Prologue
Lotusmarsh Island was an island like any other south of the mainland of the Hoenn region. Its tropical climate and soft, loamy soul encouraged the growth of many leafy plants and a large variety of berries. The lotus-filled marsh pond that gave the island its name was an abundant source of freshwater for inhabitants and the sandy beaches were always waiting to offer a spot of relaxation to a fisherman just back on the shore, or a place to lie down and sunbathe for the guests at the local resort.
Lotusmarsh Island used to be an island like any other, until the storms hit.
No one from the village on the island actually saw Kyogre or Groudon when they started on their rampage. After brief appearances in their resting places, the mythological Pokémon only appeared in the crater of Sootopolis City, clashing ferociously. However, as the islanders unfortunately learned first hand, you didn’t have to be near the Pokémon to feel the effects of their battle. Devastating ocean storms interspersed with periods of harsh sunlight and ground tremors plagued the area around Sootopolis for three days before the Pokémon were finally quieted.
In the aftermath, Lotusmarsh and many of the other small, local islands became disaster zones, the survivors working furiously to try and return to a normal life.
Breath of Grace
Working quietly in the bright sunlight, a young woman measured out another length of wood before turning her hand saw on it. She sawed rhythmically down, her long, blue braid swaying side to side across her back with the motion of her arm. Another plank of wood cut to size, she handed it off to the Vigoroth waiting patiently nearby. With five stacks of wood in hand, it nodded thankfully towards her with a short grunt before turning around and carrying the planks to the workman at the nearby village house.
The young woman paused to wipe the sweat from her face before measuring out the next length of wood. The planks were being used as a stopgap to repair large holes in the various houses in the village. Some homes had been destroyed completely, but the ones that were still standing were housing the survivors from all over the island and would have to be made secure. Workmen and their Pokémon were being brought out to the island by boat every day, but the path through the rocky islands separating Lotusmarsh from the well-traveled routes of Hoenn was long and difficult, and could only be traveled by small fishing boats. Workers and supplies were both slow in coming.
Gripping the saw tightly, the young woman began making the next plank, and another, and another. The Vigoroth returned by the time she had another five planks ready, and she handed them off without complaint. A Lombre came by with a pitcher of fresh water from the cleared out section of the pond and she drank deeply from the offered glass. The Lombre tried to lead her away to take a break, but she shook her head and pulled away from its grasp, returning to her work. So long as she worked herself to exhaustion, she could sleep at night. So long as she worked, she couldn’t think.
A tinkling of bells floated on the breeze toward her, and she quickly turned her head in the direction of the harbor. Another boat had made its way in. More supplies, more people, more food. She handed off the next set of planks to the Vigoroth and set the saw down carefully on the sawhorse, brushing her hands off on her shorts before running to the dock to help with unloading.
“Meraika!”
The young woman slowed down at the sound of her name and turned around. It was Rhys, jogging up behind her and puffing like an old man from the exertion. His shaggy red hair was damp with sweat and his clothing was disheveled; he must have snuck around his father earlier in the morning to help out somewhere on the island. His faithful Mudkip was following behind him like a puppy.
“Rhys, you look like crap.” Meraika smirked and ruffled his hair before straightening his shirt and brushing some sand off his shoulders. Clean up complete, she turned and started heading back towards the dock, though at a slower pace to give her friend some time to cool off. “Are you coming to help with the unloading?”
“Yeah,” Rhys panted in the heat and gratefully accepted a glass as yet another Lombre scurried around the area with a pitcher full of water. He drank deeply and set the cup back down on top of the Lombre’s head. It chittered at him and removed the cup before ambling off in a different direction. “I’ve been helping at the pond since dawn. The salinity levels are way down now, so the whole thing should be safe to drink, not just the small oases we dug out yesterday.”
“And your dad is fine with it?” Meraika asked back, though Rhys just shrugged and wouldn’t say anything further.
As the pair neared the coast, the docks came into view. 2 boats had landed, but they were not the boats Meraika had been expecting. Rather than holding laborers and building supplies, a group of solemn teenagers were seated on the boats, and as soon as the vessels were anchored to the piers, they all stretched and left the boats. They all looked rather similar in a way, with each wearing a rather distinctive clothing style featuring a black and white striped t-shirt and blue jeans, with matching blue bandanas covering the hair of some.
One of the young men without a bandana had a familiar head of tousled green hair and Meraika found herself quashing down a quick burst of anger and anxiety. Without a word to Rhys, she turned and stalked back to her work station, almost stepping on Mudkip as she left.
“H-Hey, wait!” Rhys shouted. He scooped up Mudkip in his arms before jogging after her, catching up just as she was grabbing her saw again. “Was that-”
“Yes, those are the remnants of Team Aqua.” Meraikas eyes glittered coldly as she began sawing off another chunk of wood. “At least, the ones that are from around here anyway, the ones that I left with.”
“Don’t you want to say hi to Julian, at least?”
“No, I don’t. Now if you don’t mind, I have some work to do.”
Knowing he wouldn’t get anymore out of her, Rhys looked at Mudkip and shrugged, ducking under the low hanging leaves of the trees next to the path and heading back in the direction of the docks.
***
Later that evening, Meraika was stretching her arms as she walked inland towards the pond. In her hand, she nervously fingered a small, red Poké Ball. If anyone found her, she could easily explain herself as going to the pond to swim for a bit and soak her sore muscles, and in fact, she did plan on doing just that. She just also planned something a bit more, something she wasn’t sure she wanted to share with the other inhabitants of Lotusmarsh.
On the banks of the pond was a small hut built to partially hang over the surface of the water. In times of leisure, the hut was a good place to change into a swim suit, or huddle inside in case of a sudden rain shower. It had somehow managed to miraculously survive the storm when many stronger dwellings were destroyed, and had quickly gotten put into use as a gathering point for the people who were working on clearing out the pond. Inside, the floor was wet from continuous traipsing earlier in the day, but as Rhys had earlier promise, the pond was now clear, and all the more obvious signs of the clean-up crews had been removed.
Meraika set the Poké Ball down on a table against the edge and quickly stripped off her jeans and t-shirt to reveal the swim suit beneath. She folded the clothing up on a nearby chair and flipped open the hatch of a trapdoor inset into the floor. Directly beneath it was the pond itself, and the sides of the hole were sanded smooth so as to avoid splinters. The water was still and clear on this side of the pond, and relatively shallow.
Meraika grabbed the Poké Ball again and kneeled down in front of the hole. She fiddled with the ball nervously for a few moments before taking a deep breath and releasing the Pokémon into the waters below. A brief flash later and Barboach was swimming happily in the pond. It swam in a tight figure eight and then jumped out of the water, making a small splash as it leaped into the air of the hut and then dived back down into the waters below. It swam around a bit more before calming down and coming back to the surface.
“I’m sorry it’s been a while since I’ve let you out, Barboach,” Meraika said to the Pokémon, reaching down to rub the top of its head. “We had some bad storms for a few days, and now I’m helping with clean-up.”
The Barboach cocked its head and made a questioning trilling noise in the back of its throat, so Meraika continued. “It was… well, Archie did what he set out to do, what I was afraid of. Kyogre… you know Kyogre, right?” The Barboach nodded its head. “It came out of nowhere, these terrible storms just blowing up out of the north. Occasionally the rain and wind would clear, very suddenly, and the sun would shine so brightly it made your eyes hurt, and you could feel small tremors, under the ground like.”
Telling the story of the storms again, Meraika felt a chill, and she wrapped her arms around herself, wishing she hasn’t stripped down to her suit. “It went on for days. Over half the village is ruined. The resort looks like it was hit by a bomb, and the guests are threatening to sue Helenia’s parents for ‘personal damages.’” She sighed. “Ever since then, we’ve been trying to clean up the damage, but it’s taking a while. The pond wasn’t even clear until today.”
Barboach mewed in sympathy and lifted itself further out of the water to nudge Meraika’s foot, then dived back under the water. Meraika giggled. “You’re right, now that you can swim around, we should get some practice in. Just not too much, though, because I’m tired. In a couple days, we should have enough workers and I won’t have to help as much as we can get into full training mode then, alright?”
Without waiting for a reply, she stretched again and slipped down through the hole and into the water. She opened her eyes and saw Barboach in front of her. It waggled one of its fins and sped off deeper into the pond as Meraika surfaced outside the hut, looking around. All the debris had been removed and the damaged plants pruned. As a result, the pond looked larger than it usually did, not as crowded in by the lotus blossoms and lily pads. She swam to the middle of the pond and flipped around so she was floating on her back, looking up at the stars in the sky.
So, Julian was back. She knew he would be sooner or later. The rumours she had heard from the workmen all said that both Team Aqua and Team Magma had been formally disbanded. Those members who had come from Lotusmarsh had no connection to the mainland and no reason to stay there, so of course they would come back. And Julian’s parents and siblings were very important to him, and so were his… friends.
Meraika was subconsciously fiddling with the ring on her finger when she felt a playful nudge in her back from under the water. She quickly flipped around and tried to reach for Barboach, but he slipped through her grasp, blowing a stream of bubbles at her face. “Ok, I’m sorry, no more distractions,” she promised. “Are you ready for a workout?”
In answer, Barboach jumped out of the water into the air and splashed back down again mere inches away from Meraika’s face. She laughed happily and hugged it under the water. “In that case, let’s get started!”
For the next hour, Meraika put Barboach through its paces. She raced him through the water and recorded his times and played hide-and-seek with him among the silt by the marshes. When he was starting to get tired, they took a break and practiced using his whiskers as water radar to detect the location of bits of food she tossed into the pond for him, and hidden morsels she buried under the sandy bottom.
Once Barboach began to recuperate from the earlier swim trials, they moved into phase two of their nightly training regimen. Meraika sat on the bank of the pond and tossed targets into the air while Barboach hit them alternately with Water Gun and Mud Slap. When he missed 3 in a row, Meraika shook her head and put the targets off to the side. “I think we’ve both had enough for one night. You’ve done a good job.” Barboach mewed happily and did a final leap into the air before Meraika returned him to his Poké Ball.
Once again alone with her thoughts, Meraika debated taking another dip in the water, but a quick glance at the sky changed her mind. By the position of the stars, it was already well past midnight. Tomorrow would be another busy day, and she needed sleep as much as she needed relaxation. She shook the excess water out of her braid, grabbed her clothes from the hut, and started back to the village in silence.
***
After a few hours of fitful sleep, Meraika awoke slowly, her eyes focusing on the wooden beams above her head. Her family’s house had been spared from the worst effects of the storm, and for the first few days, they shared sleeping space with some of their less fortunate neighbors. Now that the construction was progressing, the guests had moved out the day before and this was her first night alone in her own room again. And yet, she still couldn’t sleep soundly.
A glance towards the window showed her the first light of false dawn and she rose, stretching her arms and legs. It wasn’t much sleep, but it was better than nothing, and she still planned on being dressed and out of the house before her parents were awake and about. Considering her father was a fisherman who left with the rest of the fishing boats at dawn, it meant she had become a professional at waking early and dressing quickly.
I’m not avoiding them, Meraika thought to herself as she threw on a pair of shorts over her swim bottom and rebraided her hair.
I just don’t want another confrontation, and I don’t want to see the half-disguised looks of pity on their faces. She double-checked that her Poké Ball was attached to her belt and opened the door a crack, listening for sounds of either of her parents moving, but the coast was clear. Shoes in her hand, she walked carefully through the house to the front and left through the main door.
Once she felt she was a good distance away, she hopped up on a nearby rock to put her shoes on and she stared out across the sea. Her parents’ house was a nice location, close to the beach but not so close that there was constantly sand in everything. Her mother had a separate path to the berry patches behind the house, and her father a short walk to the boats and back each day. The south-facing kitchen gave a lot of sunlight to her mother’s personal berry garden, and Meraika’s stomach rumbled at the thought of berries.
“Well, if I can’t sleep, I may as well eat,” she said to herself, getting up and heading along the coast towards Rhy’s house, a familiar and enjoyable walk. Tailow and Natu were common to the island and were always most active around dawn, flitting between branches with berries in their mouths. Deeper in the forest, Breloom and Shroomish could be heard, rummaging through the bushes in search of breakfast, occasionally calling to each other as something tasty was found. When Meraika was little, she used to make berry jelly with her mother and then put samples of the flavours in little bowls outside their house, waiting for the Shroomish to taste it. Whichever bowl was eaten first was the tastiest batch and the one they would jar and sell. She smiled at the memory as she approached Rhys’s home.
Unlike Meraika’s house, Rhys’s had suffered poorly from the storms. The roof had partially collapsed and one of the walls had caved in. Still, the house wasn’t as bad as some, and had been fixed enough to live in decently within the first two days. Rhys’s father had stayed the whole time, working day and night to fix the place up while ordering Rhys to stay in town where it was safer. Meraika still didn’t know if he knew that Rhys had been helping with the reconstruction.
The sun was finally beginning to rise, but the window to Rhys’s room was on the west side of the house and still deep in shadow. Meraika crept up and felt around for the catch-release that she, Rhys, and Julian had added onto the window when they were kids. For a fleeting moment she feared the window might have been damaged and replaced with the catch removed, but then she felt the bolt give and the window slid upwards silently. She jumped up onto the windowsill and slowly reached a foot down, feeling around for the floor. She felt something soft and kind of squishy right before her grip on the window loosened and she fell the rest of the way into the room with a crash, tangling herself up with… Rhys?
“Aw, geez, Meraika, what the hell was that for?” Rhys rubbed his head carefully as he tried to untangle himself, Meraika, and his blanket. Shirtless, in a pair of baggy linen pants, he had clearly been asleep only moment ago. “Haven’t you ever heard of a door? Is the sun even up yet?”
“Since when is your bed right underneath the window?” she snapped back, helping herself up and straightening the blanket back on the bed. Mudkip struggled out from the other side of the mess and nuzzled Meraika’s hand playfully.
“Since the reconstruction. It was moved here to be out of the workers’ way when they were doing the roof and I haven’t gotten around to moving it back yet.” Rhys ran a hand through his hair and looked out the window, picking up Mudkip absentmindedly and plopping it down on his lap. “Man, I hate being right, the sun really isn’t up yet.”
Meraika through a pillow at his face. “I was hoping we could grab some breakfast before we get to work. I left the house without eating this morning and my stomach is giving me hell.”
Rhys gave one last, longing look at his bed and then sighed, getting up and heading to the door, Mudkip at his heels. “Sure, I guess I’ll want to be out of here before my father gets up anyway. Are you still avoiding your folks?”
“I am not avoiding my parents. Not like you and your dad, anyway.” Knowing Rhys’s cooking skills, she brushed past him in the hallway, heading into the kitchen first, grabbing eggs and a skillet while she talked. “It’s just been… awkward lately.”
Rhys poured a bowl of Pokémon food for Mudkip and sat down on the kitchen table while Meraika broke eggs into the pan. “How so?”
“Well, your dad might not want you to ever do anything ever in your whole life, but both of mine always sort of wished I would follow them into their fields, you know, carry on the family name or some such.” Meraika turned on the burner and started frying up the eggs. “And for a while, I thought that would work. I mean, I’ve been fishing since I could walk, and I know all of mom’s berry recipes by heart.”
She sighed, adding some seasoning to the eggs. “But since I’ve come back from the mainland, nothing’s been right. I haven’t been able to catch anything bigger than my pinky, I ruined a whole bag full of lures, and I’ve burned ever poffin and jam I’ve tried to cook up.”
Rhys gave her a concerned look. “Are you sure you want to be cooking breakfast?”
Ignoring him, Meraika continued. “It’s like I’ve been cursed, and I’m just fed up with it. Both of them are disappointed, but neither wants to say anything. I’ve overheard them talking about what they’re going to do with me.”
“That’s not really their choice though, is it?” Rhys asked, getting up to grab them glasses of water while Meraika brought their plates of eggs to the table. “I mean, it’s your life, you can do whatever you want with it.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know what I want either.” Meraika sat down heavily, accepting her glass from Rhys. “I just don’t think it’s on this island.”
They ate in silence, both pushing their food around on their plates more than putting in their mouth. Each seemed to have lost their appetite. Oblivious, Mudkip ate his food loud and hungrily. Meraika fingered the Poké Ball in her pocket thoughtfully for a moment. “You specialized in Pokémon studies in school, right Rhys?”
“Yeah, sure.” Rhys laughed. “It wasn’t like I ever felt like I’d actually be able to have a career, so I figured I would go for something that I thought was fun. I thought it would be easy, but the Pokémon-specific classes were actually pretty tough. It was a nice escape for me, though, like reading an adventure book. You got to learn all sorts of cool survival and wilderness skills, Pokémon care, things like that. It’s been helpful in taking care of Mudkip since he came back to stay with me here.”
Meraika nodded, thoughtfully. “Did you ever think about maybe becoming a Pokémon trainer?”
“Of course! What kid didn’t?” Rhys smiled at the memories. “I used to fantasize about traveling around the ocean on the back of a water Pokémon, discovering new Pokémon on hidden islands. I’d come up with all sorts of crazy strategies in my head for what sort of Pokémon I would capture to try and beat the League.” He snorted. “I was such a dumb kid.”
Meraika nodded thoughtfully and removed her hand from her pocket. “My specialty was business and marketing. I thought I could use that to help grow my parents’ businesses, make a fortune selling berries and fish. I guess I was pretty serious, even as a kid.”
“You were, but we loved you for it. Bossy Meraika, there to keep us on our toes!”
Meraika stuck her tongue out at Rhys and reluctantly finished her eggs standing up to do the dishes, but Rhys beat her to it, grabbing the plate and cup out of her hand and heading to the sink. Instead, she slunk back into her seat at the kitchen table, staring out the window at the rising sun. “I wish we were still kids.”
“Me too.”
***
After saying good bye to Rhys as he left to meet up with his work crew near the pond, Meraika headed back down the coast towards the main construction site, and was surprised to see it already a buzz with activity. The amount of dedicated workers had seemingly doubled overnight, along with a huge influx of Machoke, Makuhita, and more Vigoroth. She saw the foreman off to the side studying some blueprints and went to ask him where the workers came from.
“Oh, a whole big bunch of them came in on boats last evening,” he replied, stroking his moustache as he glanced up from the prints to watch the group of humans and Pokémon working together to rebuild the rest of the houses. “Most of the work in Lilycove is done now, so a lot of the workers from there are branching out to the islands. Pacifidlog did most of their own work themselves but they knew we were still in need.”
He clapped her on the shoulder with one of his strong hands. “You’ve done some good work for us, girl, and I’m mighty proud of you for how much effort you put into things here. Go home and get some rest, you’ve earned it.”
“Thanks,” Meraika replied with a tight smile. Not knowing what else to do, she turned and walked away deeper into the island, her mind spinning with thoughts. In some ways, the storms had come at both the best and worst time. Ever since she had come back to the island in disgrace after her disastrous attempts with Team Aqua, she had been floating adrift, purposeless. Working on the rebuilding had given her a chance to occupy her mind and body, but hadn’t actually helped her solve any of her problems. And now even that small respite was gone.
In addition to rebuilding the homes, some helpers had also been going through the island’s natural habitats, cleaning up broken branches and other debris. The forest was thinner now, letting more light in through the dense, tropical leaves, but otherwise it seemed untouched. A few meters off the main pathways and it was like stepping into another world, quiet and peaceful. Neither Pokémon nor plants were harmed in any major way by the storms, and what damage was done was repaired by nature itself.
Off the main roads used by the human settlers of the island, small trails were made and used by the native Pokémon. Most people didn’t pay attention to the trails, but Meraika and her friends knew them well and she walked along one now, absentmindedly looking at the scenery as she thought. She couldn’t help but wonder if her failure in both of her parents’ lines of works was something subconscious. Before she had left the island, she had been a skilled fisherman and berry cultivator. She knew the right lures and the right temperatures and the right times and the right berry blends, but knowledge isn’t the same as interest. Was a quick visit to the mainland and the capture of a single Pokémon all that her brain needed to figure out that she wanted something different in life?
But, no, becoming a Pokémon Trainer was nothing but a dumb fantasy. She had no knowledge or skills in the field of Pokémon, and just a single small fish to her name. She couldn’t even travel around on her own, let alone succeed in any battles. Archie had flat-out told her to her face that she was useless as a Pokémon trainer. She kicked a rock in her frustration as her anger built and it bounced off into the brush, scattering some Shroomish.
If she couldn’t be a fisherman, or a berry chef, or a Pokémon trainer, what should she do with her life? What
could she do? Become a waitress at the Pokémon Resort like some of the bimbos from her class? She kicked another rock and it bounced along the trail, skidding to a halt as it bounced off the sole of a familiar-looking shoe. Meraika looked up, staring blankly into the face of Julian.
“Uh, hi,” Julian said softly, blushing a bit. “I’ve been looking around for you.” He had traded his Team Aqua uniform for more familiar threads including flower-patterned swim trunks, a skin-tight tshirt, and flip-flops. His hair was shaggy and longer than usual, and his face slightly sunburned.
Meraika froze in her steps, unsure of what to say. Julian had been such a dear friend for so long, and later a lover, but now…
“I know you’re probably still mad at me,” Julian continued, taking a few steps closer, but still keeping a respectful distance between them, “and I just wanted to say that you were right.”
Meraika bit her cheek to stop herself for lashing out at him in anger, forcing her words out through clenched teeth. “Of course I was right. You can see the evidence everywhere around you that I was right. What did you
think Archie was going to do, create a wildlife refuge?” She felt her cheeks redden and tried to force herself to calm down.
Julian blushed. “You know what we was like, how persuasive he could be-”
“Yes, just like how he persuaded everyone that I was worthless and incompetent.”
“I’m sorry,” Julian winced as he apologized, his face brightening even more. “That’s not what I meant, it’s just-”
“Archie unleashed this, Archie
caused this.” Meraika swung her arms about, gesturing to the forest around here. “And I tried to warn you, warn everyone. And not a single one of you believed me. Not even my boyfriend.”
Deflated, Meraika lowered her arms, fiddling with the ring on her left hand. “You rejected me just like Archie did, and I’m not going to listen to your apologies now.” With a sigh, she pulled the ring off her finger and tossed it down into the dirt of the path before turning around and following the path back the way she had come. Julian neither spoke up, nor followed after.
***
Later that night, Meraika and Barboach were back in the pond, going through their routine. Feeling too angry and discombobulated to want to have to talk to, or even see, anyone else, she had spent the rest of the day in the forests, sulking and occasionally trying to sort through her own thoughts. It was hard to think through the anger.
Over and over in her mind, she ran through the events of her last day as a member of Team Aqua. She had been walking through their headquarters, trying to think of a way to make up to Archie for her previous failures. She knew that she was strong and confident, deserving of a top spot in Team Aqua’s leadership, if only she could figure out the best way to show that to Archie, to make him believe she was more than a useless fool.
She had been trying to formulate a plan to create reliable habitats for water Pokémon on the mainland away from the Seas when she had stumbled across something she wasn’t meant to discover. Archie, Helenia and two of the other admins, were all gathered around a map in one of the meeting rooms, discussing the Blue Orb and their hopes to reawaken Kyogre.
Should she have bursted in on them then? Would it have made a difference? She probably wouldn’t have been able to change their minds, but maybe…
No, that was a dead end, nothing else. They wouldn’t have listened to her, and they knew no one else would too. They probably would have just kicked her off the team before she could leave on her own. They would have known no one else would have listened to her.
Deep down, she hadn’t thought anyone else would have listened to her, either. An organization founded for the betterment of marine Pokémon summoning the legendary Kyogre to drown the world in endless rain? Who would have believed such a story? It sounded like a B-film out of Pokéstar Studios.
But even if no one else did, Julian should have believed her. Julian should have stood up for her. They should have left Team Aqua together.
Thinking about it again in the pond, Meraika blinked back tears, wiping her face on her hand. Barboach sensed her distress and swam up from its laps around the perimeter, nuzzling her in the arm with its face and flicking its whiskers playfully.
“Oh, Barboach,” Meraika cried, throwing her arms around the Pokémon and hugging it close to her. “Whatever am I going to do?”
It crooned softly back at her, rubbing her face with his whiskers to try and make her laugh. She smiled at it warmly and wiped the tears away from her eyes. “I can’t change the choices Julian made; it’s his life and he has to deal with it. I guess all we can do is, well, keep doing what we’re doing.” Barboach trilled happily and jumped up, twisting into the air before flipping back down into the water.
As Meraika and Barboach finished their training regime, Meraika came to an important but uncomfortable realization. She was going to have to leave the island, no way around it. There was nothing for her to do here, no job, no way of life. And now that Julian was back, being on the island was just as raw and painful as it was when she had first arrived back home in shame after leaving Team Aqua. She unconsciously rubbed her finger where the ring used to be. Julian and Lotusmarsh were both symbols of her failure; she would never accomplish anything until she was free of both.
But how to leave the island? She was a good swimmer, but even Sootopolis or Pacifidlog were too far to swim to, let alone the mainland. The boats here were too precious for her to take one, and riding out with one of the salesmen or worker crews would be too obvious; she wanted to leave peacefully and quietly, with no uncomfortable questions or awkwardness. She knew it was theoretically possible to surf on a Pokémon, but Barboach was much too small to accomplish such a feat. His evolution, on the other hand…
“Hey, Barboach,” Meraika asked as Barboach its last target and came swimming back, “do you know anything about evolving?” The Pokémon cocked its head. “Like, do you think you’ll evolve anytime soon? Is there anything special I can do to help?”
Confused, the Pokémon crooned once and playfully bumped its head into her chest. “I guess that’s a ‘no’ then,” Meraika sighed, stroking the Pokémon softly. “Don’t worry about it; it’s not important. Come on, I’ve got a special treat for you in the cabin and then we can go home for the night.”
As Meraika and Barboach swam up to the cabin, neither of them noticed the figure watching them from the shadows and is turned and walked back, heading deeper into the forest.
***
Meraika quietly entered the front door of her house, turning the knobs gently and taking her shoes off so as to not make a sound. It was the middle of the night and both of her parents were deep sleepers, but there was no point in taking chances. There was a note from her mother on the kitchen table, inviting her to join in on a poffin-making session with some of the other island women to make a big batch up for the Pokémon helping with the reconstruction. Meraika smiled at the note, but wrote a quick line back to decline, stating that she was too busy with other matters.
In her room, she opened up the window to get a bit of fresh air before collapsing back onto the bed. She stared up at the ceiling for several moments, tossing her Poké Ball back and forth between her hands.
It was crazy and she knew it, but she could be a Pokémon Trainer.
Sure, it might be difficult starting out. Barboach had only battled in training, never against another Pokémon, and she’d be at a severe disadvantage. On the other hand, she had Barboach had gone through several months of dedicated nighttime training, and Meraika had captured it without even having another Pokémon to battle with. She should be more than capable enough to catch some more Pokémon on her own to round out her team.
For a moment she wondered if she’d be able to borrow any Pokémon books from Rhys, and then her stomach immediately lurched. She grasped her Poké Ball tightly in one hand and then turned on her side, curling up tight. Going to become a Pokémon trainer would mean leaving Rhys alone on the island and she immediately felt guilty. She and Rhys had been friends for ages and leaving him would be very painful, even more painful then when she had to break the news to him that she was going to start dating Julian. But she couldn’t stay on the island, and Rhys would never leave.
Meraika forced thoughts of Rhys out of her mind and focused on thinking about her future, what kind of Pokémon she would catch, adventures she would have. “Maybe I’ll catch a Tropius,” she mumbled to herself as she drifted off to sleep. “I always wanted… to see… a… Tropius… …”
***
In the morning, Meraika awoke refreshed for the first time in what felt like years. She yawned and stretched, her Poké Ball still held tightly in her hand. Blinking, she noticed that she slept so well she had overslept; by the position of the sun, it was well past dawn and nearing noon. She gave a start, but then remembered that she wasn’t needed to help with the construction anymore. The foreman had even told her to get some rest, but she couldn’t help feeling just a bit guilty.
She dressed quickly and jogged into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. With her mom off making poffins, she had the house to herself so there was no reason to rush, and she gathered up ingredients to fry herself up some pancakes. She mixed up the batter and poured it into the pan, remembering the first time she, Rhys, and Julian had disastrously decided to make pancakes for themselves. Somehow the memory didn’t feel like a stab wound in the gut, despite the inclusion of Julian, and she couldn’t help but feel the empty space on her finger where the ring used to be. Perhaps the goal of getting off the island had given her the strength she needed to let Julian go once and for all. Perhaps she might even be able to forgive him one day. Or maybe she had been too quick to anger in the first place. Emotional subtlety had never been her strong suit.
As she brought the plate of pancakes over to the table, a small box sitting at her usual seat caught her eye. It was wrapped in paper and twine and there was a note on the table next to it. It was from her mom.
| Your friend Julian came by this morning as I was about to leave the house. He said not to wake you and just left this for you. –M |
Meraika pursed her lips as she picked up the box. Why would Julian leave anything for her? She tried to puzzle it out in her mind, but eventually curiosity overwhelmed her. She slipped the twine off the box and unwrapped the paper. Underneath was a plain wooden box fastened with a simple latch and no lock.
Meraika flipped the latch and opened the box, pulling out the contents with her other hand. It was some sort of belt, and it made her hand tingle as she held it. It was made out of blue- and white-dyed fabric with metal adornments, and the clasp was made out of blue-tinted metal with a stylized A painted into it in white. It took her a moment to recognize the A as the Team Aqua logo and when she did, she dropped the belt back into the box with disgust. Why would Julian send her this? She was about to slam the box closed when she saw another note, this one inside the box. She picked up the note, unsurprised to see Julian’s cramped, slanted handwriting filling the small piece of paper on both sides.
| Listen, I know you don’t want to talk to me or anything and that’s fine. I’d probably just mess things up more if we talked again anyway. But I do want to give you something, just to say I’m sorry. When I was with Team Aqua, I did some work with our Tech division and this was one of the prototypes they had built. It’s called the Team Aqua Belt. Stupid name, huh? Anyway, it was developed to help Pokémon evolve. Pretty cool, isn’t it? I didn’t even realize that I’d brought it back with me until I was unpacking my stuff. But I saw you training with your Barboach and thought you might get some use out of it? It looked like you were training it really well! I know you both could accomplish even more if it evolved, so maybe this can be of some help to you. Anyway, I’m really sorry I was such a jerk to you. I hope maybe someday we can be friends again. –Julian. |
Meraika sighed and looked back at the belt. It was just leather and metal; could it really help Barboach evolve? Then again, it had made her fingers feel a bit weird when she picked it up the first time. Hesitantly, as if the belt might bite her, she put her hand back in and touched it with a single finger, and a small tingle ran through her finger and up her arm. She lifted it up again and realized now that it felt slightly heavier than a regular belt should feel and if she squeezed the leather tight she could feel the shape of cords and circuits inside. So, it wasn’t just a plain leather belt after all.
Pancakes forgotten on the table, Meraika exited out of the house and jogged through the forest in the direction of the pond. She didn’t know if anyone would be there at this time of day, but deep down she knew that she didn’t even really care. Once she was deep enough into the forest that she couldn’t see the house behind her, she veered off the path in between the trees as a shortcut. She startled a flock of Tailow as she ran and they flew off into the sky, screeching back at her.
Eventually, she came out into the clearing of the pond. The area was mostly deserted except for some younger boys who were playing in the marshes on the opposite side. Without waiting to change her clothes, Meraika plunged into the water and waded in until she was about knee deep. The belt still clenched tight in her right hand, she fumbled with her left for the Poké Ball in her pocket. Eventually she grabbed it and managed to release Barboach into the pond. The Pokémon whistled happily at the site of its trainer and jumped and dived into the water in a small dance.
In the pond with Barboach, Meraika suddenly released she had no idea how the belt worked. It was constructed to regular human size, so there was no way Barboach could wear it. Maybe she was supposed to wear it? But then what? She held it up and stared at it blankly, trying to uncover its secrets.
Splashing up out of the water, Barboach saw the ring shape the belt was making and jumped towards it, as if it were a new challenge. As he cleared through the loop of the belt, he suddenly started glowing with a bright, white light. Meraika stared at the Pokémon in awe, and even the kids on the other side of the pond had noticed the brightness. The glow strengthened in power as Barboach neared the water, and then went out with a flash as he splashed back into the pond.
Meraika gasped out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding and stared at the water expectantly. She cried out happily when her Pokémon jumped out of the water again, waving its fins in the air. Barboach had evolved! Meraika was now the proud trainer of a Whiscash. She slipped and fell backwards, landing on her butt in the shallow water as Barboach landed again, sending waves across the pond. It swam up to her and nuzzled her fondly with its head. Meraika hugged Whiscash to her tightly. “I’m so proud of you, Whiscash,” she whispered.
Splashing noises coming from the left caused Meraika to turn away from her friend. The boys from across the pond had seen what happened and were heading her way. Both were young, possible halfway through their schooling, and she recognized one as the son of one of her mother’s baking friends. He had short-cropped blond hair and a missing tooth that made a whistling noise as he called over. “Hey! Is that your Pokémon? Did it just evolve?”
“Yes!” Meraika called back happily. The two friends waded the rest of the way over to them and fawned over Whiscash, laughing as it splashed and did tricks in the water.
“Wow, he’s really trained well!” The other boy, a bit older and with shaggy brown hair was clearly boggled at Whiscash’s tricks. “Are you a Pokémon Trainer?”
“Yes,” Meraika replied after a short pause. “Yes, I am. I’m going to be the best Pokémon Trainer Lotusmarsh Island has ever seen!”
***
Later that night, Meraika looked back on the lights of Lotusmarsh Island. The influx of professional construction workers had greatly helped the island rebuild, even in just the last twenty-four hours. Almost all of the damaged homes had now been repaired or rebuild, and most of the scars from the storm had faded. It wouldn’t be long before everyone was back to their normal lives again. At least, everyone but her.
She smiled as she reached down to fondly stroke the top of Whiscash head. Now that he had evolved, he was large enough for her to ride on, and surfing together had been the very first thing they worked on together in the pond. They stayed out at the pond until long past sunset, training and practicing while Meraika’s head was busy trying to figure out how to say goodbye. Now it was almost midnight, and Meraika shed a tear looking back at her old home. She knew she would miss the island, the friends and family she had there, but she would always hold their memories close in her heart.
“Are you ready to leave, Whiscash?”
At the Pokémon’s triumphant, affirmative sound, Meraika gave one last wave toward Lotusmarsh and turned around, ready to head out on a brand new adventure.
***
Epilogue
Rhys sat dejectedly on an outcropping of rock near the beach, the ocean winds drying the tears on his cheeks. Sitting next to him, Mudkip made soft, consoling sounds as it nudged its friend, but it received no response. Meraika’s goodbye letter was still clenched in Rhys’s fist, though by now he’d read the words a dozen times and knew them all by heart.
| Rhys – I know this letter will come as something of a shock to you, but it’s time for me to say goodbye. I don’t have a place on Lotusmarsh anymore, and as long as I’m here, I’m not going to be happy. Barboach has evolved now, and Whiscash and I have decided to leave the island together and go to the mainland where I will become a Pokémon Trainer. Please don’t be mad at me for not telling you this in person, but I didn’t know how. I’ll be back to the island to visit once I’ve made something of myself. You’ve always been my best friend, Rhys. Thank you. Love, Meraika |
How could she leave him alone like this? Didn’t she know she was all he had? He glanced at the letter again and new tears bubbled up in his eyes, spilling down his cheeks. Mudkip nuzzled him again and he dropped the letter, flinging his arms around Mudkip and holding it tightly to his chest.
“I guess she must have left you a note, too.”
Rhys turned his head to the side and saw Julian walking up the beach towards him, hands in his pockets. “She told you, too?”
“Yeah.” Julian sat down heavily on the rock next to Rhys and reached a hand over to scratch Mudkip on the head. “I guess she figured she owed it to me.”
“She’s been upset at you ever since she came back from the mainland, you know.”
“Yeah, I know.”
The two men gazed out at the water and fell into silence. Rhys shifted uneasily. This conversation, short as it had been, was the most the two had spoken to each other since Julian and Meraika had started dating. Even though they used to be close friends, Rhys wasn’t sure how to talk to him. Everything seemed so different now. He wondered if maybe they could put this behind them and become friends again. He hoped so.
“You know,” Julian said, breaking the silence while scratching his chin thoughtfully, “it must be rough to be a Pokémon Trainer out on your own. Don’t you think?”
Rhys nodded. “When I studied Training back in school, we learned that most Pokémon Trainers start out working together in pairs or small groups. It isn’t until later that they decide to go completely on their own.”
“I don’t know if you know this, but I have a Pokémon of my own.” Julian reached into his pocket, and pulled out a Poké Ball, spinning it on his index finger before grasping it tightly in his palm. “I haven’t had a chance to start with actual training yet, but no time to start like the present, eh?”
Rhys turned his head to look over at Julian as his eyes widened in comprehension. “You mean, we should go out with her?”
“Why not? It would be fun, don’t you think? I could go after her on my own if you don’t want to come, but frankly, I don’t think Meraika would like that much. Besides, you’re the one with the formal training, so we’d be lost without you anyway.”
Rhys smiled wide. “I think it’s a wonderful plan! Don’t you, Mudkip?”
The Pokémon squealed happily in response and all three bowed heads together to start making their plans.
