[X] My Assistant

[Toogee]

Delayed

This trip is taking a tad longer than I thought. I know Furoh is a huge place, but when you need to get somewhere, the distance seems even larger. I’m not saying that I’m not enjoying it though. I’ve seen some pretty neat places on my journey.

A few days ago, Douken and I visited Loch Ranch, a huge place where your stored pokemon can roam outside. They had all kinds of habitats to suit every resident and even a hatchery. The Loch family was an amazing host. They’ll serve great food, and they’ll give you work if you decide to pay them back. We were picking up eggs to transport back to the hatchery, going to a couple of different habitats. We didn’t even get to the others before the day ended. It’s that huge!

There were a couple of things that surprised me during the visit. One was a visit from Justin. I met him back at Under Hill. He seemed to be in a rough patch when he arrived, but he was in good spirits when he was around...well, me. It’s a bit complicated…

That night, our second surprise came for a visit: a strange group of cultists calling themselves “Darkrai’s Disciples”. They were on some mission to set all the pokemon free and then started this big battle. Luckily, the pokemon had different plans and chased them off. The disturbances caused a tauros stampede that I happened to got stuck in. That’s when Fenrir came to the rescue. He evolved into an arcanine! He’s huge! In fact, he’s big enough to ride on, which makes traveling much easier.
After we departed, there was a snorlax pile-up on one of the roads and we had to find another route. That took a few days out of our journey. Right now, I’m typing this up from a rest stop. I think we’ll be heading out soon.

No more delays! Petropolis, here we come!

-Pan

One hour later…

A storm was coming…

Dark clouds were gathering in the distance. They rolled over each other like ocean waves turned by a tempest. Underneath the clouds, a giant waterfall of rain drops drenched the countryside. Streams of lightning leaped through the sky, illuminating the otherwise dark surroundings. This furious force of nature bellowed with a thousand beasts to let everyone in the vicinity know of its coming. Beautiful in appearance but terrible in power, the thunderstorm marched eastward across Furoh.

Far from its influence, Pan watched the storm through the lens of her camera. She sat upon her arcanine Fenrir, who was reasonably apprehensive of the drenching rainfall making its way towards them. Chi-Chi was the complete opposite: the increased electrical activity in the air made the squirrel pokemon far more active. She stood on her hind legs on top of the arcanine’s head, her cheeks starting to crackle with energy. Poor Lima, however, was clinging onto Pan’s stomach for dear life, terrified of the new sounds and flashes of light. The cleffa had never seen anything like this underground.

“Don’t worry about it. That storm’s still miles away.” The woman took a break from taking pictures in order to stroke the arcanine’s mane with one hand, while wrapping her other arm around her cleffa. Unlike the pokemon, Pan was both amazed and a bit disappointed. She loved being out here to witness this natural wonder, but that meant she would once again be delayed in arriving in Petropolis. There was no way they could travel through its fury.

Their only option would be to rest in a nearby city. This city was in no way a safe haven. It was a land poisoned by the buildup of pollution over the years. The majority of the city was ruled by rowdy gangs and packs of dark pokemon. There was only a fool’s chance that the lives of the remaining citizenry would ever improve, especially after recent events. Even then, the aforementioned citizenry consisted of outlaws, criminals, and outcasts, an unlikely bunch to start the rebirth of this once great city.

Pan and her pokemon stood at the crossroads: one path lead to Petropolis, while the other led to the dilapidated city of Lenoilia. She read from all sorts of travel guides to stay far away from this dangerous place, Furoh’s dark underbelly. She knew there was no choice, but that didn’t mean she had to make the decision alone.

Pan whistled loudly to signal her partner to come back down to earth. Douken Sota had been practicing flight upon his newest capture, a skarmory. So far, there had been more successes than failures, though those failures tend to leave more lasting marks in the form of cuts and bruises. Once Douken landed, Pan approached him and told him of the situation.

“Douken, we’re going to need to take shelter,” Pan said, turning her head to the god-forsaken city of Lenoilia.

[Toogee]

“Hop on,” Pan said as Fenrir kneeled down. "Where to, Miss Daisy?"

She reached out to Douken’s hand to assist him up, the young trainer sitting behind her. Pan was more than happy to have Douken travel with her. He could have easily left her behind while he flew to Petropolis. Trainers were all about getting those badges, right? Maybe Douken liked having a constant human companion to travel with? They had been through a lot together; certainly there would be more adventures to be had. She was glad to make his travels a bit more interesting.

Of course, the risks involved in flying through a lightning on top of a giant metal bird probably played a role in sticking around with her. Perhaps, but Pan preferred to think it was more of the former. She returned her frightened cleffa back into her pokeball and Chi-Chi back to her vest before approaching Lenoilia.

As they rode upon the path toward Lenoilia, Pan and Douken crossed a “border”, a clear separation between living grass and the yellow turf poisoned by excess pollution. The path was downhill, meaning the living foliage was on a hill and less exposed to Lenoilia’s ground water. The two also passed by what appeared to be a large billboard. Judging from the condition of the wood poles, it appeared to have been set up not long after the city’s founding. It was rather difficult to decipher: years of graffiti had taken its toll.

“Welcome to Lenoilia,” Pan said after staring at the sign for a few seconds. The byline was even more obscured, though it appeared several residents made attempts to make it more…creative.

Finally, the team had arrived on the cobblestone streets of Lenoilia. If one looked past the grime and debris, one could tell this was once an artist’s paradise. Elaborate architecture depicted everything from foliage to angels to various bird pokemon. Each brick that made up the street had a carving of all sorts of scenes. These were as simple as stick figures walking together, or as elaborate as a crisp sunset set behind a magnificent pidgeot. It must have been a painstaking process to build the city, but the results must have been spectacular. Nowadays, those features were worn away, cracked, covered with graffiti, or in some other state of disrepair.

Artwork wasn’t currently on the mind of Pandora Gibbs, however.

People were heading back indoors at the roar of motorcycles echoed through the alleys. Fevered heckles followed soon after. A bike gang was raising trouble unchecked, throwing bricks at what remaining shops remained opened. Their rampage only stopped upon seeing the two visitors enter the city.

“Well well,” said the leader of the gang, “fresh blood.”

In reaction, Fenrir turned to the group and gave a mighty roar. Most of the riders jerked back at the mighty arcanine. One actually fell off his bike.

“That’s as far as you go,” Pan threatened, Turnip’s pokeball gripped in her hand. And here she was hoping to relax for once. However, it appeared her arrival in Lenoilia would begin with a heated battle.

The leader simply smirked as more motorcycles rushed onto the scene. There was no way Pan and Douken could take them all.

“You kids picked a bad time to visit. This is Burro’s city, and he loves to see new trainers. Why don’t we go meet him?”

“Sorry, gonna have to take a raincheck,” Pan responded before turning her head to Douken.

“Hang on Douken.”

That was the only warning the boy would get before Fenrir leaped over a pair of motorcyclists and dashed down the street. It wasn’t long before the gang revved into action, giving chase to the targets.