Rattata gentle pets, setting it back down when its head was clear enough to stand. Ben not being a licensed Trainer, it likely didn’t have a Poké Ball.
“Like catching smoke,” Roy said as he stood and straightened and dusted off his jacket.
The journal!
He looked around in a frantic and found it lying open and upside down a few feet away. Roy must’ve dropped it in the chaos. He picked it up, flipped it over, and panic sank in. His Boulder Badge was gone. Along with his father’s from Vermilion City. His eyes darted across the ground, hands whipping through the sand as his heart rate raced, but he found nothing. A second look at the journal revealed light scratch marks inside the cover, and anger replaced his panic.
“My Badges! That fucking–” Roy slapped a hand over his mouth, remembering the ten-year-old’s presence, but Ben just pointed at him and laughed.
“Ha ha! You slipped!”
“Sorry,” Roy said, though he let loose a silent string of foul words in his head. That distorted Sandshrew was slick. It had to have been when they first tried grabbing it, but Roy couldn’t think of what exact moment it could’ve been. It burned him to admit it, but fuck, that thing was good.
Son-of-a-bitch. The Boulder Badge Brock would surely give him another if he went back, but his father’s badge was irreplaceable. Forget catching, someone call the exterminators! Roy was going to wring that rat’s fucking neck!
A short trench in the dirt revealed the angle at which Sandshrew had entered the ground, pointing to the north. “They must’ve gone that way,” Ben said.
Roy grabbed his shoulder to stop him from rushing off. “No. Sandshrew always turn around after they get deep enough. To confuse predators.” Roy pointed south. “It will have gone this way.”
Fifteen minutes of walking later, Beedrill buzzed from above, announcing that he found something, and they jogged ahead to find Ekans waiting at the entrance of a small cave in a tucked away corner of the canyon. “Ek Ekans,” it hissed, nodding to inside the hole.
“This must be its home,” Ben said.
“Let’s go. Quietly.” Roy waved at Beedrill to come and he joined them on the ground as they entered the burrow, Ekans leading the way. Roy could barely stand up in the cramped tunnel that stank of waste. Darkness settled in fast, and Ben pulled a small flashlight from his pocket, shining a beam ahead. The path twisted at several points, but never branched off. The further they got, the lower Roy had to crouch and the harsher he coughed on the dry, dusty air. Any more narrowing and Roy would have to turn them back. Smaller or not, he wouldn’t let Ben go on alone.
A soft jingle echoed from the depths. Roy held a finger to his lips, and they crept forward through the twisting tunnel, following what sounded like someone shaking a bag of jewelry. Roy rounded a bend in the tunnel and grinded to a halt, holding out an arm to keep everyone back. With a wave, he gestured for Ben to come see, and the kid poked his head around the corner.
Ben’s eyes lit up at the shimmering trove before them, like they’d stumbled upon a pirate’s hidden treasure. And amidst it all, lounged the devious pirate himself, Captain Sandshrew, playfully rolling about in his pile of trinkets and stolen valuables that would earn even a Gholdengo’s envy. A pair of star-shaped sunglasses–plastic rims covered in golden glitter–sat displayed atop the heap as though they were the most valuable item in the collection.
“The thing’s a hoarding packrat,” Ben whispered. He moved his flashlight to get a better look, but the glow caught Sandshrew’s attention.
“Shrew!” it cried, and for the first time, it sounded angry. Ben tried to pull the light back, but Sandshrew had already noticed them and swiped its tail at the low ceiling, sending a blast of dirt their way. From behind, Beedrill zoomed through the group to put himself between them and the attack. Beedrill buzzed his wings at rapid speed, fanning the Sand Attack away.
Roy lowered the arms he’d raised to protect his eyes, and Sandshrew jumped down from the pile of treasure, landing on all fours between them. It stood in a battle-ready pose, claws bared, eyes narrowed in hostility, contrasting everything about its earlier behavior. They’d broken into its home and made themselves a threat. It would play with them no longer.
Sandshrew ran forward and swiped with its claws. Beedrill blocked with his twin needles, pushing the shrew away. Sandshrew slid across the littered floor, jingling through the mess of trinkets. Easily as a fish into water, Sandshrew dove headfirst into the ground.
“It’s getting away!” Ben said.
“Oh no it’s not. We’ve intruded on its home. It has a treasure to defend.” Rattata, and Ekans hurried forward to help, but Roy held his arms out to keep them back. “I’ll handle this. Get ready, Beedrill!”
The Pokémon readied his stance in the air, but even in this dim lighting couldn’t hide the sweat dripping down his face. Roy didn’t blame him. Beedrill had less than two meters of flight room in this corridor Roy couldn’t stand up in, putting the bug at a terrible terrain disadvantage. But Beedrill had already suffered two terrible defeats against Sakuji’s Beedrill and Brock’s Sudowoodo. Roy wasn’t about to fail him again. Time for their first victory together.
Sandshrew dove underground, but the cave surrounded them on all sides. It could appear from anywhere. The ceiling rumbled, but before Roy could call out a warning, Sandshrew emerged from above, falling to rake Beedrill with a Scratch attack before disappearing back into the earth below. Three seconds later, it resurfaced from the side to strike again before retreating into the walls once more.
“String Shot, Beedrill! Cover the cave!”
Beedrill sprayed sticky webbing from his mouth, stretching lines across every length of the tunnel. Sandshrew burst forth to attack, but snared itself in the surprise trap.
“Poison Jab!”
As Sandshrew struggled to escape the gooey entanglement, Beedrill zipped forward and struck the trapped foe with his rear stinger. Torn free of the String Shot, Sandshrew crashed into the pile of treasure behind it, sending jewels clattering every which way, ringing loud in the cave’s echo.
“Shreeeew!” Growling in anger, Sandshrew slashed with its claws, not at Beedrill, but tearing away the webbing layering the cave.
At Roy’s command, Beedrill darted forward to stab with a Furry Attack, but Sandshrew curled into a ball and the needles clanged against hardened scales. Beedrill hit with another hard jab that sent Sandshrew’s balled up form rolling toward the wall, but Sandshrew took control of its movement, swerving around to come back at Beedrill with a Rollout. “Watch out!” Beedrill veered up, avoiding the attack but hitting his head on the low ceiling and falling back down. “Beedrill!”
The giant wasp struggled to his feet as Sandshrew circled around for another Rollout.
“String Shot!”
Beedrill stepped aside to dodge the Rollout, attaching a line of webbing to Sandshrew as it passed. Sandshrew rolled forward, stretching the string connecting the two Pokémon like a rubber band, building energy in the line. The String Shot stretched until it couldn’t anymore and Sandshrew snapped back. “Now throw it!”
Using the momentum, Beedrill whipped Sandshrew like a slingshot, slamming the shrew into the cave wall. Sandshrew uncurled from its ball and slumped to the ground. “Shrew,” it groaned.
“Don’t let it up!”
As Sandshrew struggled to its feet, Beedrill zipped forward, following Agility with a hard Fury Attack in Sandshrew’s gut. Beedrill followed through and tossed the Pokémon up into the ceiling. Sandshrew hit the cave roof and fell to the ground, landing in the treasure pile with an echoing clatter.
Roy grabbed an empty Poké Ball and threw it. The ball struck Sandshrew’s body and absorbed the Pokémon in red light. It snapped shut and bounced to the ground, shaking once… twice… thrice…
Click!
The Poké Ball stilled.
“Yes!” Roy punched upward and his fist hit the rocky ceiling. “Ow!”
“You did it!” Ben shouted. “You caught that thief!”
Across the cave, Beedrill dropped to a knee, stabbing a needle arm into the floor to support himself as he caught his breath. “Well done, Beedrill.” Roy recalled him, then moved forward at a crouch to pick up the newest member of his team.
Ben and his two Pokémon ran past Roy to marvel at the pile of treasure with glimmering eyes. “Look at all this stuff! There must be a fortune here!”
Roy grabbed his shoulder. “A fortune of things people are missing.”
Ben sighed in disappointment. “Yeah.”
“Let’s find our stuff and get out of here. Then we can call someone to come collect all this.”
Roy, Ben, Rattata, and Ekans dug through the pile, which turned out to not be as valuable as it seemed. There were a few gems, rings, various pieces of jewelry, and some low value coins, but most of Sandshrew’s collection contained junk or trivial knickknacks, including buttons, belt buckles, broken Poké Balls, cracked glasses, and random trinkets that looked like they belonged in a cheap gift shop. But not everything here appeared stolen. A few small meteorites that likely didn’t belong to anyone, some glittering minerals, and…
A moon stone! Roy was keeping that.
Roy stowed the rare item away and dug back into the pile. He almost cut himself on a left open pocketknife. And buried under a clutter of rusted keys, Roy found a used drug needle.
“Hey,” he called at Ben. “Watch where you put your hands. There’s some sharp and dangerous stuff in here.” Ben was busy admiring a rather large diamond ring. “Look, take any junk or canyon minerals you want, but the valuables we have to turn in.”
“I know, I know.”
Roy’s was far from the only Boulder Badge Sandshrew had nicked, but after several minutes of digging through broken appliance pieces, he found the one lying next to his father’s Vermilion badge. Yes! He wiped the badges’ smooth surfaces with his thumb to make sure they weren’t damaged, then pinned them back into the journal where they belonged.
A few minutes later, Ben held up a necklace covered in giant, obviously fake rubies and sapphires. “Found it!”
“Good. Now let’s get out of this rathole.”
Once they were out in the open again and Roy had service–shitty service but still service–he called the Pewter City Police to come clean out the trash and collect any belongings that needed to be returned or put in a lost and found.
They sat down on a rock to wait, and within a half hour, two police cars pulled up the canyon road in a cloud of dust, four officers stepping out. Roy waved for their attention and got up to give the details of the report to them. They’d gotten numerous calls about a thieving Sandshrew over the years, but were limited on what action they could take outside their jurisdiction–especially regarding wild Pokémon. Needless to say, it thrilled them to thank Roy and Ben for their services.
The police radioed for assistance and, before too long, had a group of officers making round trips in and out of the cave as they removed the trash, which Roy and Ben assisted with, even if the younger one needed a little motivation from Roy.
By the time Roy carried out his last load, a Poké Ball shook at his side and opened up, Sandshrew coming out of its own accord, eyes narrowed. “Shrew shrew, Sandshrew!” It stomped at the ground, yelling at the police officers as they hauled away its personal treasure collection. “Sandshrew!” it yelled again, though the cries did nothing to stop them, and Roy had to pick it up to keep it from running after them.
Sandshrew struggled in his arms. “Hey, hey, calm down.”
“Shrew!”
“That stuff belongs to people. You can’t keep it.”
“Sandshreeeew!”
“Hey, Sandshrew, look. Here, see this?”
Sandshrew sulked in his arms, refusing to look, so Roy moved the item in front of his face to make him look at it. Sandshrew relaxed in an instant, looking up at the object above its head.
“See. I saved you a piece.”
Roy held the sunglasses Sandshrew had placed atop the treasure pile as though they were the item it valued most. A junky pair of sunglasses–the kind of cheap plastic ones meant to be worn as party toys rather than actual eye protection. The kind with star-shaped lenses and glittery gold frames. But Sandshrew jumped from Roy’s arms to snatch up the last piece of its old collection and put them on, standing tall and proud as the police packed away the rest of its treasure in their trunks.
Roy sighed with relief, then smiled at the image of a Sandshrew wearing star-shaped sunglasses. “Good. I’m glad those’ll do.” And with no further fuss, Sandshrew went back to its ball.
The Pokémon disappeared in red light, but a strange shadow floated in on the spot where Sandshrew had stood. The shadow of a figure hovering behind Roy. He spun around, but only caught the whooshing sound of the creature dashing away with a glistening tinkle before Roy could see what it was.
Something giggled. A cute, girlish laughter. Roy looked every which way, but whatever it had been was gone now. “Hey, did you see…”
Ben punched Roy in the shoulder, evidently not hearing what he’d said. “Thanks for your help. That Sandshrew won’t bother people here anymore. I can’t wait to kick down that sign at the canyon entrance.”
“Yeah, don’t do that.” The city would have the sign changed once the thieving reports stopped. Ben didn’t need to get into trouble for vandalism.
Ben spun the reclaimed pendant around his finger, creating a metallic whizzing sound. “Well, I should get this home before…” His face blanched like he’d just spotted a Duskull coming to take his soul. “Aw, crud.”
Past the police cars, a mid-teenage girl came running up the road in a frantic. “Ben!” she called. “There you are. Where in the name of Arceus have you been!?”
“I, uh… was getting this back from Sandshrew for you,” he said in a voice sapped of any shred of confidence as he held up the necklace.
“What!? Give me that!” She snatched the pendant away like she thought Ben’s hands contained the world’s vilest germs. “How many times have Mom and Dad told you to spray around the house at night!?”
“And how many times have they told you no sneaking off to stay at your boyfriend’s while they’re out of town?”
She gave him a death threat level glare as she drilled her knuckles into his head. “What was that!?”
“Ow, ow, ow, stop it!”
Ben called out a last thanks to Roy as his violent sister dragged him home by the wrist, Rattata and Ekans following behind, and Roy returned the wave with a smile. “Hey! You’re headed to Cerulean Gym, right!? Kick those Sensational Sisters’ butts for me! Sisters are stupid!” The comment earned Ben a clonk on the head.
As they disappeared from sight, Roy’s mind drifted back to what had been watching him. He’d heard that same laugh on Route 1–so filled with childish innocence. And that strange magical glisten had sounded so much like the one of whatever had broken his fall in the Viridian Forest. Was something following him? But what? And why? If it had saved him, it couldn’t have meant harm, right? Why not show itself?
“Thank you for your assistance.” The officer’s voice pulled Roy back to reality.
“Huh? Oh, yes. Of course.”
“We’re always grateful to have Trainers like you around. You’re going to the Mt. Moon Pokémon Center, right? Need a lift?”
“Thanks, but I’ll manage,” Roy said, much as his feet killed him.
“I thought so. By foot is the only way of the traveling Trainer, am I right? Take care then.” He tipped his cap, and Roy watched the cops assemble back into their cars and disappear in a cloud of dust down the road to Pewter City.
With the sun dipping into early twilight, Roy continued his hike along Route 3. Catching Sandshrew had consumed most of the day, but he could still make it to the center before nightfall. Most of the canyon road had angled down to the east but shifted to a gradual inclining slope as he neared the base of Mt. Moon. Steeper and steeper, as if the mountain itself insisted on making Roy sleep out in the cold tonight.
Exhaustion had just about forced his hand on that decision, when the bright red color of salvation poked its head over the hill. The red roof of a Pokémon Center. He’d made it. Tonight, rest. Tomorrow, through Mt. Moon. And with his newly acquired Ground Pokémon, he’d have the perfect tunneler to guide his way through.
Get ready, Sensational Sisters. Here we come.
To be continued...