Jun stepped into the taxi cab.

“I’m heading to the Lavender Town address on this piece of paper. Yeah, I know it’s a bit far to go by cab, but I don’t really feel like taking the train and I don’t want to drive.

I used to love driving, actually. Still do, kinda. I haven’t been feeling it this month, is all. You know how you get really into one thing, and you do it a whole lot, and you do it so much that you have to take a break from all that? Then you come back after a while, and you remember how it feels to like something all over again? This is one of those situations, I think. I’ll get back into the groove eventually. Maybe.

The train― I mean, it’s okay. But I just― I just need a break from that too. I always feel like a half dozen Exeggcute being crammed into a Pokéball when I’m riding it. Always worried someone’ll take advantage of the chaos and try to swipe something. I check my pockets when I get to my stop every time. Nothing’s been stolen yet, but you can’t be too cautious, right?

It’s not all bad, though. I mean, it’s fine when everyone’s not trying to to get to work at the same time and you can actually breathe. Yesterday, I saw a Poochyena with a bright blue Service Pokémon jacket ride the train alongside this kid with blackglasses. Snazzy, those blackglasses.

But lemme tell you about this Poochyena, yeah? Best behaved Poochyena I’ve ever seen. Sat quietly by his trainer’s side all the way from Jade Street to the Pewter Science Museum. Not a single noise the entire trip. It was freaky, you know, since they’re normally so rowdy, and I should know: I grew up with one! They take one look at anything and they start yapping with their little chompers. And they never get tired. Never. A game of fetch with my parents’ Puchi could last longer than a Ninetales’ curse.

Puchi and I went out for walks a lot when I was a kid. She gets antsy and restless when she’s stuck inside for too long. You always know when that happens because she’ll demand a walk. Comes up to you when you’re watching TV or whatever, and starts jumping up and down and barking until you’re off the couch and out the door. And you can’t say the word ‘walk’ without getting her excited, either. You can be anywhere in the house, say ‘walk’, and she’d start dashing towards you.

I used to know this girl, Hana. She was my neighbor and we used to go to school together. Could not stand our little Puchi. Deathly afraid. I’d run into Hana and her Hoppip while giving Puchi a walk, and Hoppip would leap ten feet straight up and bury herself right in Hana’s arms. You know in those cartoons where characters get scared, freeze up, and they turn completely white? Hana was like that. I’d give her that ol’ eyebrow raise, wave my arms in front of her face to see if she was still with us, and ten seconds later she’d realize she was still alive and run away screaming.

Puchi can have kind of a scary face, I guess, but she’s really sweet once you get to know her. Hana was always too much of a scaredy cat have that opportunity though. In elementary school, we had a field trip to some museum in Lavender Town’s city center, and we had to pass by Pokémon Tower on the way. She was so scared that the Ghost-type Pokémon there would come to haunt her as she walked by it that our teacher, Mr. Sakamoto, had to give her a piggy back ride so we could move on.

Last I heard, Hana went to some prestigious university in Goldenrod or something. Kinda wonder what she’s doing now. I’m going back to Lavender Town anyway; maybe I could swing by her parents’ house and ask? Would that be weird? We weren’t like, good friends or anything. Might be kinda awkward.

Dunno, maybe I shouldn’t.

But it’ll be nice to see Puchi again, though, at my parents’ house. She’s getting up in the years, health not as good as it used to be, but she’s always pulled through. She’s strong like that.

Actually, in junior high, I remember she had a broken leg, all wrapped up in the cast. Joy told us that’d Puchi’d need a few weeks to heal. One day, I forgot to bring my lunch to school, and I thought ‘Oh god, I’m gonna have to make it through the math test next period on an empty stomach.’ Lo and behold, lunch comes around, and I hear this tremendous barking from out the window. Who do I see but Puchi, cast and all, with my lunchbox in her mouth!

Thanks to her, I ate lunch and had all the energy I needed. Aced my math test! Or, well, so I’d like to say. I was never that good at math, energy or no. But the point is, nothing can stop Puchi. Not a broken leg, not anything.

Not anything.

Wish I could see her more often. One of the downsides of Pewter City: no Puchi. Well, sometimes my parents have a vacation abroad, and they’ll call me about a month beforehand to ask if I can babysit her while they’re away. They’ve been vacationing in new places every spring since they retired. It’s pretty amazing.

Last year, they went to Lumiose. They were super excited to go, because, you know: it’s Lumiose. City of Light and Romance, right? I have a co-worker actually, Nicolas, and he’s from Kalos. He told me, ‘The streets, they are so dirty. The people, how do you say it? It is as if they don’t even have time for you. Ask for the time, ask for the directions, they pretend you are like Stunky and turn the nose. When I am traveling, I cannot even stand to drive through Lumiose. Visit somewhere nice, yes? Like Coumarine City. The Chatot from the Route 12 that come to sing in the morning? Oh, they are so beautiful.’

Nicolas is from Coumarine City, by the way.

I told all the stuff Nicolas said to my parents, and they said that it can’t be that bad, surely, and they went to Lumiose all the same.

I had a very nice time with Puchi at home while they were away. This was right in the middle of cherry blossom season, so Puchi and I drove up to the hill with the abandoned church and had a little picnic. Nice tea, sandwiches, poffins. And jelly donuts, of course. When Puchi had her fill, she laid down in a sunbeam and had a nice little nap. She’s really adorable when she’s asleep; her tongue sticks out of her mouth, and if you bring a poffin close, she’ll sniff and paw at the air while she’s off in dreamland.

She’s probably dreaming of poffins if you do that, actually. If you had a machine that could release smells, like Pinap berries, while you’re sleeping, I wonder if you could make yourself dream about them. That would be cool. Maybe you could use it to keep nightmares away. Like, I’ve been having weird nightmares this past month― don’t ask what they are, I forget my dreams by noon and just remember they sucked― but if I could replace them with dreams about poffins, that’d be really great. Or maybe I’d just get nightmares about Pinap berries? What would a Pinap-based nightmare even be?

But back to Puchi, she’d fallen asleep, and fifteen minutes later a gaggle of Cherrim who were playing nearby came over and started to huddle around her. You know how a single Cherrim has a kinda faint sweet scent to it? When there’s a bunch of them together it’s like you’ve walked into a perfume shop and everyone’s trying to give you a free sample, that’s how strong it is. She sniffed and she sniffed and she sniffed, and it all became so much that she woke herself up with a huge sneeze. The Cherrim all ran off, laughing and giggling all the way up the cherry trees.

Years ago, she definitely would have chased those Cherrim up and down the hill until the sun went down. But these days she’s definitely a little less energetic. She snuggled up to my lap and went right back to sleep.

When my parents came back to pick up Puchi a week later, I asked them how their trip was. Mom stuffed the obligatory Prism Tower souvenir in my hand, and all she said about her experience was, ‘It did not meet our expectations.’

Well, I did tell them so.

This year they’re planning to go to Paldea. A few different cities and towns this time, trying not to put all their eggs in one basket again. They’re going to Mesagoza, the big one, and to Artazon, I think. They said something about the Sunflora Lawn, which they were very charmed by, and talked for almost an hour about restaurants they wanted to go to.

I can’t remember most of what they told me during that phone call. I mean, they really talked a whole bunch. Said all this stuff about Paldea, and they gave me the address we’re going to now, and then they told me something really depressing. What was it again? I tried to put it out of my mind at the time.

What I do remember was that talking with them about Paldean food made me pretty hungry. There’s a Paldean restaurant down the street from where I live, actually. I pass by that place every time I go to work, but I’ve never gone in. You have a place like that? A restaurant or store that you walk by a lot and think ‘Man, I should go in and see what it’s all about someday,’ and then never do? For me, there’s like, three or four of those in my neighborhood.

But I went in this time. The hunger compelled me, you know? So I went in. Anyway, I was so hungry, when the waiter handed me the menu, I immediately pointed at something on it at random and told them that I wanted that. He said ‘You want the Oreja de cerdo?’ and I said ‘Yeah.’

I didn’t know what it was. I was just hungry.

After a couple minutes waiting for my mystery dish, my brain got a moment to cool down. I realized I’d done something kinda stupid, and I was really starting to wish that I had any idea at all what I ordered. Well, I didn’t want to flag down the waiter and ask― that’d be kinda embarrassing. So I went on Bulbapedia.

I get lost on Bulbapedia sometimes. I mean, you start somewhere like Oreja de cerdo, then you tap on the link to Paldean cuisine, then you find List of chain restaurants in Paldea, and fifteen minutes later, more new pages litter your browser tabs than there are used Pokéballs strewn around Route 2.

Anyway, you know that donut chain with the Hoopa mascot? Ansha’s Donuts? I’ve been going to the Ansha’s by the convenience store near me for years and I never knew it’s actually from Kalos. I guess I’ve never really thought about where donuts are from, either. I’ll have to Bulbapedia that too.

You know what’s funny to me? Donuts have that hole in the middle, right? But you can also buy the ball that was cut out of the donut when that hole was made. And they sell this to you as a donut hole. So if that ball, separate from the donut, is the donut hole, doesn’t that imply that the donut does not have a hole anymore? Because it’s been removed? Am I making any sense here?

Back to Ansha’s, the thing I like about them is that if you bring your Pokémon with you and you get a donut, they also give you a donut hole for free so they can get an extra little treat as well. Whoever invented the hole in the donut to give to their Pokémon is some kind of genius. Whoever they are, if I could meet them, I’d definitely want to shake their hand. I really would.

Whenever I babysit Puchi, I take her to Ansha’s and try out different flavors with her. They have such a huge variety that you can go back dozens of times, have something different each time, and still have things you haven’t tried. I haven’t been going in too often since my doctor’s been telling me to watch my weight, but I make an exception when Puchi’s around.

My favorite flavor is… probably the Aspear glazed, I think. But Puchi’s not a fan of those. She’ll snarf the Pecha jelly donuts right up, though. She tears right into it, crumbs flying all over the place, and when she’s done with the main course, she’ll go back and lap up the crumbs until it’s all in her belly.

She’s such a little gremlin. But you know, I love that about her.

By the way, you know those big sticks with the scoop at the end, where you can put a tennis ball and play fetch? I think I’ve seen some trainers use those to throw Pokéballs. You ever seen that? I mean, it’s kind of a brilliant idea, since they’re also ball shaped and everything. I was thinking, it would be kinda fun to do that with donut holes. You know, lob treats with one of those?

Puchi and I used to play fetch a whole lot. We’d go to the park and I’d use that tennis ball stick thing, and I’d lob that tennis ball so far. What’s amazing to me is that no matter how hard I threw it, she had this way of running right underneath it and, when the moment was right, she could leap in the air and catch that thing right out of the air just about every time.

In elementary school, maybe in year three or four, our class tried this thing called a show and tell, or something like that. You’d bring something cool to show to your classmates and you’d talk about it. Anyway, Puchi’s fetch skills were so awesome that one day I brought Puchi and her tennis ball and the throwing stick, and I threw the tennis ball to have her fetch it. We weren’t outside or anything, so that ball flew across the classroom, all the kids are just covering their heads trying not to get hit, all while Puchi’s scrambling across the classroom knocking stuff over― books and paper and pencils all over the floor, right? She caught the ball, of course, and brought it back. But after that, show and tell was cancelled.

Puchi and I haven’t played much fetch the past few years. I think she’s gotten a bit tired of it. The last time I tried to play fetch, she walked to where the tennis ball landed and fetched it once, then decided to have a little nap in my lap. I wonder if it were a treat or something, instead of a tennis ball, whether that would motivate her.

I’ve got a box of Pecha jam donuts with me for when we arrive. There’s enough for my parents, of course, but they’re for Puchi, really. I’ll take one step out of the cab and she’ll smell the Pecha jam and she’ll get all excited. She’s so adorable― she does this little dance with her tippy toes when she knows you’ve got food, and― well, you’ll see when we arrive.

My mom and dad usually come up to Pewter City and drop her off, and I think this is the first time I’ve come down to Lavender Town to pick up Puchi for babysitting. They didn’t say that’s what they want me in town for, but, like, I babysit every year. They probably just forgot to tell me and then assumed later that they’d already asked. I’m always happy to babysit Puchi, even if it’s on short notice, so it’s fine either way.

Come to think of it, the address we’re headed to is kinda far from their house.

Oh, we’re here? Wow, this is like, right next to Pokémon Tower.”

Jun paid the cab driver and stepped out of the taxi.

“Hi mom, dad! What’s with the long faces?”

He turned his head left and right, looking around for something he was starting to realize he would never find.

“Mom, dad. Where― where is Puchi?”