The Bonds Between People and Pokémon

The Path to Evolution

Aspetto, Yuki and I trekked down the mountain, away from the dead Pokémon. Aspetto seemed better, so I decided to ask him what he thought about Leone's puzzle. 

Aspetto scoffed. "You're kidding right? Where yellow flowers sway? Exactly how many meadows of yellow flowers are on the islands?" 

In retrospect I really was kinda idiotic for not thinking of that sooner. So Leone was going to be in the Sunshine meadow. As curious as I was as to what she research she'd be conducting there, I had other things on my mind. 

"Hey Aspetto?"

"Yes?"

"I want to stop by Mount Lanakila."

"So you've finally figured out how to evolve Vulp-Yuri?"

"Wait you knew?"

"I know everything" Aspetto said, smiling at me. God, he really made my heart flutter. Still I was hurt why he didn't tell me. 

"Why'd you keep this a secret from me?"

"I thought you might want to figure it out for yourself" Aspetto said, averting his eyes. 

Aspetto always looks me in the eyes unless he's trying to lie to me. "You liar. Why not."

"I only wanted you to evolve Yuri when you grew sufficiently attached." 

I thought that was odd, but didn't question it. 

"Ok then. Let's go to Mermaid Village and see if we can charter a ride to the third island, Hula Island." 

It was a pretty easygoing trip to Mermaid Village. We walked through the village, through the grove to the collection of ships and people characteristic of the village. As we walked, we passed by a newspaper stand. I wanted to take a look at the paper, but Aspetto tugged at my arm, pulling me towards a ship shaped like a Sharpedo. A sign in front of it advertised free lifts, and the guy next to it looked nice enough, wearing blue swim shorts and an orange and white tropical shirt. 

"Hello!" I said, drawing up to him. 

He gave me a sideways look. "You look awfully suspicious, like you just got out of a fight. Are you trying to escape something?"

I gave him my most winning smile, I could feel both Yuki and Aspetto growing tense next to me. "It's been a rough day. We got attacked by seven Voltorbs. It was a hard fight, but we managed to survive with just a few minor wounds. We're now on our way to make our Vulpix, Yuki, stronger." 

"Our Vulpix you say?" he said, smirking. "As long as you got five silver coins, of course I'll be able to get you two to Hula Island." 

"Thank you so much!" Aspetto and I said, him signing and me talking. 

He nodded, "Not only is it my job, I already get good vibes from you both."

Beckoning, he went inside the flank of his Sharpedo shaped ship.  We had no choice but to follow. 

The inside of the ship was actually really nice. A beachy scent filled the air from an air diffuser. The captain's Clawitzer was the one directing the boat, so we were able to sit and talk with him. The first thirty minutes was pleasant small talk with him. We learned that his name was Bonito, he's been holding this job for as long as he could remember, and he writes poetry every night before bed - he gave us an excerpt of one he wrote just a short time ago:

"El tiempo se acaba ¿Cómo les advierto? Necesito decirles a ambos. Ninguno de ustedes es quien cree que es. Tus realidades son falsas. Un juego - para niños. Sin embargo puedes escapar. Pequeñas pistas ocultas, para que no te des cuenta de lo que está pasando. Los salvaré a todos."

Though I couldn't really understand what it said, it filled me with a strange emotion, almost like anticipation. Yet first things first, we have to deal with Leone and in order to get that done we have to evolve Yuki. 

The reminder of the ship ride was beautiful. We started to approach Hula island just as the sun was setting. The peak of Mount Lanakila was just visible in the distance. We spent the remainder of the trip listening to Bonito's piano playing. My favorite song was a song called "Sayoko." It was a beautiful song, but he lamented about not being able to find really good sheet music for it anywhere. 

Just as the sun disappeared behind the expanse of ocean, we reached Hula island. Bonito was even kind enough to give us a set of camping equipment. Before we knew it, we were waving goodbye to him as his ship sped off...somewhere. (I could have sworn we came from the north.)

No matter, we had to get camping equipment set up. Aspetto helped me too as Yuki jumped around and nipped at my heels, and after what seemed like ages wrestling with canvas and nails the tent was set up. 

However, neither Aspetto or I was hungry so we sat and watched the stars together. We then sat in comfortable silence for roughly twenty minutes until he told me he was getting tired. Then, happily, we crawled into bed, looking forward to whatever tomorrow would bring us.