David rounded a corner and the world opened.

The forest alongside the road fell away to reveal a wide grassland. Sure, there were still trees in sight but not many, and the few were concentrated in small isolated clumps. It was the largest open area he had seen since arriving in this world.

The grass grew taller away from the trees, easily reaching his upper shins. For the first time he needed to consider that Pokemon might be able to hide in the grass. Very small Pokemon but Pokemon.

A cool breeze wafted over Pidgey and him. He lifted his backpack an inch and let out a sigh of relief at the refreshing air on his back.

Pidgey let out a happy chirp and with a flap of her wings, shot into the sky.

He smiled as she glided forward, but frowned when he noticed her destination. About 100 meters from the edge of the woods the road stopped. The hardened clay sank down into the earth and left the grassland barely marked. There was no more road to follow. Faint tracks, but some led in other directions? Where did he go from here?

Pidgey didn't let such thoughts bother her. There were more important things to consider. She couldn’t fly the full 100m distance in one go yet. Her glides could get her about 20m before she touched down and needed to take off again. Technically she could fly 100m - but the 5 consecutive takeoffs required would tire her out. However, to David’s surprise, when Pidgey’s flight leveled off, and she began to dip, she let out a shrill call and flicked her wings back. Light, barely visible swirls of lavender spiraled away from her feather tips as for a moment her wings were raised high. Pidgey swung her wings down and soared up again.

David started to jog.

Pidgey slowly drifted back down to earth without another flap. As he jogged up to her, she turned to face him and, puffing herself up, let out a loud chirp. He looked behind them. She must have flown about 35m down the path. It was the furthest she'd ever flown. When he looked back at his tiny Pokemon, she was preening her feathers. They were all in a mess after the flight, more so than usual with the big sweep of her wings required to stay aloft. She was getting stronger. After Saffron, her injury, everything, she was getting stronger.

He didn't have the right words, but he crouched and smoothed her crest feathers.

“Nice job Pidgey.”

After that it was easier to pick one of the deeper tracks and set off into the grasslands.

 

-.-

 

They stopped for a late lunch when they reached the first clump of trees.

Partially because David was hungry, but mostly because he had spotted something worrying and needed to think.

As nice as the breeze felt, the lack of trees caused another issue.

It wasn’t the road’s disappearance - the convoy had left tracks that were easy to follow. No, it was the pack of seven or so Meowth lounging across those tracks ahead that were the problem.

Out in these grasslands Pokemon were easy to spot. There were no leaves to block his view of the Spearow or Pidgey. No trunks to hide the infrequent grass types or one Duduo he'd seen. Even the Rattata were visible through the grass before you stumbled on them. The mouse Pokemon were small, but they were also purple and that stood out. Between himself and Pidgey, they'd had no issue avoiding the various Pokemon so far. Occasionally Pidgey’s flights had been shortened or stopped when they diverted off their path, but their progress wasn’t slowed. However, this was the largest group of Pokemon they had seen so far, and they were sitting dead center on the path. One of the Meowth had even stood to watch them leave the path and head towards this clump of trees.

Wild Pokemon were easy to spot here but so were David and Pidgey. There was no cover for anyone to hide in.

He sighed and pulled out a Chesto berry. They had been lucky to spot a bush before leaving the woods earlier. The three berries they'd found were a welcome addition to their non-existent supplies. Before that bush they had maybe one more meals worth of edible salad and two of Pidgey’s sachets. It took a second to dig through his backpack for a knife to cut the berry in half. It wasn't enough food, and he'd spend the day hungry, but he didn’t know if berry bushes grew out on these grasslands. Even if bushes did, given how easy it would be to spot the berries, they would likely be empty by the time he reached them.

Pidgey had eaten a sachet for breakfast and was uninterested in the other half of the berry. She hopped over to one of the trees and began inspecting the area instead. They had scouted the clump of trees before approaching of course but Pidgey seemed to want a closer look.

David turned back to his berry with a shiver. The shade was nice when they first stopped, but a breeze still flowed through the area, and he was growing cold fast. In a way, he was lucky that it was springtime now. Sure his clothes weren’t great for the weather but trekking through these grasslands in the heat with a heavy backpack would have been rough.

Pidgey hopped back over to him and settled down beside him. He offered her the other half of the Chesto berry again, but in response she ducked her head under her wing. There was nothing for it. They would need to take a wide berth around the Meowth and try to find the tracks again further on.

 

-.-

 

The sun was setting when David was finally able to make out a blob in the distance. It was definitely a building. Other blobs appeared behind it and to the sides. People. Civilization. Celadon.

David relaxed in some ways and tensed in others. The grasslands had made for easy walking, but he’d needed to be hyper aware of the surroundings. All Pokemon needed to be avoided. A lot of his time was spent plotting routes. They'd have to leave the tracks only to turn back to avoid another Pokemon or to stay on track. Travel was easier but more mentally taxing.

When he wasn't trying to stay alive, he was running the encounter with Noah, the caravan and the White Pokeball through his mind over and over. How he'd acted. The mistakes he'd made. What he could have done to defuse the situation, or prevent it from ever happening. Pidgey and he had gotten both lucky and unlucky. They'd missed out on a fireside meal and nearly been put to sleep, something he still wasn't sure was a euphemism. They weren't getting reported to the rangers, Noah had given them a token with the promise of support and an attempt to do something about Team Rocket. It wasn't a positive encounter, but it wasn't negative either.

The main issue he was encountering, was that it felt normal to him. A sudden flash of barely constrained violence. It wasn't a surprise - the timing was, but the fact it happened wasn't. Why? When did he come to expect this when meeting people? How?

Was it always going to be like this?

This was why Celadon presented a whole new set of issues, beyond immediate survival. People. Team Rocket. The Gym. His deadline. Money.

They hadn’t spotted a single berry bush, empty of berries or not since leaving the woods. Finding berries to sell took long enough as is. If he had to travel several hours each day to get to the right area, he would be in trouble. Once more he looked at the last clump of trees between him and the buildings in the distance. Instead of facing the city tonight he would make camp and arrive in the morning. It’d give him and Pidgey some time to train too.

 

-.-

 

Thankfully the clump of trees seemed to be unoccupied. David set down his backpack and searched the ground until he had three sticks. One for breaking Pidgey’s Tackle, another which was more of a log for Peck practice and the last was forearm thick for talon work. He placed them in front of Pidgey who was staring at the trees above them and sat down.

“Let’s get started.”

To his dismay, Pidgey stopped after Tackle practice and one or two weak Pecks.

“Are you tired?” He asked, a little crestfallen. She had spent the day flying as much as possible. Pidgey would launch herself up when possible and when not, hop over to him and wag her wings up and down asking for a lift. It was a lot of exercise, even if it wasn't 'training' training.

She made no move to answer, continuing to look up at the trees above.

He pursed his lips. “Want to try something else? We could move onto the grip work?”

Pidgey blinked and turned and hopped towards his bags.

“Pidgey,” He called. When she turned back he held his arms to the side and bounced them up and down.

She blinked again and turned to continue hopping towards the backpack.

David cursed and stood up to follow her. That had never failed to work before. He snatched up the berry bag before Pidgey could get to it.

Pidgey let out a light squawk and hopped back and forth.

The sun was set but it was still light. There was another hour of training time left at least. They'd never stopped so early. If Pidgey wasn’t tired, was she bored? She hadn’t had any motivation issues since the battle with Fred and Machop. Had its effects worn off already?

Pidgey plopped down and ducked her head under her wing.

Could he motivate her? David checked the bag in his hands again, but no more berries had mysteriously appeared. A trade wasn't possible. She would have no interest in choosing between the two and half Chesto berries he had. A trainer with a suitable Machop wasn’t going to appear either. Fred’s advice on the topic wouldn’t be much help either. He couldn’t train alongside Pidgey as Fred did with Machop.

Right?

He set the berry bag down and crouched down by Pidgey. She lifted her head from under her wing as the bag was set down and turned towards him.

“What if I train with you?”

Pidgey tilted her head.

Bending down he grabbed a stick off the ground and bent it between his hands. “You break the sticks with Peck and I… snap them.” He trailed off as he looked at the two sticks in his hand and realized how stupid it sounded.

Pidgey ducked her head back under her wing.

He grimaced and looked around the clearing again. There had to be something. He wasn’t ready to give up yet. Those- Those branches weren’t too high. He strode towards a thick branch hanging down just out of reach.

“How about the grip exercises? You keep the pressure on while I-” He trailed off to jump up and catch onto the branch with both hands. There was a worrying creak and the branch dipped down but to his relief it held. “-will hang here and count down.”

Keeping a careful grip to avoid falling, he turned his head to see her reaction. He blinked.

Pidgey was sitting under him, staring up with rapt attention.

That worked? He swung a bit in the air and hopped down, careful to come down well clear of Pidgey. The tree above settled back with a low swish.

“Sound good?” He asked Pidgey who was engrossed in watching the branch settle back in place. After a second she let out a low chirp and dropped her head down to look at David.

David smiled. He retrieved her branch and placed it down by his impromptu pull up bar.

“Ready? 3. 2. 1. Go.”

His grip wasn’t quite as good on the branch this time. The branch was a little too thick for his fingers to fully go round. Counting the seconds, he realized that this might be more challenging for him than he expected. And given the way Pidgey was staring at his grip on the branch overhead he couldn’t slack off.

 

-.-

 

David recalled Pidgey and dragging his backpack behind him, crawled into his tent. Sleep took him quickly.

After three relatively peaceful days in the woods he was renewed but also nervous. He'd been in this world for thirteen days.

The league started tomorrow.