While eating breakfast the next morning, Erika spoke up. "Are you going to Amethyst?"
Joe hadn't planned on it. He could last long enough to reach Viridian without topping up his supplies. But Erika was asking for a reason, so he nodded. He wasn't against seeing another town.
"Good. I feel like getting out of the house. It's a coastal town just a couple of miles away. We'll reach it in no time."
Joe liked the sound of that. Olivine had no beaches to enjoy. Olivine was all-in on being a port city, not a tourist attraction. If Joe's Johto vacations took him to the middle or North of the country, then Joe wouldn't see a beach. Thankfully, Gloriosa was a coastal city and had a massive beach. When Joe visited his mother, he sometimes spent an afternoon watching the sea. But still, it was the same beach every time. Some claimed that any beach was a good beach, but Joe liked variety. Even if it was the same idea, he thought being at a new beach made it feel fresh and new again.
"What? Are you too scared to go alone?"
Erika's eyes narrowed. "You know, I do actually have secret compartments throughout this cabin. I saw you sucking your thumb like a baby while you slept."
Joe could only grin in response.
Joe was ready first, so he stood outside and stretched while he waited for Erika. Joe took note of Absol's position on his left. Once or twice might be a coincidence, but Absol had claimed Joe's left side constantly before anyone else could. Her preferred position, for some reason. If anything, Joe would've suspected Absol's horn as the part of her that senses disasters, so she should be on his right. Allow the horn to sense the area without Joe's bulk getting in the way.
Joe opened his map book. Flipped a few pages. Saw Amethyst. A population of a few thousand, with tourists occasionally doubling it. There were a lot of hotels. In the top right corner was a little description. Apparently, an ageing man from Old Pallet wandered East until he found a cave by a beach. It was filled with gemstones, with his favourite being purple. So he founded a village, now a town, and named it Amethyst. Now, hundreds of years later, gems are something of a local speciality and are sold as souvenirs.
Erika finally came out. They walked through the thinning forest. Reached open fields and rolling hills. In the distance they could see Amethyst. The town stretched from atop a hill to down by the sea.
Joe's phone pinged. He'd spent days away from cellular towers. He wasted no time checking his phone. Might be important. He saw a message from Sonia and Melony, asking how he was doing. He responded immediately. Went to put his phone away when it dinged again. He expected a reply from one of the women, but when he looked, he saw a job notification instead.
"Young people and their smartphones." Erika chided.
"Yeah, sorry grandma."
Joe didn't catch Erika's response as he read the request, but he had no doubt it was another cheeky comment. That was what he noticed about Erika. She wasn't so much a comedian as she was just cheeky.
The request immediately gripped Joe's heart. He put his name on the list. Someone wanted fresh photographs of a Pokemon species called Fomantis. It was a request that anyone around the world could fulfil, so competition was fierce.
Joe opened the PokeDex. Found Fomantis. The species was quite small, barely a foot tall. It had a big green head and leaf arms. Pale pink skin on its face and body, with deep, pink beady eyes. There was a tab on each Pokemon's Dex entry about their habitat. He tapped it and saw that Fomantis liked forests and plains. They had been sighted in the area Joe currently found himself in.
"Fomantis?" Erika could barely see the screen due to the size difference, but she caught sight of an image. While she hadn't caught one herself, her Gym had a Fomantis for lower tier challengers.
Joe scratched his cheek. "Do you know about Nomads?" Erika gave an affirmative. Gym Leaders were made aware of it. "Well, I just got a job request. There's a girl in hospital and her favourite Pokemon is Fomantis." Joe switched back to Nomads. "Her dad asked for pictures of the Pokemon."
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's find us a Fomantis." Erika became serious at the mention of a sickly child.
Joe was going to offer to part here, not wanting to drag Erika along for a job. But despite being a Gym Leader, Erika was different from Melony. Erika still wanted an excuse to keep classing her journey as active. Completing a job for someone in need was a good excuse.
Joe received this notification for a reason. The request was in Amethyst, in range of Joe's automatic alert settings. Joe was thinking he could personally show the girl a Fomantis. He sent a message to David, the father. Informed the parent that he was close and would try to catch one. Joe's suggestion, paired with his good reference from a detective, made David accept Joe for the request.
Joe and Erika moved to the top of the nearest hill. Looked around. As per the PokeDex entry and Erika's own knowledge, the Fomantis species mostly slept during the day, in wide open areas where they could absorb energy from the sun. Chances were, they'd find one in these plains.
They searched for a time, dipping between hills and walking near the treeline. When they had no luck, Joe called out to his trusty assistant.
"Hey Rotom, think you can find a Fomantis for us?"
Rotom shot into the air about ten feet off the ground. Swung the back camera around a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degrees. It sunk down into Joe's hands. He saw that Rotom had created one large landscape image and had placed circles of different sizes throughout the image. There had to be a couple dozen circles, showing there were plenty of Fomantis around, yet Joe and Erika had somehow missed them all.
"Are these circles showing the distance to the target or the strength of the Pokemon?" Joe asked as he kept swiping one way, realising the image was wrapped around so he could scroll infinitely.
"Distance." Rotom replied.
With that, Joe spun the image until he saw the biggest circle. It was at the top of a flat hill. Joe and Erika were at the base of said hill already. They ascended. Through squinted eyes, they scanned the hilltop until they saw a Fomantis. It was sleeping on its back. This one in particular seemed to be in a deep sleep as it had a large snot bubble growing and shrinking as it breathed.
Joe felt a need to be quiet. He whispered to his phone. "Hey Rotom, can you take some pictures of Fomantis please?"
The phone did so. It zipped around, snapping pictures at different angles. There wasn't a good way to approach and wake a wild Pokemon, but Joe had to do something or it was already a stalemate. Joe crept along with Erika by his side until they were just a few feet away. Despite trying their best to be quiet, Fomantis stirred. It was sleeping in broad daylight, so part of its brain was on high alert and dedicated to small changes. Things like a new scent, blocked wind, and shade.
Fomantis' eyes opened a little. It saw two shadowy figures looming over it. It shot to its feet and raised its arms straight forward. It fired pure energy shaped like oblong seeds from between its leaf arms.
Bullet Seed brushed Joe's face as he stepped aside to cover Erika. He wrapped his right arm around the woman and brought her in close, an automatic response to protect her. Absol started growling. Without thinking, Joe grabbed Cyndaquil's ball from the holster at his back left hip and underhand tossed it. Cyndaquil came out and ignited the fire on his back. Fomantis shot Bullet Seed again at Joe, to which Cyndaquil used Ember to protect Joe. The two moves clashed.
It'd happened so fast that only now did Joe's brain catch up. He tried to speak. "Wait, we come in pea-"
Fomantis didn't care to listen to Joe. It believed it was in immediate danger so continued to fight. It used Bullet Seed, this time aimed at Cyndaquil. There was only one way to calm the wild Pokemon now. Through battle.
Cyndaquil rolled aside, Bullet Seed tearing through dirt. He ran to close the distance with Tackle. Fomantis put the tip of a leaf arm on the ground. Before Cyndaquil could reach his opponent, he tripped. Roots had rapidly grown on either side of Cyndaquil and formed a knot in front of one foot.
Grass Knot. The move did more damage the heavier the Pokemon was as its own weight was used against it, but for Fomantis, it was utility. It gave Fomantis the moment it needed to rush in, its arms glowing a bright white. It raised both arms, aiming to bring them down and slash Cyndaquil.
Joe's grip on Erika loosened, but she remained close and watched carefully. If Joe was entering the Gym Challenge, then one day he would arrive at her Gym. She wanted to understand how he fought so she could become a great hurdle for Joe to overcome.
Cyndaquil was on all fours. He got one Ember off, striking Fomantis' left arm and knocking said arm back. Sometimes slow and steady precision suited even Cyndaquil. Fomantis' right arm came down and struck Cyndaquil in the side of the face. Cyndaquil rolled with the force and stood a few feet away. He was ready as Bullet Seed came his way. He fired Ember twice. This delayed the attack long enough for Cyndaquil to roll to the side. Bullet Seed passed through the air where he was standing just a moment ago.
Fomantis was already in front of Cyndaquil with Slash ready. Cyndaquil coughed, the fire on his back sputtering as he unleashed a black fog into the area. This stunned Fomantis just long enough for Cyndaquil to tackle his opponent. He lowered his head and dug into Fomantis' belly, throwing the Grass-type up and out of the smoke. Cyndaquil followed up with Ember, which Fomantis managed to counter with Slash. Fomantis landed just outside of Smokescreen and Cyndaquil barged into it with Tackle, sending it skidding along the ground.
Fomantis dug its arms into the ground to bring itself to a stop sooner. It used Grass Knot to grab Cyndaquil's feet and trip him again. It jumped in with Slash. Aimed to bring the attack down on Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil used its mystery move, a massive explosion spawning from his back and engulfing Fomantis.
The Grass-type had no escape. It was blasted into the air and eventually fell. Joe caught Fomantis. It was tiny in his combined palms. Steam was coming off parts of its body. That steam briefly burst into flames before calming, becoming grey wisps of smoke again.
Rotom flashed a message saying Fomantis was burned. A status condition where fire energy became trapped on the defence energy and would periodically damage it.
"How do I get rid of it?"
"It goes away on its own after a while."
A while was too long for Joe. He reached for his ball to return Cyndaquil. Froze when he saw his hedgehog panting heavily, barely able to stand. Compared to the combo of Caterpie and Pancham, Joe felt like his Pokemon hadn't fought that long or hard against Fomantis. Why was Cyndaquil so worn out?
A question for later. He returned Cyndaquil and had Rotom highlight the nearest PokeCenter. Erika hopped onto the back of her larger than average Shiftry. It stood on two feet, had a bulky wooden body, a pointy nose and long white hair. With its leaf hands it whipped up a wind and boosted its running speed, easily matching Joe's sprint as he ran into Amethyst.
At some point, Fomantis tried to keep the fight going. But it didn't want to be too harsh against a human. They weren't built the same as Pokemon. Fomantis launched Bullet Seed, with pulled punches, and caught Joe in the chin. It felt like being hit by a thrown baseball. There was some power behind the attack. "Hey, calm down. I'm trying to fix my own problem. I'll get that burn removed, okay?"
Fomantis took this in and calmed a little, occasional bursts of fire lighting it up. A few streets into town, they reached a PokeCenter. Joe handed Fomantis and Cyndaquil to a nurse.
As he waited, Joe asked Rotom a question. "Hey Rotom, why was Cyndaquil so tired?" Joe had a theory, but he figured the assistant would know more.
"It was the move he seems to have developed himself. He does not have full control over it, so it's using all of his power regardless of how much energy he has left."
As Joe thought. "But the power doesn't seem to change depending on how much energy he uses." The strength and effects of the move seemed the same between its use against Pancham and Fomantis, even though Cyndaquil should've had more energy in his Fomantis fight.
"Correct." Rotom confirmed. "The amount of energy he is using isn't changing the strength of the move."
That was good to know. This mystery move, whatever it was, should only be used when Cyndaquil was close to losing. The power didn't change, but it instantly tired Cyndaquil out, so it was worthless at the beginning of a fight.
The nurse brought Joe's Pokemon out. He put Cyndaquil's ball in his holster and held Fomantis in his hands. Walked outside with it. Placed it on the ground, his knee resting on stone.
"I'm sorry for the trouble. I didn't mean to scare you or hurt you."
Fomantis looked up at Joe and tilted its head. Accepted his apology. It turned and looked down the street to where the fields were, but its attention was drawn to Joe raising a hand in the corner of its vision.
"Ah, one second. I wanted to ask you a favour." Fomantis turned its attention back to Joe. "If you don't mind, there's a girl in a hospital that really likes Fomantis. Fomanti? Whatever, she likes your species. Could you visit her for a bit? I think it'd make her really happy."
Fomantis didn't fully understand what a hospital was. Had it just been treated at a hospital? If so, then the girl was sick. Fomantis looked at the ground. Looked back down the street. Nodded and let out a little squeak, hopping onto Absol's back.
Joe rose and smiled. "Thanks." He turned to Erika. He suddenly realised what he'd done earlier. "Er, sorry if I overstepped." Joe had acted automatically, honed from years of danger. They joked back and forth, but it didn't change the fact that Joe and Erika didn't know each other too well.
Erika brought a sleeved hand to her mouth and chuckled. "It's fine, Prince Charming." She said in a teasing voice, drawing out some syllables.
As long as Erika was fine with it. Considering she was a Gym Leader, she absolutely could've handled herself just fine. She's much stronger than Joe. But she let herself go along with Joe being the protector.
Joe sent a text to David saying he was on his way. He followed directions on the app. Arrived at a hospital. Walked through automatic glass doors. It was a clean, mainly white, open space. To the left were rows of plastic seats. A man rose from one. He had a hunch and black bags under his eyes. He did his best to smile when he saw the Fomantis on Absol's back.
Joe approached the man. Put a hand out. "David, I assume?"
"Yes, yes. Thank you, Joe." He put his other hand atop their clasped hands and squeezed. Despite his apparent tiredness, David had some strength to him. "You didn't have to go the extra mile like this. You don't know how much it means."
Joe simply nodded. He didn't know what else to say.
David took in the woman standing beside Joe. His eyes widened. He raised a hand like he was going to point, but stopped himself last second because it would've been rude. "E- Erika?"
Erika smiled.
David scratched the back of his head and forced a little laugh. "My daughter loves Fomantis and, by extension, she loves Grass-types. She watches all your Gym battles."
"I'm honoured." Erika said, giving a handshake. It seemed as though this would turn into a meet and greet with a celebrity.
They walked up some stairs and along a large hallway until they arrived at a door with pink flowers on it. David rocked from his toes to his soles and took a deep breath. He put on a big smile and opened the door.
"Hi, sweetie." David said, eyes on the bed. It was a proper bed, not a typical hospital bed, because his daughter lived here. "Daddy has a surprise for you."
His daughter was sitting up and watching a show on TV about a boy raised in the wild by Pokemon. She turned and her face lit up with the most brilliant smile, like nothing was wrong. She looked younger than ten years old, but that was just because she was sick, not growing properly due to her body prioritising fighting her illness. She was twelve years old. Her long blonde hair didn't match David's brown hair. A trait she'd received from her mother.
Joe felt a lump in the back of his throat. He tapped Absol. She walked to the bed, giving Fomantis easy access. Before Fomantis could even hop onto the bed, the daughter squealed and rushed to grab the Grass-type. She hugged it and kissed it. She held it in front of her to really absorb the details of Fomantis and the fact that she was holding one.
With Absol out of the way, Joe had more space, so he stepped aside to let Erika into the room. The girl was too interested in Fomantis to realise her favourite celebrity was here. David cleared his throat to get his daughter's attention. She looked over. Did a double take when she paid attention to the woman.
"Erika!" She screamed, tucking Fomantis under one arm and throwing her blanket aside.
Joe didn't know the girl's problem, so he was surprised to see her run up to Erika and wrapped the woman's torso in a big hug. Joe heard sniffing and eyed David. He was doing his best, but he was struggling. Joe put a hand on the father's shoulder and squeezed.
The daughter talked a mile a minute to Erika as she cuddled Fomantis. Erika slowly helped the girl sit back down and Erika herself crouched in front of the girl.
David backed out, having seen his daughter happy. His mission as a father was a success. Joe followed and quietly closed the door. He went to a vending machine and grabbed a few drinks. David sat on a chair outside his daughter's room, leaning back and closing his eyes for a moment. He needed all the rest he could get. Joe poked David's arm with a bottle of water. David slowly opened his eyes.
"Oh, thanks." He grabbed the bottle and took a little sip. "It's, er… Caroline is the only family I have left. Her mother passed some years ago, so it's just me and her."
Joe sat down and took a massive swig of water. "Family is everything. You do what you can for them."
David leaned forward, his arms resting on his legs. "...Yeah."
They sat in companionable silence for a time. As far as Joe was concerned, David was a damn good father, doing what he could. Like most men, David silently sucked up his complaints about being overworked and stressed out. Like most parents, he did everything for his child.
"Is there any way I can help further?" Joe eventually asked.
David shook his head. His daughter had been fighting her illness for years, and she might still have years of fighting left. "No… No. It's something she has to fight herself. No one can do anything. But she's friends with the nurses and a few other children. And the Pokemon that work at the hospital love her. But thank you for offering."
Joe nodded even though David couldn't see. "Good people and animals can help get people through tough times."
Joe expected to hear that Caroline was better one day, and he had no doubt that she would end up with a few Pokemon. If she loved Erika as much as it seemed at first glance, then Caroline might enter the Gym Challenge. Many animals would love the attention and love that Caroline showered Fomantis with, so she wouldn't struggle for a team.
Erika soon came out of Caroline's room, a dour expression on her face. She had put on a brave face the entire time, only now letting the mask slip. By her side was Absol, Fomantis on the wolf's back. Absol walked over to Joe and sat down, quiet and contemplative.
David peeked into the room and saw Caroline was tucked into bed, sleeping. He thanked Joe and Erika once again and sent them on their way as he sat outside his daughter's room, almost like he was on guard against approaching threats. He would do anything for her. Sacrifice everything for her. He was the perfect guardian.