Pokémon Journey: Hoenn

Chapter 5: A New Balance of Power

Chapter 5: A New Balance of Power!

Route 102, Hoenn

8:55am, 6th April 2006

Nicola stirred and blearily opened her eyes. It took her a little while to register her surroundings. The drumming sound of rain reached her ears and she turned her head in its direction. For a moment, she continued lying in bed as she gazed in the direction of the window. The warmth of the bed seemed to be holding her firmly in place.

Fighting through it, she pulled herself up and yawned as she got out of bed. It was hardly a surprise that she'd slept for as long as she had – they'd walked a long way through the mountains the previous day and she'd been practically dead on her feet by the time they'd arrived in the small village in which they'd spent the night. They'd been lucky to find a nice inn close to the main road and the soft bed had contributed to the reluctance with which she'd gotten up.

She walked over to the window and drew back the curtains. Looking out at the lake opposite the inn, she let out a sigh as she saw the heavy rain drops thundering to the ground. She'd been able to hear them from her bed, but the fact that it was raining had only just fully registered. It wasn't going to be fun travelling on to Petalburg City in this weather.

At that moment, her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door.

"Nicola? Are you awake?"

James' voice.

"I am!" Nicola called back, walking back over towards the door.

"That's a relief! Richard and I are going to have breakfast in about twenty minutes! Are you going to join us?"

"I still need to get dressed!" Nicola called back. She started rummaging through the drawers of the dresser to pull out her clothes.

"No problem! I'll knock for you when we're heading down!"

She heard the soft thuds of his footsteps as he walked off down the corridor. She let out another sigh. Getting up early was one of the things she was struggling to get used to while travelling. Obviously, school had meant she was used to it, but at least she didn't have to hike for several hours across the countryside to get to and from school!

Putting her clothes in a pile at the foot of the bed, she sat down and examined her feet. Though they hadn't exactly recovered, given that she was still walking so far every day when she really needed a chance to rest, they felt a lot better than they had on previous days. Beneath the plasters, her blisters had shrunk to a far more manageable size. They were still painful, but they were on the mend.

She glanced down at the pile of clothes next to her. Odds were that they'd be completely soaked by the end of the day. Plus, the rain had caused the temperature outside to drop quite sharply. She shivered at the thought.

"I guess I should wear something warmer today…" she mumbled to herself.

2:27pm, 6th April 2006

Though they'd covered a lot of ground in the previous couple of days, they'd still had a lot of ground to cover before arriving in Petalburg City. Walking in the rain was never a pleasant experience and they'd found themselves quickly soaked and cold. After managing a couple of hours, James, Richard and Nicola had ducked into a small restaurant by the side of the road to get dry and have something warm to eat. "A sandwich and some crisps aren't going to cut it," as Richard had said.

The rest had helped, but another forty minutes on the road in the rain had worn them out again.

"How much further do we have to go?" Richard asked, clasping the hood of his raincoat firmly over his head as he looked around. The three of them had just reached a crossroads in a mostly open valley of rice paddies and distant villages.