Hurdles[2]

My savior was a young woman, probably older than me, wearing a long white lab coat and sprinting with the prowess of a decathlon champion. As we sprinted through the woods, she expertly weaved between bushes and underneath trees, stopping only once we had reached a slight clearing off of the massive Bellsprout migration."Can you climb?" She half-yelled between breaths.My lungs were heaving, so it took a moment to choke out: "Yeah, a bit!""Good, grab this!" She snatched a rope, barely noticeable from the tree it was hanging from, and tossed the limp end back towards me.I grasped the end, feeling it dig into my hands as it took my full weight, and pressed both my feet into the tree. It had been a while since Gym class, but I had never fallen out of shape.A few moments later I was pulling myself up into a small wooden platform, maybe three meters across, that had been set up in the tree. It had no walls or ceiling, though the branches around it gave the illusion of one, and there were a few bags set off in a corner next to an open bedroll.I shuffled away from the edge, giving the woman space to climb up behind me. When I offered my hand to help pull her up, she accepted."Thanks." She said between heavy breaths."No problem." I sighed, plopping down into the space. "That was a close one, I can't thank you enough for that.She took a few moments to catch her breath. "You can thank me by not making me do it again." She said sharply, with more than a hint of annoyance. "What are you doing so far off route?"Uh oh. I pulled out my PokeNav+ to check the map and my stomach grew cold. I had no idea I'd gotten so far off the path. I was easily a kilometer or two outside Route One.Part of each region's League's responsibility was to mark out routes that were safe for trainers to pass through from town to town. The League tended to mark the areas outside of these routes as extremely dangerous for trainers without at least four badges. There were no legal repercussions for entering these zones, but the danger kept newer trainers on the established routes."Sorry, I had no idea I'd passed the Ranger markers," I admitted. "I was following one of the Bellsprout that had passed by my camp and I must've missed 'em.""Well, you need to be better about that." She scolded, wiping the sweat from her brow. "The Rangers put those up for your safety, and trainers should never leave the routes without proper permission. You're lucky you ran into me, and not the Ursaring that's been around the last few nights."She glanced up at me, realizing that I didn't recognize the name. She spread her arms to mimic a menacing creature. "Giant bear, big teeth."She scooted across the platform and laid herself down, getting a better look at the massive amount of Pokemon moving below us. I moved into a similar position. Down below, there were hundreds of Bellsprout moving in lines, all feeding into a river of Pokemon. I could see every variation of green and yellow, the Pokemon themselves not being entirely uniform in their color.It was like spring itself moving through a forest. The contrast between the dark woods and the bright Bellsprout was awe-inspiring."Wow," I said."Yeah," she replied. "Wow."I glanced to the side, taking in her appearance full for the first time. She couldn't have been more than a couple of years older than me. Her face was kind and soft, and her expression was only intense in how obviously she admired the waves of marching Pokemon. A complete transformation from the annoyed person I'd been dealing with a few minutes prior, the woman's green eyes were alight with curiosity and wonder. Her hair was cut to shoulder length and draped over the back of her lab coat-Lab coat."Wait," I realized, "You're Professor Oak's assistant?"She started at my words and turned to face me, though she continued to glance down at the Bellsprout. "Yeah…" She said, uncertain. "Do I know you?""No, sorry, " I said "I just remembered that the Professor had said his aide was out-""Oh, you know Professor Oak?""Not really. I stopped by his lab earlier to pick up my Trainer Card. He mentioned you while I was there."She sat up from her spot at the edge of the perch and glanced at me with the same curious eyes that she had previously had for the Bellsprout. I felt my cheeks heat up as I had her full, undivided, attention. And following that, they reddened more in the embarrassment that I couldn't keep my composure being in the same space as a pretty girl for more than five minutes.It's not like that. I thought. I'm just not used to anybody this intense. It doesn't matter that I think she's pretty. At least, I don't think it does?After a few more moments of studying me, realization flashed across her face. "You're that Hoenn guy!" She exclaimed, "I prepped your documents yesterday; Derek something, right?""Yeah, that's me," I said, "Derek Tracy."She leaned forward and offered her hand out with a smile. "Daisy Oak," she said, "Nice to meet you, Derek Tracy."I shook her hand, enjoying the moment before my eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. "You're his granddaughter?" I exclaimed.Daisy chuckled. "Yeah, though I'm glad he introduced me as his aide first." She tucked her legs in and sat with her back against a branch. "It'd be unfortunate if that was the only thing I was known for."We dipped into silence as my mind started racing with questions that I definitely shouldn't ask. I knew from experience that being related to somebody important sucked sometimes, especially when people would assume that nepotism would be involved.Come to think of it, that's why I left Hoenn in the first place.I took another minute to look at Daisy, really look at her, with the new lens that I had just acquired. She had returned to studying the migration below, propping up her PokeNav+ on a tripod to record the mass of Pokemon. Even with the hundreds of footsteps making a low rumble in the air, I could hear her humming to herself.This girl likes Pokemon. I thought dumbly. Like really likes Pokemon. It makes sense that she'd take after her grandpa."So what's causing this migration?" I said, attempting small talk that I thought she'd find interesting.As I'd hoped, her small smile broke into a grin as she looked up from her video. "That's what I'm here to find out," Daisy said. "It's normal for Bellsprout to seek out the Sprout Tower, but we've never seen them group to this quantity, especially not this early in spring.""This could be a once-in-a-century event," she continued, "so I'm being careful to record all of my findings for posterity. I think that it could be caused by anomalously elevated environmental temperatures and increased humidity striking earlier than normal in this part of the world, so the Bellsprout line was compelled to undergo premature migratory behaviors. My findings have been inconclusive so far though, especially because I'm still waiting on ecological data from Pewter City before I can start drawing up a temperature map and cross-referencing it with the previous year's migration patterns."I sat for a moment, slightly overwhelmed. This girl really likes Pokemon."So…" I stumbled, "What's Sprout Tower?"Daisy looked stunned at the question, but continued to smile. "You understood everything else?" She asked, incredulous."Well, I followed everything you said?" I scratched the back of my head. "You were saying that because the planet's heating up, it's too hot for the Bellsprout and they keep panicking because they think it's summer?"She looked legitimately impressed. "Huh," Daisy said. "Yeah, you could put it like that."It was my turn to grin, and I couldn't help but feel self-satisfied. Take that Mr. Henson's biology class! I knew I didn't deserve that B!Daisy pulled her PokeNav+ off the tripod and swiped for a moment before bringing up images of a tall wooden building. "This is the Sprout Tower." She said, moving to sit next to me. "It's a really old building in Johto that was built using a massive Bellsprout as its core, and ever since it's been where the Bellsprout migrate to in spring.""That's really cool!" I said, not commenting on just how close Daisy was sitting. "I know almost nothing about either Johto or Kanto, so this is all a little intimidating.""You came all the way here from Hoenn, and you didn't do a cursory search first?" She questioned."Well, that's kind of the whole point." When she waited for me to elaborate, I continued. "I love Hoenn a lot, but I've been there my whole life. I know everything about Hoenn. When it came to picking the region that I would compete in, I knew the exact route I would take if I tried to take on the Ever Grande Conference. I knew what my team would look like, I knew what Gyms I would challenge, and I even knew who would be my rivals. I didn't want that. I wanted an adventure."And I would've had every advantage handed to me. I added silently. Mom and Dad would've made helped me have an easy route to the top."That's actually pretty admirable," she said. "You came in ill-prepared, but with good intentions.""Yeah," I chuckled, "and I almost got eaten for it.""Almost." Daisy emphasized. "Every trainer almost gets eaten at some point or another. No reason to linger on it. As long as you've learned your lesson, it's just a funny anecdote that you can tell people later about your adventure. Heck, even I have some embarrassing stories from my League challenge."That got my attention. Daisy was the granddaughter of the Pokemon Professor, intelligent enough to be a research aide, and she had done a League challenge?Legendaries almighty, I think I'm in love. She's so much cooler than me. I chuckled.Daisy, obviously thinking I was laughing at her, frowned. "What? I was serious when I said everybody had embarrassing stories. Do you think I'm lying to make you feel better?""No!" My chuckles evolved to full laughter. "I just made myself laugh, it's nothing important.""Sure…" She said suspiciously. "And the Victreebell chum doesn't want to share it with the class?""Nope!" I said, "though I could be convinced if someone would like to share one of those stories?""Huh, story for story?" When I nodded, she continued, "Well there was this one time when I was doing a contest in Saffron…"Daisy and I chatted into the early hours of the morning. She was just so interesting, with her love of Pokemon research, and had dozens of stories about her adventures. It turned out that I was right, she was nineteen to my sixteen. She'd done her League challenge a few years ago, though she'd decided a few months in that she preferred coordinating to training.In fact, she let slip that she'd actually won last year's Spring Pokemon Contest as its grand champion. After that, she'd decided to retire from contests and focus on getting an 'actual career'. She now worked at her grandfather's lab to get experience in different fields of Pokemon study until she decided on her researcher specialization.In return, I told her about growing up in Lilycove. I mostly kept Mom and Dad to myself, but I found myself talking honestly about feeling like my parents having too much of a hand in my journey. It was cathartic in a way, letting details slip here and there that I felt she could relate to, also having a pretty important family member.It wasn't until the rumbling of the Bellsprout had faded and the migration faded that I realized the time. The sun peaked between the trees, and the buzzing of insects replaced the silence.My alarm on my PokeNav+ went off, signaling that I should be waking up, and I felt sadness pool in my stomach as I silenced it."Does that mean you have to head out?" Daisy asked. Maybe I was projecting, but I thought I heard some disappointment in her voice."I probably should if I'm going to get to Viridian anytime soon." I sighed, and started to push myself into a standing position.My legs were numb, and I immediately stumbled. Daisy grabbed my elbow and steadied me. She pulled herself up."You know, you've been up all night." She said, "If you want… …I could walk you back to the route?"I could feel my cheeks flush. "Yeah, that would be nice. I'd like that."Daisy smiled. "Good, give me just a minute to pack my things and we'll get going.""Sure, sure," I said.I took the opportunity to climb down, using the rope we'd used earlier. The forest felt too empty with the Bellsprout gone. After a few minutes, Daisy tossed a large canvas duffle down to me, and I steadied the rope as she climbed down.We walked mostly in silence over the next few minutes, following the trails that had been trampled by the migration. The ground was smooth, and any obstacles had been cleared by the hundreds of Pokemon that had moved through the area. It made hiking far easier and quicker than it had been to get here.I found myself not being very grateful for the quick journey.After about twenty minutes, we found ourselves at the route marker, a sign left by the Rangers to warn trainers that they were leaving the approved route. It was bright yellow, and written in a dozen different languages."Damn," I sighed. "I should not have missed that."Daisy laughed. "I really don't know how you passed it. It even glows in the dark." She glanced around. "So you're headed to Viridian?""Yeah, which is this way?" I asked, feeling bummed."Yes." She frowned. "And I'm headed back this way towards Pallet."The silence hung heavy and awkward in the air."Then-""I guess-"We spoke at the same time, and both started when we interrupted the other.We laughed. "It's been fun," I said. "Thank you for the hike and the company.""And then saving you from almost dying." Daisy corrected me, "And you're welcome.""Yeah, thanks." I held out my hand. "See ya, Daisy."She grasped it back and shook my hand. "Goodbye, Derek."I released the handshake and turned away towards Viridian. I only made it a few steps before I heard her yell out for me."Wait!" Daisy called. When I turned, she was crossing the small gap between us. Her PokeNav+ was in her hand."What's up?"She held out her PokeNav+ to me. "Give me your number."I looked at her, then the PokeNav+, then down at my own. I laughed. "Sure. I'm an idiot for not thinking of it myself.""I want to make something clear." Daisy declared, meeting my eyes. I felt my palms clam up at her straight-faced intensity. "I really enjoyed talking with you and would like to do so again. I'm going to be in Pewter City in three weeks to gather the ecological data that I told you about. Would you like to meet me there?"I was stunned. Wow. She's the most straightforward person I've ever met. And then my brain caught up to what she was actually saying."Like, a date?" I said hesitantly."Yes."My ability to form conscious thought evaporated. The singular gear in my head burst into flame from overworking.It's official. Kanto is so much better than Hoenn."Y- yeah." I stuttered out. "I'd- I'd like that.""Good," Daisy said, satisfied with my answer, "I'd like that too."She waited for me to put in my number, and sent a quick text through so I'd have hers. Daisy nodded, finding everything satisfactory."I'll see you in a few weeks, Derek." She said."See you then, Daisy," I replied.She turned away, massive canvas bag slung over her lab coat, and started walking towards Pallet Town. It wasn't more than a minute before she disappeared into the trees.I honestly don't know if I stood there for one minute or five. My mind was racing.I've never gone on a date before. What will I wear? I only brought athletic clothes for hiking and training. I don't have anything nice to wear.An image of myself and Daisy at a fancy restaurant, her wearing a lab coat and myself in a hoodie, flashed through my mind.I chuckled to myself, the absurdity of it was enough to shake me out of my thoughts. I had three whole weeks to figure out how that was going to go. And besides, she was only the granddaughter of the only important person I knew in Kanto, who happened to be an international touchstone for the entire Pokemon community.My palms started sweating."No pressure…" I said to myself as I took off back down Route One.No pressure, indeed.