Salad 2.12

Aaron FulanPetalburg Woods, Hoenn Region

After seeing the teddiursa and ursaring off, the three of us stocked up on supplies and headed south for Oldale. The entire woods stretching from between Petalburg and Rustboro all the way east to Oldale and Verdanturf was called the Petalburg Woods, or more officially, the Hoenn Regional Forest Reserve. There wasn't some deep historical reason for it like with the Dragon's Lament; it just so happened that the chief ranger station with oversight of the woods was located in Petalburg. There were other ranger stations of course, but it was ultimately Norman Maple who did the most to care for the forest.

We were doing our best to scan the forest while we walked. Our constant scan was how we came to learn about the teleportation patterns of the natu flock and several lone abra that inhabited the woods directly south of Verdanturf. They kept pinging as false positives.

The natu were a small flock of eighteen overseen by a pair of xatu. Together, the adults would teleport the young ones from harm all the while rotating through a series of groves for nuts, berries, and even the occasional weedle or caterpie. After exchanging pings several times in the next few days, one of the leading xatu finally stopped avoiding us long enough to spare us a conversation.

We had found a cluster of psychic aura nodes at about two in the afternoon. We considered writing them off as the flock but couldn't discount the possibility that they were a group of ralts and that one of the signals was the gardevoirite. Then, as we neared, something brushed our minds.

It was an alien presence, though not completely unfamiliar. The xatu's mind was not unintelligent, far from it, but it was immediately evident to me that it had different concerns from those of humans or even trained pokémon. It was also a gentle brush, a tap on the shoulder rather than a forceful grab.

Artoria and I considered the situation a moment then opened our connection to a third for the first time. He, for it was unmistakably a he, melded seamlessly with us, proof of a mature psychic. His mind felt "feathery," a completely nonsensical explanation for something with no tangible substance, but that was the best way I could phrase it. There was something undeniably xatu about the connection that was absent in either myself or my kirlia. I wondered if he felt a distinct impression of us as we did him and what we must feel like in that case.

'Greetings, wanderer. Why do continue to you seek us?' he asked. His mental voice was rich and deep, with a hint of a crooning trill that was hard to put to words.

'Are you the xatu flock?' I asked though I knew the answer. 'I apologize for intruding. Again. You're not who we're looking for.'

'We were. And are. And will be. Your constant visit will not change us into what you seek.' There was humor there, but also a hefty dose of dry sarcasm and irritation. 'What do you seek that has you opening your mind so?'

I decided to just be honest. It wasn't like a mega stone was useful to a xatu. If a mature xatu did not have a human partner, it was because he did not want one. Not every pokémon was dedicated to growing stronger. 'A mega stone. I have reason to believe my kirlia can sense the psychic presence from one.'

'If you have any inclination of its location, farseeing one, please guide us. My lord and I would be in your debt,' Artoria intoned respectfully.

The xatu hummed and trilled. It was not her sincerity he doubted, lying was far more difficult with our minds connected like this. Just as he was unsure of what aid he could or should provide, I was unsure of what aid we could expect. Though the natu line were especially attuned to the Sight, they were not exempt from the rule: mega stones, like many relics, could not be observed through divination.

'I must disappoint you, gallant one. I have no knowledge of a "mega stone," nor of its potential location.'

I felt Artoria preen at his nickname for her. His answer was somewhat disappointing, but not unexpected. 'My apologies then,' I said. 'We will be on our way without disturbing the natu.'

'A human who does not wish to capture our kind is a rarity. There are some who might consider leaving the flock to follow another with the Gift.'

'Are you saying you'd let me talk to them?'

'My mate and I are in agreement. You mean no ill will and any who go with you will grow immensely. There are those of us who would not be opposed to such power.'

'Thank you. That's flattering coming from a seer like you, but I must decline. Can I instead ask you for any information on ralts covens in the forest?'

'Hoh? Do you seek a mate for the gallant one?'

'He does not,' Artoria interjected firmly. I saw her body gain a full-body flush. Jeanne bleated and nudged my shin before shrugging and nibbling on some shoots she found by my feet. I reached down to scratch her ears absently.

'A mega stone is an item of immense power unique to each species. It can allow a pokémon to transcend their natural limits for a short time by drawing on the bond between pokémon and trainer. The gardevoirite, one of two mega stones unique to the ralts line, is somewhere in this forest and we are looking for it,' I explained.

'Thus you wish to meet others of her kind in the hopes that they are guarding it or know of its location,' he finished for me. 'Once again I must disappoint you, wanderer. Though my mate and I see far, there are many things that elude us yet. Both the influence of a relic of such power and the actions of other powerful psychics such as the coven leaders can be listed amongst their number. There are several gardevoir and gallade we know of, but they, like our flock, come and go as they please. I suspect that they will find you on their own time.'

'Thank you, that alone is good information. I appreciate you bothering to talk to us at all.'

'It is no matter. Rare is it for a human to be interesting enough to converse with. More often than not, such talks devolve into an attempt to capture myself or my mate, attempts we discourage thoroughly.'

'I understand. Thank you again and goodbye.'

That conversation with the xatu was something of a novelty. The several abra we met were far less willing to entertain us, often teleporting away as soon as they sensed us coming. Even the one we'd first met that seemed open to joining a team left when he found out I wasn't interested in an abra, too narcoleptic. On the plus side, that meant we wasted little time with them.

X

Then, four days into our search, we found it, the gardevoirite. It came completely out of left field, not because we weren't looking for it, but because Artoria and I had received so many false positives by this point that our expectations were thoroughly shattered.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting. Maybe some kind of shrine like the one dedicated to Celebi in Ilex Forest in Johto? Or perhaps an immensely powerful and ancient gardevoir hermit who was once partner to a great hero and now dedicated her life to the protection of the mega stone and the search for a worthy heir? I didn't know, but it sure as hell wasn't a nondescript grove two miles away from an officially designated hiking trail. In fact, if we made a beeline straight for Verdanturf, we could be back in the pokémon center in two days, three at most; the grove was only twenty-eight miles away at the furthest estimate. It was… anticlimactic.

'You did say the mega stone was nearby, my lord,' Artoria pointed out. 'Should we not be grateful for our fortune?'

'You're right, Artoria,' I said. 'I guess after scanning the town, the mess with the ursaring, and then repeatedly pinging the same pack of natu for four days, I just kind of assumed there would be some final challenge waiting for me.'

'Another one of these "tropes" you are so fond of, my lord?'

'Kinda? Usually, items of great power don't just fall into your lap. The heroes have to go out of their way and overcome great struggle to find them.'

'Perhaps, but are we not out of the way? You specifically chose to cut through this forest despite the lack of any official route knowing the stone was somewhere nearby. Who else would know to come here? Who else would bring a psychic specifically for the purpose of locating a mega stone? You underestimate the value of information, inexact though your memories may be.'

'You're right as usual.'

'Hmph, of course I am. I suppose you can fabricate some suitably splendid tale about how I slew a fearsome dragon and proved myself a worthy knight if it pleases you.'

'Oh? Dame Artoria singlehandedly slew an evil dragon with her splendid spoon to acquire the priceless treasure? And pray tell, what are Jeanne and I doing in this legend of yours?'

'Committing my gallant visage to memory for posterity of course,' she said with a musical laugh.

'Of course, what was I thinking, oh great dragonslayer?'

I smiled as I took Jeanne in my arms. It took us a bit of time to pinpoint the exact location within the grove. The gardevoirite wasn't in some sacred shrine or ancient tree hollow. It was half-buried in detritus beneath a rotting log. Just about the only pokémon around were a trio of shroomish and a paras that were far more interested in eating the slowly decomposing plant matter than the mega stone. But, nonetheless, we found it, the dirt unable to hide its psychic and eldritch radiance from my kirlia.

"Go on," I voiced aloud. "I don't want to make a pageant out of this, but I feel like you should be the one to pick it up. This is your moment."

"Kirlia…" she mumbled.

"Mareep? Maa?"

"Kir-kirlia."

"Mareep," Jeanne bleated with what I assumed was an encouraging nod. She gently shoved her friend forward with a nudge of her horns.

Artoria stood a mere four feet from the gardevoirite then froze as she basked in the blend of fae and psychic aura emitting from the stone. I could only feel it vicariously through her, but the immense awe and reverence she felt for it could not be overstated.

Which was a bit of a quandary because on my end, I felt nothing. It felt no more psychically powerful than any other signature. Dull. Average. Utterly and unrepentantly mediocre. And yet, I knew of course that it was as far from average as could be. What was it about the stone that only Artoria could feel? Was this true of all mega stones? A gravitas that only a member of the applicable species could sense?

Or was I just that lacking?

'It is not psychic aura alone, my lord. You are not lacking in sensory abilities. It is… difficult to explain, for I am not certain that I can fully grasp it myself. There is a sense of intent, directed potential, that goes beyond the everyday aura. I cannot clarify further but even the alakazite did not feel this way.'

'That's okay, Artoria. This isn't about me anyway. This is your moment. Go on, claim your prize.'

Wordlessly, she took a step forward. Then two, then three, until she stood over the half-buried stone. She reached out with trembling hands and raised it to her chest. As short as she was, it was almost as large as her face. A psychic glow covered her hands before she gingerly brushed off the dirt from the stone, polishing it at the same time.

'It is beautiful,' she whispered in my mind. So captivated by the stone was she that even her thoughts seemed to stagger for breath.

To be fair to her, it was indeed beautiful, a gorgeous gem that seemed to glow with an inexplicable inner radiance. The anime just didn't do it justice, couldn't do it justice. The swirling helix pattern seemed almost alive, spinning gently as it caught the light. It was equal parts pastel green and crimson, like Artoria's hair and crests. The outer gem was completely clear but shimmered with Artoria's psychic power. It looked both immeasurably precious yet ethereal, as though it could vanish with the morning mist. Call it the bias on my part, but the alakazite just couldn't compare to it in beauty.

"Mareep?" Jeanne asked. She deemed Artoria's moment over and trotted over to take a closer look for herself. "Maa… mareep?"

"Kir, kirlia. Kirlia?"

"Mareep."

"Kirlia," Artoria said before holding it out for Jeanne.

"Maa…" she bleated, seemingly fascinated by the stone.

Then, in completely Jeanne fashion, my mareep did the unthinkable: She licked it. Full contact, visible slobber-bubbles and all, she liked it.

"Mareep," she grumbled before lolling her tongue to the side. She then looked at a flabbergasted Artoria, then at me, and pouted. "Marreeee…"

"Kirlia!" Artoria cried, before hastily washing the gardevoirite on her skirt.

"Mareep."

"Kir-kirlia!"

I rushed over to separate them before Artoria decided that deserved physical retribution. I grabbed Jeanne by the scruff of her neck and handed Artoria her polishing cloth. "Here, Artoria, just wipe it off. And Jeanne, why did you lick that? You know it's not food," I reproached.

"Marreee… Mareep. Reep."

"Artoria?"

'She says she wanted to know what a powerful relic tasted like,' my starter pouted. 'It tastes like nothing, my lord. In case you were curious.'

'I wasn't.'

'I can feel you trying not to smile. Really, she's too much sometimes.'

'Okay, so maybe it was a little funny…'

'It was not!'

'Okay, okay, it was not,' I said soothingly. I gave her a mental hug and did my best to ease her indignant frustration.

She gave me the mental equivalent of a side-eye. 'I can still feel your amusement, my lord.'

'Sorry. I'm not unsympathetic, I promise. The gardevoirite is an important treasure and it was highly disrespectful of Jeanne to just lick it like that.'

'I ought to slap some manners into her.'

'Save it for sparring.' I grabbed Jeanne and lifted her to eye-level. "Jeanne, that was wrong. You know that was wrong. Sure there is no harm done, but it was still very disrespectful."

"Reep…" she sulked, but there wasn't anywhere near enough remorse. She reminded me of a child who played a rude prank and was more embarrassed that she got called out on it than truly sorry. It was unfortunately a mentality I recognized all too well, largely from myself in my youth if I was being honest.

"No berries for a week."

"Mareep!"

"The gardevoirite is very special to Artoria. Respect it the same way she respects you. She helps you brush your wool because looking immaculate is important to you, right?"

"Reee…"

"Exactly. Don't do it again, okay?"

"Mareep."

"And apologize."

My little lamb turned to the disgruntled kirlia and bowed her head. "Mareep. Mareep-mar."

"Kir?"

"Mareep."

"Kirlia," Artoria said, bumping Jeanne's nose with a finger.

Jeanne was still sulking and I had no doubt that this would come up again. Teaching children correct behavior took time, but I thought it was an acceptable conclusion. "You know, when I first became a trainer, I didn't think it'd be like babysitting my siblings, but you two can be surprisingly similar sometimes."

"Mareep," Jeanne grumbled.

"Kirlia," Artoria said, then added in my mind, 'I will lick the ampharosite when we find it, my lord.'

'Artoria…'

'I merely jest. But when are you going to tell her that you know where the stone is?'

'When I have the authority to go into New Mauville. There is no point in it otherwise.'

I dusted myself off and decided that this abandoned glade was as good a place as any to set up camp. With the amount of food I could store in my hammerspace bag, we were in no real rush to cut south. I figured we may as well do some training while we had daylight; the forest did get darker faster after all.

I set Jeanne to working more with Shock Wave. It was quickly becoming a staple of her arsenal and had replaced Thunder Shock early on. I designated one, then another target and had her try to curve the magnetic sheaths that guided the attack after the bolt had been fired with the hope that I'd eventually end up with a truly unpredictable attack that seemed almost alive in its flexibility.

Then, Artoria and I stood side by side as we went through kendo forms. Perhaps it was a natural consequence of having an anime character's body, but I found that I adapted to kendo far faster than I had in my previous life. I was still lacking strength and speed, but in terms of muscle memory, I moved with the kind of fluidity I only achieved much later in life.

By now, it was an almost instinctive thing, a moving meditation for the both of us. As we synched our bodies, we also melded our minds into one.

'My lord?'

'Yes, Artoria?'

'I have been wondering something.'

'What's up?'

'How did this Wanda person find herself in such an out of the way woods?'

I considered the question and came up blank. 'I don't rightly know, Artoria. She acquires both this and the galladite in three year's time, but I can't say how. Maybe she gets lost? Or she likes picking mushrooms or something?'

'Perhaps… Do you mind if we sort your memories further?'

'Not knowing is really bugging you?'

'Somewhat. I have the stone, but perhaps it would help our future endeavors if we finished sorting your memories, my lord. With the contest, our own training, and the ursaring, it got pushed to the wayside.'

'You're right. We'll have to work on that as we continue forward. Maybe we can devote an hour or so each night to it before we sleep?'

'That sounds excellent.'

After half an hour of this, we stopped the katas in favor of Artoria continuing to learn Light Screen and Reflect. She joined Jeanne in their batting game while I set up a small table and gas stove to cook dinner. I allowed myself to move on autopilot as I chopped some potatoes and onions while I went over my plans for them.

Artoria of course had her course for the foreseeable future set. She would continue to hone Light Screen and Reflect until she could freely paint the air with either barrier at will. I expected her to improve her sensory and precognitive abilities as we traveled and battled other pokémon. I even had the idea to teach her to harness fairy type energy by using the gardevoirite as an example. It emitted both fae and psychic energy after all.

Jeanne was more difficult.

I found it almost humorous that Jeanne considered herself weak because she compared herself to the likes of Artoria, the ursaring mother, and Solidad's Martin the slowbro. When she faced opponents she easily demolished in combat, such as the pokémon from the trainer school or the small horde of wild pokémon we'd met, she dismissed them as "true opponents" because Artoria herself didn't think much of them and Artoria was very much a big sister figure for her. In her eyes, they were poor gauges of her growth and so she did not consider her victories worth taking pride in.

That was far from the truth however. In reality, Jeanne would likely evolve soon. I could feel the skin beneath her wool becoming more elastic whenever I pet her. She was getting very strong for a mareep, a pokémon that was more often than not considered prey or livestock. She was no match for Artoria, but the rigorous training hyper-focused on her electrical charge was finally paying dividends, not to mention the constant conditioning she underwent through Take Down.

That presented me with a serious question for me to consider: What next?

Ultimately, I wanted to train Jeanne not just to be a competent mareep or flaaffy, but to be a powerful ampharos. I wanted her to carry the fighting style I taught her now all the way to her final evolution and beyond, because I absolutely intended to go back for the ampharosite one day. The way I saw this, I had four paths available to me: Cotton Guard, Electro Ball, Power Gem, and Agility.

I knew from watching videos online that a well-trained ampharos could learn Cotton Guard despite lacking visible wool. They could stimulate their hair follicles in the same way their pre-evolutions could, sprouting an incredible volume of the stuff at will. Trained right, the move could make an ampharos all but physically invulnerable.

It was also a move most mareep learned later in life. The benefit of chasing Cotton Guard, despite Jeanne herself being very young, was that Cotton Spore was a move she knew intimately thanks to her contest routine. The defensive variant was a natural evolution of the move so I considered it well within her abilities.

On the other hand, if I wanted her to become the monstrous ranged powerhouse I knew mega ampharos could be, it made sense to start her on Electro Ball. The move benefited from the speed of the user, something Jeanne sorely lacked, but it provided one thing other electric type moves like Thunderbolt did not: condensation. Electro Ball relied on condensing large quantities of electricity into an orb, then using the pokémon's speed and momentum to throw it like a grenade.

That first step of condensing electricity? It was remarkably similar to Zap Cannon and would build off the progress she'd already made thanks to Charge. Not to mention, it was a beautiful move to watch and great for contests.

The third option was Power Gem, but I discounted it almost immediately. Theoretically, it was possible for mareep to pick up the move naturally, but if Artoria and ghost type energy was something to go by, I suspected Jeanne would struggle to pick up rock type energy too. Without a more experienced mareep to teach her, I wasn't sure I wanted Jeanne to start on it.

Not to mention, it provided little in the way of type coverage. The ground type pokémon that laughed at electric type attacks equally laughed at rock type attacks. Beyond looking pretty for ribbons, there was little utility to the move.

The final option was the most "off-meta" one, to steal a phrase from my past life: Agility. I knew that in the wild, some pokémon could pass the move down to mareep as an egg move. This could, theoretically, make Electro Ball useful as more than just a steppingstone to Zap Cannon. And, unlike with Power Gem, I had Artoria as a potential tutor to teach Jeanne how to sense psychic energy.

Yes, not just as a way to shore up her flagging speed, but also as a way to improve relations between my pokémon… I was liking the idea more and more. Artoria, for all her discipline, was young and tended to be impatient with those she considered "unknightly," immoral, or undisciplined. Perhaps by teaching Jeanne, she could learn a bit more perspective. My eyes drifted to my two pokémon as they competed against each other. It was a very atypical fighting style, but then again, Jeanne was a very atypical mareep.

A small basket of wild mushrooms I'd picked over the past few days went into the stew in lieu of meat. Although Jeanne was perfectly capable of subsisting entirely on forage, I occasionally made vegan meals she could eat so the three of us could gather around a pot. With the addition of some wild garlic and herbs, the broth ended up tasting surprisingly meaty despite the lack thereof. I set the stew to simmer for another hour and opened up my PokéNav to look through the day's online news.

I glanced through the global headlines. The Pokémon World Tournament would be hosted in Olivine City in Johto, but there was some talk about concerns regarding public safety, especially in light of a newly instated gym leader, Jasmine.

There was a picture of the petite brunette along with a quote from her reassuring everyone that she would maintain public order. She was as cute as a button, pretty in that wholesome, girl-next-door sort of way. Though she was about as far from intimidating as possible, the mighty steelix behind her made her words far more believable.

Speaking of new leader, I saw that Kalos crowned its fifteenth Champion, their very own megastar actress, Diantha Carne. The beautiful woman's fierce, azure eyes stared back at me through the screen. She was not the youngest Champion ever at twenty-seven, but she could arguably claim the title for being the most controversial, at least out of those who took power during peacetime.

It was not her skill or power that was up for debate, her mega gardevoir was infamous for her devastating Moonblasts. No, the problem was that she never went on a journey.

Diantha was, to put it mildly, a rich woman. Daughter of a media mogul and an internationally acclaimed fashion designer, she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. That alone wouldn't have been bad, but she chose to pursue acting instead of going on the traditional gym challenge. All of her pokémon, including the two incredibly rare, resurrected fossils, were pokémon that were purchased.

Thus the controversy: After becoming a superstar, she announced that she had secretly been training her team on the side and that she would compete in that year's Grande Fleur Conference. She technically had the fastest clear time from one to eight badges, but that was because she faced all the eight major gyms using a fully evolved team, long after they were matured, and teleported from city to city with her gardevoir. If anything, she probably spent more time booking hotel rooms than on any route.

There were plenty of jealous people who claimed she earned none of the power she had, how she should stick to the movie screen or how anyone could be successful with that kind of backing. Nasty rumors of nepotism, corruption, and sexual scandals followed the woman everywhere despite never having any concrete evidence to back them. When she swept that year's Grande Fleur Conference, she took the trophy to a mix of boos and catcalls.

Idiots. I didn't know about her personal life, but power didn't lie. Strong pokémon didn't obey just anyone. Powerful psychics, ghosts, and dragons like her gardevoir, gourgeist, tyrantrum, and goodra especially so. Yes, she was an "artificial" trainer who never went on a journey. Yes, she was monstrously capable nonetheless. Both were factual.

If anything, I personally agreed with the other criticism of her, that she might see the Champion's throne merely as a way of earning more prestige or boosting her acting career, that she might not have Kalos' best interests at heart. They said that no matter how strong she was, she could not relate to the people of Kalos, the common man and 'mon, because she never took the time to get to know them. They said, rightly in my opinion, that the journey had more worth than simply "roughing it" for a few years. It was a way to learn more about the people and pokémon, to build relationships and grow as an individual.

Alas, my opinion meant little, as did those of her detractors. She won, taking the throne from Champion Drasna who now worked as her right hand and head of her Elite Four. There was nothing else to be said in the end: She was Champion.

Considering her infamous disdain for the great outdoors, I wondered how she found her own gardevoirite. We were, as far as I knew, the only two wielders after all. If nothing else, that alone meant I'd be following her reign closely.

Then, I reached the Hoenn-specific section of the online paper and froze as the headline caught my eye. "Dr. Kagari breaks new ground in Mt. Chimney excavation," it read.

The name struck me with a niggling sense of familiarity when I read it last in Mauville, but now I had a face to go with the name. She was beautiful, in a cold, disinterested way that reminded me of my mother. She was petite with lavender hair cut short in a pixie cut and frosty purple eyes. A confident smirk that lacked any warmth graced her features. Just to be sure, I looked up her full name and my stomach sank: Courtney Kagari, promising young geologist and coordinator working for the Hoenn Geological Survey.

Worse, she wasn't weak.

In the games, she was a pushover, sure, not as much as the grunts, but an all-around forgettable steppingstone whose only highlight was that her character art was cute. Here… not so much.

She hadn't won a grand festival, but she'd come close alongside her swellow and a motherfucking ninetales! On top of her skipping years to earn her doctorate early, just the bare bones of her biography painted a very different picture, one that gave me plenty of reasons to worry.

Was this some kind of composite version from the anime and manga? Could I expect her to have her camerupt and mightyena too or would she have a different, Elite-worthy team altogether? Was she already working for Team Magma?

I knew of her. She or Aqua Admin Matt, were the two deadliest members of their respective teams, perhaps even more so than Maxie and Archie. The two leaders cooked up an insane plan called Project AZOTH in which they wanted to use the power of Primal Reversion to turn back the clock on this world, killing everything and everyone in it.

Whichever idiot tried would be beaten by the protagonist and talked down by their rival, giving up on AZOTH. Except, their lieutenants would not yield. Courtney or Matt would go on in the Delta Episode to intentionally sabotage the Mossdeep rocket, using their respective key stone to turn the dimensional shifter into a bomb that could destroy the world.

Yes, the world. Yes, they lived here. No, they had no escape plan. Yes, they were that insane, the kind of stupid-crazy that would make the Joker think twice, the kind of unredeemable insanity only found in the most deluded of cultists.

But… But in the manga, Courtney the coordinator was separate from Courtney the scientist, just as there were two Team Magmas, the original and Neo Team Magma. Which was it? Was she the elegant coordinator who eventually helped Ruby stop Groudon and Kyogre? Or was she the lunatic that would happily destroy the world in suicidal delirium? Would she help defeat Archie? Or would she enable Maxie's madness?

I. Didn't. Know.

In the first place, the very idea that Courtney could take anything from Mossdeep without mom knowing was… laughable. This wasn't the games, with Tate and Liza being the strongest trainers in the area. Sharon Fulan was a great many things, but weak certainly wasn't among them.

I… I didn't know. All I could do was wait and see. The two mega stones I'd found proved my knowledge was credible to a point, but I had no idea where that point was and it was paralyzing me with indecision.

Was this how mom felt sometimes? Having exclusive information but never quite enough of it to do what you want?

With much to think about, I doled out the mushroom stew and called an end to the training for the night.

Author's Note

Are you surprised? Weird, huh? That's the beauty of foreknowledge; you turn what might otherwise have been a grand quest into a frustrating and somewhat anticlimactic scavenger hunt.

Some of you recognized Kagari, but here it is. Courtney. She's… a complicated figure. In Adventures, she has a ninetales and was a successful coordinator. In the games, she was a scientist. I've decided to blend the two identities somewhat. If you read her dialogue from the games, she is… fucking insane. Like, Harley Quinn having a meltdown kind of insane. I know she's probably someone's favorite waifu or whatever, but damn…

Anyway, this is the end of the arc. Arc 3, will cover Aaron's trip to Oldale and a few other things before culminating in Petalburg for his second badge.