Glimwood Tangle
The Glimwood Tangle turned out to be even better than Harri had thought it would. Once they got past the entrance the trees rapidly increased in size until it would take multiple Bewear to fully encircle them. The trees blocked almost all the sunlight, but that was fine as giant mushrooms (some like lamps, some her height, some the size of trees!) emitted a soft glow that easily lit up the Glimwood. The climate was perfect. Cool enough that she could wear pants and a sweater, but warm enough to not be chilly. There was also an abundance of fairy types. Dreepy had been nervous around them at first, being a dragon type he was weak to them, but, although sometimes mischievous, the residents of the Glimwood proved to be harmless. A few weeks into their stay there was also a magical moment where they spotted a Ponyta. The shy pokémon watched them for a bit before running almost soundlessly deeper into the forest. That marked the first of a series of visitors to Harri’s campsites. She moved as they explored, but it quickly became apparent that even with frequent moves the local herd of Ponyta had no trouble finding them.
Harri had stumbled on Ballonlea during their wanderings, but that just meant she now knew where to go for more supplies if needed (like the occasional food restock or to get new books). Overall there was an air of slowness that characterized their wanderings in the Glimwood Tangle. In the Wild Area it had been constant motion, always something more to see, some spot to check out, some weather development to be avoided. Now there was just the steady Glimwood. That wasn’t to say that any of them were bored! There was still plenty to keep them occupied, the Impidimp made sure of that, it was just a more relaxed atmosphere. It was during a slow afternoon when a surprise appeared. A tall older woman, wearing quite a lot of pink with an umbrella and a fluffy dark purple scarf, emerged from the nearby trail and looked at her in shock.
“Ah, perfect! Just what I need, a fit young trainer.” she said. “You there; would you be able to point me in the direction of Ballonlea? I appear to have gotten mixed up in all this forest.” Harri exchanged a glance with Ghost and Dreepy before slowly approaching the woman.
“I’m not a trainer Ma’am, Ghost is watching me while my cousin trains and Dreepy is a wild pokémon, but I can take you to Ballonlea.”
“Of course, of course. My apologies. And thank you dear, please do lead on.” Harri shared another befuddled look with her friends and started leading the woman to Ballonlea. It wasn’t actually too far from where they were, the woman had gotten very close and it was easy to get turned around in the Glimwood, and they made it in about 45 minutes. “Excellently done my dear. Thank you ever-so-much, how shall I repay you? Ah, I know! Tea and biscuits, my treat I insist.” And just like that Harri was ushered into a little tea shop with Ghost and Dreepy. The old woman proceeded to buy them all something to drink and several types of biscuits while talking about herself (despite wearing lots of pink her favorite color was apparently purple, something that got a smile when Harri admitted to also being fond of the color, and the woman favored fairy types, not surprising for a resident of Ballonlea). “My, my, look at the time. I shan't keep you any longer deary. But do come visit whenever you like, Martha at the front will let me know you’re here and we can have another chat if I’m free.”
“Thank you Ma’am,” Harri responded, still with some confusion.
“Oh, no more of that ‘ma’am’ nonsense, just Opal will do.”
“If you say so Miss Opal.” She affirmed with a smirk worthy of an Impidimp.
“You cheeky rascal,” Opal said with a fond smile. “I meant what I said. Drop by anytime.” With that Harri, Ghost, and Dreepy left the town and made their way back to their tent. Opal had been interesting, Harri thought she wouldn’t mind speaking to her again. It wouldn’t be difficult to have tea with her during her irregular supply stops in Ballonlea. Things continued as they had been until the trainers participating in the gym challenge finally made their way to the Glimwood Tangle. Harri was torn between going deeper into the forest to avoid them or sticking closer to Ballonlea to be able to commiserate with Miss Opal over the different idiocies displayed by the different trainers. She compromised by staying in a secluded spot that wasn’t too far out so she could avoid trainers, but still visit Miss Opal and hear the gym gossip (apparently one trainer had sent out his baby Salandit to fight against the gym leader’s ace pokémon, Alcremie, for the type advantage, the poor pokémon was far too young to be in a battle that intense, and the trainer was reported to the League and his trainer license was revoked).
Thankfully the wave of gym challengers depleted fast. There was a midsized group that managed to get through the first three gyms (Kabo was a real challenge according to Miss Opal) and of that group only a triple handful of trainers would be able to get past the fighting or ghost gyms (which gym leader they faced was determined by whether they’d chosen to complete the Path of the Sword or the Path of the Shield respectively). Of that reduced group maybe three quarters of them had actually made their way through the Grimwood Tangle to reach Ballonlea (many either gave up during the journey to the fairy gym or found it too difficult to overcome). At this point only the stragglers and those determined to stick around until they could eke out a win were still in the area. Things were finally returning to normal and Harri felt like she could breathe easy again.
* * * * * *
In the 64 years that Opal “Wizard” Prince has been the fairy type gym leader she has seen many children pass through Ballonlea (as she got older more and more of the gym challengers started becoming children to her in spite of how old they may have actually been). Some she’d thought would go far, others she’d thought had only gotten this far through dumb luck, and there were many more still that blended together through the passage of time. Being a gym leader was more than just dealing with trainers though. It meant nurturing and protecting her community. Ballonlea and the Glimwood Tangle depended on her to be observant and considerate, to see what others might miss and act on it. Opal had proven more than fit for this set of duties (even though somewhere along the way she’d clearly missed something and lost her daughter) and that was why she felt it necessary to approach the small child she found alone in the depths of the Glimwood Tangle. She was a thin thing (although not concerningly so, more along the lines of someone who could benefit from eating a bit more and exercising a bit less) and surprisingly polite for all her scruffy near-feral appearance suggesting otherwise.
As opposed to popular belief, everyone did in fact have aura within them. Exactly how much they had and the measure of control varied from person to person, but it was there nevertheless. Aura was energy, it was life. No matter how much aura a trainer had they would find themselves being influenced by it. Those who specialized in a particular pokémon type would find themselves taking on the characteristics of their chosen type (fire type specialists being more resistant to heat and poison type specialists being immune to most toxins) as their aura strove to match what they surrounded themselves with. Lines of families that specialized in specific types (like the Blackthorns of Johto) would even find themselves taking on aspects of the pokémon they raised (like scale patterns on their skin or fang-like teeth). Knowing that, seeing this young girl bonded so closely with pokémon she admitted to not being the trainer of and having the beginning of little fangs was concerning. She clearly had a decent amount of aura (some of the best trainers tended to have elevated aura levels, it allowed them to better bond to and communicate with their pokémon) and hadn’t been spending a lot of time around other people for her aura to be influencing her so much to be like the pokémon around her at her tender age.
Opal knew she would have to proceed carefully, moving too fast could see the child vanishing into the wilderness never to be seen again (either through her death or by the child losing herself completely to wild pokémon through her aura), but a bit of acting scattered and ditsy went a long way. The haphazard grandmother act (something she actually used quite often as it was a rather brilliant way to get challengers to underestimate her) and prattling on over tea and biscuits endeared herself to the girl. She could only hope that the promise of more food (obviously she was eating well, but it had to be nice eating food she didn’t have to find or make herself) and opportunities for idle chatter would be enough to keep the child local. And thank Arceus that it had. Harri, as Opal had since learned her little friend was called, made it a point to have tea with her whenever she made one of her infrequent stops in Ballonlea.
They spoke of many things and nothing at all. Favorite colors, tidbits of town gossip and antics of the wild pokémon from the Glimwood Tangle were all discussed (and my did the girl know a lot about the local pokémon). Along the way, Opal would be sure to toss in an inquiry here and there (never too many at once and never with anything other than a casual unconcerned tone) about the state of her living. Harri was good, Opal would give her that. She had a prompt response for why she appeared to be alone in the forest; if she actually had a cousin out there with her, Opal would eat her hat. Thankfully the wave of gym challengers didn’t scare little Harri off and although none had shown the promise she was looking for (she was getting old, someone had to take over the gym eventually) they did provide gossip material for her to share with Harri. At this point Opal felt reasonably comfortable asking slightly more probing questions of her young visitor.
“Harri, dear,” she carefully started when Harri began nibbling her third pastry. “I assume based on how close you are with Ghost and Dreepy that you want to take the license test when you turn 10. May I ask what, if anything, you are doing to prepare?”
“I do! I’ve been studying all sorts of things on my own. I learn a lot from watching wild pokémon and part of why I come in to Ballonlea is to get new things to study.” Opal hummed and nodded at her while smiling proudly.
“Atta girl! It's good to see someone so young so dedicated to their studies and to their future.” Harri looked pleased at the compliment. Good, hopefully that meant this next bit wouldn’t go over like a lead Driftblim. “You know my dear, Ballonlea is a smaller town. We don’t have the space or populace to necessitate having a separate Primary and Trainer school. The one building teaches it all and more advanced students can choose to take classes relating to pokémon as they get older. If you’d like, you could visit once school is out for the day. The teachers would be more than happy to assess where you are and provide you with lessons and materials to study on your own.” There was interest, but also wariness. Understandably so, Opal was essentially asking if Harri was willing to subject herself to more people, to make her nomadic nature endure a more permanent residence. To the free spirited (and frightened or feral) it could be seen as chains (this could be the thing that finally chases her off).
“Would I have to actually attend classes?”
“No deary. You would go on as normal and only need to do little check in tests when you drop by, just to make sure you’re still progressing well.” Opal was beyond relieved when Harri tentatively agreed to come back tomorrow afternoon to meet one of the teachers (and then have more tea afterwards at Opal’s insistence). She may not know where Harri came from (or who was to blame for the girl wandering off into the wilds in the first place), but now that she was living in the Glimwood Tangle that made her one of Opal's. And she cared for those that were hers.
* * * * * *
Opal was quite pleased to discover that Harri was doing quite well in her studies. The teacher she’d introduced the girl to had no complaints and was happy with how eager her new student was to further her education. Spurred on by her own desire to improve, Harri could be found in Ballonlea every couple of days as opposed to her previous once every week or so. It got to the point that most in Ballonlea recognised Harri on sight and would exchange greetings or make brief enquiries into the state of the Glimwood Tangle pokémon whenever they saw her (it was amusing to see Harri be so confused about everyone's careless interest in her at first and the growing confidence it gave her as time went on was something to behold). Unfortunately, the time had finally come for the start of the Championship Tournament and Opal would have to leave for a while (at least until the battle bracket and schedule was determined, then she could schedule trips back to Ballonlea as needed). She’d worried how Harri would take the news, but the young girl was surprisingly unbothered to learn that Opal was involved in the gym (the child had the gall to claim it was obvious that Opal was the gym leader, because how else would she make sure Harri could take classes at the school without actually needing to attend and she knew all the gossip from the gym challengers and everyone, people and pokémon, in Ballonlea respected and looked up to her).
The trip to Wyndon Stadium was uneventful, the reveal of the battle order even moreso, but that left plenty of time to socialize with her fellow gym leaders. Like the other regions, Galar had a series of 8 gyms that trainers would challenge as part of their ‘gym challenge’, but that was where the similarities ended. Instead of having a dedicated elite 4 to act as a secondary authority just under the region’s champion, Galar's gym leaders functioned in that role. Every two years they would hold a tournament where each of the 18 gym leaders would compete to be part of the next rounds of the gym challenge, of which the top 10 would be determined to act at the next two year’s gyms (in honor of Galar’s old legends the gym challenge was separated into two ‘paths’ that determined which gyms a challenger battled for their 4th and 6th badge). Another differentiating factor was that gym challenge hopefuls needed to be sponsored in order to sign up for the gym challenge. Sponsorships could come from gym leaders, league officials, important political figures, the champion themself if one was lucky, and various prestigious trainer schools. If one was unable to acquire a sponsorship, but still wanted to compete, then they could travel around Galar and challenge the 8 gyms that weren’t selected as part of the challenge (this kept a stream of revenue open for towns and cities whose gym didn’t make the cut by still allowing them to sell tickets to gym battles). Trainers that defeated all 8 gyms were then entered in a tournament (which ends just before the gym challenge tournament begins) with the winner earning a spot in the gym challenge tournament (this way even those who don’t receive a sponsorship can have a chance of becoming champion). The tournaments thus became ideal times for busy gym leaders to catch up with each other, which was precisely what Opal had in mind when she sought out Madam Bones, leader of the Steel type gym.
“Amelia, good to see you again. How is young Susan?”
“You as well, Opal. Susan is doing quite well, thank you for asking. Things are well in Ballonlea and in the Tangle I presume? No recent instances of poaching?” Bones was a good woman in Opal’s opinion (even when taking her favoring steel types into account). Managing a gym while also heading up the ministry’s department of law enforcement and raising her niece was a tall order, but she balanced it all beautifully (even if the steel gym most likely wouldn’t make a reappearance in the gym challenge until Susan was well settled in school).
“Not since those last ones were rustled up thankfully, but I fear we’re due for another round soon. These things come in waves, you know how it is. By the by, if memory serves me correctly, your family raises Riolu and Lucario along with the other steel types?”
“More so before the war. Most of what we had was sent away to other regions to keep them safe during the conflict. It hasn’t been easy bringing the numbers back up, I didn’t want to have to relocate them after they’d gotten settled so only a few who wanted to return did right away. It’s been hard building our lines again, but other regions have been helpful in sending a few willing individuals over to keep things diverse. Why the sudden interest?” Opal smiled at the other woman’s shrewd look. She was right to be at least mildly suspicious of anyone inquiring into the state of the aura pokémon under her family’s care. They’d been a prime target during the war and had fought fiercely (with great personal loss) to defend them.
“There is a young girl in Ballonlea, around Susan’s age if I’m not mistaken, who displays signs of possessing a frankly prodigious amount of aura. I fear that she’s already beyond what my school can help her with and I myself don’t have the ability, or time if I’m being honest, to train her in how to properly rein it in. The expertise of an Aura Guardian may be needed and as your family raises some of their preferred pokémon partners, I was hopeful that you might know of someone willing to tutor the girl.” Madam Bones was silent as she mulled Opal’s words over. A child having a large amount of aura wasn’t unheard of or unusual, it usually meant that top trainer schools, like Hogwarts, would be eager to enroll them, but it was rare that outside help would be needed this far before they could start at a place like Hogwarts.
“There is a young Aura Guardian from Sinnoh, Riley, who has expressed interest in visiting Galar to examine the differences between Sinnoh and Galar raised Riolu and Lucario, if there even are any. I could see if he would be willing to teach the girl in his spare time while he’s here.”
“That would be excellent. Thank you. Please give my best to Susan.”
“Of course. Good luck in your first match.” Opal returned the sentiment and they parted to mingle with others. Now that she’d made headway into securing training for Harri (and another reason to prevent the girl from vanishing into the wilds) she could relax and prepare for the tournament. Harri was expecting exciting details afterall.
* * * * * *
Harri was glad that the tournament was finally over. While Opal had been able to visit while the tournament was ongoing, it just wasn’t the same as her being around all the time. Even the wild pokémon were more settled when Opal was in residence (a helpful Oranguru had explained that the energy of the Glimwood Tangle smoothed out when the gym leader, sworn protector of the area, was around and that the local pokémon were responding accordingly to the energy of their home). Harri was looking forward to resuming their regular tea chats. The teacher who was monitoring her studying progress had invited her to the gym to watch the tournament and Harri was looking forward to getting Opal’s insight into everyone’s strategies.
Despite summer being in full swing the dense forest kept the temperatures comfortable and Harri and her friends took full advantage of it. Most days found them wandering aimlessly through the forest. They’d explored much of the Glimwood Tangle before, but she wasn’t foolish enough to think that meant she’d uncovered all its secrets, and now their adventures consisted of following groups of wild pokémon for a while. There was always something new that the wild pokémon were willing to show them and to Harri’s amusement a Rapidash once escorted them back to Ballonlea while gently scolding them about staying in the woods for too long (after that she made it a point to visit Ballonlea weekly and it was kind of nice to have a set ‘home base’ to check in with). She felt safe within the boundary of the Glimwood Tangle and comfortable around Opal to the degree that when she suggested Harri meet someone who might be able to teach her about aura, Harri found herself agreeing rather easily. The only things that Harri knew about aura came from storybooks and rumors she’d heard about Aura Guardians as regular schools didn’t cover aura and only the more prestigious trainer schools taught about it. She didn’t think whoever Opal had arranged to meet her would be able to teach her how to quell a rampaging dynamax pokémon with a single look and a flaring of her inner energy, but she was curious about what they thought she would be able to learn. After waiting in the gym for forever (really only the handful of hours it would take for the Flying Taxi to arrive), her mystery guest finally arrived.
“Good afternoon, Opal.” The man had an interesting outfit: sturdy black shoes, long brown pants, a black shirt visible under the partially buttoned blue blazer (that matched his cool hat) and an intricately connected gold necklace that went nicely with his dark blue-black hair and blue eyes. His eyes were what really caught her attention, they almost seemed to glow with an energy she hadn’t seen outside her own. They were so distracting that she almost missed him greeting her. “And you must be Harri. My name is Riley. I’m an Aura Guardian alongside my partner, Lucario.” Harri watched mystified as they both bowed to them. She glanced at Opal, but the older woman simply smiled at him before enquiring into how he was finding Galar (apparently some family named Bones were very welcoming or something, it was hard to pay attention to what they were discussing when it was so much more interesting to watch Lucario, Ghost and Dreepy talk).
“Harri,” she turned her attention back to Riley. “It’s very clear to me that you possess a large amount of aura. If I couldn’t feel it like I do, it would be easy to tell based on the close bond you have with Ghost and Dreepy despite not being their trainer. Wild pokémon don’t typically bond this closely to people. Opal requested I come here because with the amount of aura you have, it could be dangerous to yourself and others if you accidentally lose control.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone!” she looked at Opal in mild panic and the woman gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.
“Of course you don't, dear. I don’t have enough aura to teach you how to channel it properly and with the amount of aura you seem to have I’d feel better getting you some skills now instead of waiting until you’re old enough to go to a school for training.”
“Opal is right. Waiting wouldn’t hurt, but it’s always better to start as soon as possible. I’ll be able to teach you how to sense aura, both your own and that of others. If that goes well we can move on to light aura manipulation. It shouldn’t be anything major, especially at first, but they’re good strategies for keeping your aura from accidentally lashing out.”
“If I do this, does it mean I’ll have to become an Aura Guardian? I want to be a trainer, complete the gym challenge, maybe get strong enough to go see the other regions.” Ghost rubbed against her leg comfortingly and Dreepy settled on her head.
“There are many people with strong aura who don’t go on to be Aura Guardians just as there are those with less aura that have a great understanding of how it works and finesse when using it that make great Aura Guardians. What I can teach you is simply to help, there’s no obligation to use what you learn beyond the lessons, much less become an Aura Guardian.” Harri glanced at Opal again, but her serene expression gave nothing away. Riley and Lucario were practically radiating earnest intent. Ghost and Dreepy both nudged and gave her determined looks.
“Ok. How do we start?”
“We start by you enjoying the rest of your day and getting a good night’s rest. Tomorrow we’ll start putting in the work.”
* * * * * *
Harri met Riley outside the gym early the next day and he led her to a quiet spot just outside Ballonlea (Riley explained that he wanted a bit of distance from the noise and energy of the town without getting too far into the energy of the Glimwood Tangle). Then he had them sit on the ground while he guided her through a meditation. They took breaks to complete a series of stretches that also ended up slightly meditative strangely enough. Dreepy got bored and ended up floating around the clearing while gathering twigs and pebbles to make towers out of, but Ghost stuck by her side and ended up following along like Lucario did with Riley. By the end of the day Harri found herself just as tired as if she’d spent the day running through the Glimwood Tangle. She slept deeply that night (and was very glad her campsite was set up so close to Ballonlea these days, she might actually move it closer if every training session would be this exhausting). The following days were a repeat of the initial meditations and stretches with Riley making minor adjustments as they went. It was hard to tell at first, but by the time a week had gone by Harri could sense her inner aura during meditation and as the days passed she was starting to feel it flowing through her muscles when they stretched. Riley was very happy with the progress she’d made and announced that she was ready to try sensing the aura of others.
To start he had her meditate and then try and feel outside her own aura. It was hard; her aura was all around her in a big cloud. Trying to look around it was impossible and looking through it was murky. On impulse after a few frustrating hours she tried pushing her aura ‘down’ to clear space for her ‘eyes’ to sense through. It worked for a moment and then she had to stop from dizziness. They kept at it though and with gentle encouragement Riley helped her pull her aura in (something that made her feel content and centered instead of the off-kilter feeling aggressively ‘pushing’ her aura had generated). After that it was easy to sense Riley’s aura (he had a lot of it and was helpfully pulsing it for her to detect). That was when he’d decided she was far enough along to be left on her own, she could run through a meditation and stretch set twice a day and practice sensing aura with Ghost (and Dreepy if she could). Harri was proud of her progress, but sad that Riley had to leave (even though she knew he had to go and study Lucario like he’d originally come to Galar to do).
“I could come and visit you while I’m still in Galar. Keep giving you lessons in aura, if you’d like.”
“Really!?”
“Yeah,” Riley smiled and gently ruffled her hair. “You’ve got skill and aura to spare. It’d be a shame to make you wait until school to explore that ability further and that’s if you decide to attend a school that teaches about it at all. But think carefully before you commit. What comes next will be much more difficult, I’ll only be able to come by every two weeks, and you shouldn’t try and practice the next parts without supervision.” Harri spent the rest of the day considering Riley’s words. She liked learning how to use her aura and although she was never bored or lonely it was nice having another thing to do and another person to spend time with. Her bond with Ghost and Dreepy (he’d been disinterested at first, but found that moving around while she tried to sense him was great fun) had also grown deeper throughout her practicing. She wanted to improve her ability with aura just as much as she wanted to do well with her regular studies and continue her exploration of the wild places in Galar. Mind made up she told Riley she’d like to continue their lessons when she and Opal went to send him off and two weeks later (which simultaneously felt like forever and no time at all) Riley was back for her next lesson. This time they went deeper into the Glimwood Tangle so that they wouldn’t be disturbed by anyone.
“Before we start I want to impress on you again that this will be much more difficult and intense than our previous lessons. So the first thing I’m going to teach you is this.” Riley bowed to her, the same way he’d bowed when she and Opal first met him. The bow wasn’t deep, only a partial bend of the waist; his arms were loose by his sides with his hands palm up facing her and his face stayed up toward hers. “This bow has deep meaning to the Aura Guardians. It is a message of respect and good intentions, a way of saying you bear the other no ill will. Teachers and students will perform the bow before and after lessons to indicate that no matter what difficulties were faced during the lesson that a mutual respect still exists. To not perform the bow is to express a complete lack of respect and announce that you view the other as an irredeemable enemy. Our lessons will be difficult. You will be pushing both your physical and mental limits and will no doubt feel frustrated with me. It is important that we don’t allow the difficulties of training to impact our outside relationship.” They practiced the bow and then Riley reviewed the progress she’d made in aura sensing before they moved on.
Riley was right about the difficulty of his lessons. All the work she’d put into being able to sense wild pokémon felt easy now that he was having her train in manipulating her aura outside her body. Hearing about how he and Lucario had once contained an explosion by combining their aura into a shield was inspiring, but even getting her aura focused enough to produce a small glow on her palm was difficult. Harri could see why Riley didn’t want her to try this on her own; the end of the day found her tired and starving, without monitoring she might push herself too far. Over time it got easier for her to call her aura up and out of her body and as the months went by she was slowly working her way up to trying to produce a small shield. The more physical aspects of Riley’s lessons were also good for Ghost and Dreepy. While her two pokémon friends wouldn’t be able to assist her the same way Lucario did for Riley, they had readily taken to training alongside her and the results were showing in the increased strength they showed during friendly tussles. As difficult as the training was, Harri and her friends were enjoying themselves far too much to even think about giving it up