1. Ash's Story (Part 7: Kalos)

Chapter 49: Oasis Bully

Route 13 looked nothing like the soft colors we had left behind in Coumarine City. The road opened into the Lumiose Badlands, where bare ground stretched so far that the horizon seemed to shimmer under the dry wind. Dust moved across the path in thin brown sheets, and every step made my shoes scrape against cracked earth.

Bonnie looked ahead with a tired stare. "That bare ground goes on forever."

"Yeah," Serena said, adjusting the ribbon at her chest as the wind tugged at her new hair. "The landscape does not change at all."

Elline shaded her eyes with one hand. "How boring can you get?"

"It is boring until something jumps out from under us," David said.

He was right. Route 13 was not empty. Gible watched from rocky ledges, Trapinch waited near pits that looked too smooth to be natural, and Diglett popped up just long enough to make us change direction before vanishing again. Several times, the ground shook under our feet, and we had to move carefully because Arena Trap Pokémon could turn one careless step into a problem.

Clemont checked the map on his device. "The Power Plant should be somewhere beyond this badland route, but with the outage blocking the gate, we may have to cross more of this terrain than expected."

"Great," Bonnie said. "A boring desert that also tries to catch us."

The first real trap came before we found any shade. A Trapinch waited in a pit that looked like an ordinary dip in the sand, and when Bonnie stepped too close, the ground crumbled under her shoe. Clemont grabbed her hand, I grabbed Clemont's backpack, and Serena grabbed my jacket before all three of us could slide forward. The Trapinch only stared up at us from the bottom, as if it was disappointed that breakfast had refused to fall properly.

Diglett appeared farther ahead in clusters, forcing us to test each patch of ground before stepping onto it. Gible were worse because they did not stay hidden. They popped out from behind rocks, watched us with sharp little smiles, then disappeared again whenever we changed direction. Route 13 felt less like a road and more like a place where the ground itself wanted to test whether we were paying attention.

"Now I understand why the gate being closed is such a problem," Serena said. "Crossing this route slowly is tiring enough."

"And we cannot hurry," Clemont said. "If we run, we are more likely to trigger a trap."

Goomy rested in a damp cloth Serena had prepared while watching the ground with serious eyes. After the Showcase, the haircut, and the road toward Lumiose, Goomy had become quieter in a different way. It was not the helpless quiet from when we first found it dried out. This was the quiet of someone thinking about how to become stronger.

Goomy's meaning reached me through the determined way it lifted its head from the cloth. "I do not want fear to decide where I can go."

"Then we train carefully," I said. "This is a dry place, so we stop before your body gets tired."

We found a shaded rock shelf where the ground was a little firmer. Serena sprayed water over Goomy, and I asked it to practice holding its ground while Pikachu and Dedenne moved around it with light attacks that did not make contact. The goal was not winning. The goal was learning to stay calm when faster Pokémon moved close.

Dedenne circled slowly, sparks kept small. Goomy flinched at first, then pushed itself back into position. Pikachu stayed nearby as the example, never rushing, always watching Goomy's breathing.

Pikachu's meaning reached me through the steady flick of his tail. "Small steps are still steps."

"That is right," I said. "Goomy, try Bide again, but only gather the pressure. Do not force it out too fast."