Year 10, day 1: It’s weird to think of it being almost over. Every day as a Pokémon, as a guild member, as an exploration team founder, has been an adventure, of one size or another. Saved the world once or twice, hunted rare treasures from bygone ages, rescued Pokémon, traveled the world… There were a lot of close scrapes and tough decisions, but it was invigorating.
But this year we face the toughest decision of all: who comes with us… and who stays behind. Terra and I, in the privacy of the warehouse, talked over the options thoroughly.
Manaphy is obviously coming; neither I nor Terra would consider leaving our child behind. We also agreed they would get the stasis pod. It was a bit weird that technically I was my girlfriend’s trainer, in a sense, and we didn’t want to extend that awkwardness to them.
I argued heavily for Porygon-Z to come along. He would be of great help in any world with computers, and as a Pokémon made of data he didn’t fully fit in with the natural world of Pokémon without humans. Besides, I gave him a gender in my mind. You can’t argue with a bond like that. Terra couldn’t.
Terra wanted to bring Azumarill. She had done so well with Manaphy, able to roll with the little one’s energy, and proved to be quite the survivalist. We could always trust her with Bag management and our storage. She was really the best nanny in the Pokémon world. I agreed with her – I wanted extra eyes protecting them for if the voice chose to make things hard for us.
That left one slot, and nine Pokémon left to fill it – assuming no one else joined us in the following year. We agreed that new recruits this year we wouldn’t know well enough to want to bring them along for however long the voice would string us.
A good amount of discussion was about Darkrai… Darkrai was a tricky point. He had made many friends in the years he was with us. We had watched his transition from power-hungry villain to a slightly sarcastic but well-meaning anti-hero. He was a reliable ally and a good friend, who ever only truly wanted to be accepted by the world.
Would it hurt him more to tear him away from his other friends? Would his loneliness only be reinforced by being forced to leave everything he knew behind every ten years?
It was after much debate that we ultimately concluded that, even though his abilities would probably be really useful down the road, being yanked around the universe wouldn’t be good for him, so Darkrai would be staying in this world.
So that left eight. We also had to consider how they’d work with my other Pokémon – Bolt, Cody, and Anita. It’s in my instinct with these things to avoid type overlap, which I get sounds hypocritical coming from the guy that took both Water-types while having a Masquerain, but you’re not the one picking. That meant Electric, other Waters, Bugs, Psychics, and our own Grass and Ground were out. That eliminated Golem, Wormadam, Jolteon, and Jynx. Four left.
Next we considered how personally close we were to each of them based on the Treasure hunts. Of the four remaining candidates, only Mightyena and Tentacruel had participated – and Mightyena was in three of them while Tentacruel was in two.
“As our first team member outside ourselves, Mightyena has proven himself repeatedly,” Terra said. “The main issue would be, with the most senior members gone, who would be in charge of Team Firma. Even though the world-”
“I know, love, even though the world is ending,” I said. “I think I’m doing a little better on that now. Even if the world ends, I prefer it to end better than when it started. And I think I have an idea of who I want to be in charge.”
“Oh? Plan on telling me, sweet?”
“Of course.”
Year 10, day 2: “…And so, to sum up the first part of my announcement,” I said to the assembled entirety of Team Firma on Treasure Town’s beach, “myself, Terra, Manaphy, Mightyena, Porygon-Z, and Azumarill will be departing from Team Firma in a little less a year’s time, going off the map in search of greater treasures.”
To say everyone was shocked was putting it mildly. A lot of talking among themselves ensued for several minutes.
“And now onto the second half,” I continued once the chatter died down a little. “With myself and Terra leaving, that leaves the position of team leader open. We carefully went over all the team members and agreed that one individual has proven that he is capable of handling the team through thick and thin, bounty and poverty, joy and sorrow.
And that individual… is Darkrai!”
All eyes, most of them disbelieving, were on him.
Darkrai himself was stunned. “M-Me…?”
“You’re one of our best members, and you’ve well proven yourself,” I explained. “Now that you go forward with a fearless open heart, you can lead this team to true greatness.”
“I… I don’t know what to say… Except maybe… thank you. I will do the best I can for everyone that has accepted me.”
“Does anyone have any objections?” I asked the group.
While there was a little unrest, no one objected. After all, they were all friends here, and had gotten to know Darkrai quite well.
“I will mentor Darkrai until the time of my departure with all I’ve learned about being a team leader,” I continued. “He may run it differently than I do, and that’s OK as long as Pokémon continue to be helped, and jobs continue to be done. To give everyone time to process this, we’ll be taking the day off. Please enjoy your free time! I look forward to a great last year with you all!”
Jumpchain: A Man Chooses 