Chapter 99 – Sharing the News

Chapter 99 – Sharing the News

Having received our winnings, Victini and I now found ourselves inside a Petalburg Pokémon center. Since our gym battle was scheduled in the evening by the time we queued up to receive nurse Joy’s ministrations the waiting time became negligible. This Nurse Joy was reading a medical journal under the light of a dimmed lamp as she let her Chansey take over most of her workload.

“Hello Chansey, Nurse Joy. I am here to have my Pokémon looked after. We just went through a tough gym battle.”

 “Good evening young man. Please leave the Pokémon you want revitalized inside the vessel to your left.”

“Sey!”

Without much preamble I did as instructed and filled the laid-out tray with the poké balls of my team members who needed looking after. This type of tray each Pokémon center uses has spherical indentations made to fit any standard size poké ball. They were to be used when trainers brought in multiple Pokémon in need of medical attention. Naturally this was only for revitalization from battling. If a trainer brought in a Pokémon with a more serious condition things would be handled differently.

Chansey eagerly brought the now nearly filled tray to the restoration machine in the back. While she did so I figured now was the time to settle my registration for the upcoming league conference.

“Nurse Joy we just won our eighth badge. Could you help us register for the Ever Grande conference?”

Nurse Joy, who had been half distractedly reading, jolted upright from her lazy chair to face me properly.

“Of course! You must have beaten our town’s gym leader for your last badge, how rare. We don’t get many people finishing up their collection with leader Nelson.”

“Well, we started off with leader Wattson and worked our way up north first before using the sea routes to get back around to the southern gyms.”

“How unusual… doesn’t it make more sense to start off in southern Hoenn and finish off inside Hoenn’s archipelago? That way you’ll end up much closer to Ever Grande City.”

“Well… things happened.”

“Say no more young man. Trainer’s license and badges please.”

I scrambled to assemble my documentation. It took a while because whenever Victini gets bored she has a habit of playing with my badges and leaving them strewn about in the bottom of my backpack. Nurse Joy patiently waited for me to assemble my personal collection of badges. When I finally succeeded in gathering all eight of them I presented them to the waiting nurse. The badge casing I received at the start of my journey became an unusable, chewed up mess from being used as a substitute for a playball. 

Nurse Joy brought out a scanner checking each individual badge for its authenticity. The friendly little beeps produced by the machine informing her that all of my badges were rightfully earned. When Nurse Joy finished with her authentication she got back to typing on her computer until the process.

“That’s it, you are now officially set to compete in the Ever Grande Conference. Now be sure to check in after arriving in Ever Grande City. The check-in period will only last for another three days.”

“Three days?! That’s…”

“The association offers teleportation services to the island but… those are quite expensive, especially during the run up of the league conference. Still it might come as a surprise to you to know that participants get free room and board once they arrive on the island.”

“Hmm… do you think I’d make it if we teleport to Mossdeep or Sootopolis and book for a ferry straight away?”

“That could work! Mossdeep City is closest and the ferry ride between the two islands takes only a handful of hours. The teleportation rental fee should also be a bit lower if you plan on doing it that way. Would you like to schedule a rental psychic type Pokémon?”

“No thank you Nurse Joy. One of my partners is already a master of teleportation.”

“How convenient! Well, be sure to hurry along now. I can’t have the very first trainer that registers with me missing out on the biggest event of the year.”

“Uhmm… My Pokémon?”

“I almost forgot! Chansey, how far along are our new patients?” 

“Chaaan Sey!”

“About two hours more… Leader Nelson really made them work hard for that final badge. You are free to use any of our amenities while you wait.”

Leaving behind the ditzy Nurse Joy and her responsible Chansey I made my way to the media room. I figured that booking the ferry could wait until we arrived on Mossdeep Island but calling my relatives and friends to brag about me qualifying for the conference couldn’t.

‘Now who should I call first?’

“Grandpa and Grandma of course!”

‘They’re tech illiterate. To pass the message I’d have to call nurse Mary first. Do you think she’d take time off to come watch me participate in the tournament?’

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A couple of minutes later*

“So… what do you think, Nurse Mary?”

“That’s wonderful news Egon! And I’d be happy to come and watch you.”

“Really?!”

“For big national events like the Pokémon league conference every nurse Joy gets a sign-up sheet. They need all the extra help with all those big strong Pokémon competing against each other. Conference related injuries are quite common, you know?”

“That’s great! You can watch me courtside where friends and family are seated. That way you can save money on the ticket fare.”

“That’s not how it works silly boy. When I get there me and Chansey will be swamped with work. We won’t be able to watch you during the preliminaries, but I might be able to catch a few of your live battles when you get to battle in the stadium itself.”

‘Nurse Mary already believes that I am going to make it all the way? If only this body was a few years older…’

“…More than just a few years Egon.”

Ignoring Tini’s teasing remark I continued listening to our family’s pink haired guardian angel.

“It is good that you called and invited me this early. I was going to throw away my open invitation if it turned out I had no one to come and support.”

“No one else from Lavaridge qualified for this year’s conference?”

It wasn’t just my own family who adores Nurse Joy. Every single Lavaridge townie relies on her and whenever there was some sort of holiday she was welcome to come visit any household.

“Not that I know of… The Ever Grande Conference isn’t as big this year with only around two hundred trainers participating. Most in your generation had to continue their schooling. Maybe we will see them competing next year?”

‘That makes sense, I guess… Even Flannery, a gym leader’s daughter, was judged too immature to be setting out on her own just yet. But still… that’s too much pressure! I hope no one in town has noticed me being the only one qualifying. I don’t want them to be pinning all their hopes on me to bring back the gold.’

Having local trainers qualify and compete in the conference was a point of pride for any small town or village. I could still remember all the times our neighbors came together to watch family, and friends have a go at winning that trophy on the big screen.

“Would you like me to share this exciting news to the rest of your family?”

“Please do. However, I don’t think Gramps and Grandma are into watching live battles anymore. They’d much rather view the battle on tape with me present to give me ahem* helpful pointers.”

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Marlon*

“That’s awesome, little dude. I knew you had it in ya.”

“How are things back over in Humilau City? Did your father manage to build that Marine Tube you were always talking about?”

“You remembered!? That’s rad man. When we got back to Unova, he was all about having the fam take the role of ambassadors in the town. So now me and my swimming buddies are stuck acting all nice to any visitors and those association suits who come to inspect the new Marine Tube. But get this! When this all works out, he says that the ticket prices of the Marine Tube will be enough to let me evolve Wailmer into a proper Wailord!”

“That’s going to be super pricey! Are you sure that he’ll be able to afford all that?”

“Pops says I’ll eventually have to find a proper job to pay for all of it myself but hanging out with Master Juan has got me thinking that taking on a nine to five isn’t all that bad.”

“As a gym leader I suppose?”

“Spot on little dude! Humilau’s already got a gym, but it’s all run down with no trainers coming to challenge it. I was sure me and my Pokémon would be able to convince the gym leader to hand over the reins. That old granny says I am too irresponsible to be a proper gym leader, so now I’ve got to find a way to prove myself.”

“I know you can pull it off Marlon. I assume battling isn’t an option?”

“Nah, that's the first thing I thought of as well. She knows I’ve got the chops but there’s something else that’s missing.”

“Hmm…”

I knew the current Marlon to be an even better battler than most Ace trainers. However, running a gym consisted of way more than being a good battler. The administrative side was no joke not to mention having to take care of all those extra Pokémon. Marlon’s image as a surf bro who is living off his father’s dime wasn’t entirely incorrect.

“How about… coming up with a business draft and presenting it to her?”

“What’s a draft?”

‘Oh boy.’

“Just hear me out, okay? Put to paper how many extra Pokémon you will need to fully challenge all trainers of any skill levels. Food costs, electricity costs, personnel wages. Figuring out how large the league subsidies are and if you can stay within budget with just that or if you need another source of additional revenue.”

“Become a suit?”

“Well… my own boss Mr. Moore has a guy who does all the paperwork for him. Accountants are fairly expensive to hire from the onset so maybe have one of your business savvy family members pitch in instead?”

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Phoebe*

“Phoebes you’ll be there, right?”

“Maaybeee… I am pretty busy training my own Pokémon, you know? We’ve gotten the ranking we wanted right near the top of the ace rankings. That means we’ll be pulling out all the stops getting ready to take Elite Moore’s position. If I miss my shot this year, Glacia's going to rub it in forever.”

I knew from her previously sent text messages that both of them had made it to the second and third position respectively. Giving them each the opportunity to challenge one of the elite four for their position. Somehow I wasn’t too thrilled by the notion that a spoiled young girl like Phoebe was this close to getting a powerful position in the Hoenn government. Still, was in no position to not pander to my future overlord somewhat 

“Then let’s get some practice battles in! The best way to get ready to face off against a fire type master like Mr. Moore is battling against other fire type specialists. I’ll face you with any single Pokémon on my team, not just Tini.”

“Tsssk! Tini is strong but that’s it. The rest of your partners are still years behind for us to take them on seriously. I guess we can watch a few of your matches in person… but only if you do the same for us. After the conference finishes me and Glacia get to challenge those geezers for their positions. I want you in that stadium cheering on the both of us.”

‘Aww man. Flannery is going to be there as well. That won’t go down well with her no matter what. Offending Mr. Moore is whatever since he won’t be my boss for much longer but losing out on a good friend will sting.‘

“Elite Four challenges are closed affairs. How do we even know I will be allowed to sit in and watch?”

“They make exceptions for close friends and relatives, and you will have to sign a NDA.”

“Ugh… never mind then. I have a whole bunch of stuff to do after the conference finishes. I’ve been invited to come back to Unova by unknown relatives, there’s also multiple secret operations Tini is making me do before we have to leave for a family vacation to Cinnabar Island.”

“Secret Operations?”

“Like what the two of us got up to back in the Desert Resort. It’s all hush hush.”

“Oooh!! I loved doing that. Any chance I could be included as well?”

Phoebe was smart enough to immediately grasp the importance of not going into details. Neither of us wanted Silph Co. or anyone else who might be listening in on our conversation to snoop around in our affairs.

“The places we are going to aren’t haunted as far as we know. Little to no chance of finding any exotic ghost types this time around.”

“We’ll be the very first ones to discover those places, that’s good enough for me!”

“…Fine Victini will come pick you up when it is time.”

“Why me?!”

‘You are the one who volunteered us to help Rocky reunite with his siblings. Mr. Briney has long since retired from battling. Phoebe is tough, she will provide all the extra security we need.‘

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Old man Jack*

I actually didn’t have old man Jack’s number but there was nothing stopping me from looking up the Safari Zone’s landline number on the pokénet. Glacia’s advice on finding a sponsor even if only for appearance sake stuck with me. I knew the old timer would appreciate the proposal I was about to make to him.

“Hello this is the Safari Zone, did you call to make an appointment?”

Old man Jack’s familiar gruff voice sounded out from the phone’s speaker. Normally one would expect a secretary or other hired assistant to pick up the business phone but in an attempt to save money this senior took on every role by himself.

“Old man, it's me, Egon! Me and Flannery visited your place and caught a whole pack of houndour, remember?”

“Of course I remember you kids. How’s that little princess doing?”

“She’s doing alright. Her grandfather is making her take on more of the gym’s chores. Flannery has been swamped with work now that she has to take care of those seven extra Pokémon.”

“I figured as much. Tim Moore is not the type to let anyone skimp out on their duties, even family. So why’d you call my work phone? I need this line to stay open for customers.”

“Me and my partners earned our eighth badge today and will be heading off towards Ever Grande City in just a bit.”

“Congratulations kid, not many trainers your age can pull that off.”

“Thanks, Now the reason I called is to ask if the Hoenn Safari Zone is in need of any free advertisement. We made it all the way this year without being able find a proper sponsor.”

“Free advertisement you say? Hmm we could use something like that. You didn’t manage to find even one company interested in giving you a bag of money?”

“There were some, but their contracts are very restrictive…”

“Say no more this old man gets it. So, you’d like to represent the Safari Zone eh? What do you know about our goals?”

“To house and care for exotic Pokémon who would otherwise have destabilized the ecosystem if left to wander about our region and to educate the wider public about foreign Pokémon.”

“…That’s right. Did you read our webpage before calling?”

“He caught on to us!”

“Uhmm well…”

“Don’t mind it, that's what a good trainer does. How do you suppose this Safari Zone tries to accomplish that second goal?”

“Produce and sell documentaries?”

“One of our volunteers tried that once, but it didn't stick. Kids these days are too rambunctious to quietly sit and watch informative videos. We do offer guided tours to some of the trainer schools located close by. Those children’s smiles as they play with our Pokémon is what makes these old bones refuse to quit working. It’s a shame that only a handful of schools can afford to make the journey all the way over to my Safari Zone.”

‘It’s a nature reserve in the middle of a ghost infested route. The surprising bit is that any of them come at all.’

“Sir, what more do I need to know to represent the Safari Zone?”

“I’ve seen those interviews before. The paparazzi won’t grill you on the details overly much considering your age. Just make sure to show off the pup you hauled off with you that day. Trainers always tend to show up in places where strong Pokémon are rumored to reside.” 

“Old man Jack don’t I need to wear some kind of official apparel so that the viewers back home know who I am representing?”

“We have an official PO Box on Ever Grande Island. I’ll send you some of the merch we sell to tourists. What size clothes does a boy your age wear?”

“Either an adult’s Small or a boy’s medium if you have them, please.”

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Flannery*

“Of course we’ll be there, Egon! Grandpa has to come and officiate anyway. Our family gets free tickets to come and attend every year! If you follow my expert advice during your qualifying battles, we will be practically guaranteed to win!”

“We…?”

“There’s a reason why Grandpa sponsored you and not anybody else. If you do well everyone will know that the Lavaridge gym produces strong trainers.”

“Wait! Wait! Even if I lose during the preliminaries that still makes me better than ninety-five percent of trainers out there. That’s plenty strong!”

“This just means the Lavaridge gym has a higher standard than others. Grandpa and I have discussed it, and we want you to at least make it to the top sixteen.”

‘…So unreasonable. I guess that’s also why I am parting ways with them next year.’

 “Me and Grandpa will arrive the day before the tournament starts. That will give the two of us plenty of time to scout out the competition! Don’t think I’ll let you off easy! Even during the competition there’s plenty of time to refine those battle strategies of yours.”

‘I’ve got to figure out a way to get this girl off my back! If I let her lead me by the nose at the conference, I’ll be too exhausted to go sightseeing by myself. Think Egon! Think!’

“Uhmm… What about Roxanne? Won’t she expect her number one friend to support her own bid for the championship trophy?”

‘I am sorry Roxy! This is for the greater good.’

It took a while before Flannery responded but when she did the sound almost blew my eardrums. 

“I forgot!!”

“Shhhhh!”

The other occupant of the center’s media room, a bespectacled girl, gave me the evil eye while pointing out the please be quiet sign. I responded by doing my best non-verbal apology before redirecting my attention back to the overly excited calling recipient. Who was in the midst of a quiet rant.

“She is going to be there as well. Okay Ok… new change of plans. You can come to ask for advice but don’t expect me to hold your hand through the entirety of the conference. As both her best friend and future leader of the Lavaridge gym I can’t be expected to play favorites.”

“That’s alright Flanny. How about the three of us hang out in our spare time? Roxanne would also love to go shopping when it’s just the two of you.”

“Really?!”

“Evil mastermind Egon.”

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Roxanne*

“Congratulations Egon! Now we both get to compete at the Ever Grande conference.”

Roxanne was the last person I had planned to share the good news with. The rock type specialist was the only trainer on my list of friends who would be competing with me at the Ever Grande conference. Unlike Flannery if a prodigious student like Roxanne went out of her way to give me training advice I’d be sure to listen.

Still despite her booksmarts as someone who was even younger than the current me this bookish girl was prone to making hasty decisions. Like for example, traversing two entire sea routes with nothing but a single water type Pokémon. I was still quite curious on how that panned out. Roxanne would have at the minimum suffered a cold from wearing nothing but a wetsuit.

“Did everything go as planned on the way over to Ever Grande City? Having just Relicanth pull you along to the harbor must have been a challenge.”

“It was an experience… I never realized how many water type Pokémon make the Hoenn sea routes their home. Relicanth was so brave and strong the entire way through. Most of the Pokémon we met along the way were friendly but at other times we had to fight. In the end after exhausting ourselves we got picked up by a kayaking group who insisted that I stick with them.” 

“Tell her Egon!”

“You had me and Tini so worried for your safety. The notion of a rock type specialist like yourself braving the seas on her own… The least you could have done is ask to borrow one of Marlon’s Pokémon before setting off.”

“I know now that what I did was reckless. We are sorry for worrying you.”

Being familiar with Roxanne’s personality type I knew that the girl was sincere. She wasn’t the kind of girl to lie even by omission. Being stranded in the seas surrounded by wild water Pokémon must have made it crystal clear on how foolhardy she was being at the time.

“It's fine as long as you know. How has your training progressed while exploring Victory Road?”

“We’ve had a wonderful time. The local Pokémon are very well-behaved and make efforts to ensure strong trainers keep visiting.”

“I guess that makes sense. Any Pokémon interested in getting stronger would want conference trainers to keep coming into their cave system. What kinds of Pokémon did you encounter while exploring that place? It must have accrued quite the variety with the ranger corps relocating the strongest wild Pokémon into those tunnels.”

“Lots! However, the ones I came across most often are wild Golbat and the second most common species that live there are Lairon and Aggron. One of the rangers stationed there actually told me that they only relocate Pokémon who are adapted to living in caves and that they have other locations reserved for arboreal, polar and arid dwelling species.”

“How interesting… even I didn’t know that. We already visited the mainland’s singular desert and we didn’t find any particularly strong Pokémon. I wonder where those other wilderness preserves are located.”

“Izabe Island. All sorts of different climates can be encountered there.”

“Isn’t that the place with the two gigantic stone Poké balls?”

“Yes! The denizens that live on the island have long since modernized. The association even had one of Hoenn’s official contest halls built in Purika city to improve the island’s local economy.”

I enjoyed going off tangent with Roxanne. With her I didn’t feel any pressure to limit the topic of conversation so as to not overwhelm the listening party. Roxanne did much the same talking about all matters of topics that had gained her passing interest without limiting herself. Eventually Victini did remind me that the two hours were almost over and that I had to call it quits.

“Goodbye Egon, safe travels.”

“It was nice talking to you too, Roxy. See you in a couple of days.”

Having finished saying our goodbyes I ended the call. Now being free to look around the media room I noticed that all of the PC booths had emptied out leaving me the sole occupant. Not wanting to draw too much attention to myself I quietly sneaked off making as little sound as possible. While our surroundings might be deathly quiet the conversation going on in my mindscape became the exact opposite.

“Boooring! How interesting can the difference in horn lengths of Onix be?”

‘She’s shown genuine curiosity when I brought up the dimorphism between male and female houndoom. We can’t very well be rude to her when she wants to expand that topic and compare the horns of other Pokémon.’ 

“You are both terrible! I could have done all sorts of cool stuff with that wasted time.”

While Victini complained about me being an unrepentant nerd, a term she most likely picked up from either Flannery or my sister, I made my way back to the center’s reception desk. The sun had completely set by this point and much of the center’s personnel had retired for the night except of course for the medical emergency Nurse Joy. The same one who had registered me for the league conference a tad earlier today. This time Nurse Joy seemed to be too tired to properly enjoy her reading material and just dazed off slumped over her desk. Chansey was much the same as the Pokémon had somehow perfected the art of sleeping while standing upright.

Not wanting to wake up Chansey from her well-deserved nap I did my best to pantomime my need for the return of my partners. It took a while before Nurse Joy actually noticed me, that is until I pulled her by the sleeve.

“That’s too much sedative… ZZzzzz, Eh!? Oh, you’re back. Just wait one more moment.”

This time the overworked Nurse came back holding the same tray from a few hours ago filled with five wobbling poké balls.

“How energetic… it would be best to only let them out somewhere else. The walls between our lobby and the dormitories weren’t made to be soundproof.”

“I’ll remember it. Goodnight Nurse Joy.”

I turned around and headed towards the main exit. Just when I was about to leave, Nurse Joy called out to me.

“Are you sure that you want to leave when it is this dark out? I’d feel more reassured if you stayed the night in the boys’ dormitory. We still have beds available.”

“That’s alright Ma’am. Just like you said earlier we have to rush if I want to make it in time before the league’s check-in period closes. Don’t worry about me, I’ve got great partners that look out for my wellbeing.”

Waving goodbye, I walked past the revolving door and into Petalburg’s streetlit nightscene. The crisp cold air was doing wonders to dispel my own drowsiness.

‘Sorry Tini, I won’t get distracted anymore… Are you holding up, okay? Soon you’ll have lots of people trying to get to know you just like Rocky.’

During my socializing with Roxanne the girl had expressed her justified irritation caused by the number of researchers and scheming collectors who would have previously not given her the time of day trying to cozy up to her. Roxanne was a lab trainer beholden to professor Birch but that didn’t stop the more ambitious people from trying to get their paws on the legendary Pokémon. Even Regirock, who I had now gotten used to calling Rocky, wasn’t untroubled at the prospect of getting all that attention. I didn’t wish for that kind of attention to befall on Victini, but my partner didn’t seem to mind.

“Battling for real is going to be fun! This way I get to make all sorts of new friends!”