The Mine Badge, I decided, looked very good in my little badge case. Whoever worked on the Pokémon League’s rewards did a good job, and the enamel pin that I’d gotten after beating Byron was a nice balm to my ego after the defeat at the hands of his son.

  “So,” Ted said, stirring his bowl of ramen. “Where to next?”

  We were celebrating at a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant, one of those mom and pop shops that served the best food in town.

  Ted had earned his badge shortly after I had, although I only caught the tail end of the battle after returning from the Pokémon Center.

  Lucas slurped up his noodles, before gesturing with his chopsticks.

  “There’s a lot of ferries that go through Canalave City. We could catch one of them, that would be a nice change of pace.”

  I nodded as I took a sip of non-alcoholic beer. While Ted had the full-strength version, and Lucas was still too young to drink, I’d gone for the safer version, as a treat.

  Thankfully the ramen shop had some in stock, otherwise I would have just gone with a soda.

  “Taking a break from walking everywhere would be nice. And after that taxi ride on the Corviknight… a ferry would be a lot better I think.”

  Ted shuddered and nodded appreciatively, while Lucas looked a little crestfallen.

  “I thought it was fun…” He murmured, taking another bite of food.

  “So if we take the ferry,” I continued. “Where would we go? North to Snowpoint City? Or south to Pastoria?”

  Lucas hummed in thought, but Ted frowned. “Personally, I think we should go north. As it stands, we’re all in a pretty good spot to fight Candice and her Ice-types, plus it’s a shorter trip, right?”

  That last comment was directed towards Lucas, and he nodded.

  “Yeah, you have to go around both the western and southern tips of Sinnoh to get to Pastoria. Just as a reminder, if we do go north right now it’ll be pretty cold.”

  Ted shivered at the thought.

  I frowned and beat out a quick rhythm on the table with my fingers. “I should mostly be good for the cold, although I might have to pick up some things at the store just to be safe.”

  My leggings were mostly insulated thanks to being made with Spinarak silk, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up some properly lined ones just in case.

  Lucas sighed. “More shopping?”

  I swiped at his shoulder, but he managed to dodge in time.

  “Don’t come between a girl and her shopping.”

  He stuck his tongue out at me.

  “Say,” Ted interrupted. “If we’re going north, will we be passing by Iron Island?”

  “Iron Island? Yeah, we should be.” Lucas asked.

  “Why?”

  “Mayfly’s getting close to the point where she’s stagnating.” Ted said thoughtfully. “I can tell she wants to evolve, and I’ve heard Iron Island is where Sinnoh gets most of its Metal Coats.”

  “Oh a Scizor!” Lucas said, stars in his eyes. “I’ve always wanted to see one in person!”

  I ran a finger around the rim of my glass. “There’s always the chance to evolve into a Kleavor, if she wanted to.”

  “I talked with her about it, and while she wasn’t opposed to the idea, I think she would much rather evolve into a Scizor. Besides, doesn’t evolving into Kleavor require some strange mineral?”

  “Black Augurite.”

  “Do you know where to find that? Because I did some looking online and at the library, and there’s barely anything about it.”

  I opened my mouth, then frowned. In the game it had been a reward for completing a quest, but that was some three-hundred years ago.

  “Exactly.” Ted continued. “Apparently there’s something similar over in Paldea, but that’s half-a-world away. Besides, I’m pretty sure she would be happier as a Scizor.”

  “Well, nothing I can say to that then.”

  It was Lucas’ turn to look thoughtful. “I wouldn’t mind stopping by Iron Island myself. There’s a couple Steel-types I wouldn’t mind adding to my team, and even if nothing else came out of it, it would be a good training experience.”

  They both looked at me, and I sighed.

  “I mean, I don’t have any reason to go, but at the same time, why not? If you both want to go, I’m in.”

  Lucas and Ted both beamed with excitement.

  Ted held up his drink. “A toast!”

  “To what?” I asked.

  “Victory? Friendship? Do we need a more specific reason?”

  Lucas cheered and held up his own glass.

  I sighed, and clinked my drink against the others as they celebrated, but I couldn’t get rid of the small smile on my face.

  /^\

  “I hate this.” Ted said, huddling into his new winter coat as the cold rain slashed across the hull of the ferry. “Why are we doing this?”

  I rolled my eyes, and leaned on the railing in the small lounge, staring out at the stormy seas.

  “We’re not even out on the deck, there’s no way for us to get wet.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” He said mulishly.

  “I know for a fact that it rains a lot in Hoenn. Isn’t it like, constantly raining on Route 120 or something?”

  “There's a lot of rain, but it’s not constant. Besides, it’s a warm rain. This is cold enough to be considered sleet.”

  “Nah.” Lucas said from where he was draped across the end of a couch. “It’s not that bad yet.”

  “We only have another hour or so, then we’ll be on Iron Island.”

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  “Where it’ll still be raining.” Ted grumbled. “Fall in Sinnoh isn’t nearly as nice as Hoenn. At least we’ll be off the waves soon.”

  “Wait, do you not like ships?”

  “It’s not that I dislike them.” He hedged.

  “But you prefer walking?”

  “Or flying! Rakkyo is very good at keeping a nice, level flight.”

  I frowned.

  “Is that why you don’t have any Water-types?”

  He carefully avoided my gaze.

  “It is!”

  “Hey, neither you nor Lucas have any either!”

  “That’s because I’ve been here for less than a year.” I said. “And I haven’t been around many bodies of water yet.”

  “I just like fire.” Lucas said, earning him a look from both Ted and I.

  “Well, putting aside possibilities of pyromania aside-”

  “Hey!”

  “We shouldn’t be on the boat for too much longer.”

  It was a relatively short trip to Iron Island, a couple hours by the ferry, although things were taking a bit longer thanks to the storm.

  Ted grumbled and went back to moping.

  /^\

  Iron Island was… not very impressive.

  The entire island reminded me of the old ghost towns of the American Southwest, except with a little more life in it.

  It had once been the sight of a decently-sized iron mine, but once the veins ran out, most of the people who had been living there moved to greener pastures. What was once a small town dedicated to supporting the mine was little more than a few houses clustered around a lonely and understaffed Pokémon Center.

  According to the yellowed sheet of paper on the welcome sign that passed for a tour guide, Byron himself had actually worked at the mines before they shut down.

  What few people came here now were mostly Trainers, looking to test their Pokémon against the wild ‘mons of the island, along with a scattering of hikers and tourists.

  There were even fewer people here than normal, the lady working the front desk of the Pokémon Center said. The storms from Archie’s tantrum had ravaged the sea-side town, collapsing several of the buildings. Thankfully only causing some minor injuries. Still, the loss to tourism was hurting the local economy, and the receptionist had mentioned that it was likely even more people were going to move away.

  They were already an aging population, most of the young people having moved away when the mine closed, but now it was getting even worse.

  Iron Island didn’t even have a police station, crime was so low here that if anything came up, somebody would just fly or Teleport in to take care of it.

  In a decade or two, Iron Island as a town would probably cease to exist completely.

  It was a sad state of affairs, and it stung a little bit that some of my actions had indirectly led to this.

  After all, If I hadn’t told Professor Rowan what was going on, then they never would have made a move on Archie and Maxie when they did, causing Archie to completely lose it.

  Then again, I wasn’t responsible for the actions of a madman. Archie would have tried to do the same thing regardless of whether I told anybody or not.

  That didn’t stop me from feeling sad as I watched the corpse of a town decay into the sea.

  The storm that we’d run into on the ferry-ride here wasn’t as bad as Archie’s Kyogre-created tempest, but it was still fairly impressive, and there was nobody walking the cobblestone streets as we dashed from the shelter of one building to another.

  “How do you even know it’s open?” I asked Ted, holding a coat over my head.

  “I called ahead!” He shouted, trying to make himself heard over the rain.

  Ted, Lucas, and I made another run, sprinting across the street to reach another building.

  “How much further is it?” Lucas asked, and Ted pointed to a building just across the way.

  “There!”

  The store in question was a short, squat building made of a mix of concrete and wood like the rest of the neighborhood, but the warm glow of the lights inside were incredibly inviting.

  One last dash…

  I took a deep breath, and plunged out into the rain again, Ted and Lucas on my heels.

  We all stumbled through the door, piling into the nice, warm, and most importantly dry store.

  The Pokémon watching the front desk, a Bronzor that had been lazily floating above the desktop, spun wildly in concern and surprise.

  “Eh?” A voice came out from the back. “Who's there?”

  “A few customers.” Ted called back.

  “Customers? In this weather?”

  An older man tottered out of a back room, his grey hair wild as he looked at us in surprise.

  Then he tutted, shaking his head.

  “You’re getting water all over the floor! You must be miserable. Come in, please come in.”

  He shepherded us deeper into the shop, taking our coats and putting them onto a small coat-rack. Then he pulled an ancient, battered Poké Ball out and released a Torkoal into the shop.

  Just like everything else in the shop, the Torkoal was ancient, its skin wrinkled and its shell lined and cracked.

  It yawned, releasing a small cloud of steam.

  “We have customers!” The old man said excitedly. “Come now, let’s warm this place up for them.”

  The Torkoal huffed, but almost immediately the temperature in the shop began to rise. The Pokémon wandered over to the coat-rack, and dropped to the floor with a huff. Water dripping off of our coats spattered onto its shell, causing puffs of steam to rise.

  Somehow we all ended up in mis-matched recliners, cups of tea in our hands.

  “Now then, what can I do for you all?” He said, eyes twinkling.

  “Well, I mentioned on the phone I was looking for a Metal Coat.” Ted said, after taking a sip of his tea. “Oh, this is good.”

  “Thank you! A Metal Coat? Oh yes yes, I remember you now. What kind of Pokémon are you looking to evolve?”

  He eyed Ted with a tailor’s accuracy. “Not an Onix, I think. You don’t quite have the look of a miner or a Rock-type specialist. A Scyther then?”

  Ted nodded.

  “Hmm. I think we might be able to help you then.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, edging into the conversation. “But what exactly is this shop?”

  “Oh! I’m so sorry, I didn’t introduce myself.” The man put down his cup of tea and beamed at me. “My name is Zachary, and this is Zachary’s Metal Works! I specialize in little knick knacks that help out Pokémon.”

  He stood up and went over to the front desk, pulling out some examples.

  “We have Metal Coats, Metal Powders, various kinds of braces and bands, a couple Rocky Helmets, Iron Balls, everything you need to make sure your Pokémon is in the best shape it can be!”

  I leaned forwards, fascinated by the items on the tray. I hadn’t seen many held items before, they were expensive and difficult for regular Trainers to acquire, so they were mostly only used by professional battlers who had the time and money to put them to their best effect.

  “Now then,” the old man said. “Let’s get you what you need.”

  /^\

  “Is it just me, or is this place kinda… depressing?” Lucas asked, picking at his food.

  The lone restaurant in town was a family restaurant, with nothing special about it at all.

  All of the food was rather bland and easily digestible, and I had the feeling that it was to cater to the aging population of Iron Island.

  “Thank god,” Ted muttered. “I didn’t want to be the one to say it.”

  It was surprisingly busy, with what seemed like almost the entire island in the restaurant, celebrating bingo night. It was still only about fifty or so people.

  I stirred my miso. “I wish there was something I could do. It's sad seeing a town just die like this.”

  Back on Earth I knew that Japan had problems with an aging population and disappearing towns, but seeing it in person was something else.

  For some reason, I had thought that this world would be different, even though the games and anime had made it clear that there were still plenty of problems.

  “But I just don’t know how to keep this place alive.”

  The bell above the door chimed as someone new came in, briefly letting in a gust of cold air.

  The storm over Iron Island had gotten even worse, the locals saying it was likely the last big storm of the year, but things would hopefully clear up after this.

  All I knew was that the rain was coming down sideways, and already the power had flickered a few times.

  “Money.” Ted said darkly. “Get people buying and spending money in town, bring some new people in, and this place would start to feel more alive. It always comes back to money.”

  “But the mine’s closed.” Lucas sighed, putting his chopsticks down. “Completely tapped out, from what I hear. What could possibly make people want to live here again?”

  Ted just shrugged.

  I opened my mouth, then closed it again with an audible click, before slinking down into my seat.

  “Alina? Are you okay?” Lucas asked, but I barely heard him.

  A tall, athletic man with a Pokémon tooth necklace was standing at the front desk of the restaurant, before a server brought him to a table that was thankfully on the other side of the room.

  “Don’t look now,” I muttered, a spark of old hatred reigniting in my chest. “But Kane is here.”