Upon exiting the Galar Mine, we were greeted by the rural landscape that was Route 4. Much of the grass on the route had turned yellow from aging, but that did not keep the route from looking stunning. As a matter of fact, it only made the environment even more so. In a nutshell, Route 4 was a place fit for a farmer... Wait a minute. Farmer? I thought back to the Gym Challenge opening ceremony, back to what Chairman Rose said. The fighting farmer! Here's the Grass-type expert, Milo! Come to think of it, I could also see the first Gym in the distance, and I could make out a green symbol on it.
I gripped Rev Rock's Poke Ball in my wing. "Thank you for evolving into Carkol," I said with a smile.
The Ball rocked, almost as if it was responding to my gratitude.
I visited the Pokemon Camp of a backpacker named Molly. She and a kid in an Eevee costume visiting her camp collectively had the Pokemon Munna (a pink tapir Pokemon that feeds on positive dreams), Woobat (a bat Pokemon with no eyes, light blue fur, and a heart-shaped nose that attaches to the walls of caves), Ralts (a small bipedal Pokemon with green hair covering its eyes, a white "robe," and two small red horns, one on the front and one on the back of its head; Ralts grow quite attached to people with a compassionate spirit but otherwise never appear), Ribombee (a bee-like fairy Pokemon that can produce pollen balls that can heal or hurt), Bronzor (looks like a circular device made of bronze), Milcery, and the world-famous Pikachu.
I decided to share my thoughts on visiting the Galar region with Ralts before I played with Pikachu using the Poke Toy. After that, I figured I should cook a curry with the other Trainers. I was about to toss my berries into the pot when...
"Hey! What did I ever do to provoke you?!" I heard the Doctor shout.
I quickly hurried over to the yellow grass, where the Doctor was being chased by a bipedal feline with a grayish-brown coat, a black coin on its forehead, yellow eyes, and a toothy grin. "Ye didn't do a thing! I'm fighting ye 'cause I want to!"
"Get away from the Doctor, you feisty Meowth who is apparently native to Galar!" I fired a Spirit Shackle, but to my surprise, the feline Pokemon deflected it using his coin.
"You've a fine aim, lad, but ye can't pierce my iron body! Ha ha ha!" And then he came after me, his black claws extended and ready to slash.
"This is too easy." I used Low Sweep, knocking the Galarian Meowth off his hind legs using my right talons. I plucked an arrow quill from my wing, and it became elongated and covered in a green glow. That's when I slashed at Meowth with the Leaf Blade. "I'll return to the Galar region later in order to complete my Pokedex. This one's yours to catch, Doctor!"
"Thanks, Helix!" The Doctor successfully caught the Galarian Meowth, replacing his Thievul with it. "I wouldn't be surprised if this beastly feline could learn a few Dark-type moves."
"You're telling me!" Pinkie appeared out of nowhere and sent out a Meowth that had cream-colored fur, a golden coin, and white eyes. It was a Kantonian Meowth. "This little guy tried to bite me when I went to check out his shiny forehead coin, so I'd be extra careful about that Meowth you just caught."
"A Meowth from Kanto?" I asked. "Where did you find it?"
"I just found it in my Pokemon Box when I visited the Rotomi in Wedgehurst. The Rotomi said something about somecreature wanting to deposit the Meowth under my name. I'm not sure why whoever gave it to me would do that. And Doctor, I wouldn't use that Galar Meowth in the third Gym if I were you. He'd probably melt under the pressure!"
"What are you talking about?" The Doctor checked his Rotom Phone. "Well, isn't that something! Galarian Meowth are Steel-types!"
"As I expected," I replied. "That Meowth suffered great damage from my Low Sweep, which is a Fighting-type attack. You should keep him away from Pokemon that can breathe fire, Pokemon skilled in martial arts, and Pokemon that can control earth."
"I very much appreciate your advice, Helix." The Doctor turned to Pinkie. "By the way, you made fast time returning to Route 4, and that was fast even according to the standards regarding you!"
"Huh," I exclaimed in realization. "You're quite right, Doctor. Pinkie, how is it that you got here so fast?"
Pinkie seemed really surprised by this. "Hold on a minute! You're telling me that you noticed me show up, but you never saw that?!" She pointed with her hoof towards what appeared to be a cable car that, rather than being pulled by a cable, was carried by a large raven Pokemon that had iron armor covering its whole body, aside from some chest fluff. On the raven's back was a man in aviation gear. "Sure seems like you haven't used a Flying Taxi yet. They're really fun!"
I looked at the iron raven inquisitively. "...Do I have to trade away a Corvisquire holding a Metal Coat in order for it to evolve into you?"
It looked back at me with a bemused expression. "You say that as if you've never encountered bird Pokemon that have three species in their evolutionary family."
I shuddered from its bold response, and partially because I have encountered said bird Pokemon. "That answers my question. I admit, you are one of the few creatures who were able to genuinely unnerve me."
The Doctor chuckled. "I imagine that this Pokemon's fierce behavior would be mentioned in its Pokedex entry."
"Wait for it..." Pinkie said as she trotted onward.
"Wait for what?" the Doctor asked.
I shrugged. "We'll see. She's been known to foresee things. How long we'll have to wait, nopony knows."
With that, we continued along Route 4. The Doctor searched every paddock for Pokemon to catch and items to gather, while I peeked into the paddocks every now and then to see if there was anything important to find like held items and Poke Balls. Surprisingly, there were more hidden items than those found in containers. Of course, TMs were still only found in yellow containers, as the Doctor discovered when he found the TM for Pin Missile. One thing that truly surprised me was that the Doctor picked up every bag of powder, herb, and health-boosting roots. "Hey! Don't you know that those are bitter?"
"Of course I do, Helix. Ponies such as myself are vegetarian, and besides, our stomachs are accustomed to bitter herbs." Then the Doctor realized what I was talking about. "...Oh, you mean these are for Pokemon to consume. I suppose that is a small predicament. I'm sure that there are plenty of Pokemon that do not enjoy bitter herbs such as these. Still, I should hang onto these anyway, in case of an emergency."
I joined the Doctor in the western paddock, where he was searching to make sure that he didn't miss any new Pokemon. I caught another Electric-type canine Pokemon, an Electrike, before I overheard some commotion, the source of said commotion somewhere below us.
"Hey, Dug?"
"Yeah, Dig?"
"I've been thinking, and I feel that I've made up my mind. I've waited way too long. It's time for me to evolve!"
"You're kidding, Dig! We can't evolve until there's three Diglett! Right now, it's just you and me."
Having heard enough, I took out my Expedition Gadget. "Hey, Dedenne? Can I get the Ground-type Masters on the line?"
"Sure, Helix. Give me just a moment." I waited patiently for her to get the Ground-type Master Pokemon, who are the most skilled Ground-type Pokemon in the world recruited by the Expedition Society. For your information, there exists one (or two, in the case of couples) individual Pokemon who is/are the best of the best whenever it comes to specific stats or types. These Pokemon have been chosen to join the Expedition Society, and they have been dubbed Master Pokemon. For instance, a certain Greninja is the evasion Master Pokemon, and a certain Gengar is the Ghost-type Master Pokemon.
The Ground-type Master Pokemon picked up. "Hello, dearie. How can we help?"
"Oh, hello, Miss Trio," I replied. "Is your husband available?"
"Of course. Let me get him."
Seconds later... "Hello, hello, hello, Helix! Need some ground-breaking help?"
I answered, "Not exactly. I'm over in Galar, and there's a couple of Kantonian Diglett who want to evolve. Are you okay with sending your son over here to Route 4? The Diglett will be in the west paddock."
"The Galar region, huh? Well, our boy is level 20, so I think he's ready to go without us. Hey, Doug! You want to take a trip to Galar? Helix says there's some Diglett on Route 4 who need your help... Okay, Helix! He's on his way! I just hope he doesn't get self-conscious about getting out of the ground to swim. We Diglett and Dugtrio don't really like to take our claws out of the ground..." Then he hung up.
"Pinkie Pie, over here!" I called out to the pink pony, who was having a fun time with her Milcery. "Can you keep an eye out on this paddock? There's going to be a Diglett coming here to meet up with two other Diglett. You'll get to throw an evolution party when he arrives."
"An evolution party? You can count on me! I've never thrown an evolution party before, but I'll be sure to make it really evolutionary!" Pinkie dashed over to the paddock while the Doctor and I continued onward with Pummel and Heart.
"...Actually, hold on a minute." I looked back at Pinkie. "Where's Rainbow Dash?"
"She's back in the Wild Area training her Pokemon."
"In that case, the party can wait. You've more pressing matters to attend to." I called up the Flying Taxi and put Pinkie inside the cab. "Go to the Wild Area and tell Rainbow that her Pokemon won't obey her if she doesn't have the proper amount of Gym Badges. She'll know if her Pokemon will obey if she checks the back of her Trainer Card."
"Thanks for telling me! Okay, Flying Taxi, let's go to East Lake Axewell!" The iron raven flew off with Pinkie inside the car.
We continued onward to a fork in the road. The path north led straight to Turffield, while the path east led to a dead end between two paddocks, and a Wooloo rolling our way. I casually asked Heart's Drizzile to lob a water balloon up into the air, and I positioned myself between Pummel and the Wooloo.
The Doctor asked me, "You are aware that the Wooloo is heading straight for you, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"
"Aren't you worried that it will..." The Wooloo rolled right through my spectral body, instead bumping into Pummel, who did not flinch. The water balloon from earlier landed directly on Wooloo, soaking it. "...Oh. I hadn't realized that Normal-type Pokemon moves could not harm you. And that was a brilliantly crafted practical joke!"
"Why, thank you." I smiled. "I've always been exceptional at putting together wonderful plans. As for the Normal-type Pokemon not hitting me, that is because my species, Decidueye, is part Ghost-type."
A familiar face from the Gym Challenge ceremony took the same path the Wooloo took to reach us, and he certainly seemed surprised. "Are my eyes deceiving me, or did Wooloo really roll right through you?"
I sighed. "Decidueye such as myself are part Ghost-types. Normal-type attacks go right through me, quite literally." I stepped backward with a smirk, revealing Pummel and the soaked Wooloo. "You should be more concerned about this little guy, Milo."
Milo was quite shocked. "My, are you okay? What happened to you?"
Drizzile and I laughed. "A practical joke involving my type and Drizzile's water balloon. No harm done."
"Whew, that's a relief..." Milo then seemed to realize who we were. "Oh? Wait, you're some of those Gym Challengers, right?"
I began to answer, but the Doctor beat me to it. "Yes, indeed! Allow me to introduce us. I go by several names, but I prefer Doctor Hooves, or simply Doctor. This is my closest friend, Helix. And last we have the mother-son duo of Heart Fist and Pummel Fist."
"Ah, I knew you looked familiar. I saw you out in the crowd during the opening ceremony." Milo shook each of our hands (or in the Doctor's case, hooves). He then gave a warm smile. "You probably already know, but my name's Milo. I'm a Gym Leader who's rather partial to Grass-type Pokemon. To be honest, I've been itching to see just how good the Champion-endorsed Gym Challengers such as yourselves are. Let me find out at the Gym Stadium! Just get past the rest of this route, and you'll run right into my..." Before he could finish, we saw the Doctor make off for the Turffield Gym. "...And what do you know! Seems the Doctor can't wait to take on my Gym mission!"
I raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry? What exactly is a Gym mission?"
"Every Gym has its own mission you have to complete before challenging the Gym Leader! Have you ever been to Gyms in other regions? They've got missions of their own..."
"...Except that Galar's Gyms have more advanced Gym missions than other regions!"
"That's right! Now then, I'll see you there!" Milo went to the Gym, with Pummel carrying the Wooloo along as its surprisingly impact-resistant wool dried. "Thanks for the help, Pummel! Wooloo can't roll easily if their wool gets too wet. The wool won't retain its shape very well."
My main objective was the Turffield Gym, but first, it was time to explore the town.