Pokemon: Adventures of Clair

Chapter 5: Pewter City

Clair learned about battling too. Along the way, Kōeina and Clair watched Steven battle other trainers. Beldum often had a patient approach, wearing down its enemy before hitting them with Iron Head. Every day Steven would help her and Kōeina train against a few wild pokemon and then at night he would let her battle him before dinner. He always called it off before she could lose. They learned a lot from these battles. Kōeina became better at blasting pokemon with violent wind and could now even paralyze her enemies with small electric waves.

She also learned a lot about Steven. At night they always slept under the stars. Kōeina seemed to like coiling up in Clair's sleeping bag. Beldum slept in its pokeball but Steven let Skarmory leave every night only finding it perched when they woke the next morning. He seemed to understand these two pokemon and their needs very naturally. He was kind, even to arrogant trainers and he asked Clair very few questions. Clair realized that she enjoyed listening to him talk. There was a sense of nobility to him even though he was not a Draconid.

The road to Pewter city required them to pass through a bug-infested forest which Skarmory relished. Steven let the bird lead them with little trouble. He explained that his pokemon were both Steel types and therefore immune to the poison of the many dangerous weedle and beedrill.

The bug forest was as promised, swarming with bugs. It was the last day of their trip. Clair pulled the many pant-gripping seeds off of her leg as they emerged into the light on the other side of the forest. Ahead she could see Pewter City. The forest had hidden it well but as Clair looked to her left, the great Mount Silver was still towering. They had slowly followed its base from its southern river to its eastern cliffs. Pewter City seemed to have been built into the foot of these cliffs. It was far smaller than she expected. Even Blackthorn seemed more busy. There were about a dozen buildings in total and most of them were simple houses. Near the center of the town Clair could see a large building.

"What is that?" Clair asked, pointing up ahead.

Steven squinted, "Ah! Yes. Pewter City my friend. We have arrived as you asked."

"No, what's the big building for?"

"The Gym? That's for pokemon trainers trying to compete in the Pokemon League. Several towns have these places. You battle stronger trainers who assess if you have what it takes to enter the Indigo League."

Clair nodded, eyeing her Dratini. They had grown together and were ready for a challenge, but the gym was not what she had in mind. They needed to find the Pewter City Museum in order to find her guide to the Dragon Trial.

As they reached the town Clair spotted a Pokemon Center. Blackthorn had one as well. It was both a medical center for pokemon and a common place for traveling trainers to stop for the night. As they passed the center Clair spotted another unusual building behind the houses, up against the cliffs. It had a Maroon roof and was far larger if not as tall as the gym. "That must be the museum," Clair assumed.

Steven shrugged. "I'm not sure but it is certainly worth checking."

Clair felt a little uncomfortable as they walked through the empty streets. The houses all seemed quiet and the yards a little unlived in. She wondered if something had happened here. It felt like the city was designed to be bigger than it was. Moving on from her thoughts she marched up to the doors of the museum.

Before Clair could reach into her bag Steven extended his own money and paid for both of them. Clair was thankful but a little embarrassed by this. Looking around the room she could see it was full of display cases. The floor at the center of the room had a massive stone with the imprinting of a pokemon on it. It was roped off and along the walls were dozens of glass panels with strange fossils inside. At the room's far end, wooden steps climbed up to another floor. It was a quiet enough place that you could hear the wind against the outside of the building. As she listened the sound of soft voices could be heard above.