I left Lavaridge as soon as I could the very next day, ready to finally leave the town I had spent so long in.

I planned to head north to Fallarbor town and loop around Mt. Chimney, passing through Meteor Falls to reach Rustboro for my third Gym Badge. Considering the first month of the season hadn’t even ended and I had already earned two Gym Badges, I could afford to take my time traveling.

But of course the routes I chose to take my time on turned out to be some of the most painful routes to travel through in all of Hoenn.

Route 112 was tolerable. It just consisted of the same dry brushlands I had passed through to reach Lavaridge. This time there were no dangerous wild Pokémon like Hitmonchan, so we had an easy time passing through. However, it was the shortcut in the center of the route that made it so painful. Soon, I reached the hell-tunnel in the middle of Route 112 that was dubbed “Fiery Path.”

Route 112 was not continuous. To get to the northern portion that led to upper Route 111, travelers needed to pass through a tunnel dug right through the volcano. If I didn’t want to pass through I would have to choose between going through the hostile valley desert on Route 111 and going off-route, both of which were far too dangerous for a team at my level.

Fiery Path was a straight line carved through the side of Mt. Chimney that suffered from terrible environmental conditions due to its connection to the inner caves of the volcano. It was hot, pitch-black, and due to the presence of various Poison Type Pokémon, filled with noxious gasses.

A flaw of specializing in Fairy Types was that their weakness to Poison Types meant that they were uncomfortable in environments that lacked clean air. While the fumes of the cave were technically considered “natural,” the abundance of poisonous gasses and Poison Types meant that my team chose to stay in their Pokéballs while I went through Fiery Pass. Vulpix was especially insistent in staying in her Premier Ball since the heat was much worse for her than the other members of our team.

I could see why Ash always traveled with companions on his journey. It gets lonely without anyone nearby. I wasn't a person who always needed to talk, but I preferred to know I wasn't alone. At least my Pokémon were technically nearby, just within their Pokéballs.

Thankfully, I had about two days to "relax" on a pleasant route after I left the tunnel. The exit was far enough away from the mountain for the heat to die down, and the outside air was not filled with the same fumes as inside of it. Vulpix could finally walk alongside me, and Floette chose to either ride on my shoulder or on Vulpix's back.

I met quite a few people along this route, and one of them even challenged me to a Pokémon battle. I managed to eke out a victory against their team of Normal Types, netting me a bit more extra cash. I chatted with the trainer afterwards to discuss our respective journeys.

The Normal Type trainer explained to me that they were from Petalburg and were inspired to be like Norman. They went to the north-western routes to train in a harsh environment to strengthen their Pokémon before they took on any Gyms. Their starter, a Loudred at this point, only lost to my team because Floette managed to outlast it with Wish. Floette had grown more adept at surviving large, long-ranged attacks after her brush with Torkoal’s Overheat.

The trainer showed me to a small unnamed village that primarily acted as a rest stop for people traveling to Fallarbor. The path to Fallarbor wasn’t too popular since no Gyms were located within the city, but enough trainers passed through that there was enough foot traffic to justify the small village. To my surprise, the village did have a Pokémon Center, although it was much smaller than what I was used to. The Normal Type trainer was kind enough to explain why a village like this one would have a Pokemon Center.

Apparently every town and village had a Pokémon Center, mandated for public safety by the League. The converse of that was true as well. Only when a settlement had a Pokémon Center was it considered to be a town. Since it was so dangerous to live off-route, not many settlements tended to last. Only the ones that proved their longevity were granted a Pokémon Center and official town designation. It was a bit of cultural and legal knowledge I wasn't aware of, so I just gave the excuse that I hadn't really left the city before my journey (which was true).

I took the time I had outside of a hostile environment to establish the next training goals for my Pokémon. We had ways to go to Fallarbor and Rustboro, and I didn’t want that time to go to waste.

Like what I did on the route before Lavaridge, I lined up my Pokémon to tell them their objectives.

"Vulpix, your proficiency with the Ice Type is improving, but now that you've learned Extrasensory and have a minor grasp on telekinesis, I want you to focus on improving your cryokinesis. Stronger cryokinesis will help you once we start developing your Ability and Hidden Ability. A good step for now will be to work on Aurora Beam. It’s the next strongest Ice Type attack you can learn, and you’ll be able to shift into learning Ice Beam soon after you master Aurora Beam."

Vulpix gave a determined nod. She was the member of my team most dedicated to training, if you ignored Marill’s complete devotion to improving her physical strength.

Speaking of Marill, I turned to her next.

"Marill, to be honest you scare me sometimes."

That got me a genuine smile from her perpetually angry face.

Or at least I think she smiled. It's hard to tell sometimes.

"Regardless, I want you to get scarier. There's a move that you can use to take advantage of your secondary Type that you should be able to quickly master. It's called ‘Play Rough,’ and my understanding of it is that you just do your normal brutalities, but with Fairy Type energy instead. Fun, right?”

The look she made sent shivers down my spine.

Okay, now that was a smile.

I faced the final member of my team next.

"Floette, there's two different moves I want you to learn. The first is Aromatherapy, which releases a scent that heals nearby Pokémon’s status conditions. We don't have any easy to inflict status conditions to practice with, but we might be able to find a way to learn it if we’re creative enough.

"The second move is Grassy Terrain. It’ll enhance the power of your Grass Type moves and provide passive healing to all Pokémon close to the ground. Be careful though, it will also heal our opponents so we can only use it in specific situations.”

Floette looked worried about the two difficult moves ahead of her, but nodded to acknowledge the task.

I hesitated about telling her to learn those two moves since they were both individually a challenge to train. No one on my team had a reliable way of causing status conditions to heal to practice Aromatherapy, and Grassy Terrain was even more difficult since it required her to expend energy in a large-scale area, which she was only just barely able to do in her evolved form. Grassy Terrain practice was likely to exhaust her, so learning it would be slow going. I trusted her capabilities and I would do everything I could to help, but unlike Vulpix’s and Marill’s goals, Floette was unlikely to complete them anytime soon.

I worked to help my team members start learning their moves that afternoon, then planned to head inside to research tips and tricks for them tonight. However, Marill threw a wrench into my plans. I had informed my team about their new goals around midday, and when we returned to the Pokémon Center that night, I found that Marill had already mastered Play Rough.

She mastered Play Rough. She didn’t just learn Play Rough, she completely mastered it.

There was no build up, no need to stand still, and no interruptions during the move. When Marill wanted to use Play Rough, she used Play Rough. The raw brutality of the move fit well into her skill set, and I knew whatever Pokémon subject to her power would not have a good time.

With a record-breaking mastery of a new move, I switched up Marill’s goal. She was to work on the move “Charm” next, which was a Fairy Type utility move that tricked her opponent into weakening their own attacks. Despite Charm emphasizing cuteness, it was an incredibly insidious move for the supposedly innocuous Fairy Type. It used Fairy Type energy to plant a suggestion in the opposing Pokémon's mind that persisted until the Pokémon rested outside of the battle. In simpler terms, it was weak mental manipulation.

It rubbed me the wrong way, but was far too effective in battle to pass up. Marill took joy in the trickery behind the move and worked hard to master it, but as a Pokémon with an eternal scowl on her face that was obsessed with strength, she struggled to learn it.

I think that Charm was a move that described my understanding of Fairy Types pretty accurately. If you underestimated them due to their cutesy appearance, they would quickly show why that was a mistake.

As I continued my trip to Fallarbor, I was forced to trudge through the next hell-area along the path: Route 113.

It was a pleasant enough route on the surface, consisting of a sparse forest with plenty of bushes and tall grasses, but the presence of Mt. Chimney to the south flipped that pleasantness on its head.

Mt. Chimney constantly blew out smoke and ash, and due to the position of Hoenn and its strange Pokémon-influenced climate, wind always blew northwards from the volcano. As a result, Route 113 had a permanent "snowfall" of ash.

It was a unique experience that would have been fun to experience once, but only once. Experiencing ashfall for days on end was definitely not “fun.”

Neither Vulpix nor Floette stayed outside their Pokéballs for essentially the same reasons as Fiery Path. However, Marill did want to travel with me on this route. Despite her goal to learn a utility move, she treated dragging herself through the ash as physical training. Her little legs had trouble keeping up with my walking speed, and whenever I slowed down to let her catch up she would let her displeasure be known with a "Tch". She frequently used Aqua Jet to close the distance whenever she strayed too far behind. I had no clue if this actually helped her, or if it was just a challenge she used to test herself.

My questions regarding the validity of using the hostile environment to train were answered when we passed by several experienced trainers. When asked, they explained that the hostile conditions let Pokémon grow stronger than normal, although it would lead to sickness if they stayed on the route for too long. The trainers I saw on the route with their Pokémon were experienced enough that their teams generally had multiple fully evolved Pokémon. One trainer actually had a Typhlosion as a team member, signifying that he was most likely sponsored by Professor Elm.

It was good to find out that harsh conditions made for better training, but considering I was still instilling the basics into my team, I decided not to bother at this point. Once I started preparing for high-level battles, I might consider returning to this route.

However, I hated everything about it at the moment so I left it as fast as I could.

It took about eight full days to travel from Lavaridge to Fallarbor through some of the most unpleasant routes in the region, but upon arriving in the Fallarbor Pokémon Center I knew it was worth it.

Why?

The jobs.

The volcanic ashfall of Route 113 didn’t quite reach Fallarbor outside of an occasional light dusting. As a result, the volcanic ash made the soil extremely fertile and perfect for growing a large quantity of hardy crops. The town was responsible for a good chunk of the region's food production, and that combined with the presence of a minor research lab meant the population was rather well off.

Since the majority of trainers who passed through were either high-level trainers or trainers that focused solely on training in the ash, very few low-level jobs were completed. The Pokémon Center job board was absolutely packed with listings that had a significantly higher pay than in other cities. I was tempted to stay within the town for an extended time to take advantage of the increased potential earnings, but had little reason to stay outside of income so I only ended up stalling my journey for a single week.

When I actually left the town, I had more than enough extra funds to support a new member of my team, which was my objective for traveling this direction in the first place.

Despite intending to expand my team, I was conflicted about the next Pokémon I wanted to catch.

It was unavoidable. If I wanted to be a decent trainer, I needed to catch a Flying Type. Specifically, a Flying Type that had the ability to transport me from place to place. All high level trainers had a Pokémon that they could ride or be carried by, and in most situations, Type Specialists didn’t have an issue with obtaining one.

Normal Type specialists had their choice of regional birds, Water Type specialists had Pelipper and Swanna, Dragon Type specialists could pick almost any Dragon Type, and Ghost Type specialists at least had Drifblim.

What did Fairy Type have?

Togekiss. Which I couldn’t get.

Unlike in the games, Togepi did not naturally appear on any route. Rather, it was one of the rarest Pokémon in existence in that its eggs were only found randomly, and any native populations of Togepi were extremely well protected or kept secret. I remembered that Misty had released her Togetic in Hoenn to protect a secret paradise filled with wild Togepi, but when I looked up the name of the kingdom that contained it, no information came up. I was unsure if it didn’t exist or if its presence was a complete secret.

With my choices limited, if I wanted to quickly move around the region through the skies, I only had one option.

And that option was only technically a Fairy Type.

Swablu were native to Route 114 and I planned to catch one for my team. It was capable of learning Fairy Type moves and behaved similarly to some Fairy Types, but both it and its evolution, Altaria, were not Fairy Type Pokémon. Swablu was Normal and Flying Type, while Altaria was Dragon and Flying Type.

However, the species had one small quirk that I used to justify it as a member of my team. Altaria could Mega Evolve and become a Dragon and Fairy Type Pokémon. Yes, in order to keep up with other professional trainers, I had to catch a Pokémon based on its Mega Evolution, an issue I wanted to avoid.

Once Mega Stones were made public knowledge, which I predicted would happen within the next year or two based on Ash’s progress in his journey, I would be able to hunt down an Altarianite to be able to finally use Mega Altaria as a Fairy Type Pokémon. I had no intention of finding one right now since I wanted to keep as low of a profile as possible, so until then, my Fairy Type team would have a single member that was not a Fairy Type.

At the same time, I couldn’t get away with just catching one of the numerous Psychic and Fairy Type Pokémon and using it as transportation. Teleport could only teleport the user to a location they could clearly picture in their mind, which generally meant that Teleport only returned its user to a location they had already visited.

Catching a Flying Type was also necessary since if I wanted to challenge Winona’s Flying Type Gym in Fortree, I would be required to have a Pokémon that could fly. That was true for all challengers, but there were a few ways to get around that. Pokémon with Levitate could compete, and some Pokémon with natural hovering capabilities counted as well. In Hoenn, the one Fairy Type Pokémon that met that requirement was Whimsicott, but it was a Grass Type that didn’t have fine control of its aerial movement so it was a poor choice to use in a Sky Battle.

Explanations and justifications aside, I still had to deal with actually catching a Swablu.

Fallarbor was surrounded by craggy terrain, where only the hardiest of plants could grow despite its innate soil fertility. To the west of Fallarbor town, past that unfriendly terrain, was a small forest and river located on Route 114 just north of Meteor Falls. Despite the fact that Swablu was technically available anywhere in Hoenn, that forest was their primary nesting grounds, which made it much easier to find a Swablu to catch.

I didn’t want to just find a random Pokémon, battle it, then catch it when it was unconscious. If a Pokémon wanted to travel with me, I would make sure they traveled with me willingly. I could find Swablu elsewhere, but I doubted any of the ones outside of Route 114 would want to join me when they’ve already proved they could travel perfectly fine on their own. I needed to ask the Swablu I met if they wanted to join my team, and in a forest full of Swablu flocks, I could probably convince at least one to be caught. If the law of large numbers had any merit, I had a high chance to make a new friend within the week.

Of course, that was easier said than done. While I didn’t doubt I could find Swablu, the danger lay with the other denizens of the forest. The forest of Route 114 was home to both Seviper and Zangoose, two aggressive and territorial species that had an instinctual hatred for the other. With both of them present, I would need to take extra care to not be caught up in any dangerous battles.

Essentially, I had to travel through a dark forest, avoid any hostile territorial Pokémon that might attack us, find a Swablu, and then somehow convince it to join me on my journey. Easy-peasy.

The forest north of Meteor Falls was much more pleasant than I expected. I was thankful the ashfall didn’t reach its location, allowing me to rest in a much more temperate environment. The only point that made me nervous while I traveled to my destination was when I needed to cross a rickety wooden bridge over the river. It was safe to walk across, as researchers and backpackers frequently used it, but it creaked under every footstep and I swore I heard a rope snap.

The forest itself was a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees. The trees weren’t that large but the canopy was thick enough that only a small amount of light reached the forest floor. It was not dense nor old enough to warrant the forest being given a special name like “Petalburg Woods,” but the darkness beneath the trees made it hard to see and gave the entire place an eerie atmosphere.

I entered the forest and within only a few hours, I found the first flock of Swablu perched upon one of the evergreen trees in the forest. I only noticed them when I saw a flash of blue in my peripheral vision.

I approached them slowly, holding my hands up to make myself known and to show I wasn’t a threat.

“Hello” I said to them, “I’m trying to find a Swablu interested in joining my team. Would any of you be interested?”

I wasn’t alone when I approached. Vulpix was at my side. Marill’s scowl was too threatening, and Floette was frightened by the atmosphere of the forest and the prospect of approaching so many unfamiliar Pokémon.

Some members of the flock of Swablu did turn to look at me, and those ones considered my offer. Unfortunately, none of them flew down and after waiting a few minutes, the flock flew off, clearly not interested in joining me nor willing to stay nearby.

I sighed and looked down at Vulpix.

“Well girl, none of them wanted to join us but that was only one flock. I’m sure one will be interested in no time!”

She yipped in support.

I managed to ask another three flocks before I had to leave the forest to camp for the night. None of them were interested in traveling with me. I managed to avoid any Seviper or Zangoose, but there was a close call when a lone Seviper slithered between the trees a short distance away from me. Its dark scales let it blend into the shadows of the forest, and I froze when its eyes met mine. It carefully analyzed both me and Vulpix before moving off deeper into the forest. I didn’t know if it thought we were too weak or too strong to be worth the effort of a fight, but if it had attacked we would have struggled to defeat it.

On my second day, I got my hopes up at one point when I found a lone Swablu fighting off a Taillow. I approached after the Taillow fled, but that Swablu simply made a “Tch” noise before flying away. After hearing its response, I was thankful it declined my offer since I didn’t know what I would do if I had caught a second Pokémon with Marill’s personality.

That night I camped outside the forest once more due to the Seviper and Zangoose presence. They were both individually powerful Pokémon that used the night to hunt. I didn’t have any strong contenders on my team to keep watch, and if we were ambushed by multiple of them there would be no way for us to fight back.

Honestly, not camping in a hostile Pokémon’s territory was a pretty reasonable decision. It wasn’t too dangerous in the forest, but that danger rating was reflective of the fact that the people that visited were smart enough to avoid irritating dangerous Pokémon.

The first thing I stumbled upon during the third day of my Swablu search was a Seviper and Zangoose viciously attacking each other.

The Zangoose’s claws tore into Seviper’s flesh, leaving large red gouges that clashed with the Seviper’s dark scales. The Seviper bit down onto the Zangoose's shoulder and held on despite the furious attacks the Zangoose unleashed into its serpentine body.

The Seviper eventually let go and slunk away, heavily injured, and the Zangoose chose not to follow. As I watched from my hiding place, I noticed that the Zangoose was struggling to stay upright. It was most likely poisoned. I knew Pokémon could be brutal in the wild, but this was on another level. Pokémon were much more hardy than humans and could sustain major damage, but I wasn’t sure if either Pokémon would survive much longer after that fight.

Then again, snake-like Pokémon tended to have insane regeneration and Zangoose could develop an immunity to poison as an ability. Their battle could have been a way to settle a grudge while also developing their abilities at the same time.

I left the site of the battlefield around the same time both the Seviper and Zangoose retreated. I didn’t want to stick around in case other aggressive Pokémon were lured by the sounds of their battle.

Soon after the fight, I found another flock of Swablu but this one was different. It contained a single Altaria that sat in the middle of the flock. It moved its head around, alert. It probably was their leader as well as the one who kept watch.

When I would usually approach a flock of Swablu, multiple members would watch me approach. It wasn’t until after I was deemed harmless that the rest of the flock would consider my question. In the case of the Altaria’s flock, only the Altaria watched me approach while the rest paid me no mind. It seemed that since they had a Dragon Type as a leader, there was little reason to worry about predators.

When we approached, the Altaria eyed Vulpix and fluffed up its cloud-like feathers threateningly. I nodded to show my respects and Vulpix, following my lead, did the same. I had no clue if my sign of respect worked, but its feathers noticeably deflated. It continued to watch Vulpix suspiciously, which I chalked up to it being wary of the Ice Type, to which it had a double weakness.

“Hello, I’m trying to find a Swablu that is willing to join my team,” I said to it, “Are there any members of your flock that may be interested?”

I knew eye contact was a thing with Dragon Types, but I couldn’t remember if it was to be maintained or avoided. Eye contact either proved you were brave enough and worthy to interact with them, or it threatened their position and challenged them to a fight. Not willing to risk battling the Altaria on a misunderstanding, I stared at its center of mass, which was currently covered up by its fluffy white feathers.

The Altaria regarded my question, but waved a wing dismissively. Taking the hint to leave, I nodded my head once more and walked away.

Internally, I cursed the Dragon Type forum for restricting access to only League-approved accounts. If I knew the proper behavior for interacting with a Dragon Type, I may have been able to find a Swablu within Altaria’s flock willing to join my team.

For the rest of the day, I maneuvered my way through the forest as quietly as possible to not disturb the two aggressive tribes of Pokémon within it. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate any more flocks of Swablu and was forced back to the entrance of the forest to set up my campsite once again. Today was a stranger experience than the other two days, since I generally ran into a handful of people traveling through the forest. I encountered no one within the forest, and no one passed by my camp in the morning. If I entered Meteor Falls now, it would probably be empty.

However, as luck would have it, I noticed a small collection of sky blue birds that contrasted against the orange tones of the sunset. The flock was perched in a tree just down the river, and I could easily reach it within a few minutes of walking.

Carefully, and with Vulpix still at my side, I avoided the Lotad and Lombre that rested near the bridge and approached the flock. It was smaller than the other ones, only consisting of about a dozen members, but I followed the same strategy I had used several times before.

“Hello, are any of you interested in traveling and getting stronger with me?”

Each member of the Swablu flock looked at me and considered my question. Once again, I waited for a few minutes until finally one cocked its head and glided down to land in front of me.

It sat on the ground as its small talons clutched and flattened the decaying leaves that littered the forest floor.

I kneeled down to provide more details. It hadn’t made any motions to signal that it was completely convinced, so I decided to give it a full elevator pitch to persuade it to join.

Before I spoke, I glanced down at Vulpix who flicked her left ear in accordance to the secret code we worked out earlier. She would flick her left ear if the Pokémon was male, and her right ear if it was female. I had trouble telling apart Pokémon genders, and I didn’t want to accidentally insult Swablu as I did when I first met Vulpix.

“Hey little guy. I’m training a selection of Pokémon to take on strong trainers and travel the globe. Right now I have two other Pokémon besides Vulpix and I plan to focus on the Fairy Type in the future. I hope to enter the Ever Grande Conference at the end of the year and move to another region afterwards. It would take you a long way from home, but it's a wonderful experience to see so many new places. Does that sound interesting to you?”

The Swablu cocked his head again but didn’t get closer or fly off. I waited to see if he would give me any indication that he wanted to join, but he just continued to stare at me. I glanced at Vulpix, who cocked her own head in confusion, then glanced at the rest of the Swablu flock, who were still in the trees. Several of the members shrugged their wings, which was a strange sight to see since I didn’t even realize their wings could bend like that.

Still not getting a definite response, I stood up and looked back down at the Swablu, who sat motionless on the forest floor.

“Okay, well, if you’re interested I’m heading back to my campsite and we can sort out meeting the other members and selecting your ball once there. Follow me if you want to join.”

I walked away and glanced over my shoulder after a few moments. Rather than following me, Swablu continued to sit on the ground and watched me walk away. I sighed.

There’s always the next set.

Vulpix let loose a soft whine and I bent over to quickly pat her head. I returned to my campsite and took off my hat. To set up dinner, I brought out cans of Pokémon food and individually prepared berries to place in bowls for everyone. I let out both Marill and Floette and set the bowls of food down. Vulpix dug into hers messily while both Marill and Floette pulled out individual pieces to chew. Marill grabbed whatever was on top but Floette always saved her berry pieces for last.

I personally ate half a ration bar and some jerky. With the chilled pocket in my Devon backpack, I could have brought fresher ingredients to prepare meals for myself on the road, but I preferred easy-to-grab and long-lasting food. Ration bars and jerky were easy to pack and prepare, plus I could still eat berries to supplement my diet.

While I ate, I daydreamed about buying a supply of expensive preserved meals once I got a sponsor. I was so lost in my thoughts about food, I didn’t notice the extra member at our campsite.

I was alerted by a “Pix” noise and looked up, thinking that Vulpix wanted seconds. Her bowl was still half full as she sat back and watched the newcomer warily as Floette hid behind her. Marill continued to stuff her face, not caring about the situation at all. I glanced over and saw that next to my backpack on the ground was that same Swablu from before, who sat silently and was watching us eat.

“Um, hello? Did you change your mind?” I asked.

Swablu tilted his head.

“Well, are you hungry?”

He tilted his head in the opposite direction.

Just in case he actually was interested in joining my team and not just a weird bird, I took out the food and food bowl I had prepared back in Fallarbor and set up a similar dinner for Swablu to enjoy. He hopped forward, looked at the food for a moment, then started to eat it without a care in the world, picking up pieces in his beak to swallow before tilting his head (and therefore his entire body) down to grab the next piece.

Vulpix went back to eating her food, but kept an eye on Swablu. Floette tried to continue to hide behind her until Vulpix flicked Floette with her tail and she went back to her own bowl.

I snacked on my own meal and observed Swablu. He wasn’t bothered by our presence and just ate noisily. Our strange dinner party continued as everyone slowly finished their meals and I took the empty bowls away to clean in the river.

Swablu was still in camp when I returned, but both Vulpix and Floette were actively trying to figure out what his deal was. Swablu didn’t respond as Vulpix sniffed him, and Floette was trying to work up the courage to approach. Marill had already fallen asleep.

“Well, since you’re here, do you want to pick out a Pokéball to stay in? I never got a full response from you but I assume you’re interested since you stuck around.”

Swablu looked me in the eyes and I matched his stare. Vulpix and Floette rapidly switched their gaze between both me and Swablu.

“I’m going to set them out. Choose one you like, alright?”

I reached into my backpack and set up a similar array of all the different types of Pokéballs like I had done for Floette. Swablu watched me place them all out, then looked back at me when I was finished.

I stood there and waited for a moment before realizing I forgot to explain.

“Oh! Sorry about that. The simplest way I could describe it is that these are like mobile homes that let you come with me on my journey. They’re comfortable and let you rest easily if you want, although I know some Pokémon prefer to stay out of their balls. They’re also useful if you get hurt, since in those situations you get really slowed down so your wounds don’t get worse. Just hit the one you like on the front center button to enter it, alright?”

Swablu continued to look at me for a few seconds longer before moving his gaze to the Pokéball array before him. His eyes didn’t wander nor did he focus on any Pokéball in particular. He just took in the entire selection at once.

I waited for him to choose. Then I continued to wait. And I waited some more. Vulpix entered the tent with Floette riding on her back, both having lost interest and deciding to go to bed. I sat down soon after, since I had been standing for quite a while.

Swablu didn’t move and continued to stare at the Pokéballs without shifting his eyes. At this point, the sun had almost completely set and the camp was only lit up by a dim light. Since he had been at it so long, I spoke up.

“If it’s such a difficult decision, I could choose a ball for you, if you want?”

Swablu turned to look at me then turned back to the balls. I reached out for a Heavy Ball, thinking the blue bumps on its surface matched Swablu’s coloring, but as I did so he shook his head back and forth.

Huh. That got a reaction.

“Alright, if you don’t like that one, how about a Great Ball?”

This ball is also blue, so maybe he’ll accept it since it matches?

Swablu shook his head no again.

“Hmm. How about a Dream Ball? I’m partial to the wavy pinks and purple myself.”

Swablu cocked his head, as he considered the ball before shaking his head no once more.

Well he took a moment to think about it, so maybe he likes the colors? Actually there’s another ball like this one. Maybe...

I held up a pink and white ball with a heart design on its upper half.

“Do you like this one? It’s called a Love Ball. It’s very pink.”

Swablu eyed the ball carefully before nodding.

Shrugging to myself and happy his ball was finally decided, I reached down and pressed the ball to Swablu’s side. I didn’t expect to need to do this, but he didn’t stop me. Swablu was sucked up in a bright light and disappeared into the Love Ball. After shaking a few times, the ball stabilized and clicked, signifying that Swablu had been caught and was now a full member of my team.

Well then, that’s certainly one way to catch a Pokémon.