Ch 42: I had it made like a mountain range
Oreburg City, the City of Energy. The city squatting in the lowlands more like.
And you could really see just how low the city lay as you approached it from the Bike Path, it was as if the whole city sat in a bowl dug out by some giant. You could almost see the entire thing at once, or at least so it felt.
“Kinda looks like you threw some rocks and broken glass into a bowl.” Gem remarked
“Yeah, the concrete and glass style doesn’t really do it for me, but unlike Floroma I’m not really here for sightseeing.” Hailey said. At least, not outdoor sightseeing.
After they’d almost crashed into the gate building at the end of the path (Gem had really wanted to try riding on the back of her chair), she’d sent a message to Brigit confirming they were meeting at the museum.
According to the Dex map it was pretty close to the side of the city where the Bike Path let out, but that still left a decent amount of city to search through. Well, there would probably be signs.
Like Eterna, Oreburg was busy, but it was a different kind of busy. Where the forest city was more relaxed, folks strolling along the promenade, here the energy was totally different.
People moved like they were on a conveyor, straight and with purpose. There also seemed to be a noticeably more muscular ladies and Mon walking around too.
“Place is kinda dreary.” As usual, Gem said what she was thinking, heedless of any annoyed looks that may have been sent their way.
“Busy would be the word I would use.” Pomona was far more gentle in her observations. “Industrious perhaps, driven.”
“Yep, nothing says driven like unpainted concrete.”
Pomona didn’t move, but the wind ‘just happened’ to blow and send some of her tassells smacking into the Minun’s backside.
Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that the museum shared the city’s aesthetic. At least it had a unique spin on it.
The building was made up of low, flat rectangles, stacked seemingly haphazardly all over each other, with glass and steel forming strangely shaped windows in the crevasses. It almost looked like a building that had been knocked down, then reassembled by a child.
It was chaotic to look at, but not altogether unpleasant.
Thẚo was certainly easy to spot in front of it though. If anyone asked Hailey to estimate the Tropius’ height, she would simply have said ‘many’. It was like a tree had come to life, and had a massive rack to go with it. Brigit looked positively tiny next to her partner and once again Hailey was really trying not to think about how that worked.
Thẚo was clearly scanning the horizon, but it was Brigit that tugged on her arm and pointed the group out. When she bounded over it felt like a minor earthquake.
“Hailey!” Arceus, it was like a wall of sound beating down on them, even Gem looked shocked. “It… is you right?” Thẚo looked at her partners while reaching around, gently, until her hand came to rest on the wheelchair. She’d started far too high.
“Thẚo, good to see… you.” Hailey had to force the words out, even a light touch by the Tropius was like getting walloped in the chest by a heavy pillow.
“You’re looking good Little Sprout, at least… I think so. Still kinda hard to get a good look at you.” Was Thẚo going to talk much inside the museum? Hailey really doubted she had an indoor voice. “And you’ve multiplied! I have to admit, I didn’t expect that, proud of you!”
Even as she spoke Thẚo’s head swung down on that long, long neck to scrutinize her partners. Pomona preformed a small curtsy, while Gem was… fanning herself. Hailey was going to have to watch that one.
“A pleasure to meet you, and your partner as well.” Pomona said as Brigit caught up. The dark skinned woman did not look comfortable out in the sun. “I understand you met Hailey before us?”
“Yeah, sure was a surprise for me, running into a little girl down in a dark tunnel. Probably more for Bribri actually, since I didn’t see her at first.”
Bridget followed that up with an elbow in Thẚo’s hips. “No need to talk about her like that, you big galloup.”
“But all of you humans are small to me! Anyway, glad you got back in touch afterwards, we were both worried when we heard you were a missing person! Plus this gives me another chance to get Bribri out of the house.”
The flat “yay” that Bridget gave in response almost made Hailey feel bad for her.
“Well, at least the museum should be air conditioned?” Was the best silver lining she could offer.
The museum was, thankfully, air conditioned, but Bridget seemed more happy to just get out of the open air, rather than for the temperature.
Still, despite being enclosed, the museum was pretty open inside. High vaulted ceilings, a wide floorplan, at least once you got past the ticket counter. 50p for a ticket, Hailey wondered why the even bothered with pocket change at that point. Once past though, they were face to face with the first exhibit, right in the middle of the hall, clearly in a place of reverence.
A giant, fuckoff slab of coal.
“Well, there sure is a lot of it” was all Thẚo had to say. Hailey had to agree.
“According to this plaque, this particular specimen was mined from under the seabed. Given how many miners are rock types, I am surprised they would choose to venture under there.” Pomona leaned forward to read off the plaque.
“Yeah, well, they actually like eating the stuff for some reason.” Gem scoffed, only to draw the attention of a nearby, towering lady. All blue, black, and spikes protruding from her head.
“Eh, coal is fine, bit gritty. It’s fire types that really go wild for it.” Her voice was like the rumble of an earthquake. “Now Corundum, that’s the good stuff, got that real CRUNCH to it that makes you fall in love.” The way her teeth, or rather fangs, flashed when she said crunch made Hailey wince and Gem swoon a little.
“Pretty sure I’d shatter my teeth even on this ‘soft’ stuff. Brigit remarked. “Not to mention the taste. Hard pass.”
“A hard pass is when I squeeze between two cuties. But get a real Rock type in your life and you’ll start feeling the need to nibble.” The Rampardos, as the Dex told Hailey, said as she leaned down to look Brigit in the eye, only to pull back when Thẚo’s head suddenly snaked around to drop in right in front of her partners.
“As if I’d let her eat any of the junk food! Empty calories! Humans need lots of fresh fruit!” There was a surprising edge to the Tropius’ voice. Jealous Thẚo? Hailey was honestly surprised.
To her credit, the Rampardos didn’t lash out, rather pulling back with an apologetic smile on her face. “Woah, hey, not trying to start a rumble, I’m a Bonded Mon myself.” The tension was somewhat defused by Brigit reaching around and flicking her partners nose.
Shouting “Down girl, down!” was certainly a way to start the museum trip.
There was actually a real museum behind the giant lump of coal, as much of a power move as it would have been if not.
Whole sections of one actually. On one side of the huge atrium an arch entry led to the galleries, while on the other a large staircase twisted up to the second level. The rest of the open space was given over to planters, benches, a small food court, and of course the obligatory gift shop. There was a decent, but not oppressive, crowd milling about, though rock and ground types did seem over represented.
“Well, here we are, in the land of the nerds.” Was Gem’s summation. Hailey felt the need to lightly slap the back of her head.
“Geology.”
“Same difference.”
Brigit cut in. “Not just geology, I think they’ve also got some old archaeology stuff too, I remember seeing it on a field trip as a kid. Haven’t been here in years though.”
“Worth checking out then.” Hailey shrugged, “not like I ever got to go on a trip.”
“I still can’t believe that. Ok, you couldn’t really travel, but no tutors or anything?”
Hailey shrugged “There were some over the years, but never for long, Pokémon ones never worked out, and I was too unpleasant and disturbing for the human ones. Probably the only reason I can read decently was cause it passed the time, and I had a lot of that to kill.”
“Well, we can start wandering around, though I don’t have any of the worksheets they made us do as kids.” Brigit laughed. “or we can get something to eat first, if you want?”
“Oh, I… kinda hoped Thẚo would cook again, though I suppose that’s a bit presumptuous, we can just grab something.” Hailey muttered.
Brigit just snorted. “You’re lucky Thao didn’t hear that or she’d already be trying to set up an open flame in the lobby, we can do that for dinner if you want. Actually, where is that great lump anyway?”
It was almost disturbing how someone so big could sneak away, but she didn’t stay hidden for long. Even over a sea of people there was no mistaking that neck. It looked like she had wandered over to the side of the hall, where some stalls had been set up.
“Probably looking at some overpriced spice or something, maybe ‘rare Oreburg mineral salt’ or whatever.” Brigit sighed, this was clearly not a strange thing for them. “Listen, lets just grab something then we can start walking, she’ll either catch up or she won’t. At least this way we don’t have to hear her whine about how healthy the burritos might be.”
Thẚo did have something to say about the burritos, but luckily they had already half eaten them by the time she jogged back over, stuffing some brochures into the tiny backpack that seemed to just vanish between her leafs.
She perked up though when Brigit mentioned that someone would have to cook dinner. Even as they rolled toward the lower hall Hailey could hear her mutter about Alfredo, Bean Stew, Pirogies, and more. Honestly, the excitement was a bit contagious.
That was for later though, the now was all about the wonders of geology!
It was rocks, a lot of rocks.
Granted some of them were very nice rocks, but mostly just rocks. There were posters explaining thinks like different types of bedrock, how the layers of the planet worked, but none of that was really for her.
One thing that did catch the eye was a giant, partially cut open geode, big enough for Gem to walk inside. Hailey did sheepishly feel a bit like a bird, immediately attracted to the largest shiny thing, but it produced a cool effect. It was like Gem was inside a giant disco ball!
The Dex came out quick, snapping pics as Gem posed inside her namesake. Dancing, posing, even quickly lifting her skirt up while sticking her tongue out. That one made Hailey furtively glance around. The best, though, was when Pomona stuck her head through the back of the geode, like, straight through it. Gem’s face would be etched upon her memory, not to mention storage card forever.
There were a few other interesting exhibits, like a display on the various kinds of Evolution Stones that could rarely be found underground, which sparked a small debate on why they even existed when most Pokémon didn’t need them.
Pomona left such mysteries up to Arceus, though mentioned that some believed such transformations existed as a way to reign in more rowdy species.
Thẚo said it was just because she was a troll.