C062 - Trip to Hoenn starts

It was finally time for Valentino and Pete to make their way to Hoenn. They would both sail on the backs of the two Lapras Valentino had rescued the day he arrived on the farm.

During breakfast that day, Clair had sent him a strongly worded message to his league ID about how they would 'fight out' who has the better fashion sense the next time they would meet. Pete hoped that didn't mean a pokemon fight, he'd much rather have a fist fight with the woman who was very likely to beat him up squarely, but that would still leave him with better odds. Her Charizard was clearly out of this world.

The pokemon who would accompany Pete were the Azumarill family, the three Farfetch'd, Duosion, one of the two Minccino, Nidoking, Arcanine, Espeon and the male Milotic.

A few pokemon, especially the shiny Miltank, Servine, and Vibrava were rather mad they weren't allowed to follow and only relented when he gave them and Golurk the solemn task to defend their home while he was away and promised them priority on his next outing. He also placated them by saying how terrible it was for the pokemon that followed since they would have to stay in a pokeball for a few days instead of running around in freedom.

"You sure you have everything? I still think it's a terrible idea to make this trip on the back of a Lapras," Isabelle asked with a concerned expression from where she stood next to Sophie on the beach.

"Yeah, I'm sure. And I have both Milotic and Duosion with me, so we're extra save and can teleport away from imminent danger," Pete reassured with his trademark warm smile.

"Stay safe," Jasmine wished with a long but chaste kiss for Pete.

"Finally a vote of confidence," Pete retorted with a wink toward Isabelle, who smiled wrily in return.

"Remember to call me if there's something wrong. I can always visit again if the trip is cut short," Pete repeated for the tenth time today as he stepped on Lapras' back with only Duosion, Milotic, and Minccino out of the pokeball.

He would ball Milotic later when they were on the open ocean to preserve his stamina, while Duosion and Minccino weighed almost nothing, especially if Duosion helped by training her psychic energy.

"You look stupid with 3 three bags hanging over your shoulder!!" Sophie's shout was the last thing he heard from the Feelgood ladies that accompanied him to the beach.

He had spent last night cooking meals for the next four days, one of them as backup since Valentino calculated they would only take three. He obviously also brought his bag with the berry module, which he had filled as much as his farm allowed and became his designated food bag.

One bag was completely empty, while his pokegear bag had his potions, pokeballs, and survival gear like the tent and sleeping bag he hadn't used in a long time. He also brought a few items to barter that he didn't really need. Like those two giant Moon and Leaf Stones and the few golden nuggets he and his pokemon found during his journey.

Since he was now a proud trainer of water pokemon, it was no longer necessary to bring copius amounts of water. One bottle was all he brought.

"Are you sad that your sister didn't want to come along?" Pete asked Minccino once they reached 'Bay Island' after leaving the lake and steering toward the ocean.

"Mincciii~"

"Mhm, you'll be able to tell her of your adventure, and maybe she wants to come next time. Can't really blame her, though, for this particular trip. I'm a bit scared of the open water myself," Pete admitted with a chuckle.

Bay Island was home to a few trees and bushes, but the most obvious defining feature of it was the Butterfree tribe living on the island. Hundreds of Butterfree could be seen peacefully flying about everywhere in its range. The trees and bushes were filled with Caterpie and Metapods.

'Huh, crazy how they can sustain their numbers without razing the island to the ground almost daily.. how do they do that?' Pete idly thought as he stopped counting the Butterfree.

"Wondering how so many of them can live here without starving?"

"Huh, yeah, I really was," Pete answered, a little surprised that Valentino had slowed down his Lapras to ask him what he was currently thinking.

"Yeah, I was wondering that too when I came through on my way in. And the answer is, I don't know! I would like to find out, but I'm not stepping on that island. Have you seen how many of them there are?"

Pete's face immediately settled into a stony expression. Valentino only laughed and urged his Lapras on to swim ahead once more.

The open ocean turned out to be a lot less open than Pete thought. Sure, they were more or less hugging Johto instead of hitting open water, but the Lapras had to navigate through lots of rocky protrusions and past several small islands with the occasional small caves on it.

They were nonetheless very far away from routes 40 and 41, so it was a bit peculiar that much of what he saw reminded him of the infamous Whirl Islands from the Gen 2 game. There were, however, two very clearly 'man made', straight open passages as they crossed the sea. Pete judged that the first one would allow ship traffic to both Goldenrod and Olivine City while the second one probably allowed passage to Cianwood City and the Safari Zone.

It was an hour after sunset that they finally jumped to an island near the cliffs of route 47, the only road leading to the Safari Zone. It apparently wasn't Valentino's first cross-ocean travel, which Pete found a bit weird. He had only found the two Lapras a few weeks ago, after all.

The island they decided to rest on was home to almost fifty Wingull and Pelipper. It had no trees and only an overhead cliff that would allow them to get shelter from rain. Pete calmly released all his pokemon, which made the Wingull anxiously squak and scatter, though they swiftly came back when all of Pete's pokemon simply nestled around him for food.

"The ocean belongs to Tentacruels, eh?" Pete mumbled after Valentino sat down next to him to enjoy some of Pete's food.

"Well, they are the most numerous on the surface, but the depths belong to no one. Cloysters, Gastrodons, Lumineons, Lanturns, Octilerrys, Crawdaunts, and Kinglers. You can find a huge variety in these waters. And let's never forget the biggest killers in this particular sea. The Sharpedos," Valentino explained as if he had been a deep sea diver in his past life.

"Hmm, they have the ability Speed Boost, so nobody can really hinder them from getting away. Is that why they can act like they do?"

"Yeah. And think about what it means when the Sharpedo is forced to tap into its speed boost to run away from attackers. It uses up stamina and is forced to eat more. It's a lose-lose most of the time, which is why nobody bothers chasing them. They get really cocky thanks to that," Valentino explained patiently.

"What about Wailmers and Wailords? We haven't seen a single one, honestly surprised me a little," Pete asked since Valentino seemed to have all the answers.

"Ah, it's their mating season, I reckon. So most of them moved near a particular island in Hoenn from around these waters," Valetino diligently answered between bites.

"I see. Where's all the pokemon with additional ice typing? Like your Lapras or Dewgongs, Delibirds, and Walreins?"

"Hmm? Oh, they mostly hang out on certain islands with an Articuno's, Suicune's, or Manaphy's blessing, making the environment cold enough. The same is true for Empoleon tribes and the super rare Omastar and Kaputops groups. Jynx and the Swinub line are also quite partial to those. They are, after all, an amazing source of Water Stones and Nevermelt Ice," Valentino added off-handedly.

Pete was looking at his colleague suspiciously since two questions ago.

"Are you Mew in disguise or something?"

"Nope, Benny is. I'm actually Victini," Valentino answered immediately while still concentrating on his food.

"Huh. Okay," Pete said with a shrug and went back to brushing Arcanine's fur. It was so warm and soft. Brushing it quickly became one of his favorite pastimes. The same was true for Arcanine.

Valentino started to snicker, which Pete quickly joined. They laughed it off for a minute or two before Valentino finally caught his breath.

"The professor made me read a few books to prepare us, and my younger brother is a first mate on a cruise liner. The one I was on before I rescued those Lapras actually," Valentino answered with a wink.

"Got it, 'Victini'," Pete quipped back a wink of his own.

"Okay, everyone. Lights out in 10. Marill, please help with the plates. Nidoking, please even out the ground a little, I'm a picky sleeper. And the rest can start relaxing. Milotic, would you be okay with keeping an eye out on the open waters over the night? I'm sure the three Farfetch'd would take the second shift if you need the rest."

All his pokemon agreed, and Pete was lying in his tent exactly 10 minutes later. He gave Jasmine a quick call to tell her about his day and hear about hers before he quickly fell asleep.