28 Chapter 27 "Route planning"

Nearly a week and a half later, we finally arrive in Slateport. We're all a little bit richer, our pokemon are feeling a little bit more confident, and we are all just grateful to be off the damn boat. The last four days were the worst. Sure, they had planned activities and meetings and the like. We met some other groups that were using the SS Anne as a sea taxi to get to another region as well. But there was only so much that could be done without us wanting to jump overboard.

I know Danu and Njord were both getting frustrated. Cleo was fine, but then again she was picking up on all of us getting frustrated so she was probably getting frustrated as well. Just better about blocking it out I guess. I know John and Andrew were getting slightly worried about their pokemon as well, especially since Swablu was the only one who had any sort of relief from being cooped up on the ship.

Either way, the ship pulled into Slateport and our first stop was the market. Slateport has one of the world's largest open air markets, and we just wandered for an hour or two. None of us really wanted to spend too much money at this point, as we knew we were going to have to make some other purchases before we left. We also had to make some decisions.

Namely, we had to decide what route we were going to take to challenge the Gym Leaders of Hoenn. The recommended route was to start with Rustboro, then take on Dewford before moving up to challenge Mauville and then Petalburg. This was also known as the Southern Circuit, and only those who got past it were even viewed as contenders by most Hoennites. After that you had Lavaridge and Fortree City, before you had to ferry across to Mossdeep and Sootopolis. Of course, some people would jump around a little, challenging Lavaridge before Petalburg and things like that. But for us, we didn't have any of those options.

Most of the foreign challengers like ourselves had to challenge Mauville or Dewford first. As long as you had a flying or psychic type, Dewford wasn't a problem. Mauville was more problematic. The gym in Mauville was an electric gym, and the gym leader had a lot of tricks he liked to play on newer trainers. In fact, it was highly recommended that Mauville was either the last gym you challenged before upgrading to middle beginner, or you waited until your team was much stronger.

So we had two choices. Either find a ferry here in Slateport to take us to Dewford where we could tackle Justin Stonetower, the local Rock type gym leader. Or we could head up to Mauville and try to take on Mayor Wattson. He was one of the few gym leaders who took a more active civic role and decided to become Mayor as well as Gym leader. Probably part of why he enjoyed his tricky battle style.

"Personally," Andrew starts, "I want to get the ferry ride out of the way. It's most of another day to get to Dewford, and then once we're done there it's another day or so to get to the drop off between Petalburg and Petalburg Forest. We can challenge Rustboro, then come down and see if we can't challenge Petalburg as well before trekking across to Mauville."

John nods his head, "I don't like our odds in taking on Wattson first. Too many trainers try that route so I'm sure the Hoennites have plans for it. Not to mention the League itself. Better if we take on Stonetower and Hollow before thinking about Wattson."

One thing I didn't think about before, is that my memories say that the current gym leaders should be different people. But, most of those people are either still on their journey or just haven't settled down yet. Roxanne, Brawly, Flannery, Tate and Liz are all supposed to be gym leaders here. Not to mention Norman who is reported to be moving into Petalburg starting next season. But this does mean that the gym leaders and the gym typing isn't the same.

"Well, Stonetower uses mostly rock types. So John and myself will be okay as we have a water and grass types. Your going to have the harder time against him as none of your pokemon have a significant advantage Andrew."

"That's fine. I'm already planning on my next two pokemon. Honestly the only pokemon I want from this region anyway. Meditite is going to be the first one, and I also want an Aron."

Both me and John nod at this. Both are fairly solid choices. It also works because both are found in the cave that's on Dewford Island. The Dark Cave is one of Dewford's attractions solely for Pokemon Trainers. It doesn't have a large number of the more powerful pokemon that can be found in other areas of Hoenn, so it makes a solid area to catch some pokemon for newer trainers.

"Honestly, since I already have Spheal, I think I'll stick with my three for this region. I won't turn down possibly catching something. But I'm also not looking either." John nods his head to agree with me. Both of us are a little more dedicated to working our current teams up, while Andrew is hoping to vary his typing a bit more to cover his weaknesses.

"Bluey is enough for me as well," John says. Bluey the Swablu…. I wonder if a terrible naming sense is common in his family…

"So we all agree then. We find a ferry to Dewford and wait here till we can take it there?"

We all nod. While it kind of sucks we'll be getting right back on the water, at least this time it's for a much shorter time. Dewford is only a couple of hours away by boat, I think. Pretty sure it's only about ten hours….

*****

"Sir, we've got some confirmations."

"Very well. It's going to take us some time before we can even think about accomplishing our mission anyway. Have our deep cover agents infiltrate Devon and watch for any of the manufactured parts that we might need."

"Yes sir. And about those weaklings from Magma?"

"We'll sink them later. For now it's more important to get our submarine fleet repaired."

*****

"Did we get any information through the hacking?"

"Yes sir. We managed to get full pictures of the ancient ruins in Dewford, including the sections that are not open to the public."

"Very good. How long will it take to translate them?"

"Unknown sir. But our archaeologists have already started working."

"Very well. Keep me informed."

"Yes, Leader Maxie."

*****

In a forest hundreds of miles away from Hoenn.

The small pokemon is running as quickly as his little legs can carry him. His friends are already captured, and if he doesn't get away he may be as well. He ducks and zips across the strange mushroom forest that he has always called home.

Only to discover he is surrounded.

"Now we've got ya, ya little turd. You made me and the boys have to run for it. That's gonna cost ya."

Before anything else can happen though, a great weight is placed on the entire area. And then the forests leader appears.

The regal Rapidash looks down at the small red and black pokemon for a moment. The hunters can tell she probably said something to him before light gathered around the small guy and he disappeared.

"You bit-" the leader starts, but before he can say anything else, the Rapidash stomps her foot and the Leaders head disappears like a grape.

All of the remaining men hear a voice in their heads that says, "Get out of my forest."

They don't argue. They just do.