The package of items appeared that evening, like Steven said it would. I had taken the day to relax again rather than train since I didn’t sleep much the night before and needed to decompress after meeting with Steven. I offered to take Marill to the beach but she wasn’t interested in doing something that wasn’t training. I knew from our time in Mossdeep that Vulpix wasn’t a fan of hot sands so we spent the day sitting inside and watching battle recordings on the League archives. Marill tried to hide the fact she was enamored with how one trainer’s Poliwhirl fought, but couldn’t hide the way her eyes stayed glued to the screen whenever it showed up.

When it arrived, I brought the package, or I should say packages, back up to our room. It was a whole collection of boxes. Several trainers gave strange looks when I led a small train of Devon delivery men upstairs to my rented room. Six boxes the size of my chest was far too much to carry on my own.

Vulpix and Marill sat on the bed as the boxes were set on the floor. Vulpix was almost bouncing from curiosity while Marill just sat there and pretended not to be interested. I grabbed a box cutter I borrowed from the Pokémon Center and started opening them up.

The first package I opened contained the backpack I asked for. It was a top-of-the-line Devon backpack that used Pokéball technology to make the inside bigger. The back and sides were lined with zipped up pockets that had their own separate enlarged spaces for storage. It was black with lavender accents so it matched my hat and shirt. I appreciated the foresight to give me an item that matched my outfit.

I noticed that one of the side pockets was cooled, which wasn’t a feature available to the public. The refrigerated pocket was supposed to still be in testing, so it seemed that Steven had used his connections to get me a prototype backpack. Just that feature already made me thankful I turned down the money.

Also contained within that package was Steven’s business card, which contained his personal phone number. I pocketed it so I could call him for the favors he owed me in the future.

I opened the second package and revealed a grooming kit for mammalian Water Type Pokémon, perfect for Marill. The package also included a business card and a note with instructions. It informed me that when I caught a new Pokémon I should call the number and give them the details of my new team member. The assistant who the phone number belonged to would order me a new grooming kit that matched that Pokémon’s needs and deliver it to me by the end of the day. There wasn’t a limit on the number of grooming kits that I could ask for so I would have free grooming kits to take care of my Pokémon for as long as I wanted.

I opened the next box, and was shocked. I followed up by opening the fourth and fifth boxes as well, and to my surprise, they had similar contents.

When I asked for more Pokéballs, I didn’t realize I would get five Pokéballs every type! This even has Pokéballs that aren’t available for public purchase!

These three boxes contained every single possible Pokéball I could use to catch a Pokémon. Off the top of my head there were two exceptions: Master Balls and Beast Balls. Master Balls were extremely rare and extremely expensive, and just one would probably be worth several Mega Stones. Beast Balls either weren’t invented yet or weren’t available to the public so I wasn’t surprised they weren’t included. Considering that some of these balls, like Cherish, Safari, and Park Balls were Pokéballs I shouldn’t have access to, I was more than happy with what was provided.

I slowly minimized the many Pokéballs and fit them into my new backpack. They easily went in and barely made a dent in the available space. The backpack technology was incredible, especially since I couldn’t feel the difference in weight.

The final package sent to me was the heaviest of the bunch. I had trouble lifting it up to the bed to open it.

Vulpix, who had been watching me open the packages, leaned over it in anticipation. Marill just leaned back and watched impassively.

I cut through the tape and pulled back the flaps to reveal a carefully placed and protected collection of evolution stones. I recognized one of every type, which included both common stones like Water, Fire, and Thunder Stones, but also rarer evolutionary stones like Shiny and Dusk Stones. In the center of the package was the one I was after, an Ice Stone, which would be needed to evolve Vulpix when she got stronger. Next to it was a handwritten note, which I read to myself once I saw it.

Dear Alex,

I hope the contents of these packages met your expectations. I truly want to express my gratitude so I personally selected the evolution stones you requested. These stones were once part of my personal collection, and are now a part of yours. Each one has enough Type energy stored within it to power at least 2 or 3 evolutions each. I understand your chosen Type does not require every provided stone, but perhaps these could provide a headstart into the creation of your own stone collection?

Yours truly,

Stone Collector Steven Stone

P.S. A few of the Hoenn Gym Leaders expressed interest in you. Look forward to the new challenges you will experience in your journey!

I went through a series of complicated emotions as I read the last line of the letter. At first I didn’t believe what it said and had to reread the postscript multiple times before the meaning settled in. I quickly became furious that Steven would advertise whatever he saw in me to his coworkers and force me to try even harder to hide my knowledge. I considered calling in one of the two favors to beg him to retract whatever he said about me.

After several minutes of anger, planning, and despair, I just gave up and figured there was nothing I could do. No matter what, I would have to deal with the fact that some Gym Leaders would pay more attention to me than necessary. I would just have to deal with it. In the end, I decided it would be best for my already stressed-out heart to not think about it at all.

Yup, I just got a bunch of neat stones and no extra information. Nothing to be alarmed about, just a bunch of cool rocks.

Vulpix went to my side to comfort me after watching my face go through the entire emotional spectrum. I patted her on her head and absentmindedly placed the evolutionary stones into my new backpack. Despite his interest, all Steven did was tell the region’s Gym Leaders about me and didn’t send anyone to arrest and interrogate me for my information. I was probably in the clear.

Then again, I didn’t reveal the full extent of my knowledge. I still need to hide what I know, especially now that Gym Leaders are paying closer attention to me and are more likely to notice any inconsistencies. At least the note said only some of them were interested, not all of them.

I finished putting away the stones and took special care to keep the Ice Stone away from Vulpix to avoid a premature evolution. She had a long way to go before she evolved. It would only hinder her in the long run to evolve her without properly developing her control over Ice Type energy. Plus, once she evolved she would be busy learning about an entirely new Type so it was best to master the Ice Type first.

I transferred all of my items from my old backpack into the new one, and then put the old one inside just in case. It wouldn’t hurt to keep it on me for emergencies. With everything slotted into my wonderful new storage device, I decided to finally head down to the Pokémon Center's training field and practice some moves to get my mind off of the situation.

As soon as I moved and said the word “training,” Marill ran to the door and impatiently waited for me to open it up.

I chuckled and I followed her out of the room, more than willing to move on and forget about everything I just read.

We ended up staying in Slateport for two more days. We could have stayed longer, but I was worried about available reservations for Gym Leader Battles at the beginning of the League. The very start and end of the season generally had the most number of trainers challenging Gyms at once, so it would be prudent to reserve a slot now while the start of the season was still two months out. Considering I wanted to take on both the Gym Trial and Gym Leader, I needed to get to Mauville as soon as possible to make sure the available spaces wouldn’t run out.

Route 110, the route north of Slateport, had two different methods of travel. The first was a massive combined highway and bike path built by engineers from Mauville that passed over an inland sea. Most trade from Slateport traveled along that road and was one of the few places where cars and trucks could be seen in large numbers. Primarily, it was used for bicycling which is why people primarily called it the “Seaside Cycling Road.”

Unfortunately, traveling along the road was not an option for me since I did not own a bike. Bikes were ungodly expensive and I'd rather walk with Pokémon at my side anyways. I had been with Vulpix for over a month at this point, but the novelty of traveling with a real life Pokémon still hadn't worn off.

The second method of travel was the method I ended up using. Underneath the Seaside Cycling Road was a massive artificial land bridge created to support the highway itself. I had the option to take a long winding path around the inland sea, but that would take me weeks to cross. Also, Rangers stopped patrolling the path around the sea after the road was built so it was full of dangerous Pokémon. With little experience battling, I wanted to play it safe.

I had to be extra careful when traveling across the land bridge due to the prevalence of Electric Type Pokémon. Electric Types were one of the few types of Pokémon attracted by the sounds of civilization, which meant that many of them lived under the highway. None would be too hostile since Rangers relocated any aggressive Pokémon off of the route, but my team had few defenses against Electric Types so we needed to avoid them as much as possible.

Vulpix stayed out to walk with me most of the time since the shade and her Never-Melt Ice allowed her to stay comfortable. Marill occasionally walked next to us or swam alongside the bridge, but she preferred to stay in her Pokéball and generally only came out for battles and meals.

We frequently encountered Pokémon as we walked along the route, but they tried to avoid us as much as we tried to avoid them. There were a number of Oddish that would stay in groups and observe us when we walked by, and I saw pairs of Plusle and Minun running around and climbing the supports of the road. At one point I saw a Pachirisu, which was an extremely rare Pokémon to find in this region. The largest difficulties we had came from the wild Electrike, which would Growl aggressively when they saw us or try to block our path when we attempted to move past them. We were occasionally able to talk them down, but more often than not Vulpix had to battle them.

The difference between wild and trained Pokémon was made clear in the way they battled Vulpix. They used a strategy similar to Marill’s in that they tried to get close using Quick Attack and overwhelm their foes in melee, but Vulpix’s experience against Marill meant she could easily dodge their attempts to get in close. They didn’t stick around long once they started to lose, generally fleeing after a use of Icy Wind or two. Marill didn’t participate in the battle herself due to her weakness to electricity, but let herself out of her Pokéball to watch the battles.

Even with the occasional fight, we had little difficulty traveling through Route 110. The only battle of note was against one particularly persistent Electrike.

It approached us from a distance, Growling at Vulpix in both a challenge and a warning. She ran out ahead to create distance to make sure I would stay safe. Marill appeared in a burst of light to watch Electrike with her judging eyes. She “tch’d,” clearly not finding Vulpix’s foe impressive.

The fight started once Vulpix approached, and Electrike began by using Howl to boost its physical capabilities. Howl worked by channeling enhancing Normal Type energy through vibrations within the body.

Vulpix immediately tried to slow it down and scare it off with Icy Wind, but it used Quick Attack to both dodge the wind and attempt to slam into Vulpix. A quick Baby-Doll Eyes caused the attack to falter, and Vulpix tripped it with a Tail Whip.

From the ground its body sparked erratically and I yelled to call Vulpix back, but the Electrike released a Shock Wave before she could dodge. Vulpix survived the hit but still took a lot of damage. Marill disapprovingly clicked her tongue in response.

Vulpix ran parallel to Electrike, keeping an eye on it while maintaining distance before using Powder Snow. Icy Wind would have been stronger, but we still hadn’t perfected using Icy Wind while moving.

The snow hit Electrike, but its Spark was able to break the hardened ice on its body before it could freeze. Electricity sparked in its mouth as it prepared a Thunder Fang attack. I wanted to tell Vulpix to dodge, but stopped myself when I saw her eyes flicker a dark purple color.

I stayed quiet to allow Vulpix to follow her own plan. She continued to run away from the Electrike as it chased her to catch up and to try to finally land a Thunder Fang. Her eyes continuously flickered in what I realized was an attempt to use a new move. However, she was eventually cornered by one of the supports of the highway.

Electrike closed in on her and the flickering color in her eyes solidified. Her eyes shot out a transparent beam of hazy purple energy, encompassing Electrike’s entire body. I pumped my fist and shouted in victory, but when the beam faded a moment later I realized that Electrike hadn’t been wounded at all. Panicking, I grabbed her Premier Ball to recall her before Electrike could chomp on her body, but I was too late. Electrike charged forward, mouth sparking with Thunder Fang and closed in on Vulpix.

Then the Electrike turned at the last second and smashed its head into the pillar, knocking itself out.

She swished her tails and stuck her nose up, proudly walking back to me and ignoring the prone form of the unconscious Electrike next to the pillar.

I realized what move she had just figured out.

“That’s incredible,” I called out to her, “Did you just figure out how to use Confuse Ray?”

Vulpix smirked with her vulpine mouth and rubbed herself on my leg. Marill turned her head away dismissively and made some disparaging comments I didn’t understand and that Vulpix ignored.

I picked Vulpix up to hug her and pulled out an Aspear berry out of the refrigerated pocket. We were running low since we were outside of the city, but the refrigerated pocket kept the ones I still had fresh. Plus, Vulpix loved them even more now that they were cooled.

She greedily gobbled up the sour-flavored berry and I sat her back on the ground.

With a tough foe defeated, we continued our journey onwards to Mauville.

“What do you mean you’re out of rooms?! This is the third Pokémon Center I went to!”

“I’m very sorry, but a large number of trainers travel to Mauville in the pre-season to use our training facilities, so all Pokémon Centers in the city have been booked full. If you wish, I can put you on a list and call you when a room is available.”

I sighed and waved off her offer.

“No, that’s okay. Could I reserve a room for the start of May?”

The head nurse tapped her pen to her chin to think about my request.

“It’s a possibility. We usually don’t do reservations and operate on a come and go basis once the season starts, but we can set aside a room if there’s an acceptable reason for it. Did you already register for the Gym Challenge?”

“Yes, I have both a Trial scheduled in the first week and a Gym Battle scheduled the day after the Trial.”

The nurse turned around in her chair to face the computer behind the counter.

“If that’s the case, I suppose we could make an exception for someone taking the Gym Challenge. I’ll make a note in our system to save a room for you around the time of your challenge.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it.”

She returned to typing on the keyboard attached to her weirdly out-of-date computer and I said my goodbye. Mauville was packed. The streets were about as busy as a major city, but every Pokémon Center was filled to the brim with trainers. I didn’t realize it, but my plan to challenge the Gym Leader early wasn’t unique.

I had gone to the Gym as soon as I arrived in the city and luckily they had a few available times during the first few days of the season. When I asked about how that was possible with so many trainers in the city, they told me that the only trainers that rushed to take on Gyms early were new trainers, and new trainers tended to not know about the reservation system. Since I showed up over a month before the start of the season, they still had a number of slots available I could reserve.

However, when I signed up for both the Gym Trial and the Gym Leader Battle, the receptionist at the Gym gave me a strange look.

“Oh, you’re one of them.”

Huh?

He saw the confused look on my face and answered the unspoken question.

“Well, the majority of new trainers only do the Gym Trial to earn their badge, but those are the ones that retire after earning four or five badges. Trainers that aim to compete in the Ever Grande Conference or want bragging rights tend to sign up for the Gym Leader Battle.

“Occasionally, we get someone who schedules both a Gym Trial attempt and a Gym Leader Battle despite the fact that the first one won’t give any rewards when completed. Those trainers are the ones who try to squeeze every drop of experience out of Gyms and end up attempting to become professional Pokémon Trainers.”

“Do they succeed?” I asked, interested.

He shrugged. “It’s pretty hit or miss. Usually they hit a wall that they can’t overcome or burn themselves out after pushing too hard. Only a few of them succeed in becoming professional trainers, but it’s pretty hard to become a professional trainer anyway. Since you seem to be part of that group, I recommend you pace yourself and not worry too hard about taking on the Gym Trial. It's a decent experience, but what really matters is the battle against the Gym Leader. That’s where you learn the most about battling.”

I nodded with wide eyes, trying to commit his advice to memory.

“Thank you, that's really helpful. I don’t suppose you have any tips for the Gym itself?”

“Oh, trying to eek out some tips before your challenge? Get on, you. No need to be cheeky before the season even started.”

I went on my way after that, which is when I discovered the lack of available rooms. Without a place to stay, I decided to leave Mauville and head to Verdanturf instead. I wouldn’t be able to earn as much money as I could in the big city, but if there were that many trainers present in Mauville, I wouldn’t have been able to take on more than a handful of jobs anyway.

Route 117 was safe enough to be considered tamed land. It was short and close enough to two different settlements that the wild Pokémon living on it were comfortable around humans. Rangers still actively patrolled it, but aggressive Pokémon only rarely had to be moved off the route. A large portion of the route was settled land, containing both an area set aside for the Daycare, where trainers could leave Pokémon if they had the funds, and an area dedicated to the flower fields around Verdanturf, which was what the town was famous for.

Marill were native to this route, and I had planned to catch one here before my encounter in Mossdeep. There were also two other local Fairy Types on Route 117, both of which lived among the flowers.

The first was Flabébé, which I wanted to catch but was currently unable to. As much as I would appreciate having a Florges on my team, without being able to take on high paying jobs like the ones in Mauville I had no way of supporting it. Once I got stronger, the jobs would pay better and I could catch more Pokémon. Two Pokémon was all I could financially support with my current income.

The second Pokémon was Comfey, a pure Fairy type that looked like a Hawaiian (or I suppose Alolan) lei. I really wanted to catch a Comfey since it was a Pokémon that was exceptionally good at healing. Having one on my team would allow us to stay between cities longer and make sure my Pokémon and I stayed in perfect health.

Unfortunately, while still present on the Route, Comfey was a result of a failed relocation of an Alolan Pokémon. I found out the story of its presence from my research into the Fairy Type. Initially, people thought that its affinity with flowers would allow it to thrive in the flower fields around Verdanturf. Unfortunately, the Comfey that were brought over had difficulty adapting to a non-tropical environment and the project was stopped before more Comfey were endangered. It was possible to find one on the route, but they were so exceedingly rare that I could spend the entire time until the start of the season searching and never find a single one.

Despite the opportunity to expand my team, I had no choice but to pass it up due to my low income or absolute rarity of the species. For the next month, my time would be dedicated to training Vulpix and Marill in preparation for Mauville’s Gym.

I was approaching Verdanturf when a flash of light suddenly blinded me. I jumped back and rubbed my eyes, wary of an attack. Vulpix immediately took a defensive stance in reaction and readied herself for battle. When my vision returned I noticed a newcomer: a small, knee-high white Pokémon that blocked the route ahead of us.

The tiny white Pokémon flailed its arms and began to shout at us.

"Ralts ralts ra ralts!"

"Vulpix?"

"Ralts!"

"'Pix!"

The tiny Pokémon, a Ralts, ran off northwards away from the road, and Vulpix followed. Not sure what Vulpix had discussed with Ralts to get her so worried, I jogged after them to follow.

It wasn't long until Ralts led us to a depression in the flower field.

Moving closer, I realized the depression was created by an unconscious boy with green hair, no older than fifteen or sixteen years of age.

"Shit!" I cursed.

I didn't know anything about first aid, but the town, and therefore the Pokémon Center, was nearby. I released Marill from her Dive Ball and handed her my backpack. She might have been small, but she was strong enough to carry it.

I looked over to Vulpix and gave her an order.

"Use Quick Attack to rush to the Pokémon Center. Give them a heads up that I'm bringing a boy there for emergency treatment. We'll be following you."

Vulpix nodded with a cute but determined face and dashed off in a white light. I walked over to the unconscious boy but Ralts teleported in front of me and Growled at my approach. Its short red horn glowed in a weak blue light.

I held up my hands to show I meant no harm.

"Ralts, please. Your friend needs help and I can bring him to a doctor. Stand down and I can carry him to where he needs to go.”

"Tch."

I snapped my head to Marill, who was pretending not to struggle in carrying a backpack twice her size.

She looked at Ralts and scoffed, speaking her name once and somehow managing to sound demeaning.

Ralts, frustrated by whatever Marill said, backed off and moved out of my way. Whatever faint glow its horn had faded and I kneeled down next to its trainer. I managed to pick up the boy in my arms with only some slight difficulties.

I wasn't sure exactly how to hold him, and ended up carrying him in a weird form of Princess carry where my right arm stuck out a bit to support his head.

I tried to jog to the town, but it was difficult to run with an entire human in my arms. I tried my best to fast-walk and pace myself while still moving as fast as I possibly could.

I've never been this thankful to have started actually training my body. I really need to thank Laura after this.

Carefully, I moved as quickly as possible towards the town, trying to ignore the burning feeling in my arms. Marill carried my backpack and Ralts followed, constantly glancing at the boy to make sure he was still okay. As I approached, I saw some figures in the distance getting closer.

I squinted my eyes and just barely made them out. Vulpix was running towards us, leading a surprisingly fast-moving Chansey pushing a stretcher. When I saw the pair approaching, I tried my best to speed up and meet them sooner.

We met about a half minute later and I placed the boy onto the stretcher. Chansey turned around and pushed the stretcher towards the Pokémon Center. I grabbed my backpack from Marill and returned her to her Dive Ball. Ralts teleported onto the stretcher to stay next to the boy.

It wasn't too long until we entered the city and arrived at the Pokémon Center. Thankfully, the building was located right at the edge of town so we did not have to travel long.

Chansey pushed the stretcher into the back room and Nurse Joy followed them in, presumably to start administering aid.

I collapsed onto a free spot on a couch to catch my breath and rest my arms. Despite my physical training with my Pokémon, I was still working on improving my stamina.

Pokémon Centers, while dedicated to healing Pokémon, could also treat trainers in an emergency. It couldn't fully act as a hospital, but they generally had enough capability to save a trainer's life.

In this case, I chose to bring the boy to the Pokémon Center because it was a familiar location that Vulpix could easily recognize to ask for help. There were more Pokémon Centers than hospitals in this world, so it was more likely she could find a nurse rather than a local doctor.

After a few minutes of waiting, I was called up to the main counter by the Nurse Joy of this Pokémon Center.

"You were the person who brought in the boy, correct?" She held a clipboard in her hand and was furiously scribbling notes onto it. She paused to get my response.

I nodded affirmatively in response to her question. "Yes, his Ralts grabbed my attention and I found him unconscious in a field outside of town. He didn’t respond when I picked him up and noticed his breathing was shallow when I ran with him."

Nurse Joy wrote on the paper as I described the situation and frowned when I mentioned his shallow breathing. "That's about inline to what I expected,” She said, “He'll be alright, but we need to make sure-"

The door to the Pokémon Center opened and a woman with green hair and a balding man burst in and practically ran into Nurse Joy.

"Wally!" She shouted as she dashed to the counter. She grabbed the side of it and her knuckles instantly turned white from the force of her grip. "Please Nurse Joy, is he okay? I came as soon as I got the alert!"

The bald man quickly caught up with her and bent forward with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily from exertion.

Nurse Joy looked them both over and her frown faded.

"As I was saying to the trainer next to you, Wally is okay. He suffered from an asthma attack and didn't have his inhaler to help. You should be thanking the person next to you. Their help may have saved Wally's life."

The woman turned towards me and clasped my hand.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for saving Wally! I'm Wanda, Wally's cousin, and that's my dad, his Uncle. If there's anything you need, just tell us and we’ll do anything to help you out."

As Wanda continued to thank me, my mind was lost in thought. The second they had said “Wally” I had froze. Anyone who played the games set in Hoenn knew that name.

Wally.

A young boy who started with just Ralts and grew up into a powerful trainer. He was sent to Verdanturf by his parents to attempt to improve his health with the fresh air. He met the player character of the Hoenn games and was inspired to become a Pokémon Trainer. In the end, he became so strong he was capable of Mega Evolving his Gallade.

And I just saved his life.