[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.