The actual construction of the bridge is plain. A simple, consistently ascending concrete menace. The eastern lanes are nothing to write home about, their blue rails blending alternately with sea and sky and tall lightposts breaking the silhouette at uniform intervals. Just bridges, despite their length.
It's the details that make Mauport interesting.
Marie has heard of bridge towns, of course- old-timey Galar was covered in them, and Unova's Village Bridge is a beautiful piece of architecture. But to see a modern construction be used in such a way- fascinating, even beyond its scale! Beyond even the intricate mosaics of public spaces, the painted bicycle lanes, the lively crowds- practical thought has been put into every aspect of this town.
The white stepped rooftops, for example. Their bed and breakfast host had been quick to inform Marie of their importance; the stepped design slows rainfall and makes collecting water easy as can be, and the white coating helps reflect the sun's purifying rays. Designed initially for isolated settlements with no other fresh water, like the smaller islands of eastern Hoenn, it's proven highly valuable to the residents of Mauport. Water conservation is encouraged, but the cisterns below each row of buildings have only run dry once in the village's history.
Incredible!
The sewage and drainage systems are fascinating as well; Mauport apparently has its own treatment plant at the south end of the bridge. Whatever they use there is working, clearly, as Marie would never have known had she not been told. She's not entirely sure where all the pipes are, still, because their host had simply said "underneath" and moved on. Marie hopes they aren't dripping on Edison or anything.
Mauport's electrical facilities are apparently located at the north end, and pull power from the waves and tides below, the solar-gathering roads and traffic-powered wind turbines of the east lanes, and similar wind-catching turbines installed all across the bridges. Honestly, she's excited to spot all of these cleverly integrated things now that she knows what to look for!
Unfortunately, Marie is apparently not allowed to spend four hours delving further into this while sitting inside a B&B. She and Sunny had an agreement, after all.
Marie isn't sure how aware Sunny is of what she's doing. If she's done it right, she shouldn't be at all. The idea is that both of them need to make money, like,
immediately. Yesterday's earnings are still not enough for them to be comfortable, really, but enough for them to spend a day on the move before working more. At least- that was what Sunny was told.
As usual, Marie has a hidden agenda.
Sunny needs to slow down. This much she has gathered, from listening to Edison and watching the girl herself. However, simply going about at a languid pace and expecting Sunny to fall in line- that wouldn't work at all; she would just become fed up and leave Marie in the dust. Which is a trait Marie can certainly exploit if she gets tired of this game. But no, for now- Sunny has to be cajoled and tricked and manipulated. Marie has to pretend to compromise, find good excuses, out-maneuver Sunny's volatile emotions. She holds her back for a day, to work, and lets her go for another. Tomorrow Marie will find more work, and hold Sunny back again. Rinse and repeat. It's a fun game, and eventually, Sunny will get used to sitting still a while longer, Marie hopes.
Though she doesn't even hope that for her own sake, which is a bit strange to consider.
Regardless, it is nearly ten in the morning, and Marie has found a lovely use for the basket slung along the handlebars of her bike. Stunnie had fit perfectly, but after harassing one too many passerby he was swapped in favor of Tuie, whose mild curiosity gave way to her usual sleepiness very quickly.
"You could appreciate being out a little more, you know," Marie grumbles at her bird. Tuie cracks one eye open and vanishes, reappearing in Sunny's basket. Sunny jumps in surprise, swerving and nearly going down, so Tuie teleports back to Marie with a put-upon chirp.
"Hey, stay in your lane!" Sunny snaps at Tuie. "You trying to scare me, jumping in front of me like that?"
Marie pokes Tuie as she settles back into her basket. "See? Don't be ungrateful, I could be worse. Yelling all the time and never letting a Pokémon out." As if Marie herself hasn't spent most of her journey so far without a Pokémon by her side.
"Tch…" Sunny puffs out a breath in annoyance. "I don't yell
all the time. Only when it's appropriate." She looks over at Tuie, then at her own empty basket, before she stops for a moment to let Sputter out into the basket. Sputter yawns, looking around the area. Sunny shakes her head as she catches up to Marie. "No, we're not training. We're just… going on a bike ride."
Sputter makes a happy sound, her flame igniting and flickering in the breeze.
That's what trainers are supposed to do, isn't it? Walk with their Pokémon, get to know them, spend time with them. At the very least, Pokémon aren't meant to sit all day, or days on end, in their PokéBalls. There's a reason there is a limit to how many trainers can carry, after all- the whole idea is that trainers must interact with and feed their Pokémon while travelling, and six is the average number that people are able to provide for without struggle.
Then again, four is already a struggle.
Marie is
destitute. She can barely feed and shelter herself, let alone four Pokémon that need to eat. Even if Cutie can get by on photosynthesis, he should have more than just that, right? And she doesn't have a good way to walk with any of them- Cutie is slower than she is, Stunnie is a menace, Pokie is basically immobile. Tuie has a tendency to simply fall asleep- and therefore fall off of whatever part of Marie she is perched on. An issue, when walking especially.
So when is she supposed to make money for feeding them, and time for playing with them? How does she balance travel, finances, training, and interaction? How do people
do this? Sunny's no help, either- she's in the same situation Marie is in. Except-
"Your Pokémon are all little, right?" she asks, watching Sputter's flame flicker.
Is that okay? What happens if it goes out?
Despite Marie's internal concerns, Sunny doesn't seem bothered by the flame- merely surprised to be asked a question. "I guess so. Striker is kinda heavy, but they're all small, yeah."
"Why don't you have them out much, then? They should be easy enough to take places."
"Yeah, but that's not how it's done. Pokémon travel inside their Poké Balls, unless you're training, or… battling or want to see them..." She sounds uncertain, like she's just now realizing how this sounds. "They're comfortable in there."
Are they? "Is a stasis hold comfortable, do you think?" Marie's curiosity is genuine- she's never really considered how
comfortable such a thing would be. Convenient, sure, and useful- but comfortable?
"That's… what they told us at the Academy. Pokémon choose strong Trainers to travel and train with, and Poké Balls are an easy and comfortable way to carry them, especially the bigger ones. They never really talked about traveling with them out."
"Then when do you spend time with them? When do they get to do things? Like--" Marie gives a vague wave that almost unbalances her. "We spend all this time walking- or biking- and our Pokémon don't. They
should do things other than battle and train, right? And we're- preventing that, I think?"
She's not sure. She's not sure where she's even going with this, just thinking out loud. She's seen people all over Johto, all over Hoenn, always out and about with their Pokémon. Hell, even her dad's Ivysaur is a staple fixture of the greenhouse adjacent to his office when he's at work, not just found trundling around the house in the evenings. What makes travelling trainers so different? If people can walk with their Pokémon in the city, at work, at home- why can't she and Sunny figure it out?
"I don't know!" Sunny seems upset, confronted with an issue she clearly hasn't given much thought before. "Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, that wouldn't surprise me at this point!"
Sputter looks back to Sunny, the time of the basket the only thing stopping her from crawling into her trainer's arms.
Sunny sighs, quickly patting Sputter's head before returning both hands to the bars. "It's a lot, okay? There's a lot more people here doing stuff with Pokémon than I ever saw back home. I… I don't know if you knew this, but Pokémon training kind of fell out of style in Kinyo. They actually shut down the League this year. Coming here, I feel like I missed some critical need-to-know information, you know?"
"If
you've missed critical information, think of where I am," Marie laughs, dry and humorless. "Maybe we should just enroll at Rustboro Academy."
That might not be a terrible idea, all told.
"Who can we ask?" Marie muses. "Who do we know that knows things that we don't?" Maybe she can tack random questions onto her essays, see if Brendan will answer them. But what does she even ask? She's already run into this with him before- he can't teach her everything, without any sort of guide. That's not even his job.
"Well, we know a couple Professors, but I'd rather avoid Professor May if I can. She may be a former Champion, but she's kinda scary." Sunny shudders at some memory. "What about Gym Leaders? Isn't helping people live with and understand Pokémon part of their job? We could ask one of them."
Marie doesn't know a Professor May. Maybe that was one of Sunny's former teachers? Taught by a champion- crazy. But still doesn't know anything about
this... "Which gym leader, then? I've got… well, I only have Brawly and Wally, I guess. They're both nice."
But are they helpful for this?
"Sure, nice… wait, you have their numbers or something? I was figuring we'd just ask the leader in Mauville when we got there. Why did you get phone numbers?"
"Um, I don't know? Brawly said I could ask him about stuff if I needed so he gave me his- I think he might do that a lot, actually- and Wally and I might be friends now? Kind of? We did training together a few times."
If a failed gym battle counts as one of those times. "It's definitely not their personal numbers, there's no way. But work numbers are still numbers."
Sunny is quiet for a moment, then shakes her head. "You are far more social than I am. I suppose we could call one of them. But we can figure this out ourselves, right? I mean, how hard is it to take care of Pokémon and spend time with them?"
Ah.
Sunny doesn't want to admit to them that she doesn't know what she's doing.
That's relatable.
It shouldn't be hard, should it, and yet- they are struggling, somehow. Maybe it's simply because they haven't thought of it until now, and now that they've thought of it they will do it. Maybe they just need to give it time.
Marie is not a particularly patient person.
"Let's find something to do with them," she decides. "What are people around here doing?"
Looking around, they can see plenty of people with their Pokémon, walking or shopping or just hanging out, but what draws Sunny's attention…
"Battling!" Sunny skids to a stop, pointing to a Wingull and Taillow overhead, their trainers calling out instructions to them. They're very mobile, swooping and diving but never touching down. As they watch, Wingull spits water at Taillow's face, causing it to smack into a news kiosk and fall to the ground. It quickly hops back up, but its trainer groans sadly while Wingull makes a victory loop.
"Is it over?" Marie wonders. The Taillow trainer hasn't forfeited and the bird is still certainly able to battle- why were they paying out to the Wingull trainer already?
"Of course, of course! It touched down, didn't it?" A vaguely familiar mop of copper curls appears between Marie and Sunny, squeezing into the small space between their bikes. "That's how they do up here- not a lot of room for traditional battles, so they take to the skies! It's good fun, don't you think?"
"Could be…" Marie is already shuffling through all the Pokémon she and Sunny have on hand. "They can't touch down?"
"Nope, nope! If a Pokémon touches something other than its opponent, that's a ring out! Kind of. Except there's no ring. You know?"
"I know we can't do it, then," Marie sighs. The short stranger tips their head to the side.
"Why not?"
"Do they have to fly?" Sunny seems to have gone through the same mental gymnastics as Marie. "Can't they just battle on top of a bench or something? I don't have any Flying types."
"They gotta be able to
sustain levitation without assistance." The person sounds like they're quoting someone else for a moment. "We've seen Levitate and Magnet Rise and psychic craziness and- flying types obviously are best,
obviously, but anything that doesn't touch the ground- hey, hey!" They snap their fingers a few times and point at Sunny's basket, where Sputter tilts her head in confusion. "Lampent would work! And Xatu!" Tuie opens one eye to see a finger hovering alarmingly close- she vanishes with a clap of psychic power and reappears out of reach atop Marie's head. "Do they want to evolve?"
"If they evolve they can fly?" Sunny looks at Sputter in awe, and Sputter just looks back with an innocent smile.
"Sure, sure! Well- more of a general hover, for Lampent. Well- both, honestly, actually! But they could definitely, definitely do the sky battles!" The redhead claps their hands and bounces in place. "They just need some training!"
It never really occurred to Marie that a Pokémon might not want to evolve. She tries to look up, to see Tuie, but it's difficult when the bird has a firm grip on her hair. "Do you want to be a Xatu?"
Tuie shuffles her feet, tangling her hair further, and eventually chirps a tone Marie has come to associate with
sure, whatever.
"Training it is, then," she says, suddenly remembering she hasn't actually done any training since she was in Petalburg.
"Alright! Training!
That's what a trainer does!" Sunny cheers loudly, Sputter following her lead. "Wait. Where are we going to train out here?"
"That's tough, that's tough," their informant hums, tapping their lips with one finger. "You'll have to be precise, yes? You won't find many open spaces, so you'll have to be very very careful. And aim up! Up is fine. As long as things don't come back down."
⟡ ⟡ ⟡ ⟡ ⟡
The idea unfolds as the girls pedal a winding path through Mauport: flying is mobility. Mobility is something that the Pokémon in question do not have, barring Tuie's Teleport. So, as a precursor to flying, perhaps they should train simply physical movement?
When they finally find a small, vacant plaza, Marie finds execution of the idea more difficult than anticipated. Specifically, convincing Tuie to pretend she doesn't have the ability to Teleport away from all of Sputter's halfhearted lunges.
"No, look, you have to-" Marie performs some kind of half-assed juke, which receives a snicker from Sunny. "I mean. Use your legs. Or flutter. I know you know how, I've seen you do it."
Tuie stares at her, unimpressed.
Bratty, lazy bird!
"Well, is there another move you can use to… move?" Marie pulls up Tuie's data on the PokéDex app. "You can… do Ominous Wind?" A memory of a similar attack pops into mind. "On the ground?"
Tuie tilts her head and scritches at the pavement, then extends her tiny wings and flaps them once, ghostly energy gusting from them as she propels herself upward. It's only a few feet, and not angled perfectly straight, but it's a start!
And more than Sputter can do, hah!
"Wow, she got like three feet of air with that one." Sunny teases, despite Sputter barely moving this whole time. "You know how crazy it is that your bird can't fly?"
Sputter tosses another Ember at Tuie, apparently happy to provide motivation, at least. Tuie disappears and reappears slightly to the left.
"No! Use the wind, come on…" Marie sighs. "Natu don't need to fly! They've got amazing psychic powers. But if you're going to evolve you need to
fly, Tuie, you gotta learn… and hey! She's doing better than Sputter is, isn't she? Sputter doesn't even move!"
"She can move when she wants to! Sputter!" The little Litwick looks up expectantly. Sunny fumbles for a moment, then grabs Sputter and tosses her at Tuie. "Get closer!"
"Wha- that's not
her moving, that's
you moving her!" Tuie lets the blobby candle splat to the ground in front of her and gives Sputter a gentle peck. "And she doesn't even stay in the air."
"Well, yeah, but… actually, Sputter, use Minimize!" Sputter seems to melt into herself, becoming half of her usual size. "There, now there's more room for her to move. Now get closer!"
Sputter hops over to Tuie, though her ever-present smile falters. She looks back at Sunny, unsure what to do. Sunny shrugs. "I don't know, try moving around a bit?"
"Can she jump?" Marie asks. Maybe she can't- she doesn't even seem to have legs, really. Does Sputter have legs?
"Sure, when she has to. Show her your moves!" Sputter nods, hunching her body slightly before springing up and over Tuie, landing behind the tiny bird. "She's just as fast as before, just smaller, so it's easier for her to dodge. Maybe we can capitalize on that."
"Maybe. But what if it's like- Tuie, Ominous Wind the ground again."
The Natu obliges, flapping tiny wings to create far more power than is naturally possible and rising, nearly to Marie's eye level. The ghostly wind unfurls as it hits the ground, rolling toward Sputter's miniature form.
"Sputter, dodge! Obviously! But, uh…" Sunny struggles with her words, and Sputter is about the fall back into the Ominous Wind. "Oh! Use Ember! Ignite your wick, like a rocket!"
Sputter rolls in midair, flipping upside down as flames erupt on her head. The sudden burst of flame boosts her smaller body up and over Tuie, and nearly off the bridge itself.
"Too much! Come back!" Sunny recalls Sputter in a panic, then immediately calls her back out into her arms. Sputter cheers quietly, excited that she was flying for a moment. Sunny hugs her close. "We gotta work on your aim if we do that again."
Marie casually drops her hands from where they had instinctively flown to cover her mouth. She hadn't been worried. Or impressed at how much power the little candle put out. Of course not. Nothing to see. "
Straight up is key, yes? For both of us. Maybe that's where we should put our focus instead of dodging."
"Yeah, yeah. Makes sense. They can't really fly just yet, so we need to get them closer to that. Makes total sense."
It very quickly becomes a competition to see who can gain the most height, and Marie very quickly finds that it is not Tuie. Sputter has less control, maybe, and has to go completely upside-down for this technique to work, but when she does it right she lifts off like a firework. And that, somehow, actually motivates Tuie- petulant chirping that seems like muttering under her breath turns into straining to gain height, flapping her little wings at the top of her pulses to gain her enough time to send another Ominous Wind sweeping downward. Still not matching Sputter, and neither of the Pokémon always going straight up, but by the time they've exhausted themselves they're almost, truly, flying.
Almost.
When Tuie fumbles a flight after getting the pattern well and truly down, Marie writes it off as a miscalculation. When she fumbles two more, that's when she realizes her little bird is
tired.
None of her Pokémon have ever trained so much as to be
tired.
"Time to be done," she announces briskly, catching Tuie midway through her latest tumble. "They're tired out."
Sunny looks to Sputter. "We've still got plenty of energy. Right, Sputter?" The little Litwick looks partially melted as she sits slumped over, but makes a visible effort to straighten up. Sunny frowns, but it's more contemplative than upset. "Yeah, on second thought, I think we're done for the day. I could go for some food, how about you?"
"Oh my, am I being asked on a date?" Marie covers her mouth demurely. "And so casually!"
"Oh come on…" Sunny mutters, facepalming in exasperation and walking away. "You are so annoying. Let's just go."
Marie allows herself to sulk as she follows Sunny to the bikes. Why can't she just play along? It's
Sunny that's the annoying one. Bad-tempered and narrow-minded and no fun at all without Edison around to buffer.
Her own rushing sigh catches her off-guard.
What the hell? What was that weird pang in her chest about?
"You okay back there?" Sunny calls out, and Marie only then realizes she's stopped walking. "What's the holdup?"
She doesn't know.
"Just making sure we didn't leave anything behind," she says, striding forward again with purpose. "
Someone has to be responsible around here."
"Better you than me, I guess…" Sunny puts Sputter in the basket before climbing on her bike, waiting for Marie. She follows suit with Tuie and they're off once again- but this time Marie's attention is less on the sights and more on her own feelings.
Something isn't right, and she has no idea what it is.
featuring Groc as Sunny Dey ⟡
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