Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hop’s words a week prior had stuck in Tsuki’s brain like a bit of old gum under a table. He had recommended that he also tackle the Galarian Gym challenge, since he seemed to have so much fun spelunking in Pokemon Dens and battling Dynamax Pokemon. The Snagem hadn’t really considered that before especially in Galar of all places- he was from Kanto and had spent three years in Paldea. But truth be told? This place seemed like a clean state and he liked that, he also liked the idea of turning that jean jacket punk with a Wooloo into something of a rival. So once he had finished his winter break, he made sure to contact Raiden, Raifort, and Clavell for permission.

Raiden, wanting his pupil to stretch his legs and see more of his home region, was ecstatic about him doing the gym challenge. Clavell and Raifort? Tsuki had already been absent for a large part of his school year. The boy had comprised, saying that he’d be able to fill a report out on the local history of the region and that he’d be willing to take any exam to back up his knowledge on it. Plus battling was worth class credits too! Surely if you could get credits for challenging one Indigo Certified league, you could do so with another?

They relented finally, and with a backlog of papers on Galar needed to justify his being here, Tsuki found himself in Motostoke, having heard this was where trainers needed to register for the local gym challenge. Hopefully the Director could count as someone who could vouch for him… would he need to find someone to sponsor him? The thought hadn’t crossed his mind until right then.

“Yeah, I’m here to try out for the gym challenge. Is this we’re supposed to go…?” Tsuki replied to the kindly receptionist lady who pulled him aside and handed him some paperwork for him to fill out. This was so different than Kanto, he thought. As long as you had your trainer’s license there, there wasn’t nearly as much work to be done about needing to partake in the gym challenge. You just walked up and picked a fight. But that was in the Indigo Chain and this was on the other end of the planet, he mused.

Let’s see… name? Tsuki Tanaka. Address. “Uh….” He clicked the Pokeball pen in his hand a few times. Did the HQ even have an address? The trainer decided to put ‘Mt. Silver (The top)’ and figured he’d just hash out any confusion about that when it was time to cross that particular bridge. The phone and trainer license numbers were quick enough but the badge number made him click his tongue. “One…” Tsuki said as he scribbled his answer, writing he had the Kantonian Boulder Badge. As for his most powerful Pokemon? Putting down his Blastoise didn’t feel wholly inaccurate. Baja did pack a bigger punch, even if he relied more often on Maggie- but he figured that if he omitted the fully evolved Pokemon over the actual baby then they’d get the wrong idea about him.

Oooo and they gave out free jerseys? “Could I get 240? And mediums for both should work.” He said. So they had to wear them during all gym matches? Tsuki guessed that was just one more thing that Galar did differently. He’d ooo and aaaah at seeing the jersey in person, nodding along with the receptionist. Knowing that he didn’t have to wear it all the time was good to know, he didn’t fancy wearing shorts in a region this north of the equator.

“Right, start by heading west through the mines to route 3.” Tsuki said, repeating that first bit so he wouldn’t forget. The first three gyms were going to be grass, water, and fire in that order? He looked at his SNAG to check out his party. Thankfully he brought a balanced enough team to be able to cover those types in a pinch. Even more so that he had gotten the ability to Mega Evolve his Blastoise- he had a feeling that the third gym leader Kabu was going to put up a real fight.

Firstly though, he did need to make use of the locker rooms. “See you soon then!” Tsuki promised, heading into the lockers to swap out his white top for the jersey he had received and to throw his scarlet leather jacket over that. He’d give this region credit where credit was due, they had a lot more interesting clothes to look at compared to Kanto. Once he had gotten his outfit situation sorted out, he walked out of Motostoke Stadium and into the city proper.

Deciding to check out the map on his SNAG first, Tsuki looked to find this Turffield that the lady had mentioned. Turns out she was right, go figure, and he’d have to go through two routes and a mine to get there. He considered just flying atop Terra and skipping the whole affair but his mentor’s advice to take things one step at a time echoed in his mind as though he had tried to ride a bike inside of a Pokemon center.

Now probably wasn’t the time to start skipping parts of this journey.

But to prepare for that bit of travel? As he walked, Tsuki considered the Pokemon he had on hand along with any items. He had the Magby on his shoulder along with his Blastoise, Flygon, Dipplin, Pikipek, and finally the team’s newcomer. Between them and the handful of Potions and Revives he had on his person, he didn’t see any reason not to leave Motostoke.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut-

Tsuki took an hour to stop by the local Battle Cafe, having learned about them from his earlier visit to Wyndon. He declined the battle ready barista this time, instead buying some pastries for him and his Pokemon to snack on during their trek to Turffield along with a coffee to get him energized for said trek. The trainer sat by the window and unwinded, letting Maggie walk around on her own. The Magby instead hopped on a chair and grabbed a magazine for her to read, the kind with gossip on the local celebrities and their countless sordid love affairs.

Once he had finished his treat and his Pokemon looked like she had finished her tabloid, Tsuki left the cafe with Maggie following closely behind. They had also checked out the Pokemon Center’s Mart (They didn’t have separate Poke Marts either? Sheesh.) and looked over their TM selection, only to be disappointed. The only thing keeping Tsuki from snickering about the Helping Hand TM was having seen the move actually be put to use in the Wyndon Battle Cafe. But he opted out of buying anything.

By the time he had gotten out to Route 3, it was already midday and it looked like a straight shot to the mines that the receptionist had told him about. As Tsuki walked, he saw Pokemon that he was both familiar and unfamiliar with. There was a pair of Growtlithes and Zigzagoons racing around in the fields, a Trubbish napping by a recycling bin, and something that looked like an evolved form of Rookidee high on a tree judging anything beneath. Whatever it was, the name was beyond him. He decided to leave those be, not drawn to those Pokemon all that much.

Tsuki thought to himself how this felt not unlike the early routes of Kanto- or the later route of Kanto for that matter. Open plains with various Pokemon peeking out from bushes was comforting in its familiarity to him. So when he saw another trainer making both camp and something that looked like stew for lunch, he wasn't all that surprised. When he stopped to wave him over, Tsuki waved back. "Hey! Yeah, I heard this was the best place to get through to Turffield." He answered, pointing behind him to the tunnel with his thumb.

When the slightly older trainer offered some of his curry though, Tsuki decided to give it a shot. "Yeah sure why not, what'd you put in it? Also, my name's Tsuki." He asked, giving his Rolycoly a look. The coal looking Pokemon liked fire? That didn't seem too odd. He decided to squat down and extend his hand towards the heated rock type, wondering if he could get its attention- like a kid seeing a cat for the first time.

"Oh, and this here is my partner Maggie." Tsuki said with a gesture to the Magby following him, moving his offhand over to his Blaze Amulet and gripping it tightly. He focused what internal fire chi he did have into his outstretched hand, thinking it might get the Rolycoly's attention. The Pokemon seemed familiar, it probably existing somewhere in Paldea, but he hadn't met one up close yet.

"Oooo, muchas gracias." Tsuki said, thanking Marvin once he had been handed the curry. He blew on the curry to cool it down a bit before giving it a go- finding himself not bothered by the spice as much as he thought he would have been. Why didn't trainers in Kanto do this more often, he'd wonder. "It's really good, you said you put berries in here?" He didn't know many humans who ate them, but he guessed that was just something else they did here that was different.

While Maggie got familiar with the Machop, Tsuki thought about how to best answer the other trainer. It was a little bit of most of those reasons if he was being honest with himself. "Right now? The Gym Challenge mostly, my mentor is having me learn more about his home region by exploring it. Me and some friends challenged some of the local Pokemon Dens for the first time last week actually and I got convinced to give the challenge a go. How about you?"

"Hm? There anything interesting about that cave? Far as I know it's just called Galar Mine." Which didn't exactly spark the imagination for Tsuki. Why not something like Mt. Moon? Or name it after one of the nearby towns?

"...you've gotta be kidding me." Tsuki said, going briefly slack jawed at learning there was a veritable cache of Wishing Stars ripe for the yoinking a few miles off of where he had been last time he had been in the area. Well- at least that was an adventure worth going on for its own sake anyways. He nodded sympathetically to Marvin. His home wasn't that much better- they named his home mini region after NUMBERS.

Huh? "OH YEAH, food." Tsuki said, realizing he had gotten distracted again. He'd chow down on the curry, coughing a bit from going too fast halfway through if only to give the other trainer a thumbs up in approval. For something quickly slapped together, he'd take his proverbial hat off to the guy. He jumped up to a stand and nodded. "You got it! We'll give him all we got. Right Mags? Mags?"

He looked around, only to find Maggy sitting upside down, his phone in her hands. The trainer groaned and returned her. "No more screen time for you missy."

"Right, thanks for the food again!" Tsuki said, returning the bowl and spork before running off towards the mine with a wave good bye.


Some time in the future, outside of Hulbury...

Tsuki looked at the name of the second mine that he stood in front of. "Oh you've GOT to be @#$&#xin;g kidding me."

Tsuki yawned at the warning signs of Galar Cave 1 with as much impudence as a teenager with the experiences of several murder attempts under his belt could muster. A mine? Dangerous? He looked around and yoinked a helmet to put on, adjusting it dramatically. Least he had his PPE on now. Knowing a bit about not getting lost in caves, if only from playing survival video games, he knew to pick a direction and keep to it. The lights and their reflections on the exposed gemstones caught his eye, not unlike a kid seeing something incredibly shiny.

He also jumped at the Rolycoly, not expecting it to be almost on him so easily. Thankfully it seemed just as startled as he zoomed away into a pile of coals. “My bad little guy!” He tried to say. As he thought about it a bit more, Tsuki wondered if he ought to learn a bit more about them while he was here. Plus Marvin’s had already caught his attention. Before he walked deeper into the mine, he crouched low and tried to get the hiding Rolycoly’s attention. Maybe he could get it to come out.

“Do you guys like fire? I saw one sitting in some earlier.” Tsuki asked, putting out a hand and directing as much of his chi as he could manage into it. The amulet around his neck glowed a dark red and he could feel the heat in his body focus in his finger tips. When that did seemingly nothing, he snapped his fingers, causing a bit of flame to come out of his pointy finger. No more than a candle’s worth, but it kept its flame without burning him.

Tsuki’s face lit up, having not been sure if that was going to do anything. But it had, and despite it being far from the most impressive display of channeling he had seen, this was the first time he had actually managed to make Fire instead of merely generating heat.

Baby steps were still steps and it had only taken over three months’ worth to make a candlelight.

Not wanting a crushed finger, Tsuki did indeed pull his hand up and out of the Rolycoly’s path. “How about this,” He said as he stood back up. “, you lead me to something interesting in this cave and I’ll give you as much fire as you want.” As though to prove his point, the trainer focused on the flame kept alight in his palm and directed more chi into it to make it momentarily larger before letting it shrink back down to the candlelight he had conjured. There were three paths he wasn’t familiar with but hopefully one of the locals knew of something off the beaten path. Otherwise, finding a way out was always going to be needed.

Once the Pokemon picked a direction, Tsuki followed beside it with the fire in his hand acting as an additional source of light in the tunnel. He opened up his SNAG and looked at the Pokemon’s Pokedex entry.

Rolycoly, the Coal Pokemon. It can race around like a unicycle, even on rough, rocky terrain. Burning coal sustains it.

“Huh. This should help you, I think? Otherwise whoops-sorry-don’t-run-over-my-foot.” Tsuki offered, flipping his hand upside down and petting the rock type with the fire from his hand. Just for a moment though because he could feel the heat singing at him if he did that for more than a second. “Right, not fireproof.” He noted.