' I open up my Pokegear and type in the search terms, one by one, into ZebstrikaSearch. "Faster than Lightning", according to the slogan, but with my internet access? It's as fast as a Torkoal moving through jello.
"Eevee girls". Some type of singing girls.
"Kimono girls". A few thousand pictures of girls half-covered by kimonos.
"Eevee kimono girls". Unspeakable monstrosities.
Finally, I hit something. Remembering the old term for fox-women, I type in, "Kitsune". Scrolling through, I see one page that looks especially promising.
KITSUNE, from traditional mythology, are often known as half pokemon, half women with the power to shapeshift. Although many of them are common in Johto myths, mainly Ninetails-human KITSUNE, no KITSUNE have been recorded in the past 150 years, since the Burned Tower fell to the ground.
That was helpful... kind of. I look up "Burned Tower".
The BURNED TOWER is a tower located in Ecruteak city. It is said to have been the perch of the legendary Pokemon LUGIA before it burned down.
Well, that's getting somewhere. I definitely know where I want to go next. I send my Pokemon out of their Pokeballs. "C'mon guys, we should train some before we head into Goldenrod City. Whitney is supposed to be the most dangerous gym leader in the entire Johto region."
"Really?" Ferro questions. "It says here her most powerful Pokemon is a pink cow. I don't see what's so scary about that."
Bronze snorts.
I roll my eyes at them, shrugging it off. It's probably not that big a deal. Let's face it, no one's had a problem with a gym leader yet. I am absolutely not going to chalk up my first gym death to a pink cow.
"Training time."
That's when I see it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a Abra. It's shimmering in the daylight- oh my gosh, could it be?
No time to waste, I chuck my only Great Ball. It flies into nothingness. There goes my catch for the route- and my best Pokeball- and my dignity.
"OH MY GOD WHAT THE HECK?"
Bronze is the first to see my disappointment, but he pricks his ears and looks over to a small building at the end of the route.
Without me saying anything, he trots over, and waits at the door.
Ferro sees him and follows. "Hey, it's the missus!" All five of my Pokemon have stopped training and are waiting patiently at the door.
"What are you guys looking at?"
An old woman opens the door with a smile, but someone rushes past me, behind him a blue ball. "Grandma!"
Ethan hugs his grandmother, who pats him on the back and hobbles out to see my Pokemon and Ethan's Marill.
"Are you hungry?"
My Pokemon nod eagerly. The woman carefully hands out berries to each of them. Bronze gulps it down voraciously. He hasn't had a good meal since we entered the Ilex Forest. He ate maybe twice the whole time, completely unlike him. He needs a lot of food to fuel his internal fire.
Now he eats like a Mightyena, food smearing his face. He burps and pats his stomach. "Delicious."
Ethan beams at me like we're still friends and everything is awesome. He doesn't know how much I've changed in the past two, almost three months now. The blood. The deaths. The EVERYTHING.
"Do you want to stay here for the night? It must be tough, sleeping out there in the wild. Especially with fall finally here."
He's right. The leaves are changing. The world itself is a beautiful orange-brown.
I want to go to Goldenrod, to rent a hotel room and just pig out on junk food like I would've loved to do just a few months back, but I believe this place has some rustic charm to it. Some charm I intend to enjoy for a while.
We have noodles that we eat with traditional chopsticks. I slurp them up, which probably seems rude, but I'm no good with chopsticks and I probably never will get any better. There are sounds coming from outside the entire time.
"What's the noise coming from?" I ask, swallowing my noodles.
"Grandma and Grandpa take care of Pokemon. That's what's outside." Ethan tells me, coddling his Marill.
I nod and pick up another noodle by stabbing it.
It's a small house, but the beds are like vast white oceans of pillow and blanket, well worn and well maintained. I don't have another conscious thought before I black out.
