Trim prepared a big dinner in his house for our entire group to celebrate Sunny’s win. Getting past the second round of the tournament was an achievement only shared by Jade (I wasn’t counting Baltazar and Aria, it was expected they’d win). Darren took his loss gracefully, though he was more subdued than usual. We ate outside, in the patio, on a large foldable table, meaning there was more than enough room for our Pokémon to eat with us. With the tall hedges, even with the large space, it felt cosy nonetheless. All in all, it was a happy dinner, filled with chatter and bustle. Sunny wasn’t the only one feeling euphoric. Naturally, Jade was too, and so was Trim. Along with being proud of his daughter, he was having the best market in years, or so he said. I’d helped with the stall for a bit as thanks for teaching me to sculpt and letting us stay. It was a good experience, even if dealing with customers wasn’t my idea of a good time, even when they were being polite.

  Small talk flowed, Trim asked how Jade’s Grandma was getting on, Baltazar and Aria spoke of their adventures, and Sunny of everything that had happened since she’d last seen her father. Well, not everything. The good bits.

  At some point, it was my turn to speak, and I explained my intention to take up the task the Professor had given me. Luca offered to help as well, and surprisingly, at the time, so did Aria.

  “But aren’t you still in the tournament?” I asked.

  “I’ll withdraw,” she said. “Battling’s fun, I won’t deny, but this is essentially my job. It’s the kind of thing I did in Popplio, it wouldn’t feel right not doing it here.”

  The next morning, I got the expected call from the rangers. It was an older man on the other side, with a rough voice but polite tone.

  “Am I speaking to Calla Greyberry?” he asked.

  “You are,” I said.

  “This is Peter Woodsworth. I’m with the Caprice Rangers. I’ve heard from Professor Leaf you’re willing to give us a hand with the Clamperl situation.”

  “I am,” I said. “And, if it’s not an issue, a couple of friends would also like to join. Luca Teccle from Nocturne, and Aria...” I stumbled, realising I didn’t know her second name and finished as best I could. “...from Popplio.”

  “Aria Bloomtide?” said Peter. “The water-type specialist?”

  “You know her?”

  “Of course, her help is most welcome. We’ll be arriving at the docks in Silverwind in a few minutes. There should be an inn called The Orange Combee. Meet up with us there, and we can discuss the mission.”

  “An inn?”

  “Usually we’d go to the Pokémon Centre, true. But it’s too busy around tournament dates. The inn will do.”

  “Alright, see you soon.”

  “See you soon.”

  He hung up and I let out the breath that had been building up in my lungs. It was difficult pretending to be an adult. I would manage. I sent a message to Luca and Aria telling them where to meet. It was early morning, and nobody had gone to the tournament grounds yet. I said my goodbyes and wished Sunny luck and turned to leave.

  “Calla, wait,” called Darren as I was stepping out the door.

  “Yes?”

  “I’d go with you, but I want to be there for Sunny, and do some extra training too,” he said.

  “That’s okay,” I said, slightly nonplussed. “You don’t have to come.”

  “I know, I know,” he said. “I meant to say, I’ve talked to Wish, asking him to help you if you want. You don’t have a water-type yet; it’s probably a good idea to have one with you. Take good care of him and he’ll listen to you.”

  He held out Wish’s pokeball, and I accepted it.

  “Oh, okay. Thanks,” I said. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”

  “Good, good. Take care of yourself, alright?”

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  “I will, it’s not supposed to be dangerous.”

  We repeated our goodbyes, and I made my way through the crisp morning air to Silverwind’s one and only inn. It was a small place and, in contrast to the rest of the village, didn’t seem all that busy. Trainers preferred the Pokémon Centre after all, and if there was no space, camping was the second option. Inns didn’t always have the facilities to take care of Pokémon, and besides, this place was small enough that I wondered how many people even knew of it. I met Luca at the entrance; she was arriving as I was. Quelling the hesitation in my heart, I pushed open the door, and we entered.

  We were the last to join. The rangers were already there, and, as if in contradiction to my previous musings, Aria said she and Baltazar were staying at the inn.

  The rangers were two men and three women, all on the older side, forty and over if I had to guess. They wore their bright orange uniform that, in better days, was the symbol of safety for any trainer lost in the wilds. One of the men, the one with a short, messy beard and dark eyes, reintroduced himself as Peter and went on to introduce the rest of the team. I’ll admit, the professional setting of the whole thing made me increasingly nervous, and though I must have heard their names, they did nothing to stick to my shaking brain. Luckily, I wasn’t great with names at the best of times, and I knew how to get by without using them if necessary.

  “Sorry we’re late,” said Luca after we were all acquainted.

  “Not at all, you came quicker than I expected. Come sit.”

  We gathered around a table where Peter spread out a highly detailed map of Lake Rin.

  “So, the plan is, we need to survey Lake Rin from here to here,” he said, pointing at two spots on the map close to Silverwind. “We’ll split up for this, it’s a large area and we’ll cover it faster separately. We need to confirm the existence of the Clamperl nest and, if found, we need to look for signs of human interference. Trainers are to be avoided, especially if there’s a chance they could be hostile. If it turns out some kind of confrontation seems inevitable, we’ll regroup and face them together. Is that clear?”

  A murmur of affirmations went around the table.

  “Good. Now, some spots take priority in our search. Clamperl usually live in the deep ocean. If they have been driven out of their territory, or there is some other issue they’ve faced, Huntail and Gorebyss have been known to make their nests in freshwater lakes. Still, they prefer deep water areas. The deepest point in Lake Rin is between here and where the Eskew River enters it. We’ll start there, and widen our search heading north as we go. Any questions so far?”

  I shook my head. What he said so far lined up with what I knew of Clamperl. They were interesting Pokémon due to their divergent evolutions, but other than that, they never caught my attention all that much.

  “That brings us to the next thing. Does everyone have a Pokémon capable of Diving?”

  The question was clearly for Luca and me, but Aria responded before we could.

  “I can lend them a Pokémon each from my team, it won’t be an issue.”

  “I’m okay,” I said. “Darren already lent me Wish.”

  “If you say so,” said Aria.

  “I’ll have to take you up on your offer,” said Luca.

  “No problem, Purple Blood will be happy to help.”

  “And you’re both capable of swimming?” asked Peter.

  We said we were. I didn’t grow up by the coast for nothing.

  “Finally, we have plenty of oxygen tanks and a couple of spare wetsuits. I’m not sure if they’ll fit you, though,” said Peter.

  I squirmed under his gaze. I wish I could say Luca was only a little taller than me, or that I wasn’t that short, but the truth of the matter was that while she was by no means tall, she was a young woman, and I still had some to grow.

  “If we can’t make what we have fit, I know someone who sells equipment for water sports here. They might have a stall at the festival where we can find one her size,” said one of the ranger women. Peter approved of the suggestion and we set into motion.

  As predicted, none of the wetsuits they had fit me, so the woman, whose name I finally learned was Kayla, took me to find one to buy.

  “Your help is appreciated, you know,” she said on the way. “Not many young people want to be rangers these days.”

  “I’m just doing my part, it’s important work,” I said, working to keep down my blush. “Besides, it always seems everyone’s helping me. Even like you are now.”

  “That’s only natural,” said Kayla.

  Entering the market killed our conversation as we focused on finding the stall Kayla was looking for. We did so without too much of an issue, and sure enough, the man there had a wetsuit my size. One that looked to be of fairly high quality too. I tried to pay for it, but Kayla insisted that she would.

  “You’re volunteering to help us,” she said. “It’s only right we provide you with the necessary equipment.”

  I didn’t wholly agree with her, more than volunteering, I considered it as part of my work as a lab trainer, but even with the sponsorship, my finances weren’t so good that I could reject the gift. Purchase complete, we went to rejoin the others at the docks. The rangers had a motorboat we’d use to take us to the starting point of our search.

  “Is it really that bad?” I asked as soon as we’d left most of the festival noise behind.

  “Is what that bad?” said Kayla.

  “The rangers, I mean, people not joining.”

  “It’s a tough career,” said Kayla with a shrug. “And while it used to be well paid, we’ve seen several slashes to our budget in recent years. Only the ones with a real passion for the job stuck around, and ones like us who don’t really have anywhere else to go. In a way, it’s nice, it makes us feel like a family, but obviously, it severely limits our capabilities. Most of our work goes to bounty hunters these days. Potential recruits often turn to it too. The pay’s better, and there are none of the ethical standards we have to comply with. It’s what it is.”