Running Errands in Shalour

"You got to Shalour City already? You sure do work fast," the professor remarks with a smirk.

"I skipped over a cave. Might head back if the Gym Leader takes too long. Just do some spelunking for fun. Might find some neat rocks. Who knows?" As I talk to the professor on my phone, I swing another crate down towards the shopkeeper.

Sycamore chuckles in response. "Well, you might make a new discovery! Who knows what secrets are buried in the ground?"

"It's called Reflection Cave, so I'd assume mirrors."

Another chuckle. "Well, I do appreciate this social call, but I have to meet with Diantha pretty soon. In fact, in about half an hour!"

I smile wryly in response. Professor Sycamore has been looking forward to studying the Champion's Gardevoir to understand any more secrets of Mega Evolution. "I just wanted to make sure you are okay. I understand that the attack on the lab shook you slightly." I hop across the buildings to the next street over.

His frown dissipates. "I've looked into that Team Rocket as you requested. Most of the data on them is redacted, even for me. What I could find is that their operatives are ordered to retreat after a failure. They never attempt the same heist twice."

I think back on my multiple encounters with Team Rocket. "I think these guys are more tenacious than you think."

"I'll keep an open mind. I brought Garchomp with me, just in case." Then, as if we never talked about the possibility of an attack on his life, his smile comes back. "But hey! Enough about me, what's going on with you? It looks like you're zooming through the sky!"

I look at all except two of my arms, each carrying a crate of milk and constricting more around themselves. "Yeah, I'm picking up odd jobs to make up for my financial deficits. I've been delivering Moomoo Milk around the city from the distribution center. Apparently, it's from Dendemille Town."

He frowns and rubs his chin. "I don't recall Dendemille having any Miltank farms."

"Neither did I, but I'm not really going to question several crates of milk."

———————————————————————————————————————

I stalk through the aisle, looking through all the canned foods. A pair of homemade earbuds are blasting Serena's newest video through my ears. Nobody can prove that I set up multiple alerts if she's active at all online.

…I may have a problem.

"Huh. Dried spelon berries. Those could add a kick to my meals." I put the salt-rich can of berries in my basket as I continue shopping. A slight guilt grows inside me as I listen to Serena's voice list off her ingredients to her sweet and delicious poképuffs.

I could try baking. I did work a shift at the Lumiose Galette stand like twice. It could only be in cities though, as I don't want to lug around a portable oven. Maybe if I could condense my stuff somehow, then maybe? It's just wishful thinking.

After making a round trip to the seasonings to grab shakers of salt and pepper, I stand in front of the meats, absolutely lost on what came from what.

"Excuse me," I gently wave the attendant down. A Bisharp wearing a bloodied apron approaches the counter.

"Bi?" It asks in a deep, almost ethereal voice.

"Which meats are beef?" It points to the far end where the sign labeled, 'Grade-A Miltank!' I nod. "Thank you."

I dig through, not literally, the piles of beef cuts. It's a good thing Miltank are so active on farms, or we might not have as tender of cuts as this. We'd likely have to just grind it up.

I eventually find some nice cuts that I'll be able to dehydrate in my inn's oven. Plus, they're cheap!

As I get ready to leave with my many non-perishables and goods, my eye catches on a series of cookbooks. Some describe the lonely meals of cooking for one, others describe the joys of cooking for a family, and others for baking and making for your significant other.

I can skip a meal…probably.

———————————————————————————————————————

I come back to my room after dropping over my freezer items in the inn's kitchen, after I asked politely. It's amazing how little room you actually have once you have six pokémon, even if they're all relatively tiny.

Most are just lounging around. Robin made a pillow fort on the floor, most likely with Hazel's help judging by the vines, and is currently curled around the egg. The Ferroseed in question is sitting on the windowsill, sunbathing…or photosynthesizing. It's hard to tell sometimes.

Elspeth has made herself comfortable on the AC unit, consequently making the room colder by a few degrees, not that she's noticed. Primrose, despite not explicitly requiring water to live—just hydration, has filled the bathtub and is having the time of her life in there. Cecillia is…doing something with the plant in the corner. I don't know if she's noticed it's plastic yet.

Alexandra and, surprisingly, the Taillow are sitting on my bed with my laptop open. Even though she got most of the language down at a surprising rate, it looks like she's still touching up on the more…nuanced aspects of this language.

After haphazardly shoving the rest of my purchases into the mini fridge provided, I sat down on the bed. Alex, knowing my intentions, pauses the video and closes my laptop. The Taillow then flies off, perching on the TV.

"Hey, Alex, Alexandra. I, umm, do you remember Ash? Back from the aquarium?" I ask, not really sure how much of the following conversation will be lost in translation. She tilts her head a bit then nods.

"Yeah, did you notice that that blockhead always had his Pikachu out? Never put him in a ball once?" Another nod. "Well, I've been looking into the League's rulebook, and I've noticed a slight clause. When we enter a battle, we're not required to have all of our pokémon in their balls. It's nice because some are large, and it has an element of surprise for the opponent."

She tilts her head further, not understanding where I'm going with this. "Now, technically, we have a slight advantage. The pokéballs we use do not have the set limit of six to a person, and the rules never enforce that since the balls are supposed to do it anyway. That means, in an official setting, I could have a pokémon, for example, on my shoulder, and still use six others in battle. It's a legal battle!" Other than the patent law that I've violated.

I reach into my pocket and pull out a small plastic box. Setting it in front of her, I open it gently to reveal a small circuit board and speaker, of sorts. "I've been working on this for a while, by which I mean about a week. It's a device that can output sound waves at select frequencies. I've been planning on installing it in my arms for because, as a human, we have select frequencies above which we cannot hear. However, as a Noibat, you can hear about 20 times higher than us and distinguish specific frequencies."

She stares intently at the box. Maybe she understands where I'm going with this? "My idea was, using a little thing called a Fourier Series, I could encode specific commands as frequencies with varying decibels and lengths, you could then shout out the command as a pokémon. Only the pokémon on the field could understand you as humans don't really speak your language. For the most part, you would likely be the last to battle as a result."

She stares at the little circuit, and a seed of doubt grows within me that she understood absolutely none of that. Maybe I should have called Professor Sycamore again and run the spiel by him? Work out the wording? Or even Courtney? She seemed the intellectual type.

Noibat hops over to the circuit and picks it up with her wings, shoving it into my face. "Noi! Noi!" She looks…enthusiastic? Yeah, that's what I'm reading. Might have to explain it to her again later, but she seems on board for now.

As I stand up, she opens the laptop back up again, and, just out of the corner of my eye, I see her type in 'Fourier Series.'

…Yeah, she's going to have some reading to do on that.