Chapter 85 (Patreon)

There was an audible thunk when Redi let her head drop onto the table. For the tenth time today, she let out a long, annoyed groan. A passing trainer sent her an amused look as he carried out a tray of breakfast. Sam continued to eat his own meal at their table in the cafeteria of the Blackthorn Pokémon Center.

“I’m so stupid,” Redi said.

Sam chewed on his bite before swallowing.

“You’re not stupid. Eat your breakfast.”

“I am stupid. And I dun’ wanna.”

Sam sent her a flat look, and they locked eyes until Redi reluctantly sighed. She didn’t lift up her head, but she scooped up a bite of oatmeal and shoved it in her mouth.

They had only been in Blackthorn since late last night. The Stantler herd hadn’t been too far away from the city itself—which was half the reason Clair and her Dragon Type had seen them in the first place. Everything involving the wild Pokémon had taken place yesterday. Redi still hadn’t got over her decision to wait to add that elder Stantler to her team.

Yet, her attitude was still somehow an improvement from her depression last night.

“I really don’t think this is the end of the world. You technically have a third Pokémon waiting for you. You just have to figure out how to get a fourth Pokémon somewhere in town.”

“There aren’t going to be any interesting Normal Types here, and we gotta fight Clair. How am I supposed to catch something?”

Sam lazily pointed a spoon at her.

“You could trade?” he offered.

Redi glared at him.

“I don’t want to give up any of my Pokémon.”

“I mean talk to someone and make a deal where you go out and catch something for a species of theirs in return.”

She did seem to consider it, and she sighed and pushed back up. Redi arched her back to stretch before reluctantly continuing her meal in her seat. Quilava sat on the table next to them, munching on a berry. Primeape and Ursaring had already finished eating. Sam made sure his Fighting Type had eaten breakfast in their room, mostly to avoid making any public mess.

“I’ll figure it out,” Redi grumbled. The food was helping. “But we still have a bunch of other stuff to do, too. Sign up for the battle in the first place is one. I also gotta tell the League where I am so they can send me that TM for Porygon. And then for Mr. Pokémon’s deal...”

She grimaced.

“You have to call your family,” Sam said, almost in an order.

Redi’s frown continued.

“I have to call my family,” she repeated before sticking a spoon in her mouth.

Sam could tell she wasn’t looking forward to that, but he also knew she loved her family. She brought her parents and their Pokémon so much that they were likely always on her mind. That, and her goal was to become famous and help support them with her own cash. Most of the reason she became a trainer was to help them advertise. Even if she was avoiding talking to them, she still clearly cared.

“I need to call my mom, too,” Sam said. “I don’t need Mr. Pokémon's help, but I should probably get her opinion. I also think the Pokémon League might owe me a favor? Nurse Joy never told me if I got that as payment or not, but they didn’t tell me I didn’t, so I could probably ask them for a Pokémon if you really—”

“I’m already going to get that Teleport TM! Use that for yourself!” Redi hurriedly interrupted.

Sam nodded and scraped his bowl of its last dredges of his meal.

The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence, and Redi stared at the table, deep in thought. She ended up resting her head on one hand as she absentmindedly spooned food into her mouth.

Eventually, when her food was mostly gone, she pushed away from the table and stood up.

“Screw it! I have time today! Before I do anything else, I’m gonna find a place to train with my team and get my mind off of things!”

“But you’re still going to call your family.”

“But I’m still gonna call my family,” Redi repeated. “Just... later.”

They returned their bowls to the counter. Rather than a Chansey in a hairnet, there was a volunteer working the cafeteria today. Quilava finished off her own food, and they headed outside, where Redi brought out her arms to stretch.

“Are you going to train at the Pokémon Center?”

“Nah. I’m probably going to find a spot at the edge of the city.”

“Watch out for Dragon Types,” Sam said.

Redi snickered.

“If I’m attacked by a Dragonite again, I’m gonna blackmail the Blackthorn Clan for everything that it’s worth.”

With Clair challenging them to a double battle, individual training wouldn’t be as valuable right now. Double battles weren’t too common in Indigo, but Sam was familiar with them as they were decently popular in Hoenn. He and Redi needed to come up with strategies together to figure out how they wanted to fight as a team. As a child, Sam had watched a few televised tournaments alongside his Grandfather, and he had seen powerful trainers get quickly eliminated when paired with another trainer they were incapable of working with.

However, while they needed to practice, Sam didn’t want to jump back into training right away. After so long traveling off-route, he wanted to take it easy for a bit, first.

“I’ll join you later. I want to explore the city.

“Ah. Looking for more lame books?”

Redi smirked at Sam, but he smiled back without an ounce of shame.

“Yup,” he said. “I didn’t get any in Violet City, so I wanna see if I can find at least one interesting one to take with me.”

Redi started to walk backwards, already leaving but waving as she did.

“Then I’ll catch you later! We’ll split up for a bit today!”

She ended up jogging off, leaving Sam below. Quilava looked up from where she stood on her hind legs next to him, and she stretched.

She wanted to stretch her paws instead of riding on his neck.

“I wanna find a bookstore, so keep an eye out,” he told her.

The sidewalks were tiled, and the streets were hardened stone. Blackthorn City might have been called a “city,” but it lacked any tall buildings like those of Goldenrod or Violet’s Gym.

Sam walked from block to block, not really having any goal, but just wandering around. Nothing here was taller than three or four buildings tall, and many contained decorations that celebrated the Dragon Type. He’d pass by one place with what were either claws or fangs carved into its windowsills. He’d then pass by another that incorporated the snarling faces of Dragon Types into its facade.

Few places were built with wood, and the city seemed to rely on an overabundance of wood. It made sense to Sam, at least. The place was under control and named after the Blackthorn Clan, a family of Dragon Type tamers that were one of the few remaining clans of old Johto.

Though Primeape stayed in his Pokéball to digest his breakfast, Sam didn’t just have Quilava at his side. His Ghost Types remained under his feet. Their presence caused a slight chill that helped him better resist the heat of the summer. He would have thought that so high up in the mountains, Blackthorn City would have stayed cool, but it seemed that this period of heat was unavoidable no matter what.

As part of his exploration, he skipped over a popular bookstore that seemed to be a part of a chain and searched for an independently owned business. Sam found what he was looking for in a side street. The place had a small entrance at the end of a small staircase down.

Stepping inside, his presence was announced with a chime, and Sam took a deep breath in.

He smelled the familiar smell of paper. The store was cozy and quiet. It almost reminded him of home.

However, it had its differences. The wooden bookshelves looked older, and there was no counter right next to the door. A flat table had been set up at the store’s back, and an old man reclined behind it while reading a thick book.

Not just that, but the place smelled different, which Sam was surprised to notice. Since his mother’s bookstore was in Dewford, she went to great lengths to keep it sealed off and prevent the potentially-damaging salty sea air from getting in. She didn’t do it perfectly, so there was always the hint of the scent of the ocean, but the smell of books tended to be far more prevalent back home. Here, the place had an almost smokey smell to it. The old man had an unlit, though previously used, candle sitting next to him.

Sam took one step in and paused. The old man looked up at him.

“Ah,” Sam said.

He looked down at the Fire Type next to him before looking back up at the store owner with a wince.

“Uh, if you don’t allow Pokémon to be out—”

The old man snorted.

“Nah, it’s fine. You look responsible. But if you burn it, you buy it.”

Sam nodded and tried to ignore the memories he had of Quilava’s “accidents” when she had first come home with him.

A few shadows split off from him as he started to wander through the store. Haunter, guiding a few Gastly, seemed interested in checking out a place so similar to what was Sam’s home. Misdreavus left as well, likely going to browse on her own.

Sam wasn’t sure if she could read. Most Pokémon under trainers figured out common words and phrases, but the vast, vast majority of Pokémon had zero interest when it came to written text.

He browsed the available books, fingers trailing over their spines and coming back up with a layer of dust. There were sections filled with older, less popular novels and tomes, but there was a shelf right at the front dedicated to the entries of the most popular recent series. Based on how there were gaps in that shelf but none of the others, Sam had a feeling this place operated differently than his mom’s store back home. Instead of needing to place orders for new books from the mainland, the shop-owner seemed to have bought whatever seemed popular and hoped for the best.

Sam did at least look through the most popular series. They were all fantasy or adventure, and magic was a common theme. By far, the most common book was one about a boy going to a magic school. The third book in that series had recently been released, and it was almost sold out.

Sam also saw a few physical Pokédexes, but they weren’t in the numbers his mother had acquired for Dewford Gym. They sat in a corner, slowly gathering dust. Like his mother’s shop, this place was having trouble selling them as well.

There was some sort of irony in that Sam wasn’t planning on buying any of those books. Even though he hated how the electronic Pokédex was doing away with that form of profitable sale, he wasn’t going out of the way to do anything about it.

Shapes in a few shadows continued to dart from shelf to shelf as Sam continued to browse. Nothing really grabbed his interest until he had a sudden thought.

Sam spoke up.

“Excuse me, but do you have any older books?”

Blackthorn City was as old as the Blackthorn Clan itself. With that kind of age to it, Sam hoped that maybe he could find a clue or two to help Quilava evolve.

Without looking up, the old man pointed to a corner of the room with an isolated bookshelf. He didn’t notice Misdreavus floating before it, nor did he notice any of the other shadows of Ghost Types moving about.

Sam joined Misdreavus’s side, and she smiled and said her name. He smiled back before looking through the bookshelf. What he found was... a lot.

These books were definitely older. He recognized a few as ones he’d read in the past. One section of the shelf seemed to be reserved for outdated textbooks and encyclopedias, as well. There wasn’t much organization past that, however. Rather, it seemed that anything too old for the rest of the store had been left here and forgotten. Hardback, paperback, and even some bound in leather sat before him. Pages had turned yellow, and others were grey from a thick layer of dust.

“We put books there when they don’t fit anywhere else,” the old man said, still not looking up from his book. “Most often, when someone’s relative passes and they got a lot of stuff, families will ‘donate’ their books here when they don’t want to throw them out. I’m not sure what to do ‘em half the time, so feel free to take what you want.”

“So they’re free?”

The old man barked out a laugh.

“Ha! No. You still gotta pay. I mean that they aren’t reserved or anything. Barely anyone is interested in what we got over there.”

The old man returned to silently reading, and Sam continued to browse. He had trouble figuring out exactly what was here. Most of these older books lacked titles on their spines.

Opening a few up, Sam found a mix of various things. Empty journals. Stories way out of date. A few unpublished manuscripts. And one collection of notes—

Sam blinked and reread the title he saw on the first, interior page.

“Legends of Hisui,” he whispered under his breath.

The book was a collection of research on the Diamond and Pearl clans of Hisui. Pages were missing, and it wasn’t any official textbook, but someone had written down and copied over text that concerned the two groups’ history.

Just skimming through it, Sam could see that this was primarily meant as a form of cultural documentation. A few decades ago—at least, Sam was pretty sure this was from a few decades ago—someone had tried to record the history of the Diamond and Pearl clans before they were lost forever. The notes were mostly about tall tales and myths from the region itself. It mentioned something called “noble” Pokémon. It referenced some sort of ancient hero. It told stories and legends from around the region.

Unfortunately, specifics of any long-lost evolutions and species were sparse, and there were even some inaccuracies—like how it mentioned a Scyther evolving after being struck by lightning. The only thing Sam could find that might have been relevant to him was a brief mention of Liligant. Hisui had its own variant of that Grass Type species, but the book never differentiated it from the Lilligant commonly found in the rest of the world.

Yet, even though he doubted it had anything that’d be directly helpful for him, it was nice to learn more about the region Quilava’s hoped-for evolution had historically been from. Sam was still skimming it over as he approached the counter. He half-hoped he could find a clue that might help them achieve it.

When he set it down on the back counter, shadows rushed to rejoin him under his feet, and the old man looked up at Sam with a cocked eyebrow.

“Oh? You’re really interested in that old thing and not something more exciting? Wouldn’t that series about that magic kid be more exciting?”

Sam replied with a simple shrug.

“I like Hisui,” he said.

The man put his book down and began to ring Sam up.

“Fine with me. Always happy to make a sale. I’m just surprised to see that one go. We got it from the family of some researcher after he passed a while back.”

“Wait, do you have anything else from him?”

Sam locked eyes with the old man.

The shop-owner paused where he was working the cash register before shaking his head with a single laugh.

“Nope!” Sam disliked how amused the man looked. “The Sinjoh Ruins aren’t too far north of here, so we occasionally get other researchers passing through. Anything old and rare about Johto or Sinnoh’s shared history tends to get snapped up quickly. Did you know that the first settlers of Sinnoh were from Johto?”

“I did,” Sam said with a sigh. “But not all of them. The Galaxy Expedition Team had members from a bunch of different regions.”

He walked out of the store with the book in hand. Its incomplete nature was probably why it had been skipped over. He doubted it had any information that wasn’t already known, but Sam felt that it would at least be useful to him.

Quilava and Misdreavus made sure no Ghost Types were left behind, and the little Fire Type chased after Sam as he headed back through the city’s streets. He skimmed the book as he walked, deciding to read it more thoroughly once he had a chance to, later.

The journey towards Redi was mostly uneventful, as he simply traveled the way he saw her leave. He looked down to ask the Ghost Types in his shadow for help to find her, but none needed to leave. Fibula was able to direct him toward where she was.

Along the way back, traffic on one street all but stopped as people turned and stared up at the sky. A lone Dragonair flew over the city, and several people pointed in excitement. Sam would have thought that the appearance of a Dragon Type was a common event, but it seemed that locals treated the rare Dragon Type sighting as a sign of good luck.

Sam found Redi soon after, just down the same street. She wasn’t out of the city’s bounds, rather, there seemed to be dedicated training fields located at the city’s edge. Clearings that weren’t quite parks but still open to the public had likely been left to help control where trainers went. If Dragon Types tended to train outside the city, like what he and Redi had seen with Clair, it made sense to try to limit how many people risked an attack.

Redi stood in the middle of one of those fields. Her Pokémon weren’t out, but just like everyone in the street leading to this place, she was staring up at the sky. Sam noticed a slight, thoughtful frown on her face as she approached. She didn’t notice him until he called out.

“Redi!”

She blinked at him as Sam waved. She seemed surprised to see that he was there at all.

“Sam,” Redi greeted. Slowly, she ran her tongue over her teeth. “I’ve been... thinking.”

“You’ve been doing that a lot, recently.”

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “I have.”

Sam frowned and looked at Redi again. He’d only been gone for just over an hour. She wasn’t as depressed as she was before or as energetic as she usually acted.

Instead, she brought her gaze back to the sky. When Sam checked, there was nothing up there at all.

“I might have a solution for getting a new Pokémon,” she said.

“Already? I haven’t been gone for that long at all.”

She didn’t respond, choosing instead to keep staring.

“I know. It’s just...” Redi briefly let her words fade away. “Hey, Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“What are your thoughts on you helping me steal a Dragon Type? I think that’s the only way I’ll be happy to get a new member of my team.”

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Author Note:

Pokémon included in this chapter:
Dragonair / Dragonite
Lilligant
Scyther
Stantler

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