Chapter 105 – Broadening Horizons

Chapter 105 – Broadening Horizons

‘This must be one of the toughest decisions in a trainer’s life.’

I had come to find out that one of the Joys had sneakily registered Victini under my name after I had filled in that Arceus damned survey. That little hoax officially brought the total number of Pokémon under my care to eight explaining my current predicament. I was now standing in front of the center’s transfer machine struggling to pick which of my two partners I had to send back to the gym. Roxanne was here also patiently explaining to me how to operate a transfer machine.

“You see Egon? This is where you fill in the address. You can either type it in manually or choose one of the more publicly accessible transfer machines which are all part of the network.”

“A public network?”

“Any and all Pokémon centers, gyms, contest halls, trainers’ schools and association affiliated daycares.”

‘I do remember being tasked to dust off the gym’s old transfer machine. That thing is just sitting there in the storage room never being used. If it suddenly turned on, how long would it take for one of the staffers or volunteers to notice? Mr. Moore’s digital phobic and always has one of us bring exhausted gym Pokémon to the center instead of using the damn thing like he’s supposed to. Guess I better make sure.’

“What if there’s no one on the other end? Wouldn’t the poké balls just sit there?”

“I’ve never thought about that before… at some point the Pokémon would grow bored and take the initiative to come out of their poké balls on their own I presume.”

“Vi! Vi.” “Just pick me! I can teleport back straight away.”

‘That’s breaking both the spirit of the rule and the bylaw that says psychic types can’t teleport back to their trainer when they’ve been stabled. When you are sent there for the day it means I can’t be seen with you.’

“Vi…” “…I can just stay in the backpack like usual.”

‘There are too many individuals with unique abilities attending the tournament. Now that you have become known I wouldn’t put it past some of them to try and report us to get me disqualified.’

“Vi.” “That’s lame.”

‘It is best that we play this by the book. Flannery, Grandpa and Grandma would very much like to spend time with you. It wouldn’t be that bad to be separated for only a day. I’ll send Raven along too. She's been clamoring for a chance to mess around with that old pack leader of hers.’

We had already determined that the best way to do this was to swap out on a daily basis. With at least two of my partners being in Lavaridge Town at any moment. I would’ve actually preferred to send my Pokémon to the Lavaridge center but Nurse Mary wasn’t there anymore and I wouldn’t entrust my precious partners to a temp that I’ve never met before. 

“Does it get easier?”

“Hmmm… a little? Relicanth wouldn’t be happy traveling with us long-term, having to spend so much time inside his poké ball. Leaving him inside the Rustburo school’s aquarium where he can help inspire future paleontologists was the best choice. Onix doesn’t really like battling as much as she likes helping me and is content staying with my papa for now.”

I had been to that particular aquarium during my assistant teacher days. It was where the school kept most of its rental water type Pokémon. More often than not the janitorial staff had to chase off overeager students attempting to swim or fish in its waters. The water type Pokémon did seem to enjoy all the attention though so it wouldn’t be the worst place to keep Relicanth.

Making up my mind I placed Raven’s ball inside the transfer machine, hit up Flannery’s place on the touchscreen and pressed down on the big green button Electric sparks enveloped Raven’s safari ball and in very short order the entire ball disappeared off to my employer’s storage room. I was still amazed at how far certain technologies have developed in this world while others completely lagged behind.

‘After the conference concludes I should really study up on how some of this trainer equipment actually works.’

“Vi!” “Me next!”

“You’ll have to stay put in your poké ball during the transfer. Are you sure you can handle that?”

“It’s just for a few seconds, right?”

Victini tapped her black rimmed poké ball, getting sucked up inside within short order. Now that she was ready for transfer, I didn’t waste any time placing her ball inside the machine and started the process right away. Just like before the electric sparks consumed the poké ball until the object disappeared from our eyes. 

“That’s does it, I guess? You want to grab some dinner together?”

It had become clear that the nurses did not intend to release Heatran today or even the day after tomorrow. Something about having to replenish its body’s spent minerals and also having to discover which minerals the Pokémon was deficient for would take lots of time. The gym’s slugma and macargo received all they needed while swimming inside the gym’s magma chamber. I couldn't see why a similar method wouldn’t work for Heatran but I wasn’t one to gainsay the medical experts.

“I know a good place that also caters to a wide variety of Pokémon.”

“Just like that one place we went to in Sootopolis? Count me in.”

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Two days later*

My short stay in Ever Grande city, specifically the Conference Village, has been very pleasant. For one there were always strong trainers around looking to prove themselves. None of the trainers who had access to the village had less than eight badges, which meant that there was some good battling to be had. Second, this also gave us an opportunity to size up the competition to see where we placed in the competitor hierarchy. After some sniffing around I assessed that the average age of conference goers was about sixteen years old. This would normally give them the advantage over fledgling trainers like me, despite the fact we pulled out ahead more often than not. 

The battles we did lose often had us fight against the odds. This happened more often during our second day when word got around that I exclusively trained fire type Pokémon. Every two-bit water type specialist came out of the woodwork thinking to make an easy buck. At that point I had to change strategies to keep up, often only accepting their challenges under the conditions that we had a double battle. That way my Pokémon could cover each other’s weaknesses. It always put me in a good mood when our challengers found out that my partners could use grass type moves.

Today it was Halo and Glove’s turn to spend time at the Lavaridge gym. Glove was inseparable from Halo, so it only made sense to pair the two of them together. Halo was still our little baby girl who we had all watched growing up under our care. I was initially reluctant to put her into the rotation at all but, being the big girl that she is, the bug type insisted on getting treated just the same as anyone else on the team. 

Now we found ourselves inside the Ever Grande Pokémon center once again. Nurse Mary finally sent a message letting us know that Heatran had made a full recovery and was ready to be discharged. Mollie was with us this time and I was eager to get to know my new partner.

Victini, who had come out of rotation yesterday, kept herself invisible once again. The little gremlin enjoyed the attention but being swarmed by girls every day would cut into our personal time. When Victini was with us I focused my efforts on training all my partners which oftentimes left her with nothing to do. She used those moments to visit Mollie the young Nurse Joy in the making had become enamored with Victini even going so far as seeking us out on her own. That was why I wasn’t surprised Victini had included Mollie into her telepathic ramblings. 

“I can’t wait! Heatran is going to be one of my besties!”

“Heatran seemed like a loner to me. Being too overeager might scare it off.”

“Why do you keep calling Heatran an it?! She’s obviously a girl Pokémon!”

“How would anyone know?! It is not like there’s a study out on Heatran sexual dimorphism! Tell her she’s being unreasonable Mollie!”

“Ehm… my family could.”

“Aha! See?!”

“They’re medical professionals, it is completely normal for them to be able to tell! Anyways… Mollie are you able to open the personnel only door by yourself?”

“…I can. Mother might scold me for letting you in.”

“You should be fine. We got the invite from Mary, and as Heatran’s trainer I reserve the right to come see my Pokémon.”

“Pleeease?”

“Okay but if anyone from my family asks, you stole the keycard out of my pocket.”

After that it didn’t take long for us to make it inside the secret experimental room where only nurses Joy were allowed inside. Mollie’s mother was there along with Mary and all the other nurses we’ve come to know these last few days. Lying down in the same position as before Heatran was taking it easy as multiple Chansey crowded around the steel type patting her down to check for something I had no clue about. 

Nurse Mary was the first to walk up to us seemingly not fazed at all from seeing me walk in before being invited to do so. Mollie, our partner in crime tried making herself as small as possible probably in the hope that she would pass scrutiny. To help her accomplish such a feat, Victini had already left stealth mode and promptly nestled herself inside Mollie’s luxurious pink hair. 

“Egon you made it but… who let you inside?”

“Vi Vi?” “I teleported us through the door. Is that bad?”

“No… we just weren’t ready for you yet.”

Victini had covered for Mollie knowing that the nurses Joy inside would never fault her for anything. Now that the threat of discovery had passed the pink-haired girl seemed much more at ease. In gratitude, Mollie made sure to give Victini all the scritches with just the right amount of consistency and pressure.

“Heatran seemed to have calmed down. Did something positive happen while I was away?”

“Our nursing assistants are very experienced handling newly captured Pokémon. Heatran’s case isn’t too out of left-field compared to some of our more aggressive ex-patients.”

“Really? What’s the meanest Pokémon you’ve come across Nurse Mary?”

“Not a patient but there was a Ralts who had been captured while still under the care of its parents… The trainer who naively brought it to the center never regained full function of his dominant arm.”

‘Jeez… there’s a reason that trainer-owned Ralts are a rarity. That guy should’ve done his due diligence first.’

“How is Heatran’s health coming along? Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t expect a Pokémon like her to be defeated so easily.”

“Heatran was suffering from a severe mineral deficiency. We’ve put her on a strict diet while she was staying with us. However, we still don’t know enough about her species to be able to tell how much and what variety of minerals Heatran needs. So instead, we decided to give her as much as possible without overloading a Pokémon of her size and weight. This has been a very expensive undertaking.”

To emphasize her point Mary offered me the receipt listing all the rare minerals the nurses ordered for Heatran’s recovery.

“Silicon, Nickel, Iron, Lithium, Cobalt, Sulfur, Zinc Magnesium that’s fairly standard.”

“Read further down.”

Aluminum, Tin, Copper, Silver, Titanium?!!”

“We would’ve included even more expensive metals if not for the fact that Gold and Platinum was impossible to source with the amount of time we had. Heatran seems to gain the most dietary benefits out of Nickel and Iron so you could leave her to dine in scrapyards like most other steel types. However, Heatran still needs a trace amount of the more precious minerals. So we recommend you have her stay in naturally occurring magma at least once a week.”

When our group got close enough to Heatran, Victini couldn’t hold herself back anymore. The little gremlin wrestled loose out of Mollie’s arms and dove forward just enough to come face to face with her same status peer.

“Vi!”

“Gwoo!?”

“Vi! Vi!”

“Gwooo!!”

Now that Heatran had a chance to properly rest and evaluate her situation I could finally hear the Pokémon’s regular speaking voice. She sounded similar to those animatrons from the Jurassic movies or if a Donphan and a Pyroar had a baby but made out of metal.

Victini has translated long enough for me that I could follow her half of the conversation. Introductions came first after which Victini immediately staked her claim as Heatran’s newest bestie. What followed was a mixture of back and forths with what I think is Heatran’s incessant denial of said relationship. The Pokémon’s irritation spiked with the ambient temperature in the room reflecting Heatran’s mood. Before things could escalate I decided to step in and mediate the situation.

“Uhm… sorry for Tini’s gregariousness, she gets all excited when we come across an unusual Pokémon like yourself.”

“Gwoo…”

“Leaving that aside have the nurses here gotten the chance to explain to you what being a trainer’s Pokémon is like?”

“Gwoo!”

‘Alright that didn’t sound too positive but maybe I can still fix this.’

“Tell her about the free food and cuddles!”

‘I doubt a steel type like Heatran appreciates the soft comforts of physical intimacy. Also, I have no idea if she can even properly enjoy the experience of tasting berries like us fleshy beings do. Now just let me do my thing. I have good odds at being better at this than you. All my partners chose to hang out with me of their own volition. That’s seven to zero odds that my method does work.’

“Heatran now that you are awake, what would you like to do if not travel with my group?” 

“Gwoo!”

“Heatran says she wants to go back home.”

“Hmm… that’s a toughie. Your former home is flooded with water, and its volcano has long since become extinct. That’s like the worst place to be for a fire type Pokémon.”

“Gwooo!!”

Heatran did not like hearing the grim truth. Judging by her outburst I’d better come up with a palatable alternative solution for the sad looking Pokémon.

“Hmm well how about a replacement home?”

“Gwo!?”

“The planar fracture that initially formed Hoenn has already migrated due to the effects of continental drift. That’s probably also why your home is the way it is but the hotspot beneath Mt. Chimney is huge and still very active. Why not make a new home there?”

“Gwooo?”

“Vii!” “What are you doing?!”

Ignoring Victini’s outcry, I continued to satisfy Heatran’s curiosity. If this relationship had any possibility of working out then I would prefer being as open and honest as possible about any other option the legendary Pokémon might be interested in.

“Mt. Chimney is the tallest mountain in all of Hoenn. You can spot its tip from basically anywhere within this region.”

“Gwoo…”

“…?! Heatran doesn’t want to go there.”

Heatran seemed familiar with Mt. Chimney but contrary to my expectations its enthusiasm died out rather quickly as soon as I finished describing her potential new home.

“Wouldn’t you like to live in a nice open free range volcano?”

“Gwoo Gwoo!”

“Something she calls the greedy one lives there. Heatran doesn’t want to be anywhere near its place of slumber.”

‘That must be Groudon, I always figured that it lived deep underneath Mt. Chimney. Its presence is probably the reason why Mt. Chimney is still active after so many millennia. Though I don’t recall it ever being referred to as greedy.’

I could feel Victini’s interest peaking at the mere mention of Groudon and then slowly ebbing away. We had long since discussed the consequences of attempting to wake up the two ancient Pokémon and Heatran’s current predicament takes precedence.

“Well… if Mt. Chimney is off the table then the best we can do is have you homed at the Lavaridge gym. The caldera there doesn’t go as deep and is merely an offshoot from Mt. Chimney that has been dug out by the town’s very first gym leader. It is also a bit crowded…”

“Gwooo!”

“Heatran wants you to take responsibility for finding her a better home.”

“For the next three weeks me and my friends will be kept busy battling in our region’s annual tournament. After that we are set to go on vacation to Cinnabar Island which happens to house a very active Volcano.”

“Gwoo!”

The words active Volcano seemed to do the trick. The Lava Dome Pokémon perked up at the mention of a home far removed from Hoenn’s archipelago. 

“Heatran wants a Volcano all to herself just like before.”

“That’s… you aren’t the only fire type that loves living inside a Volcano and I am pretty sure that gym leader Blaine has at least a few Magby and Magmar making use of that same Volcano.”

“Gwooo!”

“Not so fast! Heatran, do you still remember the terms of our wager? I believe you had to acquiesce to any one of my requests.”

“Gwoo! Gwoo…”

“She refuses to become your subordinate for life.”

“Relax I won’t ask you anything I myself wouldn’t consent to doing. I’d just like for you to refrain from attacking any human or Pokémon unless it’s for the purposes of self-defense. This is no longer an eat or be eaten world. Except, maybe if you somehow managed to make it out all the way into the deep wilds.”

“Gwoo... Gwoo…”

“Heatran accepts but she’s being very stubborn about it!”

Our negotiation was slowly winding down as Heatran and the two of us ironed out the details. The legendary Pokémon would accompany us every other day and otherwise be sent back to the Lavaridge gym with some added stipulations. Heatran refused to participate in any trainer battles and any and all prodding was to be exclusively done by the pink haired caretakers and their Chansey. When I shared Heatran’s implied fondness of the nurses with Mary and her own Chansey the two of them ballooned with pride. Much like Victini, Heatran seemed to have some apprehension of being stuck inside her Ultra Ball for long periods of time but that worked out perfectly for what I intended. I was indeed willing to find Heatran a new home but that didn’t necessarily mean that we wouldn’t do our very best to make her feel welcome and taken care of in the meantime.

“Just you watch. Heatran will be one of my bestest friends before this is over!”

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Outside the center*

“This is called a city. Cities are places where humans live, go to school and do business.”

“Gwoo…”

Naturally since Heatran had made it clear that she disliked being stuck inside her ball we had to throw caution to the wind. Unlike Victini’s instant popularity, the legendary Pokémon’s intimidating presence caused bystanders to give us a wide berth. Heatran still attracted attention like no one’s business but at least I avoided being stopped by lovestruck fangirls every few minutes. 

“In this current age people and their partner Pokémon work together. What was life like for you while still awake and active?”

“Gwoo Gwoo.”

“Heatran says she was the toughest Pokémon around and saw no need to play friends with others.”

“That must have been lonely… at least now you can share your experiences with me and my friends. So, there is no need to hold back when something troubles you.”

“Gwoo…”

Victini had come up with a multistep plan of her own to slowly win Heatran’s affections. One step involved sharing half her treats with the Lava Dome Pokémon. Even her beloved Custap berries had been proffered, something that she has never done even for our other friends on the team. Heatran seemed only mildly interested in the berries since they offered little to no nutritional value for a steel type like herself, but it was the thought that counted. As we made it further down the street the wiggling feeling on my waist indicated that my friends were eager to make their own introductions to the Lava Dome Pokémon. Since I was no longer constrained by a need for privacy, I decided to walk all the way over to the public battlefields.

Public battlefields are either a hit or miss. Usually, they’d have an assigned caretaker who comes to clean them up once every two weeks or so. I quickly noticed that the ones in Ever Grande City didn’t lack maintenance crews. Every time we walked past a ruined battlefield it wouldn’t take more than half a day to find it repaired once more. 

Because of the influx of visiting trainers there were a few general rules one had to abide by while using a public field. You couldn’t hog a battlefield all on your own and standing in a challenger’s box was basically an open invitation for anyone looking to battle. This time I thought it more prudent that we sit by the sidelines so that Heatran could start to fully comprehend what it is like being a trainer’s Pokémon.

Once there a quick look confirmed all of the fields were occupied by trainers. Either ones in the midst of battle or individually occupied by singular trainers enacting a poor rendition of the classic King of the hill game. Normally this would be the perfect environment to polish our battling skills but today we were here for observation purposes only. Heatran followed closely behind as I shuffled my way to the sidelines next to a currently ongoing battle. 

The two trainers and their Pokémon were briefly surprised by Heatran’s towering figure before reengaging in battle with each other once again. One trainer fielded a Manetric while the other had brought out Jolteon. The two were duking it out without using their Pokémon’s preferred moves, making this more of a sparring match than an actual wager battle.

“Gwoo?”

“I thought to show you another aspect of our society. Humans partner up with Pokémon to compete against each other. Battling is a global phenomenon. Pokémon love doing so because it helps to make them stronger while trainers could have a number of reasons. Skilled trainers who have proven themselves hold a certain amount of political status furthermore those who reside at the very top determine the rules of society.”

“Gwoo!”

Victini stepped in ready to translate whenever the exact meaning of Heatran’s wording. There was only so much a human like me could understand without growing familiar with the Pokémon in question.

“That makes sense, the weak should follow the strong.”

“Would you mind meeting some of my Pokémon partners?”

 “Gwoo.”

“Heatran doesn’t care.”

Of course, we couldn’t hog the sidelines all for ourselves, but I was sure that the other spectators wouldn’t mind me bringing out a single extra Pokémon. Knowing that my oldest partner and Heatran might have some unresolved issues I opted to let the two of them talk it out first. 

 “Came!”

“Gwooo!”

I could tell the only reason Heatran didn’t immediately go for a second helping of live beef was because of the promise we made. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t give Numsy the cold shoulder. However, my bestest bud came prepared very smoothly praising Heatran’s strength and tenacity. 

“Gwoo?” 

“Rupt!”

“Now now, it’s a bit preemptive calling Heatran your new teammate at this point. Ahem! Heatran is staying with us until we manage to find her a suitable new home. Naturally she has an open invitation to stay with us for as long as she’d like.”

Just like that Heatran was kept busy by my overeager bovine friend blurting out all the perks of being a trainer’s Pokémon. With Heatran properly distracted I had enough free time to make a quick call to a certain gym leader’s daughter. Being my sponsor, Mr. Moore was contractually obligated to care for the partners I left at the gym for at least another three weeks. However, I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t check up on them from time to time. The very first day I started doing this Victini had gotten Raven and herself out of the storage room on their own and given the staffers quite the scare.

Figuring that such a situation was best to be avoided I decided to inform Flannery beforehand. I didn’t know Heatran well enough to leave her to her own devices once alone in the gym. So, it was probably a good idea to inform Flannery that I’d be swinging by with Heatran later on in the day. Dialing in Flannery’s personal number on my Xtransceiver I waited patiently for the girl to answer my call. Which happened not long after my communication device started ringing. 

“Hello?”

“Flanny, it's me Egon.”

“Youuuu!! Only calling because you need something from us, again.”

“Well… not exactly. There’s been a recent development which led me to capturing a maybe temporary Pokémon partner. You also might have noticed that we’ve finally been making use of the gym’s stables.”

“Your Raven bullied my cute Houndour! Also, we had Victini’s ball but she didn’t stay! That’s infringing on my cuddling rights!”

“I was at Grandpa’s and Grandma’s. I said hello before leaving!”

“Tini has lots of stuff going on. Grandpa and Grandma are even planning to make her the new store mascot. It took Victini all day posing for the new store logo and that’s not even mentioning the T-shirt and container prints! As for your unevolved Houndour… if he doesn’t want to get teased make sure to train him properly, tssk!”

“Why you!!”

“Ahem! I was just calling to let you know we’ll be coming over in a few hours. To introduce our new friend Heatran to the rest of the gym’s staff. She’s a bit wild so I am just making sure that everyone on your side is on the up and up.”

“I know every fire type out there. There’s no such Pokémon called Heatran!”

“Just like you already knew everything about Victini?”

“That’s…”

“Even I don’t claim to have knowledge on every Pokémon. You could ask Mr. Moore if he knows more about Heatran.” 

‘I am pretty sure Heatran is depicted in Sinnohoan folklore. Someone as well-traveled as Mr. Moore has a decent shot of knowing.’

“Nevermind! Egon we are leaving for Ever Grande City today so you better make sure to come over before the gym closes!”

“You got it, fire princess.”