Route 17

Sparks crackled and popped from Pikachu as he launched a vicious lightning bolt at an energy barrier shaped like a large pink square. The bolt struck the square in the center, but when the electricity dissipated, there was no sign that the bolt had even struck the barrier.

Emile raised his head and watched as various flying types immediately flew from the trees and into the sky when they heard Pikachu unleash his electricity. They were likely terrified of the electric mouse, he thought as he rested his head on his hand.

“That time was faster.” Belle informed in her trainer’s head. “But not as-”

“Not as strong.” Emile cut off. “I figured… now I know I was right.”

“Do it again?” Vito turned his head towards Emile.

“No.” Emile stood up and grabbed his backpack.

The trainers had remained on Route 17 for a couple of hours. After a brief rest break, Emile had thought it best to test just how Pikachu controlled his electricity. Twenty minutes had gone by, and the electric type had electrocuted the same barrier formed by Belle’s psychic powers. There were two results after each test.

The first was that Pikachu’s delivery was slower than the average electric type at his level, and the second result was that Pikachu’s delivery was quicker, but the output was weaker. It was clear to Emile and Belle that the yellow rodent needed to find some balance.

“We’re going to play a little game,” Emile said as he slung the backpack over his shoulder. “C’mon, let's get moving.”

“Wait, where are we going?” Vito called out as he and Pikachu raced towards the veteran trainer. “Don’t we have training to do?”

“We do.” Emile replied. “We’ll do it along the way. Have Pikachu walk,”

Frère and Belle followed behind their trainer. Venus had been returned into her ball during Emile’s tests, leaving the other two Pokemon.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t adequate enough. Do you want me to return?” Belle asked.

Emile turned around, his eyes wide as he stared at Belle and the trainer felt his heart almost stop. "What?"

Belle stood still, fidgeting with her fingers as she looked down.

“Hey, what’s this all about? You’re doing just fine.” Emile chuckled as he approached Belle, lightly caressing her cheek. “Besides, you’re more than ‘adequate enough’.”

Gardevoir smiled and nodded her head, and that was enough to put a smile on her trainer’s face.

“C’mon, lets walk together. Like old times.” Emile took his Pokemon’s hand. “And I have another idea…”

“Which is?” Vito called out.

The group stood still and watched as Emile had comforted Gardevoir, before following him when he began to move.

“How did Pikachu eat?” Emile asked as he led the group through Route 17. His eyes darted between the many trees that surrounded them. “Did he go out on his own for food, or did you feed him yourself?”

“Uh, well… I fed him PokeChow.” Vito said. “Why?”

“You kinda screwed up there, not saying it's bad to feed your Pokemon, obviously.” Emile replied. “But Pikachu as a species develop their electric abilities by electrocuting the berries.”

“Oh… that uh. That explains a lot!” Vito lightly chuckled and scratched the side of his head. “When I first met Pikachu, he was trying to electrify some of my dad’s berries.”

Emile raised a brow. That was the first time that Vito had ever mentioned his family.

“You really don’t know much about Pokemon, do you?” Emile asked.

“Sort of… I farmed a lot. I know a lot about Mudsdales and the other grass-type species that I got to work with, but not much else,” Vito informed.

“Well, I guess it's up to me to fix that.” Emile smiled. “So! Let's get to training!” He clapped his hands.

“Yeah, you said that earlier, Emile. Just what are we doing?” Vito complained

A slight rustling was heard in the trees, and when Vito looked up, he saw a tree branch shake. As he looked closer, he saw that one of those branches held dark blue oran berries. They were fresh and ripe from what he could gather, judging by their shade of blue.

Then, those berries were suddenly plucked out of thin air by an unseen force. The berries slowly drifted across the wind until they were right in Vito’s face.

He turned behind and saw Belle’s crimson eyes glow.

“The goal is simple… Pikachu will find the right balance between speed and power in his output. It shouldn’t take too long, given how healthy and active he is. After that, its a matter of improving on that output.” Emile explained.

“So we’re doing this by shocking berries?” Vito asked.

“Correct, so, go at it!” Emile commanded.

Pikachu smiled wide and licked his lips as he saw the Oran Berry floating in front of him. Sparks began to crack and pop from his cheeks and he unleashed a bolt of electricity. Though he soon let out a disappointed squeak as the berry fell from the sky, its skin blackened and charred as black smoke wafted out into the path. The yellow mouse leaned away from it as they walked by.

“See? This will be berry useful.” Emile smiled.

Vito, along with Frère and Belle groaned as they walked,

“Please don’t,” Belle pleaded.

“What? Did my genius shock you?” Emile continued.

Frère growled and cried. The ice fox shook his head as he heard his trainer continue on with his pun-making.

“I’m about to shock you. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about how you woke me up!” Vito called out.

“Well! It sounds like I’m getting a rather Chilly Reception today.” Emile smirked.

Damn, am I on a roll today, Emile thought. It was even better when he heard everyone's simultaneous groans.

“You are not on a roll.” Belle declared as she pulled down two berries before Vito and Pikachu. “You should be ashamed.”

“I know, Belle. I’m such a genius!” Emile said as he stretched his arms out. “At least you respect my sense of humor.” 

Frère growled and barked, then shook his head when he heard his trainer “brag” about how well-accepted his humor was.

“Frère disagrees as well. I can even let you hear his complaints, if you so wish.” Belle said.

“Pikachu, Thundershock!” Vito barked.

Pikachu unleashed bolts of lightning on both berries. He was much faster than before, and his bolts accurately met their targets. However, there was barely a mark on them. They dropped to the floor, but when Pikachu approached them, he seemed displeased and simply abandoned the berries in order to catch up with his trainer.

“Belle, take a look at Pikachu. Show him what he’s doing wrong,” Emile ordered. “I’m sure with your teaching, he’ll get a better grip on Thundershock.”

“Of course. By the way, are you certain I shouldn’t link us up?” Belle asked as she turned her head towards Frère and then turned back to her trainer. “It would make communication somewhat easier.”

“No,” Emile replied. “Your voice is all I need at the moment, and I need to put a lot of focus into getting the kid into top shape.”

Belle’s eyes widened at the response. She stood still for a second and swallowed hard before she went back to following her trainer.

“Very well then. I’ll… keep an eye here while coaching Pikachu.” Belle replied, her voice low and soft. “Do not worry about me.”

Emile turned his head back towards his Gardevoir. Everything appeared to be alright with her. She followed along, and her senses were attuned to the area around her. Yet, he felt uncertain if he should have said something.

Belle smiled, and it was enough to put Emile at ease, though that feeling of uncertainty never left his mind.

“Alright.” He said. “I’ll move up ahead and keep an eye on Vito… let me know if you need anything, alright?”

“Of course! I’ll be mindful of our surroundings.” Belle replied with glowing red eyes as she dropped a few more berries in front of Vito and Pikachu.

Emile snickered and moved forward, making sure to be at Vito’s left while Frère and Belle walked behind the two.

“Again, Pikachu!” Vito shouted.

Another jolt of electricity shot out of Pikachu. He targeted the berries and electrocuted them one at a time. Once again, they fell to the ground and the yellow rat went to sniff them, only to be disappointed with the result.

“You don’t have to yell, ya know?” Emile asked Vito.

Vito turned his head to Emile. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been yelling out many of your commands,” Emile replied as he turned his gaze towards Pikachu. “Pokemon have better senses than humans. Pikachu could hear you if your voice were a whisper.”

“Is that not normal? You’ve done it too.” Vito said.

This time, a single berry floated in front of Vito and Pikachu as they walked on the dirt road, and with a single order, Pikachu electrocuted it and as the targets fell,  Vito noticed that their blue flesh was a crisp brown.

“You’re doing better, Pikachu! C’mon, let's keep going.” Vito smiled as he rushed forward with his partner.

Emile smiled and followed, once again appearing by his side. “So, you mentioned your father. You have any other family members?”

Vito frowned as he walked. “My father’s not around anymore, unfortunately. He died when I was 8 years old.”

Emile’s eyes widened and his lips were pulled down into a frown. “I’m sorry to hear… I lost my mother when I was your age.”

“It is what it is.” Vito shrugged. “But thanks anyway.”

They walked together in silence, and Pikachu would go onto electrocute more berries. Some of them were like before, barely charred and avoided and some were becoming more brown.

“So hey, Emile… can I ask you something?” Vito looked over to meet the older trainer’s face.

“You just did.” Emile smirked.

“Seriously!” Vito smacked the older man on the arm, earning him a chuckle from the trainer.

“Alright, what’s up?” Emile asked.

“I looked you up on an app and uh… it didn’t show what happened after you went into the Indigo League. What happened?” Vito crossed his arms and turned his head away. “If you don’t care to talk about it anyway.”

“Let me guess, you used TrainerDex?” Emile asked, then sighed when Vito nodded his head. “The people who update that app will leave something vacant if they get bored of someone. I went into the Semi-Finals of the Indigo Conference and got beat. It had happened my last tourney and the one before that, and they didn’t like the stagnation I suppose.”

“Oh… so what happened after that?” Vito tilted his head quizzically.

“I retired right after the battle.” Emile said.

“So why did you retire?” Vito asked, until he was interrupted by a sudden berry pulled from one of the trees. “Pikachu, Thundershock.”

Pikachu electrocuted the berry again, and as it fell it was a perfect brown color. It smelled crisp and tender, and as he approached the fruit, a smile crept across his face and he soon lifted it up with his paws and began to eat at it.

Everyone stopped and watched as Pikachu greedily devoured his meal, the little rodent left no remains of the crispy berry.

“Oh, I think Pikachu’s done it!” Vito jumped with a grin on his face. “Fuck yeah!”

Emile turned his head and saw a smiling Belle, who he watched clap her hands at the sight of Pikachu eating the berry. He turned his head back and clapped Vito on the shoulder.

“You think you two can keep it up?” Emile asked. “It’s gonna get challenging from here on out.”

Pikachu squeaked and gave a thumbs-up.

“You heard him, we got this!” Vito cheered.

A smirk crept across Emile’s face. He put two fingers to his mouth and let out a sharp, high-pitched whistle.

Within seconds, Frère appeared and started to walk beside Emile. He looked up at his trainer with curiosity, and his tail wagged with anticipation.

“How would you like some snacks?” Emile asked his Glaceon.

A grin crept across Frère’s face as he licked his lips.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Vito tilted his head.

“We’re gonna have a competition.” Emile smiled. “Pikachu needs to keep this level of balance while acting faster than Frère.”

“Fine, we can beat him! Isn’t that right, Pikachu?”

A berry then floated in front of the group. It was yellow in color and somewhat larger than the oran berries that Pikachu had been electrocuting.

Pikachu smirked as he started to charge his electricity like before. His dark eyes were intently focused on the larger berry, and he was prepared to unleash another jolt of electricity. But, he was interrupted by a sudden ice beam from his left, which froze the berry.

“Hey!” Vito cried as he turned his head towards Emile.

“Gotta act quicker than that.” The older trainer shrugged with a grin on his face.

Pikachu’s eyes widened, and the electricity dissipated. He turned his head to the left and glared at Frère.

The ice-type merely smiled and strolled towards the berry. He picked up the frozen fruit with his mouth, and within two bites, he devoured it whole. Frère then turned his head towards Pikachu and smirked.

The electric mouse grit his teeth and growled before he ran to his opponent’s side. Small sparks of electricity crackled and popped to life as he walked alongside the smiling Frère.

Two berries were plucked from nearby trees and floated in front of the two Pokemon. They flew through the air, drifting in wide circles.

Frère shot out another ice beam, freezing one but before he could hit the second, a bolt of electricity was launched from his right and fried the berry. It fell to the floor, and a nice, crisp odor emanated from it.

Pikachu moved and devoured the berry for Frère to see, and let out a cheerful squeak in an attempt to rub his victory into Glaceon’s face.

Frère smirked and followed close behind his opponent, though his eyes were trained on the tree branches.

“I got your back, Pikachu!” Vito shouted as he moved forward, chasing after the two Pokemon.

A soft smile crept up Emile’s face as he watched Vito follow after the two Pokemon. He heard the teen cheer on his partner as golden streaks of electricity and beams of ice flew from their respective directions.

“You’re thinking again.” Belle commented.

“I’d hope so, I wouldn’t be alive if I wasn’t.” Emile smirked.

Gardevoir walked faster and soon caught up to Emile. “Do you miss journeying like this?” Belle turned her head to her trainer. 

“A little.” Emile said aloud as he watched the light show coming from his Glaceon and Vito’s Pikachu.

Belle’s eyes glowed again. She reached out to the trees ahead of her and Emile with her mind’s eye.

The two witnessed a dozen berries being pulled from various trees. It was clear to Emile that Belle was plucking from different trees, trying not to disturb the ecosystem or harm the various Pokemon’s environments.

Once again, streams of electricity and ice were shot above, scorching and freezing various berries. The two Pokemon who were causing such chaos 

“Maybe… maybe we don’t have to leave when the package is delivered.” Belle suggested, pushing her fingers together. “We could journey, just like before.”

Emile swallowed hard and scratched his chin as he pondered over Belle’s words.

“Of course, it’s up to you!” Gardevoir said as she stepped back from Emile.

“I’ll think about it,” Emile finally said. “Maybe a journey wouldn’t be too bad… but don’t expect any crazy battles. This isn’t gonna be like Sinnoh.”

“Well, I don’t see any Professors trying to convince you to be an ACE Trainer, and I don’t see spacemen wanting to rewrite reality.” Belle chuckled. “So, maybe we can have a relatively normal journey?”

“Arceus, let's hope so,” Emile said. “The only downside is that I won’t be catching any new Pokemon, given that father had given me a full party… but maybe that’s for the better. He has to spend enough taking care of everyone.”

“Right… I’d like that. It’d be us.” Belle replied.

“And Vito, maybe.” Emile shrugged again.

Belle’s eyes widened and she stepped closer to Emile. The Pokemon raised her green hand and put it to her trainer’s forehead. “Are you sick? You don’t look it… and I’m certain this is what you do when you’re checking if someone has a fever!” she commented.

“I’m just fine!” Emile raised his hands. “Why do you think I’m sick? You could tell if I wasn’t, right?”

“Of course, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure!” Belle huffed as she crossed her arms. “I’m just surprised you’d want to bring someone along, is all.”

“Kid’s got spirit. It might be fun having him around.” Emile smiled.

Loud shouting was heard from Vito, who was meters away. They were hard to make out, but Emile was certain the new trainer was cursing out Frère.

More than likely, Frère was smirking and chuckling as Vito ranted and cursed at him. Emile and Belle found themselves chuckling at the thought.

“I’m reaching out to Frère now.” Belle commented. “Vito’s, in fact, cursing him out.”

“That poor kid…” Emile shook his head.

They continued their pace, but soon stopped as Emile realized there were fewer trees in sight and the dirt road they had been walking on sloped downwards, and the treeline gave way to open grassy fields as far as the eye could see.

Emile blinked, and turned around, then turned his head back towards the slope. “How the hell was Bellissimo Mare above?” he asked.

“According to Frère, you went through a town called Savoy, which was above Bellissimo Mare.” Belle replied. “Do you… not remember?”

“Not really, I wanted out of that damn town after I dealt with those clowns.” Emile replied as he put away his PokeGear.

Unbelievable. He went through an entire town above and didn’t realize it.

“Hey, Emile!” Vito called out. “Come take a look at this!”

Emile perked up and turned his head toward Vito.

The trainer waved Emile and Belle to come forward, and pointed at what Emile perceived to be a large slab of marble.

Emile began to hurry, walking at a brisk pace down the hill with Belle by his side, a smile forming across his face as he moved. This was the first he’d heard about a landmark, and perhaps he could have learned something interesting from it, maybe something from the region’s “Dissian Era.”

“Whatcha got for me, Vito?” Emile asked.

“Look at the thing!” Vito pointed at the slab. “This has gotta probably one of the few interesting things we have down here.”

Emile’s eyes widened as they trailed toward the memorial. There was plenty of text on it that he didn’t understand, and not only that, underneath the monument were strange, long brown objects with oddly shaped black squares stuck inside them. The long objects in question stuck in the ground below.

It took a moment for Emile to realize that these strange objects were rifles. Weapons that hadn’t been used since The Protection War between Kanto, Unova and Enotria way back when. The Rangers used them to fire tranquilizer darts, but they were phased out for the “Capture Styler” five years ago.

“Incroyable.” He said as he stepped towards the monument, his eyes focused on the rifles. “I’ve only seen guns in documentaries… nobody ever really uses them. Kalos, Paldea and Galar phased them out centuries ago, and I only recall Unova and Enotria ever really using them.”

Emile traced his shaking finger over the first rifle, feeling the cool, smooth wood. Hee couldn’t help but smile, this was a piece of history, and he was able to touch it. The thought alone was insane.

“These are BM59’s, right? Right?” He turned his head back to Vito. “Unova only used these black rifles before Kanto basically told them they were useless way back in the day.”

“Oh, yeah!” Vito chuckled. The teen had a brow raised and observed Emile with curiosity. “Yeah, we used them during the war but they weren’t really effective…”

“Well, of course not!” Emile said. “I mean, imagine trying to shoot at a Pokemon. Most, if not all, can outspeed a bullet, and if they can’t, then they can just either redirect it or let it hit because it’ll bounce off.”

“Yeah, but you could shoot at a trainer.” Vito suggested.

“Sure, but a Pokemon will probably retreat and defend their trainer. That or find some way to quickly defend the trainer, though a trainer would have to be stupid to be out in the open on the battlefield like that.” Emile said.

“Do you know much about the war, Emile?” Vito asked. “I didn’t take you much for a history buff, no offense.”

“None taken,” Emile replied as he crouched down to inspect the rifle replica. “But to answer your question, I sort of am, but a lot of my history is narrowed down to the regions I’ve visited. However, just about everyone knows about The Protection War.”

“Well, yeah, it was the most ‘recent’ war, even if it did happen 25 years ago.” Vito said. “Though we call it The Island War here…”

“Protection War makes more sense,” Emile said as he stood up. “When Samuel Oak was still Champion, he had drafted up the Pokemon Protection Act, which was designed to limit or prevent colonization. Unova had signed it.”

“Sure, but that island wasn’t declared their territory at the time. It wasn’t declared that until after the war, and they advertised it as their ‘Nature Preserve.’” Vito shot back. “It was a war over the island, not protecting Pokemon.”

“The island was still near Unovan territories, they had a right to act the way they did.” Emile replied. “The old Enotrian Military would have ruined the environments of plenty of Pokemon.”

“I still don’t think it was worth fighting a war over.” Vito shrugged. “But, the old military was pretty messed up. I don’t think its bad that they got replaced with the League.”

“Trust me.” Emile said, patting Vito on the shoulder. “If you travel enough and do this as long as I have, you’ll think differently.”

“I suppose… anyways, have you read the monument yet?” Vito asked.

“Oh! I haven’t, actually. I was uh…” Emile stammered as he looked down and scratched the back of his head.

“Admiring the replicas?” Vito smiled, trying to hold back his laughter.

“Absolutely not!” Emile turned around and faced the marble monument and fell silent as he looked at it.

On it there were two lines of text engraved into the marble. He narrowed his eyes, attempting to understand the words engraved, but it was in Enotrian.

"Ai nostri eroi caduti." the first line of text read, and below read, "Possa tu riposare per sempre nell'abbraccio di tua madre."

“What does this mean?” Emile asked Vito.

“To our fallen heroes, may you forever rest in our mother’s embrace.” Vito translated. “Wanna guess who mother is?” he smiled.

Emile scratched his chin.

Mother could have meant many things. However, Emile didn’t know much about Enotria. The only plausible thing he could have concluded was that the text was referencing was the land itself. Perhaps “mother” in this case meant “motherland.”

“Enotria itself?” Emile finally asked.

“Nope!” Vito said. “Its referencing the Wolfmother, better known as Lupa. She’s a religious figure in Enotria, but people worship her a lot more in Graecia.”

“Graecia?” Emile asked.

“Its basically the name for the entire southern area.” Vito said. “Graecia for the south, Siena for the Central area, and then Gallia for the north. Word of advice? Don’t call the areas North, South or Center while you’re here. Call them by their names.”

“Who named em?” Emile asked as he stepped away from the monument and looked to the open plains behind. He observed that there was nothing nearby, aside from the trees to the left anyway.

“Marcus Capitoline, the son of Lupa.” Vito said.

“Should I form another barrier?” Belle’s voice rang in Emile’s mind.

“Nah. We won’t need one this time.” Emile telepathically replied before he turned back to Vito. “Do you know the story behind Lupa? I’d like to hear it.”

“Nahh, not really.” Vito chuckled. “You’d be better off asking the older guys, they’re more into the religion than anyone.”

“Unfortunate, but I can wait. Right now, we’re gonna get to the next part of your training,” Emile said. “After that, we’ll make our way down to Lantana.”

“Alright!” Vito pumped his fist into the air and watched as Emile threw a Pokeball, just far enough from the trees and far from the monument. The device soon released Venus and returned back to it’s owner.

The Venusaur stretched as best as she could and let out a loud roar. Her eyes intently focused on her smiling trainer who walked to the side.

“So, what’s next?” Vito asked as he outstretched his arm.

Pikachu jumped off of Vito, using his trainer’s arm as a platform and landed right in front of Venus with a smile.

Venus smiled at the yellow mouse, and two vines appeared from the vegetation on top of her body.

“We’re gonna whip Pikachu into shape!” Emile smiled.

This smile was replaced with a pained expression as one of Venus’ vines smacked her trainer on the head.

“I’m not sorry…” He groaned before he cleared his throat and turned his head toward Venus and Pikachu.

The two Pokemon were staring at each other. Venus had a rather calm expression, while Pikachu’s face was smiling and his eyes were narrow.

“Venus!” Emile’s voice boomed. “Prepare for close quarters!”

That wasn’t something he had gotten to say in a long time. It was nice to say it again, even if it was to train.

A colorful powder shower shot up from Venus’ flower. It was a mix of yellow and green, and it all fell onto Venusaur’s vines, making them look like a sickly mixture of colors.

“So, here’s the deal.” Emile explained. “Pikachu hasn’t battled much, and therefore doesn’t have much instinct beyond basic survival… I’m going to make sure that changes.”

“Okay…” Vito replied with a shaky voice. It was clear his focus was on Venus. “How exactly are we going to do that?”

“The idea is that you’ll be guiding him. Eventually, he won’t need it, but right now, he’ll need your help determining when you’ll need to dodge and when to counterattack,” Emile explained. “And if he gets hit, well… he’ll be feeling quite numb and sleepy.”

Emile watched Vito swallow hard, but the boy moved a foot forward and narrowed his eyes.

“Alright, Pikachu… lets do this!”