Fluffy hair, a shy little face, cheap clothes.
Asher had already concluded she was a harmless little purple-haired girl.
Caught spying on him, she held onto the tree trunk and said a little awkwardly, "Hi... my... my name is Kagari! Mister, you're a trainer, right?"
[Rotom... scanning information.]
[Target: Kagari]
[Relationship: impressive older trainer]
[Advice: She's completely captivated by your unique training methods and can't stop thinking about them. Your strength has already drawn her in!]
Seeing that, Asher flashed the proud smile of a trainer and nodded.
"That's right, I'm a trainer! Kid, it's too dangerous out here. You should hurry home and find your parents!"
Kagari shook her head, looking a little downcast.
"My mom and dad have to work. They work at the Devon factory. All kinds of Pokémon tools come off the assembly line there. They work every day from seven in the morning to nine at night. I barely ever get to see them..."
Hearing something that sounded all too familiar, Asher couldn't help feeling a strange sense of homesick recognition.
Devon really was an industrial pioneer. Their sweatshop setup could give the capitalists back on Earth a run for their money.
Even if it stung to hear, Asher still warned her, "But it's way too dangerous for you to be out here alone. The wild Pokémon could hurt you!"
Kagari puffed up proudly.
"It's okay. I have my friend Dopey protecting me, so I'll be fine!"
Dopey?
Asher looked more carefully and saw a squat, camel-like Pokémon standing behind Kagari in a daze.
Its droopy dead-fish eyes held the same kind of profound "wisdom" as a Marshtomp, like it had already seen through the truths of the universe and entered a state of enlightenment.
The little guy looked so vacant and unassuming that, with it tucked behind Kagari, Asher had almost missed it completely.
But faintly, Asher could sense that the two of them seemed really close.
"Mister, let's battle!"
"Huh?"
The sudden request caught Asher completely off guard.
Kagari clenched her little fists and said, "I want to know if I can become a trainer. If I can, then I can go back to my old village and protect everyone, so they can all move back!"
To speed up Hoenn's industrialization, the League had shut down a lot of Gyms and ranger outposts in rural towns and villages. With wild Pokémon becoming a bigger threat, people from those places had all moved into industrial cities like Rustboro.
But life in the big city clearly wasn't easy.
A lot of people still missed the slower, easier life they used to have in their villages.
Still, becoming a trainer wasn't simple.
Someone like Asher had only become a trainer because he got lucky and made a connection with Professor Oak.
Over the past few days in Petalburg Woods, he'd seen a few Bug Catchers chasing their dreams. Those kids couldn't even afford Poké Balls, let alone a trainer license.
And Kagari's family probably wasn't doing much better.
After a moment of silence, Asher tugged his cap down and smiled.
"All right! Let's battle! Let me see whether you've got what it takes to become a trainer!"
The little tuft on Flare's head twitched.
Being of one mind with Asher, it could already tell he'd been completely won over.
Standing in a clearing in the woods, Kagari called out with surprising form.
"Dopey, use Tackle!"
"Numel—"
As if it had picked up on Kagari's intent, smoke burst from the vents on Dopey the Numel's back. The whole little guy suddenly looked like a steam engine coming to life as it charged straight at Flare.
Compared to the average Bug Catcher, Kagari and Numel clearly had much better chemistry. That attack actually looked pretty decent.
So how would Flare handle it?
Smack—
Flare gave a little hop to avoid the hit, then swung around with one strong little arm and slapped Dopey so hard it rolled twice across the ground.
Even though Flare had been ignored by countless League trainers because of its talent, under Asher's training it had already become a Pokémon with all the terrifying competence of a seasoned housewife.
Little Dopey was nowhere near this dragon in either strength or battle skill.
Seeing Flare's performance, Asher panicked inwardly.
[Idiot, what are you doing?! I told you to hold back... uh, that might be a little hard for you to understand... just act like that little goof rammed you half to death!]
"Gah?!"
Flare scratched the red fuzz on its head. Even though it was confused about why it had to do that, it seemed to grasp what Asher wanted.
Seeing her beloved Pokémon friend go down, Kagari cried out anxiously, "Dopey! Hang in there! Get back up! You can't give up just like that!"
A wave of burning determination surged through the air.
Spurred on by Kagari's desperate encouragement, Dopey actually got back up!
Smoke poured from its back as its four legs pounded powerfully across the ground. Without giving up, it charged at Flare with Tackle again.
This time, instead of dodging head-on, Flare cleverly jumped back at the exact moment the attack landed. Not only did it reduce the damage, it also sent itself flying farther away, putting on an Oscar-worthy performance.
After landing, Flare clutched its chest dramatically, staggered a couple of times, then tilted its big head to the side and let its little tongue hang out, pretending it had fainted.
The sight filled Kagari with delight.
"Yes! Dopey, you did it! We really can become trainers!"
"Numel—"
The two of them happily threw their arms around each other, and Asher smiled in relief.
Helping every dream along—that was what a mature senior trainer was supposed to do.
Flare squinted and sneakily looked around. Once it saw the battle was over, it patted the dirt off itself and quietly got back up.
"Hmph... throwing a fight? You really are both useless and shameless."
At that warm, happy moment, a cold and thoroughly irritating voice suddenly rang out.
Seeing that familiar figure yet again, even easygoing Asher was getting fed up enough to answer in kind.
"Well, well. If it isn't Mr. Competent from Sinnoh. What advice do you have for me this time?"
Mr. Competent, otherwise known as Paul, held up his Pokédex and said, "No advice. I just accepted a job from Devon Corporation to clear out the dangerous Pokémon in this area and keep people passing through on the Great Pilgrimage safe... especially weak pilgrims like you."
Whenever the Great Pilgrimage began, the Leagues in each host region got busy clearing out powerful Pokémon that wandered in from the deep wilderness into commonly traveled areas.
For example, the outer area of Petalburg Woods that connected Rustboro City and Petalburg City was usually home to Pokémon below level twenty, but every so often, Pokémon above level thirty would come wandering out from the deeper, more remote parts of the forest.
Those overly strong Pokémon posed a real danger to pilgrims, so they had to be dealt with.
The devices Devon Corporation handed out recorded data on wild Pokémon as well as battle footage. As long as you eliminated those hazards, you got paid accordingly.
Clearly, Paul's strength had earned Devon's approval, which was why he'd been assigned the job.
He might be strong, but as fellow League-certified trainers, there was nothing he could really do to Asher as long as Asher chose not to play along.
"Is that so? Then thanks for your hard work. Go get started. I'll be on my way."
Paul glanced at Dopey beside Kagari and said in a stiff, businesslike tone, "I just saw what happened. That wild Numel attacked your Pokémon, didn't it? And it knocked out your useless little Charmander in one hit. Mm. Quite dangerous. I'll remove it right now..."
OC Note: Just to clarify, Kagari official translated name should be Courtney. But in the manga, there are actually two generations of Courtney: one is the mature woman who uses Ninetales, and the other is the creepy one who uses Numel. I want to use both characters, so I'm distinguishing them by giving them different names.
TN: Kagari is her og name. It's as if there were two versions of Ash, and to distinguish them one version was called Satoshi.