Fashion and Fyre Part 15: Once a teacher

The road eastward turned gradually, with broken stones, into a large harbour. Filled with yacht's and schooners, fishermen sitting around tables measuring non-existent fish as they tried to outdo each other. A Train at the edge of the harbour scooted up the mountainous hill to the south, stopping to let passengers off at the higher tier where the city sat. Beyond the piers stood a few houses, many abandoned for they sat near the train station. The thin air up above would be perfect for Fyr, a new experience to enjoy. The best place would be at the peak of the hill. Reaching over and stroking the fur of both Embeee and her passenger, Ryan's attention was grabbed by a man in a small merchant stall nearby. "Sir! You, in the long coat" The man called, to him. "It's obvious you take great care of your companions" The man was good, many would call the creature's around him Ryan's Pokemon. This man could see the sort of fellow he was dealing with. "I've a fine selection of Incenses here." his hand swept through his stall as he spoke. "Perfect for the health and happiness of your friends" Ryan smiled, chuckling to himself as he approached the stall. Arms out at his sides he explained that regrettably, he had no money to speak of. A strange look came over the man as he moved around his stall to approach the large vagrant. "Mr. Cabberin?" He asked, the merchant standing as tall as Ryan. "Mr. Ryan Cabberin? It is you!" His arms wrapped around the man in the trench coat, taking him by surprise for the minute of the embrace. "I'm so sorry, what happened to you was a crime. Here" The man spun on the spot, dashing over to his stall to retrieve a small gold and blue box. When offered it, Ryan smiled, politely pushing the box back at the man. "No, please, I have no other way to thank you." The vagrant's head tilted. "I still have a son thanks to you."

Ryan had been left with little choice. Who'd ever met a salesman pushing someone to take his wares for free? With the Luck Incense tucked into a pocket of his coat, the vagrant continued on his way. The slope of the hill wasn't too impressive, but the thickness of the trees worked well to slow their climb. Hours passed as the group slowly ascended the hillside, the vagrant taking great pains to ensure that no fires were spread in the wake of the group. Annwn enjoyed plucking berries to sniff and nibble as he walked. The lioness struggled to navigate the many dense trees with the passenger sitting on her back. Several times her passenger, annoyed at the branches and leaves slapping his face, bit and incinerated a branch or two. Unlike anything Ryan had seen before, the fire from these quick bites wouldn't spread past the trunk or main branch where the bit one had spread from. In under a second the section of the bush that had dared attack the milky eyed canine, was nothing but dust and ash. At the peak of the tremendous hill stood the largest tree Ryan had ever laid eyes on. Platforms and vines surrounded the tree all the way to the leafy top.

A distance away from the tree, in a clearing overlooking the harbour and the train, was an area for tourists to relax and enjoy the view. Another amazing view, one the vagrant wished he could share with his little friend. There was just so much ocean, spreading as far as the eye could see to the north. Waves swept in and crashed pitifully against the raised walls of the harbour. He could see the dark shapes of creatures swimming about in the water, though some shade sat on the surface of the water, shadows of the enormous creature's in the sky. Wailord, the largest pokemon known to travel in herds, twelve of them drifted gracefully through the air northward. As his eyes scanned back to near where he sat, the vagrant noted the man who had been sitting on the rock, he stood at the end of a stone outcropping with his odd tree-like companion. The two appeared to be stretching at first, though the longer he watched the more Ryan recognized it as a form of martial arts practice. Shaking his head at the strangeness of the world around him. Ryan instead began looking about him for his little companion. Glancing upward at Leveyr, the large man simply smiled. The bird was as large as he was, perhaps a little bigger, it's claws were wrapped gently around a small wrinkly faced canine whose nose was working overtime to take in the strange smells of high altitude. Fyr was pointed in the direction Leveyr was flying, his little legs kicking as if he was galloping through the air.

With the invention of pokeballs, the concept of pokemon age has required some clarification. How long a pokemon has existed, is how old they are. How long a pokemon has been alive, is how elderly they are. It's quite likely that Fyr is not the oldest Flareon in the world, many that have spent years inside a ball would be older, but he is by far the eldest. No other milky eyed, wrinkle faced fiery little canine's would be sniffing berries at his age. When it came to berries in fact, there was no middle ground on what each of the pokemon around Ryan preferred. Every one of them enjoyed the spiciest of the berries, it seemed almost racist to say. Pokemon of the fire- type preferring spicy foods? Honestly, Ryan didn't blame them, the spicier foods did seem to have more flavour. It was Annwn's idea to mix some of the fruits they found in the area; a collection of ten centimeter long, soft bell fruits, and small soft red berries, into a small soup. The larger of the spicy fruits was very watery, providing the main substance to the soup. Every one of the group enjoyed the Braixen's cooking, many sniffing for more once the meal had been completed. The Lioness, content with the morning and wanting to rest, curled up behind the vagrant, such that he was pressed against her but not trapped by her. After handing each of the pokemon a small stick of incense, Ryan watched each of them calm down and curl up into the grass surrounding the trench coat.

With the gentle snoozing of all around him, Ryan could see no better time to investigate this very old, battered and broken pokeball. Removing it from his pocket, the large man turned the device over in his hands. The owner died twenty years ago, at best it would be the first generation of mass produced pokeball. The device was old, an antique, long before the ages of a shrinkable hollow ball. Grabbing the knife from his pocket, the vagrant gently pried the red and white caps off the device. Thin plastic shells designed to cover the inner mechanical workings of the ball. Several large copper bars connected the top and bottom halves of the sphere, which now looked similar to a peeled orange made of steel and plastic. Intricate wiring filled the top and bottom hemispheres, with a strange setup not dissimilar to a speaker beneath the 'button'. A quick examination of the condition of the wiring in the top hemisphere revealed that the external sensor and internal simulation were still functioning properly. "Hello" Ryan rotated the device in his hand. "I'm going to try and get you out of there okay?" His attention then turned to wiring around and the condition of the speaker esc assembly. Several parts had been broken by a hard strike against a solid surface such as a rock, other parts were corroded and worn out from its time being buried in the ground by the river.

There was a problem, a big problem that was the first thing Ryan thought of. But how to rectify this issue? Grabbing the repair materials, designed for a more recent model, Ryan collected four strips of metal. They were intended to repair the inner reflective panels. "Annwn. Annwn come" he whispered to the snoozing fox nearby who though half asleep, stumbled over to curl up at Ryan's side. "Annwn, I need help. Can you gimme heat?" He lay the strips down on his leg, watching as Annwn reached over and took them into his mouth for a moment. He whined and pawed at the large man's leg after a couple minutes, to which Ryan removed the strips and immediately set about bending the thin metal along the curved surface of the top shell. The white hot metal burned at the skin on the underside of Ryan's fingers, but he made sure the curves were as perfect as possible. With four curved metal strips, the vagrant twisted on the spot to heat the ends of each in the mane draped across the large body behind him. With the aid of the sleeping Lioness, the large man welded one end of each piece together such that the final product opened like a four petal flower. The repair kit included something akin to a pen, designed to trace wiring onto silicon. But Ryan didn't have silicon, the closest he had was this strange metallic flower. Several times he stopped, holding the pen in his mouth sideways as he counted on his fingers. The math was slightly complicated, at times requiring numbers as high or higher than thirty or fourty thousand, meaning he had to use both hands to run the numbers quickly. "Sorry little buddy. This is going to take a while"

"Who are you talking to?" Shauna bounded over, quietening down as she realized how many of those curled up on the grass were asleep. It'd been a long day, the sun was sinking below the horizon far to the west. "Even from the train station it's a hard climb up here" She dusted off the grass nearby as she sat, a series of blinking red lights signaled the arrival of Shauna's four companions into the clearing. She was panting and out of breath as she looked over at the collection of strange objects strewn all across Mr. Cabberin's lap. "That's the gym" she pointed at the enormous tree, apparently tracing a path to the top with her finger. "I'll challenge it tomorrow, I'm doing well" She was proud of herself, Ryan's answer indicated he was proud of her as well. Her attention then fell from her own exploits, and rather to recognizing the shells of the pokeball she'd found before. "What're you doing?"

After asking for clarification, Ryan held up the mechanics of the pokeball. "Say hi, it can see you" he smiled, pointing the top toward her. "All pokeballs have two special functions" he explained, pulling the ball back and smiling. "They hold the pokemon as data, but to prevent data decay, the pokemon has to be conscious. So they create a virtual world, kind of like a playground, where the pokemon can pretend it's living while it's inside." Aware of the time, the large man gently snapped the top and bottom shells of the ball back on, ensuring that the odd new device was attached as intended, with the four loose ends being pinned against the speaker device inside. "They also record the outside world. So the pokemon inside can see what's happening. That's why people prefer to have the balls on their belts, better view" he smiled, sitting the ball down on the grass as he started packing up. As a sign she was paying attention, the young lass waved to the pokeball before asking what was wrong with it. "The materializer is broken. The ball has two devices in that button looking thing" Mr. Cabberin tried to make it as easy to understand as possible. "One turns the pokemon into data, and the other one turns it back. The one that turns it from data into reality is broken." Is it fixable, she understood what he meant, of course the device is far more complicated but that's the basic idea. "It is. But there's a problem. While I'm fixing it, if the pokemon inside activates wants to jump out, or if I accidentally trigger it" She cut in, assuming that the pokemon would die or otherwise... changed. "Yes, that's what this is for" he tapped the small banded device attached to the pokeball with his knife before tucking the blade away. "If the materializer triggers before I'm certain it's fixed, this loops the data back into the pokeball safely. It's a security precaution I just designed"

Once the large man had finished packing up, with the pokeball sitting safely beside him, he lent back against the lioness. "I'll let you sleep, it's been a long day" Shauna smiled as she stood, each of her companions rising from the grass as well. "You explain things very well Mr. Cabberin." She bowed before leaving. "I can see why you decided to teach"