Archive of Our Own ^beta

After a quick shower, I grabbed my earrings, fluffed up the gay little pile of hair on top of my head, and threw on a tank top and jeans. Opening the door, I waded into the muggy August morning. 

A faint haze hung over Manacawlin--some combination of coal smoke and steam and the natural humidity of the province. Won't be long now before we don't have to deal with the smoke, at least. The humidity, though...

Eh, comes with the territory.

Walking into town, the cover of sparse pines gave way to beating sun as the gravel path turned to scorching asphalt. Low brick buildings showed the wear of years in their facades. Mismatched brick patterns revealed where once were display windows instead of solid walls, and AC units protruding over the sidewalk dripped condensation and filled the air with a mechanical hum.

I saw a pair of Pachirisu race along a power line ahead of me. One stopped on a utility pole, wiggled a little, an leapt onto a nearby roof before its friend could catch it. It squeaked in triumph, echoed by a sassy Murkrow. The bird Pokémon earned a Thundershock for its antics, and flew away with a disgruntled caw. In the distance, the coal plant billowed its toxic smoke into the air. I could faintly see the one Galaraian Weezing working in the cloud to clean it.

Not long ago, that coal plant was the only source of energy in Manacawlin. Many more similar plants were also scattered through the smaller towns this side of the Lachia Mountains, though most of them have been replaced with nuclear plants by this point. The mountains have always been plentiful with coal, and that abundance led to rapid development of industry throughout the province. The government had imported some Weezing from Galar--using some of that sudden wealth to try to offset the damage. While they definitely helped, the effects on the air can't be totally eliminated by the Pokémon, and there's harm to the water and soil as well. Not to mention the need for a constant influx of coal and...

Blegh.

I shook my head. Not going down that thought spiral again.

The Pokémon Lab is on the local university's campus, pretty close to downtown. It's not exactly close to my mom's house, and on days like this I would usually never willingly walk this far into town. But the idea of finally getting a partner Pokémon to bond with had me barely feeling the heat! Not sure I could say the same for the others out and about town.

...Actually, there seemed to be a commotion going on. There's a crowd in front of the Gym--folks in overalls and coveralls, tank tops, heavy boots and leather gloves. Pokémon stood by their partners as well--Machoke and Vigoroth and Carkoal, Fletchling and Palpitoad and Carbink. Dozens clamoring and yelling and chanting, waving signs bearing messages like "Save Our Traditions!" and "Nuclear is NO GOOD!"

Bile rose in my throat. My heart rate spiked. I could practically feel sweat burning off my skin as my muscles tensed.

These idiots! These absolute fucking Mareep! What do they hope to accomplish by keeping the Arc-damned coal industry alive? Tradition my ass! All they'll accomplish is more pain, more pollution, more suffering, more de--

Stars invaded my vision. Fuck. Okay, you're okay. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. I closed my eyes. In, two, three, four. Hold, two, three four, out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I unclenched my jaw. Relaxed my shoulders. Released my grip around the strap of my bag. In... Hold... Out...

A voice came over the clamor. The Gym Leader, Georgie, a trainer of middling height, a neutral gaze, and unblemished skin, spoke through a microphone, flanked by their Beheeyem and Gardevoir. "Good morning, citizens." Their voice rode a middle line just as their appearance did--smack dab in the middle of sounding masculine or feminine. "On behalf of the absent Governor Spencer, allow me to hear your concerns regarding the coming conclusion of our city's transition off of coal power. I hope I can allay some of your fears." 

A broad figure stepped forward, shouting "My name's Ferdinand Perez, and I've been a coal miner for twenty years. My parents were coal miners, and their parents were coal miners. While I am aware that a decision's been made regardin' coal in this province and this great region, you gotta stop the shutdown of the coal plant in Manacawlin! There's family tradition in this profession, and there's nothin' else I'd rather be doin' to put food on the table!"

No accounting for bad taste, I thought. Or for good luck.

Georgie listens, maintaining eye contact for Ferdinand's whole speech, and replies, "While the local human tradition and career of mining for coal has in the past brought prosperity to the province of Shaw and the Valica region, it has also done great damage to the environment that both people and Pokémon depend on. The transition from mining coal to other forms of labor will be a challenge, yes, but we have funding and programs in place to support all former miners in that transition."

Before Georgie could say any more, another man stepped up, this one short and round, but powerfully built. "You're takin' the choice out of our hands! And this whole venture started before the Unova disaster last year! We don't want a disaster like that happenin' on our soil!"

Wasn't even as bad as half the disasters that happen in the mines. I dug my nails into the palm of my hands. 

Georgie turned to meet the gaze of the new speaker. "The meltdown in Unova was a tragedy borne of negligence and corporate greed. Our nuclear plants have all been reviewed to ensure they are following all international and regional safety standards. Furthermore, Governor Spencer in conjunction with the Shaw legislature, elected representatives all, serve as the voice of the people, and the people have made thi--"

"Bullshit!" "Hogwash!" "Like hell!" and dozens of other exclamations rose at that. A lanky young man with dusty blonde hair near the back of the crowd screamed to be heard, "That lot don't represent the real folk a' Shaw! Them's all puppets of the doggone techno-leets! Ain't no fair election been had round these parts in near ta twenty years!" Cries of affirmation washed over the crowd at the utterly deranged claim.

Atop the stairs to the Gym's entrance, I could swear I saw Georgie's serene face turn sour. Beheeyem blinked and beeped a bit, before Georgie's amplified voice peeled "SILENCE!"

The word was the command and the execution of itself, as the noise of the clamoring mob swiftly wound to nothing, and Georgie used the quiet to regain control. "Such claims have no evidence, and will not be entertained. We will resume hearing legitimate grievances around the closure of the coal plant and cessation of coal mining in Manacawlin. Disruption of these proceedings will be met with removal from the premises." The Gardevoir seemed to loom forward, leaving little doubt as to how they would be removed.

A handful of protesters, including the blonde conspiracy theorist, prowled off, grumbling. Some news reporters on the scene approached some of them for comment while Georgie continued fielding questions that they've doubtless heard a hundred times before.

Deciding that's enough hemorrhaging braincells for the day, and to avoid getting too pissed to function again, I turned to leave. Unfortunately, my path to the lab was being blocked by an approaching reporter and cameraman. Eye contact made, the sharply dressed woman speed-walked up to me. "Excuse me, miss! A moment of your time!"

I tried shouldering past, but the woman kept talking and getting in the way. "My name is Cassie Manchester, with Jolteon News, based on Squawkal. We'd like to ask you just a few questions about the demonstration today and your thoughts as a local on the shift away from the traditionally profitable coal industry in the area."

Traditionally profitable. Arceus, grant me serenity, I had just squeezed past them at that, but couldn't help but spin on my heal. "I swanny from Groudon to Rayquaza, profit is all anyone gives a Raticate's ass about in this region! You wanna know my thoughts? On them people, on that forsaken industry?" I laughed. "Them's morons, this demonstration is a waste a' time, and this profitable industry killed my father in an accident worse than the fuckin' Unova disaster them's using as a scape-Gogoat! Bless their hearts, I hope they realize how gosh darn lucky they are that in a few months they ain't gonna have to worry about a mine collapsing on their loved ones because some massive technocorp cared more about profits than their employee's lives!"

The world was starting to go blurry, and my vision was swimming. My face felt hot and wet, and there were people looking at me with pity and guilt and scorn and--

I ran.

By the time I had run myself out of anger, I was a block away from the Lab. Lucky I ran in the right direction... wasn't exactly paying much attention.

Come on, Aves, today's supposed to be a good day! I leaned against the brick perimeter wall of the university campus to catch my breath in the shade. Ugh, so sweaty now. Fall couldn't come soon enough. Doubly so if I could convince Mom to let me join the Gym Circuit after all. It was only a week out from starting at this point, but sign-ups go up to the day before.

I knew money would be an issue at the start. Mom makes good money working at the nuclear plant, but good money for Manacawlin isn't so good in the rest of the region. Hell, I saw on Chatter the other day that a Fresh Water in Elcastillo was up to 1000 Pokedollars now! If I wanted to make any kind of progress, I'd need to stretch Gym winnings to their limits... At least until I could try to get a sponsor.

Inhale, exhale. Heart's stopped pounding, breathing under control. Still feel sticky and gross, but I could show my face to Auntie Pine. Not like she'd judge me for what happened, but... Well, no need to make her worry, right? I was fine.

I was fine.

I rounded the corner and entered the Lab. A bright, spacious foyer area met me there, along with the blessed chill of the air conditioning. An assistant scientist was sitting behind a window into an office space, analyzing something on his computer screen with an intense expression. Noticing me enter, he smiled and called back, "Professor Pine! Avery is here for you!" I didn't recognize the scientist, so I was a little surprised he knew my name. My memory for faces is really not great. "You can go on in, Avery," he said with a smile.

I nodded at him and went through the heavy door into the main lab area. The front space was primarily bookshelves and cabinets, and another window to that office space the assistant was sitting in. Another assistant scientist was on a stepladder skimming across labels on the shelves to find... Something important, probably.

Further back were tables with machines for healing and transferring Pokémon, computer monitors hooked up to experiments, and small terrariums. There was one that seemed similar to the local mountains, one for the river valley central to the region, one for the rocky peaks further west, the desert in the southwest and so many more areas all found throughout Valica. The primary research done here concerns ecological impacts of human and Pokémon expansion and habitation of different areas.

"Avey!" I turned from where I got distracted by a model of soil layers under some sort of metallic surface and flopped straight into a hug. "Happy birthday! I am so excited for you to meet these little fellas, they're all so sweet and nervous to meet you and-"

"Auntie, hi, please, I'm sweaty lemme go I'm happy to see you too just," I extracted myself from the lanky woman's grip.

"Please, if a little sweat was enough to keep me away, I wouldn't have set up shop in Shaw," she laughed, green hair bouncing in its folded back ponytail. "But yes yes, here, let me get you some water--Kayla! Could you- yes, yes thank you, dear--okay she'll be right back with that and come! Let's sit and talk for a minute before I introduce you to the little sweeties in the other room."

Her energy was infectious, and I could feel the lingering ick from earlier ebbing out of me, replaced by a bubbly feeling in my chest. Kayla, the woman I saw before, brought me a cold bottle of water, and Auntie Pine and I went to her office.

She opened a desk drawer and pulled out an envelope. "Here! Your Trainer Card. Your mom got me all the details to get this ready for you. You can use your ID to get free access to the Pokédex app for your smartphone, too."

I was already fumbling to open the app on my phone--the free version doesn't do much, just tells you the name and type of a Pokémon you scan. You can then go and look up more information online, but if you're outside a town, you won't have access to the Internet. The Dex app has the information stored on your device, but a paid subscription is crazy expensive, and that's the only option if you don't have a Trainer Card for whatever reason.

"The Trainer Card is your license to carry Pokémon in Pokéballs, up to 6 at a time. If you do wind up running the Gym Circuit, your badges will be logged directly on there. It'll act as your credit card, too!" She rifled around a bit more before placing six Pokéballs on the desk. "Tap the card to those and they'll register to your ID."

After registering the Pokéballs and getting the Dex app up and running, Auntie Pine sat down. "Now! Let me tell you about the three Pokémon all eager to be your starter." She paused. "Treecko, Cyndaquil, and Totodile. All three are rescues that came to me through Ranger contacts. Treecko is from the Dirodak Forest, North of here. A logging operation at its edge destroyed his family's home. Rangers relocated the family further into the forest, into the tribal lands, but little Treecko was enamored by people and wanted to come back with them.

"Totodile is actually very much local. One of the mines that was shut down was flooded out by a storm recently, and sent a tremendous quantity of mud and rock slurry into her river. It was lucky the Rangers found her--the Joys didn't think she'd make it based on the condition she was in. But the persistent gal pulled though! Totodile are generally left on their own from a young age, and after being saved by humans, she was interested in finding a human to partner with.

"Cyndaquil is from the Lachia Mountains. Her parents were illegally poached for their pelts. Rangers investigating the area for the poachers found her, alone but uninjured. It's been a few months since then, and Cyndaquil seems to want to know more about people, despite the harm they caused her. Brave little sort!" She put down the notes she was referring to. "I've been taking care of them the last couple of weeks. Is there anything else you want to know before meeting them?"

That was already a lot. What a brave Treecko, willing to leave his family to adventure with humans? Totodile is so resilient, coming back from the brink like that! And Cyndaquil... Opening herself up to a relationship with humans after something so horrible... "No, I'm ready to meet them."

Auntie Pine led me to what seemed to be a nursery of some sort. I guess she gets young Pokémon to care for regularly enough to have a dedicated space for them. The room was full of colorful blocks and low structures to climb on, wheels to run on, blankets and padding to dig around in and roll on. There were tanks of water with filters to keep them clean, and underwater features for swimming Pokémon to engage with. One whole side of the room was even covered in vegetation for hiding and climbing!

Totodile popped her head up out of one of the tanks, a sizable stick held askew in her jaws. She scrambled to get out of the tank, splashing water all over the place, before hopping out and running over with her little arms in the air. Treecko was towards the top of a planted tree, and made some impressively long leaps from branch down to bar down to box before walking over. Cyndaquil was nowhere to be seen, until one of the blankets started squirming and her long little snout poked out. She sniffed the air before tossing the blanket off over her back and trotting over, flaring up her flames as she did so.

The bubbles in my chest were threatening to burst, they were all so precious! "Hi! Uh, I'm Avery... Aves. I, uh, hope I can be your friend?" Pokémon understand human language for the most part... Right? Gah, all the book knowledge flies right out of your head the moment you need it.

The three Pokémon all looked happy at that, though, so even if the words weren't clear, the intention must have been. Totodile immediately hopped up and grabbed one of my fingers, pulling me over to a tank of water before diving in. Treecko hopped on top of a small inflatable ball and walked it over behind us before laying it up for me with his tail. I caught it, and Totodile looked expectantly from under the water. I tossed the ball towards her, and she leaped out of the water and smacked it back at me with her tail, fully hitting me in the face before I had time to react to the force of the hit. The Pokémon laughed though, and I wasn't hurt--it was just a little beach ball--but that was kind of embarrassing. 

"Okay, okay, I'm not so good at catchin' a pitch that hard! But wow, you don't hold back, do you Totodile?" The blue devil shook her head and dove backwards into the tank.

Treecko patted my leg to get my attention before scurrying over to a plastic box a few feet tall. He jumped up on it, then up onto some Mankey bars. "Do you wanna see me jump onto the box, too?" He nodded. Arceus above, these Pokémon were practically giving me a Pacer test!

I backed up to jog up to it, but Treecko shook his head, hopped down, and then from a stand in front of the box, leapt onto it, then looked back at me. "Oh, a standin' jump, yeah?" Another nod. Totodile came running at that point and jumped up onto the box, landing on her slick belly and sliding clear off the other side, nearly colliding with Cyndaquil.

I stepped up to the box, looked to Treecko, squatted, and jumped as high as I could. I barely got my toes up onto the lip of the box so I could push myself forward onto it on my knees. "Ack, I didn't think that'd be so hard!" Treecko sniggered from his place returned to on the Mankey bars, but clapped for me. He seemed to say I needed some training. "Hey, not all of us are born climbers and jumpers, alright little'un?"

I turned my attention to Cyndaquil. She was sitting at a distance of a few feet, watching. I smiled and she stood up, yipped, and then curled into a ball and rolled over to the blocks. I followed while she set three up in a little pyramid shape. She backed up and then rolled out again, knocking over the stack of blocks, before jumping out of the roll and turning back to me and yipping again. "I sure hope you don't want me to try to turn into a ball! I don't think humans can do that."

She shook her head, then nosed at the blocks. "You want me to set up blocks for you to roll into?" Cynda! Sounds like a yes. I took her method of making a pyramid, but I made it really big for her, bigger than she would be able to on her own. She wiggled in excitement and I set up some blankets behind the pyramid as a crash pad for her. I had barely stepped out of the way before she jumped into a Rollout and crashed through the foam blocks, plopping into the blankets with a fanfare of plunks as blocks hit the floor. "Yeah, you go, Cyndaquil! That was awesome! Knocked the bunch clean over!" I cheered. She poked her head up out of the blankets and yipped at me, then ran out and around my legs a couple times before taking her position again. The other two Pokémon started playing with each other, leaving me with Cyndaquil to set up more blocks for her to bowl into.

I've made my choice of partners, and I think Cyndaquil has, too!