The Ghost Specialist

Even with Pokémon, traveling down a Route wasn’t anything to be done unplanned. Primarily, only major settlements tended to show up on maps, which meant trips had to be created around the time it took to reach big cities. There were always smaller settlements, but most tended to go unmarked. Pokémon Centers were occasionally present on the Routes themselves, but those Centers tended to be more like rest stops than anything else.

For that reason, it was important to be prepared before heading out to travel on foot. A big city like Goldenrod was the perfect place to ensure Sam and Redi were properly supplied before heading south to continue their journey.

“Sleeping bags,” Redi said, reading off a checklist written in Sam’s journal from within a Pokémon Center bedroom. Sam knelt on the floor, checking over both of their backpacks for the proper contents.

“Check,” Sam replied. “Just off to the side. We’ll be able to tie it to the top.”

Redi hummed.

“Portable tent?”

“Folded up inside and pushed to the bottom to make room.”

“Great! Food and cooking gear?”

“Check for all of that. And I made sure to pick up a different brand of preserved foods. That dried stuff from last time...”

Sam shivered. Redi’s expression turned green.

They also had healing supplies—Potions and the like. Antidotes were the most important, as paralysis eventually faded and burns could be cooled with water, but poison could only ever be slowly waited out.

“And toiletries? Toothbrushes, soaps, a change of clothes?”

Sam sent Redi a flat look.

“You really want me to dig through your backpack for that?”

Her face flushed red as she dived down towards her stuff. Mankey and Teddiursa were sitting on the edge of the nearby bed, and they both snorted in amusement as she hurriedly dug through a side pocket.

Clothes had to be washed daily, as no matter what level of tolerance for cleanliness a trainer had, it was a mistake to allow them to build up a noticeable smell. Too much muck meant attracting the wrong types of Pokémon, but a flowery scent meant the same thing, just in a different direction. Pokémarts sold scentless cleaning agents that worked well enough when on a route. The same was true for soaps used on the body—there was even one clever product that was dry shampoo. Trainers with Water Type Pokémon at their sides tended to have the most comfortable time outside of cities as they never needed to rely on ponds or rivers for anything. Sam was a bit jealous. As it stood, none of his team had the potential to pick up helpful Water Type moves.

“Anything we’re missing?” Redi asked. “Name something, and I can probably shop around for the cheapest options.”

“We should be fine as long as you have a solution for Porygon’s food.”

A cheeky smile. Redi pulled out a handheld device.

“It’s secondhand, but it’s absolutely perfect! Sam, meet the PI-89!”

He met that declaration with a barely curious raise of the eyebrow.

“This baby is capable of doing so many graphs! It’s got sines, cosines, logarithms—”

“And that’s helpful?” Sam asked bluntly.

“More than just helpful! It’s solar-powered, too! Not just that, but plug it into any Pokémon Center computer, and I can download a bunch of new programs for Porygon to eat!”

Sam waited for her to explain further, and she only did after bursting out into laughter.

“Alright, alright!” she said, still giggling. “Remember what happened after you called your mom?”

“You mean how Porygon literally entered the screen of the video phone and ate its ability to make calls?”

A wince. Redi didn’t meet his gaze. Porygon floated a few feet away, continuing to look as unemotional and innocent as ever.

At least the nurse was able to call someone to fix it. Too bad the tech support guy didn’t look very pleased.

“Yeah, that,” Red said. “Anyway, that happened because I, uh, might have ordered Porygon to eat the next, best meal they could find?”

Sam barely resisted covering his face with a palm.

“But it worked out, because Porygon had been slowing down ever so slightly before then. They were back to tip-top shape afterwards, so I’m pretty sure they’re a datavore!” She paused. “Or an info-vore? Information-vore? Whatever word that means a creature that needs to eat information to survive.”

“So your solution is that calculator?” Sam asked.

“Yeah! Porygon can eat the programs I download, and then I can redownload them the next time we stop at a Pokémon Center! It’s free food forever!”

She also commented under her breath that, “It’s been helping Porygon’s aim improve, too.”

Sam looked at the calculator in a new light.

“I guess if we have that, then there’s nothing more to worry about.”

He zipped up his backpack and returned the Pokémon that were out. Cyndaquil was still recovering from her battle against Whitney’s Miltank the other day, so she was already in her Pokéball. Mankey disappeared in a flash of light, however, and Sam lifted up some sheets to return Gastly from where he was lurking under the bed. Porygon disappeared, too, but Teddiursa was picked up to be carried in Redi’s arms.

Downstairs, they handed over the keys to their rooms and thanked the nurse for all of her help. Then, they began to walk south down Goldenrod’s busy streets, heading out of the dense city and towards the much more empty Route 34.

“You know,” Sam started, “we spent less time than I expected. What, we arrived, trained for and challenged the Gym, and then left the next day?”

“Did you really want to stay and risk the wrong person finding out about Porygon?”

“No, but—” Sam held back a wince. “I’d like to stay for a while in the next town. We’re ahead of schedule, so I’d like to spend some time there.”

Redi easily nodded her head.

“Absolutely!” she said in a cheery voice. “Azalea Town is a lot smaller than Goldenrod, but with it so close to Ilex, that gives us plenty of great space to train! Then it also has Slowpoke Well, its famous charcoal-makers— Ooh, ooh! And it has Pokéball-makers, too!”

“You’ve done your research, huh?” Sam asked, laughing slightly.

“Well, duh? When there’s the opportunity to get free Pokéballs in exchange for some piddly Apricorns, of course I’d jump onto that deal.”

Considering that a base Pokéball was two-hundred dollars at least, being able to trade Apricorn fruits for Pokéballs was an absolutely incredible deal. However, Apricorns tended to be rare, but given that they planned to cover a lot of distance to get through Ilex Forest...”

“That’s basically a no brainer.”

Redi snorted.

“More than a no-brainer. An... empty-header. Lack of header. Even a rock could figure out that’s a good deal.”

They both snickered as they continued south. The streets opened up, and the towering skyscrapers disappeared. Soon enough, they were on the open Route 34, already making good time on their path to Azalea Town.

Route 34 was a coastal route with a few tiny, seaside villages along its west. People fished for a living and traveled to and from Goldenrod itself. None were that exciting, but they were better places to stay than out in the rolling fields that made up the rest of the route. However, what made Route 34 famous was not these villages but the daycares that made use of its wide, open spaces.

Daycares served two purposes; they served as places where trainers could “stable” a spare Pokémon or two, and they served as breeding operations. With trainers legally limited to only six Pokémon on-hand, for a small fee, a daycare could accept a trainer’s “extra” Pokémon and give them a place to stay when not traveling with the rest of the team. As a public business, many people made use of that service, but it also tended to limit people to one or two slots. Its more important business, however, was Pokémon reproduction. Daycares were the place people sent Pokémon Eggs to be taken care of.

Pokémon Eggs had always been known about, but available information on them had been low until Johto’s own Professor Elm began his own research. Eggs were either laid by species, or they were crafted around newborn Pokémon as a sort of “cradle” to protect them until they had matured enough to last in a battle. Eggs had a surprising amount of similarities to modern Pokéballs, and some historians even claimed that Pokémon Eggs were what inspired the first designs for Pokéballs.

A long, fenced off daycare area filled with Pokémon took up a decent chunk of the route. Walking past it, Sam could see Pokémon playing—both trained species like Rhyhorn and Tauros, but there were also areas where newly hatched, baby Pokémon played under the watchful eye of an older guard.

A bright yellow Elekid chased a young Magby, both of them laughing while playing tag. Nearby, a pair of Igglybuff used their extremely light bodies to bounce around one another. An Azurill sat on its ball-like tail and watched, sad that it was being left out. At its side, a Smoochum tried to comfort it, but tears welled up in its eyes.

“Would you ever want to get a Pokémon Egg?” Sam asked, eyes lingering on all the young Pokémon in the ranch. An Espeon taking in the sun on top of a flat rock raised its head and watched him as he passed.

Their caretaker, Sam guessed.

“A Pokémon Egg? Hm. Maybe,” Redi said, humming. “They’re kind of expensive to get outright, and baby Pokémon need pre-planned meals to make sure they’re getting the right kind of diet for their growth. My family’s taken care of a few, with Baby—that’s Mama’s kid—being the standout—”

“You named the child of a Kangaskhan Baby?” Sam interrupted.

Redi snorted.

“Again, I was, like, three. You really think I was some kind of expert Name Rater back then?”

Sam sent her an amused smirk. She pushed him away as he laughed.

“Whatever. Yeah, I could take care of an Egg as long as I had the cash to afford it and if I knew the species would fit on my team. You, Sam?”

“...Not many Ghost Types hatch from eggs,” he said.

Ghost Types could be hatched from an egg, but it was rare for Ghosts to actually reproduce like that, though not impossible. Most of the time, Ghost Types tended to... spawn, if Sam could call the phenomenon anything. Keep enough Ghost Types around, and younger ones started to appear at random without anyone seeing where they came from.

“Maybe,” he continued. “I’d be limited to species that are more physical, or species that evolve into Ghost Types. So, something like a Sableye or... a Duskull, maybe? Species like Snorunt are pretty obvious, but there are a bunch of foreign species I could consider too, like maybe Rowlet or Frillish.”

Redi blinked at Sam.

“You wanna tell me what those are?”

“I can show you pictures.”

“Now’s actually a good time to break for lunch, if you want.”

Sam sent her another amused smirk. He sent a pointed glance to where that group of baby Pokémon were playing nearby.

“S-Shut up,” Redi said, briefly turning red.

She just wants to watch all those baby Pokémon play, doesn’t she?

Sam was okay with that. He thought they were cute, too.

“Come on out, everyone!” Sam and Redi both said.

A bit away from the young occupants of the daycare so as to not disturb them, Sam and Redi released the members of their teams to relax off to the side of the route’s main road. Cyndaquil appeared yawning, stretching herself out after a long time inside her Pokéball. Mankey and Teddiursa appeared next to one another, and as Teddiursa brought his arms out to his sides to stretch out as well, he bumped Mankey. Mankey bumped back. Then Teddiursa pushed back a little harder. Mankey did the same.

“At least limit the amount of moves you use!” Sam called out.

Those two already found themselves neck-deep in a spar.

As for their last two team members, Gastly and Porygon appeared without much fanfare. Porygon appeared in the air, and Redi had to tell it to hover by her side, where she patted it on the head. Gastly, meanwhile, moved to hover in Sam’s shadow to stay out of the sun as much as possible.

“Want to practice while Redi and I set up lunch?” Sam said to the hovering Pokémon, glancing between both him and Cyndaquil.

He bounced in place excitedly and zipped off to meet with the little Fire Type. Cyndaquil still looked a bit tired, apparently still recovering from her battle against Whitney, but she was willing to work with Gastly as he seemed so excited about it.

Sam moved to help Redi with lunch. Stew was the easiest meal to prepare, because being clever with the ingredients meant they only had to prepare one thing to feed everyone. While Pokémon benefitted the most from vitamin-rich meals—like how calcium tended to strengthen special attackers and how protein strengthened physical attackers—Sam and Redi weren’t earning enough money to do so just yet. One or two dedicated meals helped occasionally. Everything else was kept general but still nutritious, otherwise.

Ingredients were thrown into a pot over a small fire and simmered in water. Their Pokémon trained, practicing a few recently-acquired TM moves courtesy of the bet against Whitney.

“But I get the next TM,” Redi suddenly said. “If I’d remembered I’d given you that Curse TM...”

Sam chuckled.

“Definitely. I mean, I got three to your, what, zero?”

She stuck her tongue out at him as he continued to laugh.

Mankey now knew Ice Punch, which he wielded against Teddiursa’s Fire Punch. The hope was that the monkey’s new familiarity with an elemental punch would help him learn Fire Punch as well. The same was true for Teddiursa and Ice Punch, but right now it seemed the two were more intent on just hitting each other with those attacks as part of spars.

Cyndaquil, meanwhile, used her new move against Gastly. He conjured a Hex, her eyes flashed with insight, and she dodged the purple flames with ease.

Detect had been the cheaper of the two TMs, as while it was a move that allowed a Pokémon to perfectly dodge an incoming attack, the public consensus was that Protect was better in every other way. Detect offered no innate protection, only a brief but significant boost to evasion. Moves that covered a wide-enough area were still unavoidable. There was a reason it was half-off and in the process of being discontinued.

However, Sam saw Detect as not just a way to dodge a move, but it was also a great training technique. Since the insight the move provided told a Pokémon how to dodge, practicing with it would allow Cyndaquil to become familiar with how to best move to avoid attacks.

The stew continued to simmer, and their Pokémon continued to practice. Redi ran her hand down Porygon’s back, simply watching both their Pokémon train and the baby Pokémon in the field as their lunch was slowly prepared.

“Ho there!”

Sam was caught off guard. Redi as well. He hadn't noticed the apron-wearing young man approaching. Roughly twenty-or-so, the newcomer adjusted a green bandana that held his hair back on his head.

“Hi?” Sam said. Redi glanced over.

“Hey?” she said, too, awkwardly stepping in front of Porygon.

“Hi!” the man repeated. “Espeon sent me a message just in case. You two are trainers, yeah?”

“Yeah?” Sam replied suspiciously. “Oh, shoot. Wait, we didn’t mean to bother anyone! We just wanted to watch while taking a break on our journey!”

The daycare worker laughed.

“Don’t worry about it! They’re used to travelers stopping by to observe. No, she was doing me a favor.” He pulled a Pokéball out of a pocket on the front of his apron. “I’ve been looking for low-level Fire Types to battle. I challenge you to a match!”

Sam bristled.

Cyndaquil?

Low-level?

“You’re on,” he said. “Redi, can you—”

“Take care of the stew? Yeah, but you better make sure to bet on this match.”

Sam snorted. If this guy was going to underestimate Cyndaquil, he was going to make him pay—literally.

“Fifty bucks to the winner?” Sam asked, stepping onto the empty road to use its flat space as a battlefield.

“Sounds good to me! Ready when you are!”

Sam glanced over to Gastly and Cyndaquil. Their training had stopped, and so had Teddiursa and Mankey’s spar. Cyndaquil slowly ambled over, rubbing her cheeks in an attempt to focus herself. The rest of the team followed to stand to the side and watch, and in the fenced-off meadow itself, the group of baby Pokémon stopped playing to run over to the fence, hang off, and watch as well.

“Great! I’m looking forward to this!” the daycare worker said. “Come on out, Bellsprout!”

Appearing from the Pokéball was a walking plant; it had a yellow, bell-shaped head and a body consisting of two leaves as arms and a thin set of roots as legs. Bellsprout’s evolved forms were known to swallow Pokémon whole. In its weak, base stage, the species was too small to do that, so it tended to rely on poison instead.

But...

“A Grass Type, huh?”

Sam rubbed his chin.

Fighting against a Pokémon’s weakness was a good way to get stronger.

“Well, it’s your loss,” Sam replied. He had those fifty dollars already in the bag.

Smiling to himself, he pointed forward.

“Let’s begin with an Incinerate, yeah?”

He didn’t hold back, no matter how much of an advantage he had. Cyndaquil reared back, and a roaring Incinerate left her mouth.

Where Ember was like a gatling gun of sparks, Incinerate was more like a bomb that exploded into flames. The glob of fire soared through the air, the move looking far too powerful to have been used by an unevolved Pokémon like her.

“Oh, sh— Vine Whip! Quickly!”

The breeder already looked panicked.

Vines stretched out from underneath the Bellsprout’s two leaves, and they whipped through the air to knock the attack to the side.

Embers lingered on the extended length of plant matter, and Bellsprout panicked for a moment, quickly bringing up the attack and hitting the ground to put the bits of fire out. It sighed in relief, parts of it still steaming, and Sam readied himself for another command.

But when he looked down, Cyndaquil was breathing heavily.

“...Are you okay?” he asked.

She smiled at him, her eyes curving up to try to say that she was.

“Poison Powder!” the breeder shouted.

“Detect!”

However, instead of a flash of insight overtaking her, Cyndaquil winced. A cloud of poisonous dust spat out from Bellsprout’s mouth landed on Cyndaquil and puffed into the air around her.

Sam frowned. She should have been able to dodge that even without Detect.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked.

She nodded her head again. Even though she was suffering from poison, she was still determined to continue the match.

“Wrap!” Bellsprout’s trainer shouted.

“Ember!” Sam yelled to counter.

He hoped a weaker move would help Cyndaquil’s growing exhaustion. However, where the Incinerate had carried the power he expected of her, the Ember came out as weak as it had when they first started to practice.

Quick on its roots, the Bellsprout twisted and turned to avoid all the incoming sparks, putting its thin body to use and reminding Sam of a sort of ballerina dancer. Cyndaquil didn’t run away—she was too tired to and was still poisoned—which gave Bellsprout ample time to rush over and wrap itself around her.

Her back flared. Cyndaquil tried to use her personal flames to burn Bellsprout off of her. However, it adjusted itself to only lock down her hands and feet, using the stem of its body to tie down her mouth and prevent her from using any further moves.

“I...”

Cyndaquil was struggling. She should have been able to get Bellsprout off. But when the Grass Type wrapped her like this—

“Keep it up!” the daycare worker said.

It was blatantly clear that Cyndaquil wasn’t going to win.

“We forfeit!” Sam shouted.

Losing fifty dollars would hurt, but he was more worried about his friend.

A whistle called the Bellsprout back, and Sam hurried over, catching an Antidote Redi tossed at him from where their medicine was stored in her backpack.

He sprayed it as Cyndaquil panted heavily. She rubbed her arms and legs.

“Cyndaquil,” he said, rubbing her neck. “I thought you were okay to fight. If you still need to rest—”

She furiously shook her head. It was a one-off thing, she tried to imply. Sam could tell by her determined expression that she was confident it would pass by the next day.

“If you’re so sure...” he mumbled.

Glancing up, he saw the daycare worker walking over.

“Great match!” he said. “I really appreciated that Ember. All the work Bellsprout and I have spent on dodging is really paying off!”

Sam mournfully handed over the cash, wincing slightly but also acknowledging that losing that much wouldn’t completely destroy their budget. The man smiled and affectionately nuzzled his Bellsprout’s head. The Grass Type had wrapped itself around his arm like some kind of band.

As he walked off, Sam picked up Cyndaquil and placed her in his hood to hopefully let her rest. He braced himself for Redi to chide him, but the usual teasing that he was met with after a loss never came.

“Stew’s ready,” she said. The team came over to eat.

Lunch was eaten in silence. After getting some food in her, Cyndaquil seemed fine. Yet, Sam couldn’t help but still feel worried.