Chapter 53 - Island Drive

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As I spin the wheel to pull out from my parking spot in front of Olivia's shop, I'm suddenly cut off by another jeep. Not only does this ȧsshole park right in front of me, half blocking the road still, he jumps out and runs inside.

I bȧrėly have a moment to realize the identity of the man with deeply tanned skin and practically closed eyes when he comes crashing back out, shattering the glass door of the jewel shop.

Olivia's heels click against the sidewalk and crunch glass as she stands over Brock, "You're late."

He raises his hands in surrender, "Olivia, yes, can we head back inside?"

"No," her pointed shoes step between his legs, dangerously close to something important, "In fact, if you don't find the man that attacked our daughter by the end of the week, I'll request to revoke your custody rights."

"Mom!" Crystal runs out only to stop before stepping on any broken glass, "I'm sure Dad will do all he can, let's not blow this up anymore."

Riiiiight, I lean out my window, "Ahem."

Olivia just arches her brow at me while Brock scoots back slowly, Crystal mouths the word 'Help Please!'

"Sir, you've blocked me in. We're in a bit of a hurry to make an appointment."

"Ah!" He carefully gets up and gets back into his car.

The angry woman smooths her outfit, "You have a busy week Mr. Kurt, but if you spot my ex slacking off... I hear you're good at punching faces."

If I had a hat I'd tip it, "I'll keep an eye out."

Brock takes off down the road with a sketchy U-turn, I follow suit at a more reasonable speed. I see him turn towards the crash site up ahead, we're headed the opposite way today.

The road north out of town is lined with flowering trees of every color imaginable and the occasional grass type living among the branches. With my phone connected to our ride It shows pokemon we're passing by. One of which, a Comfey, is this tiny little sprite chaining flowers together like a kite tail.

"That one seems right up your alley Naomi."

"Um," she sighs, "Yes, sort of…"

Her look goes from pouting to angry, "That's cute, and yes, I want it, alright? But not now!"

Taking another look at the tiny things drifting among the trees, "They don't help your team strength problem, right?"

"Exactly!" she slumps in her seat, "What I want and what I need aren't lining up."

I can't help laughing, "Big problems for a thirteen year old."

Lacy softly nudges my side.

"What I mean is," pulling over the car so I can look at the young girl, "You don't need to worry about it that much. I don't normally advocate this kind of thing, but what's actually stopping you from catching that pokemon… Really?"

After mulling it over for a second, "What will viewers say if they see me using a bunch of dainty, little, flower covered pokemon?"

"Screw em!" spouts Jane, and I agree.

"This is your life, your adventure Naomi. You dream of a fairy garden in Mauville," I point to the Comfey, "Make it happen."

With a big exhale she nods, then reaches under the back seat for a slim, but wide case. She pulls out what looks like a pair of pokeballs tethered together.

Jane explains as Watts gets out of the jeep, "Pretty sure those are Breeder Balls, supposed to allow a mated pair of pokemon to stay connected even in the ball. Not for battling obviously."

Interestingly we watch from the car as Naomi strolls ahead for a bit before stopping at a tree blooming with lavender and aquamarine flowers.

"Is she just going to talk a pair into hopping in the balls?"

Lacy smiles, "Well, it's easily the best way to capture and relocate a breeding pair. Also I suspect these pokemon living on the outskirts of town are all fairly young so attacking them at this stage would be very uncalled for."

A couple minutes of what I ȧssume was a negotiation with the help of her Floette, and Naomi is skipping back to the car, "Hehe, Success!"

A ping from the center dash display indicates a Passimian on our left and sure enough I spot a pair of white apes fighting over a bunch of fruit up in the trees.

"Those on anyone's wish list?"

Shrugs all around and we keep going, the dex app pings a couple other pokemon, Morelull, Paras, Bellsprouts, Yungoos, more Comfey, finally a Fomantis that Naomi asks us to stop for.

While I'm checking out an index of local pokemon, I swear I hear what sounds like a classic bugle call to charge.

"Ah! Kurt!" Naomi yells from the trees bȧrėly ten yards away.

Hoping out of the jeep I see a V formation of toucan pokemon preparing another barrage of seeds.

With a dash I arrive just in time to pull Watts around a tree trunk as seeds pelt the bark like bullets from an automatic rifle. Ahead I spot a few seeds impact on the next tree with a bit more than a pellet gun. Checking the young girl in my arms, her jacket was left in the car and on her arm and shoulder I can see a small amount of blood leaking from three spots.

"Well shit," I rotate us around the tree to keep cover while grabbing some pokeballs, "Tess and Blue, bring these birds down." Peeking at the car, "Jane, have your Onix shield you two!"

Blue merges with the jungle and begins working with Tesla to create a mesh of vines and sparking webs. Already some of the dozen odd Trumbeaks begin bouncing off or getting caught while the rest look for openings to fire on us.

I hear Naomi whisper, "It's okay little gal, Kurt will scare them off."

She's trying to soothe a shaking little Fomantis in her arms.

Right, I'll get right on that, "Snag em up Blue, Tess keep aiming to paralyze them."

Vines strike like snakes while my, not so little anymore, Joltik slings balls of sparking webbing into the flock. Each time a seed nearly hits her a tree root springs up to block the attack. Blue is showing off a bit today.

A couple of birds smash through the mesh and dive for my bug pokemon.

Naomi joins the battle, "Froosh, smash those bully birds!"

With a flash of light her Mienfoo appears and performs a flying round house on the first bird. The second Trumbeak barrel rolls out of the way only to be met by my Joltik leaping onto it. Feathers fly as sparks light up the shadowy jungle floor.

The remaining birds up above seem to give up as another bugle call sounds the retreat. On the jungle floor among the dense roots and vegetation, Mienfoo has one bird flailing about in a headlock while Tesla has the other stunned and wrapped in webbing.

Walking up to the one struggling in the weasel's arms, I bonk it on the head, "That's enough you little jerk."

It snaps at my finger and toots something from it's beak that sounds like mocking laughter.

Naomi walks up and sets down the Fomantis, "Use sweet scent."

A dusting of pollen seems to spurt from the bulb on the little flower bug's head and drift into the Trumbeak causing it to relax. Which means nothing stops Froosh from choking it out… ya this feels weird.

I toss great balls at both birds while Naomi opens a nest ball for her new grass type.

Pulling up my Dex app I register both pokemon, apparently a male and female pair, "I'm guessing these are a bit aggressive to add to your fairy garden plan?"

Naomi shakes her head while registering her new pokemon, "The Toucannon line is known to be mischievous, not violent. They eat berries, not bugs or plant types. Something must have wound them up."

"Well," Jane and Lacy join us as I take a careful look around the surrounding jungle, "We can bring it up at the lab, I'm sure they have contracted trainers that can investigate. Let's get out of here."

Lacy climbs in the back seat with Naomi to dig out the seeds in her arm and wrap some bandages.

Ya this is coming out of my pay.

I give Tesla some scritches to which she chirps and rolls over for a belly scratch. Blue is admiring all the different flowering trees until I put them both back in their balls. The jeeps display doesn't ping any nearby pokemon but that doesn't eliminate the fact that something could be hiding in the endless ferns and vines.

Deciding that's enough delays, we make straight for the lab on the north shore. All eyes peeled to the surrounding greenery in case anything bigger decides to show up.

Naomi uses that clever head of hers in a call with her father, "Of course I'm fine, I have one of the best pokemon related, emergency doctors in Hoenn sitting right next to me. I'm literally bleeding to make my dreams come true, stop standing in my way. I want that greenhouse wing added to the north west side, you know it's just an empty field!"

A pause before she continues, "Nonsense. Be honest, what is the annual revenue of the top floor park?"

"Exactly, and I'm asking for something with only a fraction of the cost of the aquarium floors the board thought was such a grand idea."

She sighs with a smile, "Thank you father, I'll find an expert to spear head development while I'm here in Alola. I'll see you for dinner so we can look at my idea board...oh, well we can… of course."

Rather than keep pushing for his involvement she just hangs up and turns towards the window.

Lacy puts a hand on the young girl's hand, "You know landscaping is my family's original trade? I'd love to see what you have in mind."

We exit the jungle to the sight of bright island sunshine and beautiful coastlines speckled with rocky tidal zones. Wingull flock along the white sand as a water spout from a Wailord plumes in the distance.

In the rear view mirror I catch Naomi wiping a tear and smiling as she pulls the tablet out of her bag and begins showing something to my fiancé.

Jane elbows me and points ahead, "Kurt, is that the lab?! It's insane!"

Starting with a smaller building on shore, a highway sized tunnel extends out to an artificial island just off shore. More jungle and palms create a green ring around a glass dome lined with solar panels. Spires ring the facility with slowly rotating paddles that break up the larger surf, presumably doubling as additional power generation.

"Okay, sure, but my Lighthouse idea may be invasive…"

Naomi snorts, "You're not wrong, this however is the compromise after the Tapu's refused to allow another large building on the actual island. With the original Aether Paradise blasted to smithereens across the ocean floor, Alola needed a new lab, and under new management. Hence the League stepped in to enforce better control as well."

It looks like one of those concept hotels always being half built in Dubai, "That means there's also a gym here?"

Jane hops in her seat a little, "Director Burnet's Trench Badge is one of the rarest you'll see in the worlds' circuit! Battles can only be televised because the arena is a mile underwater!"

Naomi nods, "There's also a rookie gym in the conservatory dome."

"Maybe we can check it out after our appointment for Sandshrew and whatever this secret turtle stuff is."

Jane kicks in her seat a bit, unable to contain her excitement from looking on her phone, "We have to! Naomi!" she looks back, "Use your rich girl powers to get us on a sub, there's a Trench match today!"

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